The Dutch Paradox: A Nation of Cyclists Without Parking
It is one of the great paradoxes of Dutch urban life: in a country with more bicycles than people, finding a safe and convenient place to park your bike is a chronic and frustrating problem. The lack of adequate storage in older apartment buildings leads to two negative outcomes: rampant bicycle theft from the streets and hallways dangerously cluttered with bikes, creating a serious fire hazard. While the government recognizes this problem, its solutions in the form of subsidies are almost never aimed at the individual tenant. You cannot get a grant to buy a high-quality lock or to install a bike rack on your own balcony. The subsidies that exist are designed to encourage collective, building-wide solutions, tackling the problem at a larger scale.
A Subsidy for the Collective, Not the Individual
When municipalities offer subsidies for bicycle storage, they are targeted at entities that own and manage property, namely the Vereniging van Eigenaars (VvE) or housing corporations (woningcorporaties). The goal is to incentivize these groups to invest in permanent, secure, and shared bicycle parking facilities. A typical municipal program might offer a co-funding grant where the city pays for a percentage of the total cost of a project. This could involve, for example, converting an underutilized storage area in the building's basement into a proper bike room with racks and secure access. It could also fund the installation of covered and lockable bike racks in the building's courtyard or garden. The logic is that subsidizing one collective project that creates space for 50 bikes is far more efficient than dealing with 50 individual requests. For tenants, this means the path to better bike storage is through advocacy and collective action within their own building, not through individual grant applications.
Tenant Action and Municipal Alternatives
A proactive tenant who is tired of hauling their bike up three flights of stairs should take on the role of an organizer. The first step is to raise the issue with your landlord or at the annual meeting of your VvE. Research your municipality's website for any current subsidies for fietsenstallingen (bicycle storage) and present this information to the decision-makers. A well-researched proposal that includes a potential funding source is much harder to ignore. In parallel, tenants should investigate the alternative solutions provided by the municipality itself. Many large cities, such as Amsterdam and Utrecht, are actively investing in neighborhood-level secure bike parking, known as a buurtstalling. These are often converted shops or small garages where residents can rent a personal, numbered spot for their bicycle for a modest monthly fee (e.g., €10-€15). This provides a secure and insured parking space within a short walk of your home. For many tenants, renting a spot in a buurtstalling is the most immediate and practical solution to the bike storage problem.
