Tilburg local authorities strive for more intensive local bicycle use. In addition to providing qualitatively high-grade cycling connections a major factor for increasing bicycle use is being able to park bicycles at logical and safe locations. In the bicycle plan Tilburg Fietst! attention is therefore paid to parking bicycles and various policy initiatives are provided. Within the constraints of Fietsplan Tilburg 2005-2015 (2006) the current new bicycle parking plan pays ample attention to a further elaboration of bicycle parking policies for 2008-2015. The current situation as regards bicycle parking is still far from ideal. Many signals are received about bottlenecks in bicycle parking, particularly from the town centre. The number of unguarded bicycle parking provisions falls short as well. Due to the lack of sufficient unguarded parking provisions it is quite hard to ‘anchor a bicycle to something solid’. Partly in consequence of this, there are still too many bicycles stolen. Wrongly parked bicycles are obstructions for pedestrians, the handicapped and emergency services. Moreover, wrongly parked and broken, abandoned bicycles cause a derelict appearance. Tilburg intends to tackle current problems in a structured way and apply solution-focused measures that also address future (expected) developments. From the main objective of the new bicycle parking plan, seven subsidiary objectives have been derived: 1. accessibility of shops and facilities for cyclists are improved. 2. bicycles are parked neatly. The parking provisions, at the right locations and in sufficient numbers, will lead to less chaotic parking of bicycles. 3. by installing qualitatively high-grade bicycle parking provisions the number of bicycles stolen and/or damaged is reduced as much as possible. This encourages a greater sense of security. There will be firm quality criteria. 4. by installing qualitatively high-grade bicycle parking provisions near public transport stops cyclists are encouraged to use public transport more often and/or easier. By strengthening the position of cycling to or from public transport, the bicycle may become a more important element in chain mobility. 5. human-centred measures (communication and promotion, education, supervision and enforcement) are employed to get cyclists to use bicycle parking provisions at the right locations. Installing sufficient numbers of qualitatively high-grade parking provisions at the right locations also implies that cyclists are not allowed to park at certain locations. Dedicated space management is therefore part of the new bicycle parking plan. 6. in case of parking bicycles on private property, both at major origin locations (residences) and destinations (schools, companies), there should also be sufficient numbers of qualitatively high-grade bicycle parking facilities. For schools/pupils, students and residents in student housing, shoppers and people in public transport a dedicated policy will be developed. 7. social safety is improved in and near bicycle parking facilities. In order to reach these goals in the period 2008-2015 qualitative ambitions have been formulated and important policy decisions made for each subsidiary objective. Centre stage is for the principle of the human measure: local authorities match the measures proposed as much as possible to the natural behaviour of cyclists. Before drawing up the new bicycle parking plan the current situation regarding bicycle parking in Tilburg has been surveyed and analysed. The theft situation has been analysed as well and people’s opinions have been polled. A large-scale investigation has been conducted among users and non-users of the guarded parking facilities and other parking provisions, Stichting Stadskern has organised a digital debate on illegal parking of bicycles and a survey was held about bicycle parking provisions in the town centre on behalf of the citizens’ panel. For the districts Binnenstad, Oude Stad, West and North current volume and quality have been recorded and which adaptations will be necessary now and in future. The quality of current bicycle parking provisions is in general good, certainly when the so-called lean-to brackets are used. This type of parking system will become standard in the unguarded parking provisions. The quality of the guarded parking facilities is objectively considered even higher, as the users agree, too: they are in general extremely satisfied with the quality of the local parking facilities. The number of parking provisions needs to be substantially increased, however, particularly in the town centre. Major conclusions: - for Binnenstad as a whole there are currently 7.177 parking spaces available. Over the period up to and including 2015 an additional 2.063 extra spaces are required (guarded and unguarded). At short notice 834 and for the medium to long term 1.229 spaces. This would bring the overall number of parking spaces in Binnenstad to 9.240. - particularly near the pedestrian area in the town centre there is a need for a fine-meshed network of bicycle parking provisions. Within the framework of the reassessment of the pedestrian area in the town centre proposals will be made how to handle this. - to the north of Heuvelstraat there is a major need for unguarded parking provisions, whereas