APAG brings bike parking as a service to its Aachen car park

In summer 2019 parking operator APAG added bike parking to its car parks in Aachen. Its Bikeep smart bike parking station opened with 14 docks in the APAG car park at Galeria Kaufhof/City on Wirichsbongardstraße, in the city centre. For APAG it was a new service, with bike parking offered alongside car parking and run the same way.

"We are pleased that with this new technology we can enable cyclists safe and comfortable parking." Herbert Sliwinski, managing director of APAG

Parking a bike like parking a car

Riders opened the docks with APAG's local parking app, so cyclists used the same system as drivers. Parking cost €2 for 24 hours. Next to the docks, APAG charging lockers let riders charge an e-bike battery while they were in town.

How the docks work

• Fourteen docks. A steel bar locks each bike by the frame.
• Indoors and dry. The station sits inside the car park, out of the rain.
• Alarm. Every dock sounds an alarm if someone tampers with a locked bike.
• Camera. A camera watches the station.

Bike parking as a service

A car park operator already has the space, the payment systems and the staff. Adding bike docks lets it serve cyclists as well as drivers, without building anything new. Local paper Aachener Nachrichten covered the opening.

More on bike parking for cities.