De Fietsambassade clears bicycles commissioned by De Stad Gent on public domain and on private domain commissioned by the owner.
Why are bicycles cleared?
There are several reasons why we clear bicycles:
- Bicycles that were parked in a temporary bicycle storage. This is always announced with a sign.
- Bicycles that were parked in a bicycle storage that had to be cleared for an event, construction or for another reason. We announce this at least 1 week before with signs. Only in urgent matters are bicycles cleared short-term. In these cases De Fietsambassade will give you a safe lock in case we had to cut the old one in order to remove your bicycle.
- Abandoned bicycles or bicycle wrecks that needlessly take up space. These are bicycles that look neglected or left behind. More information on this can be found later on this page.
What happens to cleared bicycles and how can you retrieve them?
Bike point employees pick up student bikes and bring them to Bike point Kattenberg where you can pick them up.
Other rented bicycles from De Fietsambassade are picked up and brought to Bike point Gent Sint-Pieters.
All other cleared bicycles are brought to the Bike Depot where they are kept for 3 months. This is the legal retention period. You can go search for your bicycle yourself with the help of one of our employees. Make sure to take the key of your lock with you or some other way to prove that the bicycle is yours.
Is your bicycle marked? Then it's even easier. As soon as we find it, we invite you to the Bike Depot to come pick it up.
How do we determine what bicycles are abandoned?
We label bicycles that look neglected or left behind. This mostly happens at the handlebars. After 3 weeks we check to see if the label is still there. If it is, this shows that the bicycle hasn't been used and we pick it up.
Have you seen an abandoned bicycle? Let us know with your smart phone using Meldingsapp Gent. You can download it in the Google Play app (Android users) or the iOS app store (iOS users).
What about bicycle clearing at train stations?
At the NMBS stations Gent Sint-Pieters and Dampoort there's a check 3 times a year. A bicycle can only be parked there for 3 weeks at a time. All bicycles then get a label around the rear wheel. After 3 weeks we pick up the bicycle where the label was not ripped (which means it wasn't used).
Bicycles that are cleared from bicycle storages under or around station Gent Sint-Pieters are kept by APCOA commissioned by NMBS. Contact APCOA via +32 (0)473 33 89 11.