For cyclists, looking for a legal parking space for their bikes is a hassle in bike-city Amsterdam. But those who haven’t learned their lessons yet and insist on parking at the wrong places are warned: Amsterdam plans to raise fees for wrongly-parked bikes to €30.

Once implemented, Amsterdam will be the highest in Netherlands to charge for the service, a position currently being held by The Hague which is charging €25 to cyclists. At present, Amsterdam charges €10 for reclaiming bikes and €20 for home delivery.

City Council said the increased fees will help the city recover €1m in losses for running the service every year. Last year, the council made €639,000 for returning, selling and recycling the 73,000 bikes it removed.

However, many residents of Amsterdam believe that the system itself is flawed. Here are some observations and suggestions to improve the system:

• Free up designated bike parking spaces of long-abandoned bikes which take up precious space
• Improve bike-friendliness by creating more bike racks and legal bike parking spaces
• Put up a system similar to parking metres to limit how long bikes can be parked

Do you agree that raising fees is the best way to solve the bike parking problem in Amsterdam? Share your thoughts below.