In two Utrecht locations, the bike parking zones are overused, leading to a messy streetscape. There the bike parking zones are being discontinued and the previously removed bike racks are being reintroduced. In places where bike parking zones are being retained, some adjustments have been made to promote access for pedestrians and local residents, and to prevent bikes falling all over the place. In Zaandam, the municipality has removed some bike racks from the city centre and blue bike parking zones have taken their place. The municipality expected to discourage long-term bike parking. But after a year it turned out that the bikes parked in the blue zones hardly circulated. In order to make these bike parking zones truly available to shoppers, bikes can now only be parked for at most 4 hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. This is monitored by placing a label on the bike.
The bike parking zones which have been in use in Amsterdam for a number of years are generally satisfactory, though less effective when overloaded. Bike parking zones are now part of the streetscape in the Belgian town of Leuven. Some university faculties have tested them; the KU Leuven has established that bike parking zones certainly promote tidier bike parking habits