"Park in the shop? You can, with a folding bicycle!"

Sam Friday has shelves full of colourful lingerie as well as lounge and swimwear. The sporty Dutch brand is especially popular among young women, with the comfortable items of clothing promoting an active lifestyle. Store manager Anita de la Haye embodies this both in the shop and outside of it: for the past few weeks, she has been using a Maastricht Bereikbaar folding bicycle. It's quick and convenient, because she can park her bicycle in the shop. ‘After a day's work, I can quickly grab it and be on my way!’

Breath of fresh air

‘In the summer, I travel by scooter from Wahlwiller. That's about 30 minutes of travel for me. It's a good start in the morning and a breath of fresh air in the evening. During winter, it's too cold and especially too dark for cycling. That's when I need to travel by car. It's on those days that I miss the fresh air after a day's work in the shop. The folding bicycle gives me that sense of freedom in the fresh air. I hop on it and I'm off! My car is parked and waiting for me at P+R Maastricht Noord. I can park there for free, so that's an added bonus.’

Clever storage

‘As an entrepreneur, you do anything to improve the atmosphere in and around the shop. This means I never park my bicycle in front of or close to a shop. Instead, I always prefer to use the official bicycle-parking facilities. The benefit of the folding bicycle is that I can practically cycle it to the front door of the shop. On weekdays, I fold it up and put it in a dressing room. During busy weekends, she stores the bicycle upstairs. It was rather inconvenient to begin with, but I'm getting the hang of it. And at the end of the day, I definitely know it will still be there.’

Extra P+R location

‘P+R Maastricht Noord is a bit off-route for me, so I would love it if a new location were added. If it's raining, then you can catch a bus in no time. My folding bicycle is a great addition for more options to travel. It's also a lot more comfortable than I imagined it would be. At the end of the day, it's still a folding bicycle, but it's fine for cycling on. So all round, there are plenty of benefits!’

If you would like to try out the folding bicycle for your commute, please see maakdebeweging.nl for more information.