Amsterdam removing almost 12,000 parking spots
Amsterdam will start eliminating inner city parking spaces to give the space back to cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users. The Dutch city will count 11,200 parking spots fewer by the end of 2025. The freed-up space will be repurposed for trees, bike parking and wider pavements.
Cycling city Amsterdam will start eliminating inner city parking spaces to give the space back to cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users. The Dutch city will count 11,200 parking spots fewer by the end of 2025.

Amsterdam announced that it will systematically strip its inner city of parking spaces. Starting this summer, the city aims to reduce the number of parking permits in the city centre by 1,500 per year. In addition, the cost for the permits will rise. Today, they can already amount to close to €500 a year for the inner city streets.

Both measures must result in less parking space occupied and less demand for parking spaces in the city centre. This will allow the city to remove up to 11,200 parking spaces from its streets by the end of 2025.

This policy will strengthen Amsterdam’s pro-bike vision, since the freed-up space will be repurposed for trees, bike parking and wider pavements. Moreover, it comes as a logical measure considering Amsterdam’s cycling reputation, since only 22% of the journeys in the cycling city are done by cars, while they in fact still own the majority of the public space. Therefore, to put things right, some car space will be given back to the majority of the road users: cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users.