Yes, that system in also in place in Eindhoven and enforced heavily at the station.
If they suspect that your bike has been abandoned it gets a sticker on the frame warning you when it will be removed at a certain date.
If it isnt abandoned you can just remove the sticker and that will be the sign that it's still owned and used. Otherwise it gets taken to a depot, and sold after a grace period of (I believe) a year.
It's all part of the station rework. They are going to use that space for housing.Looks like the construction made the taxi stand temporarily unreachable, so this appears to be the solution they came up with.
Edit: Worth noting that on the north side of the station there is an underground car parking garage, so it's not like they have removed all parking.
I do think the accessibility of the station is quite well balanced though. It's pretty clear that bike and bus are the main methods by which they expect you to come to the station, with taxi and car as an option.
There is a bit of a running joke in my city that if your bike got stolen you can buy one for five euros at the station. Just approach the guy with the bolt cutters.
Most bikes come with a frame lock for short stops, and they are usually paired with a chain lock for more security.
I would imagine the bikes that are not secured to a rack in the picture are locked twice. Personally I don't trust that at the station (too risky) and I always lock it to a rack with my chain lock
There is actually far more parking at this station than the image would imply.The parking lot on the north side is quite a bit larger (it has double height racks, and also recently got expanded). There is also another small lot on the south side, and two more underground bike parking garages as well.
They are also planning to rework the area around the station, the plans for which include a further expansion of the underground parking garages
The main issue with vignettes that I see, is that they don't charge more for driving more.
Yes, it stings when you have to pay for a vignette the one time you drive through a country on a roadtrip, but to anyone that lives in that country it is just a yearly expense that you pay once. Then afterwards you can drive as much as you want without it costing you a dime more.
I much prefer the mileage tax system where you either charge per vehicle mile driven (the NL is looking to introduce that as a replacement of the fuel tax), or per kilometer of toll road used (like the Peage in France).In that system it stings once, but it stings every susbequent trip as well. It is a bigger disincentive than the flat fee of the vignette.
I'm sure they've recently amped up the marketing on that front, but it is not strictly something new.
McDonald's and other fast food chains have always loved advertising that their ingredients are all European in European markets, because apparently people respond well to that.
It makes the food sound more premium than it actually is, I guess.
You can substitute your McDonald's purchases with purchases at the Quick. They are a Belgian chain.
I kind of wish they would expand up north into the NL. Instead I've had to learn self control and not go to a fast food restaurant when I get a craving for a mediocre burger.
I'm Dutch, but I don't live in a place that is particularly affected by these explosions, nor am I an expert on the matter.. but I'll drop my two cents, based on my reading of the situation
These explosions are happening in cities like Rotterdam and the Hague. They are places that traditionally have gang/mafia activity.From my understanding a lot of the explosions are related to underworld dealings. It's possible that there is some petty conflicts as well, but the individuals are almost always connected to the underworld somehow.
It's also worth noting that in the NL (as I imagine it happens in other places?) crime tends to come in waves.Criminals figure out a new effective method to commit crime. The police and institutions scramble at first in order to deal with it. Then eventually they figure out an effective method in order the combat the issue. After which criminals lose interest and either the problem moves to a different location, or they change tactics.
Edit: The article also mentions that "the use and possession of fireworks generally are also laxer in the Netherlands."This is simply not true. The kinds of fireworks that are legal in the NL are much more restricted than they are in Belgium and Germany, and you can only legally purchase and use it leading up to New Year's Eve.
The dangerous stuff is illegally imported from Belgium and Germany.
It's primarily NAS software, with a form of software raid functionality built in.I like it mainly because it works well and the GUI makes is very easy to use and work with.
On top of that you can run VMs and docker containers, so it is very versatile as well.
I use it to host the following services on my network:
Nextcloud
Jellyfin
CUPS
It costs a bit of money up-front, but for me it was well-worth the investment.
Cool. I'll think of that when another F150 is parked both on the sidewalk and bikepath because it can't fit the parking spot.
These things are simply too large for European roads. And that is not even mentioning the road safety concerns.
A work truck does not have to be such a behemoth of a vehicle in order to be a practical work vehicle. You can get safer and smaller pickup trucks that can haul the same amount(Or at the very least those used to exist)
Yes, that system in also in place in Eindhoven and enforced heavily at the station.
If they suspect that your bike has been abandoned it gets a sticker on the frame warning you when it will be removed at a certain date.
If it isnt abandoned you can just remove the sticker and that will be the sign that it's still owned and used. Otherwise it gets taken to a depot, and sold after a grace period of (I believe) a year.