The streets of Amsterdam are going to be changing! All in the center, though. They want to systematically reduce the number of parking spaces to make more room for bike lanes, sidewalks, and more greenery. Cycling in Amsterdam is going to be a lot better now!
Since the Dutch elections that happened recently, Amsterdam is currently being run by a coalition of left and centrist parties, where GroenLinks or the Green Left has the biggest majority. There was a promise made to reduce the number of parking spaces. Starting this summer, the plan is to reduce the number of people who will be permitted to park in inner city Amsterdam. The end goal is to remove at least 1,500 per year so that a total of 11,200 parking spaces are removed by the end of 2025.
How are they going to do this and what is going to become of the empty spaces?
Everyone who wants to park in the city centre needs a permit to have access to specific spaces. They are going to reduce these permits steadily, by not replacing any permits that were cancelled because the person moved to a new city, is no longer an owner of a car, or death. This should help in the backlash they will receive from car owners, as none of their permits will actually be revoked.
