Saying goodbye to bicycle gutters?

I was not expecting a large amount of press coverage on bicycle gutters at train stations, but it makes sense given that this is the Netherlands. ProRail, in a weird move, based on their internal investigation and reports, has a new policy where no bicycle gutters will be installed at staircases in new or renovated stations. These gutters are channels at the side of staircases designed to fit bicycle wheels, allowing you to push your bicycle up and down the stairs. They can be found at many stations in the Netherlands, except for the recently renovated Ede-Wageningen and Groningen stations, where ProRail advises cyclists to rely on the elevator or ramps, where available.

The decision to omit bicycle gutters came from reports of accidents on the stairs, especially when crowded or with heavier bicycles, ProRail has said. The Dutch railway manager, ProRail, has been working on improving the accessibility at stations with ramps, elevators, tactile paving, and other measures to meet their independent accessibility guidelines. They’ve set a goal for all stations to meet this standard by 2030. This then makes the alternative to using bicycle gutters seem not so bad, in theory.

However, elevators are slower to use, especially when having to wait in a queue behind travelers who actually need to use them. Elevators at stations are also known to be out of order for long periods. As of this year, ProRail has partnered with Reisinformatiegroep and OpenGeo to make elevator statuses publicly available through an API. This information has already been incorporated into the NS app, and other platforms. While helping passengers plan for broken elevators, this doesn’t solve the problem of it being their only proper way of navigating the station.

Passengers with bicycles have been avoiding this guidance at Groningen, where tire tracks were seen on stairs, RTV Noord reports a few passengers struggling to carry their bicycles up and down the stairs as the station reopened after renovations with out of order elevators. Their coverage also includes images of what these bicycle gutters look like at many other stations, if you’ve not seen or noticed them before, including Utrecht Centraal, Zwolle, Amsterdam Amstel, and Martenshoek. The lack of bicycle gutters at the Ede-Wageningen station after the renovations was also mentioned in the NS forum in May of last year when a member shared how an elderly lady struggled to carry her bicycle up the stairs when the elevator was out of order.

Passenger and cyclist associations, Rover and Fietserbond, have been speaking up about the lack of gutters and the difficulty this causes travelers. ProRail has said they are in discussions with various organisations on this new policy and will communicate any changes.