The mobile bike parking rack comes from Belgium where the initiative for its use arose in the Brugge municipality where there was a need for easy and quickly deployable bike parking facilities during events. This led to a design for a bike rack that can be transported in its entirety on a special trailer and can be quickly assembled without tools. The unit acquired by Enschede can accommodate 400 bicycles and was introduced during the promotion party for a free bike parking facility beneath the van Hekplein square in the town centre. That bike parking facility was inaugurated in 2003 and has just welcomed its two-millionth cyclist.
Meanwhile the municipality has started removing abandoned bicycles in the areas around the station. This measure freed up about 39% of the entire parking capacity around the station last year. Of almost 2000 bikes taken to the bike depot, only 2% were reclaimed by their owners. About 400 orphaned bicycles were refurbished and given to needy inhabitants, or were used for other projects.