Two Saturdays ago I had two appointments scheduled in the afternoon. First with Joe Peach, contributor of ThisBigCity, who was traveling around the Netherlands to do research for his upcoming Masters dissertation. He studies Sustainable Communities and the Creative Economy and his dissertation explores how cycling infrastructure encourages social sustainability in cities.

Suffice to say, Joe had a few questions for me, we went through a whole range of topics regarding the benefits of cycling and hopefully it made a contribution to his body of knowledge. I for one am looking forward to reading up on it, when the time comes. We rode off, he went east, I had only a short bit to cover, so said goodbye at De Waag on Nieuwmarkt, the proper ‘bike blogger’ way ;).

Next, I met up with Anthony Robson, the cycling lawyer of CityCycling from Edinburgh, Scotland. His online magazine is well known in the blogosphere & as it turned out, expectantly, he and his wife were a delight to talk to. Because of time constraints we didn’t get to ride together, but they shared their experiences with me over some good beers at their hotel bar.

Allow me to quote Anthony’s take on cycling in Amsterdam verbatim, as its premise is not unlike others, but most others don’t look beyond it like he did. From his post ‘Anthsterdam‘:

Ah, Amsterdam. Cycling utopia, land of the free, an orange canvas of criss-crossed canals and segregated safe cycle lanes where everyone and their dog (literally) cycles in an airy manner reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn. Erm. It doesn’t necessarily help to paint such a picture before you visit a place, but it’s safe to say that I’d managed to do that before going to Amsterdam, and found myself brought back to earth with a bump.

I have to admit that a bitingly cold March weekend, with temperatures starting in the minus side of the celsius scale, probably isn’t the best time to try cycling in a new city for the first time, but when in ‘Dam… And so it was, the first morning after arriving in the city, we visited the local bike hire emporium (with a chap behind the counter who was half ‘dammer, half Whitby, and spoke with a fabulous Dutch/Yorkshire crossover, I kid you not). ‘Granny’ bikes procured, a segregated canalside lane opposite, we pushed off into the upright ‘normal clothed’ world of cycling.

I can recall perfectly my first impressions which were, in order, this is so flat, superb!; my fixed wheel has a bigger gear than this; and bugger, who has priority at this junction coming up…?

The segregation had ended and we were thrust onto the mean streets. This was the first surprise realisation. Segregation of cyclists in Amsterdam is not quite as widespread as we might be lead to believe whenever a debate springs up in the UK about how other countries do things, and more pertinently, how they do things ‘better’. The second surprise was just how closely the motorised traffic would follow you, and pass you, when you weren’t in your segregated haven. This was becoming more stressful than I had ever imagined, and my better half, who cycles infrequently back home primarily because of traffic fears, but who loved a jaunt around Copenhagen, and even Paris, on a bike was looking decidedly uncertain about our choice to cycle for the day.

It didn’t really let up. Roads shared with cars, trams and scooters just created a constant ‘buzz’, and as for the pedestrians (tourists mainly, it has to be said) stepping out in front of you… I used the bell on my handlebars more int he first five minutes of riding than I have the rest of my cycling career. And then Mel saw a scooter rider elbow a moving cyclist out of the way to squeeze by as a tram was passing both. And I almost ended up in the side of a Mini that pulled out in front of me (at the time I didn’t realise the rule was to give way to traffic coming from your right and had blithely assumed, once more through ill-informed ‘facts’ given about cycling in Amsterdam, that cars were always looking out for bikes and ceding passage to them all the time).

What had happened to my dreams of a cycling utopia? That evening we met up with Marc van Woudenberg, the man behind Amsterdamize. And so began the education. He immediately seized on the recounted experiences and simply stated, “You’re riding like a Brit.” Strangely this made sense, not much more explanation was needed. In the UK when a driver is sitting right on your tail, or squeezing through an impossible gap, it’s done so with a veneer of aggression. In Amsterdam, if you don’t move to the right for a car behind to be able to squeeze through then that car will simply drive behind you and (usually) not get annoyed. True, we heard a few exasperated horns, but in the UK if everyone rode in a Franklin-primary down narrow streets the sound of horns would build to a cacophony.

