The aim of Fiets-en-Win is to promote cycling for trips to shopping concentrations. In addition Fiets-en-Win can contribute to improved use of available space in the free guarded parking facilities, according to Fietsberaad, as well as reducing the nuisance of bicycles parked in the street and promoting shopping trips to the town centre.
In Apeldoorn and Eindhoven a number of bicycle parking facilities has been provided with the system. Although Fiets-en-Win is quite similar in Apeldoorn and Eindhoven, there are some differences. First of all in the pass to be used in the parking facility. In Eindhoven the city pass that each resident receives anyway is used for that purpose. This pass contains a RFID-chip that can be read by a scanner. The Eindhoven city pass has many other applications, for instance payment of parking fees, disposal of household refuse and the bicycle parking system Lock’nGo. In Apeldoorn a free key ring with barcode is used. This can be obtained at any of the free guarded parkings in Apeldoorn.
The second difference is that in Apeldoorn Fiets-en-Win also serves as admission system to the guarded parking facility. It replaces the slips affixed to the bicycle and handed over to the cyclist. Instead a sticker with barcode is fixed to the bicycle. Upon entering the parking facility both key ring and sticker are scanned by parking staff. This combination is recorded in the parking computer. Upon leaving the parking the computer checks whether key ring and sticker on the bicycle are a match. Advantages to the cyclist: a key ring is not as easily lost as a paper slip and when the bike key is lost, the owner may be traced easily (provided he has registered). The advantage to local authorities is that more knowledge is gained in the use of the parking facilities and parking fees and parking length may for instance be adapted. If the trial is successful, the system is expected to be adopted in more towns.
See also: www.fiets-en-win.nl