Hi guys,

I have a new job and now I have to commute between Rotterdam and Amsterdam every day, as the company offers me a free car I dont want to take the train but use the car. Do you know where you can find an affordable permanent parking in Amsterdam close to Amsterdam Lelylaan?

You may discover very quickly that public transportation is preferable to commuting by car, especially if you travel during rush hour and do not need your car during working hours.

Parking can cost about $30-35 a day plus gas you are losing money and time driving that route where everyone else would take the train.

Where do you work in Amsterdam - outer areas can have IME free on-street parking like in the Olympic Stadium area - park there and take the tram to your office or walk - right near an exit on the auto route from Rotterdam.

It's also only 42 minutes by ICD - InterCityDirect trains between Rotterdam Centraal and Amsterdam Centraal - much faster than driving, getting into congested Amsterdam and to a parking and then commuting to your work place.

Amsterdam has several secondary train stations that may be closer to your work place, like those near the WTC or World Trade Center. You'd have to change trains at Schiphol airport I think to get to them off the ICD however. but it's actually two minutes quicker to the Zuid-WTC station than to Amsterdam Centraal, even with the change of trains.

Is the car vs. train a personal taste issue or economics? Unless your company is offering you gas allowance also, the cost of gas+parking would exceed the train cost when you buy them as monthly or longer basis. That is, it is actually cheaper to just leave your free car in Rotterdam and pay for the train on your own. Not to mention you gain productivity as you can read/text, etc., while commuting on train.

PalenQ said it: IC direct will get you from Rotterdam to Schiphol in about 20 minutes, from there, change to Lelylaan.

Doesn't your company reimburse a parking fees?

There's a P&R location at Lelylaan. Kind of defeats the purpose I think. And you have to pay fees in Rotterdam as well, I suppose.

okay thanks for the feedback guys, probably you are right; part of my motivation to go by car was also to take my car and not pay for parking during the day in rotterdam, by the time i come back in the evening and on the weekend its for free. I know from an environmental perspective its not the best thing to do :/ My company reimbourses part of the parking fees yes, but I have to find one. I checked now on marktplaats and i ve found parkeerplekken (unfortunatley in Dutch only) and then also mobypark where i might have found a parking option close by to my office for 125€/month. So i might try this and if i get stressed by traffic too many times i will switch to the train and use the time to read a book instead.

In that case, use the P+R at Lelylaan. But it's 6 euro/day, so with 20 work days a month you'd be at 120 euros/month


But if you have a house in rotterdam you can apply for a permit there, can't you? that will give you a good rate in a "stallingsgarage".

another risk of driving - I have driven endlessly on the autobahns or whatever they call their freeways and in rush hour in the Amsterdam area you can get back-ups - the train will get you there dependably on time.

that is especially true for the A10 near Lelylaan.

by the way, the term is "snelweg".

autobahn is a german thing.

snelwegs IME can be become snail ways - especially at rush hours. I'd rather be relaxing, working, etc on a train than stuck in traffic any day.