these are currently being removed (for instance in Willem II straat and more recently Telefoonstraat). The new guarded parking facility beneath Pieter Vreedeplein is not the solution for short-term parking, these cyclists will insist on parking along the approach roads to Heuvelstraat. - the problems in the vicinity of Piusplein are extreme, not only on cafe nights but also on regular weekdays and on Saturdays. An additional guarded parking facility is not necessary when in the redesign of Piusplein and city ring the design requirement ‘opportunity to park bicycles’ is included. - for the situation near Centraal Station additional research is advisable, certainly in light of the future developments in this zone. The capacity of the unguarded parking provisions is already insufficient, while there is a surplus in the guarded facility of NS. The reasons for this phenomenon should be investigated. If current ideas are confirmed (that the situation is due to the obsolete parking system in the guarded facility as well as the current charges) there should be consultations with NS in order to find a solution. For the districts Oude Stad, West and Noord 24 locations have been specified where capacity or quality upgrades are necessary. The new bicycle parking plan is therefore no longer intended only for Binnenstad. At present there are overall 5.623 parking spaces available in the districts Oude Stad. West and Noord. In the period up to and including 2015 an additional 2.825 parking spaces will be required (guarded and unguarded). In the short term 2.009 extra spaces will be needed (guarded and unguarded), in the medium to long term 616 extra spaces. There are at present 12.800 bicycle parking spaces overall in Tilburg, at short notice an increase by 2.843 spaces is desirable, in the medium to long term 2.045. Overall an increase by 4.888 parking spaces is desirable, resulting in 17,688 available bicycle parking spaces in Tilburg by 2015. Some solutions go for all the districts and as such for all of Tilburg. Particularly the so-called human-centred measures like communication and promotion, education, supervision, enforcement and the clearing of bicycles may be used all over the city. For that reason a lot of attention is paid to these issues in the new bicycle parking plan. The clearance policy has been completely revised: cleared bicycles will be stored at a better location near the town centre. The clearance crews may also be employed elsewhere in town and the AFAC method has been preferred to structurally tackle bicycle theft. For starters the AFAC method will be introduced in Binnenstad for two years, after which period the approach will be evaluated and a decision will be made whether this method is feasible and suitable for the rest of the town. The human-centred measures will be linked more strongly to infrastructural solutions. By preferring an integral approach a situation is created where the various measures reinforce each other. The following groups have been targeted for the so-called measures mix in the next few years: - school-age children and parking bicycles at schools; - students and parking bicycles at student housing and leisure locations; - shoppers; - travellers and bicycle parking at public transport stops. Since a measures mix is employed where various measures are to reinforce each other, it is imperative that all parties involved know in time which measures to take when. That means that there is to be control at the ‘overall level’, preferably by a single person: the cycling coordinator. For this task sufficient capacity is to be provided. At various moments it should be ascertained whether the number of bicycle parking provisions, their distribution and the quality provided are still in keeping with the needs and requirements made by local authorities. Data on developments in the field of bicycle theft should be gathered as well. All should be realised in any case at the end of the three terms specified in the bicycle parking plan: - short term 2008-2009 - medium term 2010-2012 - long term 2012-2015. In this way it is possible to respond adequately to current situations and measures may be taken before the start of the new term (or adaptations made to proposed measures). By working over a number of years with the same facts and figures it is easier to distinguish trends. The overall costs of the plan are not exactly known yet. These depend, among others, on whether the large-scale bicycle parking provisions can be fitted in the immediate vicinity of Piusplein and the construction of guarded or unguarded bicycle parking provisions at the future developments in the station area. On the basis of a cost estimate from the separate implementation programme 2008-2015 of the new bicycle parking plan total investment costs may run to € 1,751,400. The new bicycle parking plan includes an implementation programme with the measures to be taken and the relevant (estimated) costs for the period 2008-2015. The implementation programme for the short term (2008-2009) has been elaborated in more detail than that for the longer term (2013-2015). Interim monitoring may lead to adaptations in the implementation programme. For that reason the document has been added to the new bicycle parking plan as a separate attachment.