Leiden is one of the cities where pedestrians can barely use the sidewalk. Everywhere there are and are a striking number of bicycles that are a thorn in the side of many a pedestrian and motorist. In the Sint Aagtenstraat you literally stumble over the “Mobility As a Service”From the local bicycle repair shop and there is no getting through for the Cityshuttle taxi driver.

Visitors park the car and are free with the City shuttle brought and taken to any location of your choice in the city center of Leiden. Leiden has a pleasant city center with a few large shopping streets and dozens of hidden boutiques, specialty shops and trinkets.

Parked bicycles with blue front tires are a nuisance

As we enter the street, we see the driver knocking over the bicycles that have been parked on the road. They all fall over and lie on the sidewalk and street with twisted wheels. The taxi driver tells our story and says that it is certainly not due to her driving skills, but urgently something needs to be done about the nuisance. The 'angry' lady blames a local bicycle repairman on the street for not doing anything about it herself and having dozens of bicycles roaming around the sidewalk.

“There is hardly any driving in the city center, bicycles are everywhere and the passage is insufficient, especially in the St Aagten Street.Said the taxi driver. 

Why would it be different in Leiden? It is a source of annoyance in all cities. The shared bicycles, scooters and scooters give the same picture everywhere. According to the municipality, parked bicycles cause a lot of nuisance: more than one in three people in Leiden (35%) regularly or often suffer from this, almost half (47%) sometimes find this annoying. When residents are asked to compare the situation in Leiden with other comparable cities in the Netherlands, in most cases Leiden scores worse than other cities.

Report to the municipality

Do you see an abandoned (broken) bicycle in Leiden? For example on the street or in a bicycle shed. Then report this to the municipality. This ensures that the bicycle is cleaned up. A bicycle is a wreck if it can no longer be ridden. For example because 1 or more parts are missing or broken. A flat tire does not turn a bicycle into a bicycle wreck. Bicycles that are not visibly broken, but have been left unattended on the street for a longer period of time ('orphaned bicycles'), the municipality may only clean up around Central Station.

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