

Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht - PieSquared
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/bicycle-parking-guidance-system-in-utrecht/

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PieSquared
It may also interest people here that the guidance system is written in
Haskell. I originally saw this on Reddit, where one of the authors provides a
bit more information on the technical aspects of the system [0].

[0]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/3959r0/haskellbased...](http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/3959r0/haskellbased_bicycle_parking_guidance_system_in/)

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trenchant
Thanks. I thought I noticed a Haskell logo sticker on that developer's laptop
in the photo...

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vdijkbas
That's me and my laptop :-)

As I mentioned in the reddit comments we're using Haskell for most parts of
the system (frontend via GHCJS, web application servers, protocol
implementations). For dev-ops we use the Nix ecosystem: NixOS & nixops.

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errtnsd
They also showed some outside parking places. Security is not a problem inside
but what about outside? Do the cameras serve a dual role, is the bike insured
against theft?

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Cthulhu_
No, bikes are almost never insured against theft, that's the person's own
responsibility (lock and chain), and even then sometimes you're just out of
luck. Having your bike stolen is one of the experiences every Dutchman has to
go through. That's also why there's a huge secondhand / cheap bike trade, or
why you won't see much expensive bikes in the big cities like that. And for
the few kilometers (if that) between your house and a train station, you don't
really need anything fancy either.

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errtnsd
I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway, I thought this would help protect
it.

I don't see any reason to use this service.

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furyg3
Not at a busy train station in Holland.

200+ bikes are removed _per day_ at Amsterdam's central train station for
being parked outside of the designated bicycle parking areas (e.g. sidewalks,
bridges, alongside the walls of the station). Even within the designated
areas, you usually have to be parked in a bike rack or your lock will be cut
and the bike removed.

At busy stations it would be great to know which one of the designated spots
you should bike towards. Biking farther away and walking for 3 minutes is much
better than guessing incorrectly, searching for a spot for 10 minutes, and
still having to walk for three minutes... especially when you need to catch a
train!

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errtnsd
Great argument. My country is much more relaxed when it comes to bike parking
( and stealing unfortunately ).

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mcv
Probably because your country doesn't have as many bikes as Netherland does.

In most places in Netherland, parking wherever you like is no big deal, but
there are places (train stations in particular) where bikes really need to be
restricted, or there'd be no room for anything other than bikes.

It's the same as with cars: the occasional randomly parked car is not a big
problem, but once you've got thousands of cars being parked all over the
place, it becomes time to restrict them to designated parking spots. It's no
different with bikes, except you need a lot more bikes to get to the point
where they become a problem. Dutch cities have that many bikes.

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hasperdi
I live in Utrecht and I think it's a waste of taxpayer's money. Too
complicated solution for a simple problem.

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matthewmacleod
What's the simpler solution?

