Amsterdam's bicycle purgatory

Amsterdam is a city with more bicycles than people: The capital of the Netherlands has a population of about 700,000 and an estimated one million bikes. Official bicycle parking lots are full, the streets are clogged with illegally parked bikes and theft is a constant issue.

Parking your bike in Amsterdam can be a headache. The streets are narrow and there are not enough official bike parking spaces to go around. This rider was searching for space in a bike rack outside of Amsterdam's Central Station.

Here at the Fietsflat outside of Amsterdam's Central Station, 2,500 bike parking spaces are provided for free but are taken quickly during the commute hours. Riders search for spaces up and down the three story-parking garage, which is built on top of a canal.

Bikes not parked in an official space are at risk of being removed by the city. "If you don't remove them, the city will get stuck in a bicycle swamp. The city won’t be accessible anymore," said Fietsdepot Manager Pieter Berkhout. In 2012, the depot received more than 65,000 bikes of all styles and sizes. "You name it, we have it."

Fietsdepot workers unload the most recent arrivals, taken from Amsterdam's Central Station. Once a day the city sweeps the area around the station, cutting the locks of illegally parked or abandoned bicycles and bringing the bikes here. The Fietsdepot holds between 12,000 and 17,000 bicycles at a time.

These bicycles are waiting to be sorted and processed at the depot. Each bike is scanned and entered into a database, including details like color, engravings, serial numbers and site of removal. All bikes are labeled with a letter and number according to the day and location of removal. Workers then crosscheck with local police to see if the bike was stolen.

It can come as a shock to discover your bike is gone. "It was annoying. There were not enough empty parking places," 27-year old Imke Ligthart said. She called the depot’s hotline and was able to locate her bike the next day. Owners pay a 10-euro fee ($14) and have the option of having it delivered to their home. Otherwise, they face a long ride back into the city.

Philip Bonke, 26, said when his bike was removed, it "only added to the bad day" he was having. According to him, removing illegally parked bikes is a good solution because it frees up more parking spots for everyone. Bonke verified that the bike was his by fitting his key into the lock. He is amongst the 40 percent of bike owners who contact the depot and collect their bicycle.

"We want to return it to the owner. That’s our core business," Fietsdepot Manager Berkhout said. Bikes are kept here for three months waiting in a large outdoor field for their owners. But then unclaimed bikes are auctioned off, sold for spare parts or shredded into scrap metal. According to Berkhout, many owners assume their bike has been stolen, as Amsterdam is notorious for bike theft.