20 Digital displays have been put up on bike paths leading to the city centre and the railway station, showing the number of free parking places in the nearest bike parking and indicating the route to that parking.
If the parking is full, cyclists are directed to the closest parking where places are available. The number of places available in a bike parking is determined with the help of optical sensors. These sensors detect whether a parking place is occupied or not. Once the new system has been in use for a few months, the information it gathers can be used to predict how quickly bike parkings fill up at different moments.
The system also generates management information for the city. Information on when the parkings are full is instantly available. This makes it possible to respond to peak demand by putting up pop-up parkings in the street. The system, commissioned and financed by local and regional authorities, was developed and implemented by LumiGuide and Armada, both Dutch companies.