For two hours cycling was discussed with Marc, the comparisons between the Netherlands and the UK and Denmark and the US. And after availing myself of the notion that the Netherlands are not the UK, it was also made clear that they are not Denmark either. They may be another bastion of upright daily people who cycle, rather than ‘cyclists’, but the way they go about it is different. In Amsterdam there aren’t the ‘green phase’ light sequences that favour bikes, or, as already pointed out, the proliferation of segregated lanes (Marc pointed out that they are put ‘where needed’). The riders are much more geared up to cycling ‘with’ the traffic, with an eye always on the errant pedestrians. It actually, bizarrely, almost felt like a British infrastructure (granted, the BEST that Britain could offer, with no ‘Cyclists Dismount’ signs and the like) partnered with a Dutch ‘go with the flow’ attitude that extends into the drivers.

It’s hard to put into words, but the phrase ‘organised chaos’ springs to mind more readily when thinking of cycling in Amsterdam. Copenhagen is a ballet; Amsterdam a rave.

The following day we reverted to bipedal transport, but I was paying closer attention to the cyclists. Watching interactions. Taking account of styles. And it all started to slot into place. You could see the directions that cyclists were looking as they approached an intersection; and you could see the drivers looking in that same way, but (and this is a key difference) the drivers slowed down more, taking account of the fact that their field of vision was somewhat more obscured. Yes, they were still riding what I would consider far too close toa cyclist in front, but as soon as they came to a crossroads the cyclist would steal a march, and the driver would be left to play catch-up again.

There were rules. And those rules are completely different from ‘laws’. For example, red lights seem entirely advisory to cyclists. The day before I had indulged in a little experiment. The riders ahead had all gone through red lights, and I had followed, copying their slowing down and checking before carrying on. Something I would never do in the UK (run the red light, that is). And then I decided to stop at one. A curious thing happened, the 7 or 8 riders behind me also stopped. I couldn’t quite fathom it at the time, but I wonder if, over and above the ‘human sheep’ response there was a belief that I had stopped for a reason and therefore they would be better stopping as well.

Here the rule (being careful) was actually more important than the law (stop every time). Sometimes the two coincided, but it was always the former that took precedence. Pedestrians were still, and ever, an issue. Stepping out constantly (though to be fair the pavements were incredibly often covered in parked bikes), the sound of the bell is more ever-present than the car horn back in the UK.

But there was one last thing that struck me as I pondered the quandary that is Amsterdam cycling (and no, it wasn’t a bike). No matter where or when a bike ran a red light; or used a pavement as a convenient cut-through shortcut; or dinged a bell at a pedestrian in the way; no-one complained. No-one raised their voice. No-one even raised an eyebrow. I’m sure it must happen sometimes, but it was accepted as being part of the way bikes operate in the city. As Marc had put it the night before, they are not cyclists but rather pedestrians who simply move a bit faster. Or as my friend back in the UK, David Gardiner, a recumbent rider with years of experience on the roads of the Netherlands, coined a phrase, bikes are shoes to the Dutch.

Comfortable shoes at that. A Brit in Amsterdam just needs to break them in.

Good stuff, well observed & insightful, thanks Anthony! To extend on it: the (historic) downtown area is basically 60% sharing the road (which means people on bikes dominate cars), 20% bicycle-only & 20% segregated. Downtown, car speeds are low and access restricted. So the more you venture outside the city center (where you’ll cross paths with arterial routes into town), the more segregated bicycle infrastructure you’ll see.

In general, when we talk about overall implementation/application of bicycle infrastructure (up to code) in the Netherlands, Amsterdam is not the yard stick, because its grid, history & car route/access dynamics are different from most other cities. Yes, Amsterdam does use the same building code as the rest of the country, but it applies it differently.

Regarding the ‘rules’: Anthony is absolutely spot on. Yes, people will run red lights, I do too, when the volume of traffic allows it, and if often does.

Lots of visitors stare in wonder at the ‘organized chaos’, as in: “How come they don’t crash into each other?”, I answer accordingly: “They don’t because they grow up biking and never stop. They’re skilled and the key thing to their effortlessness is that they’re good at anticipating traffic, specially other people on bicycles.” Add to that that car drivers also cycle, and you have a situation where people on bicycles are taken seriously.

This video from this post gives a good impression of that.

You have to see if for yourself to understand it. It helped Joe & Anthony in different ways, but from equally important angles. Hopefully they’re able to translate their experience to something valuable in their realm. If needed, we can always ride some more ;). Cheers, mates!

At some point I got a call from my friend Gabemac: “This weather is nuts. Whaddaya up to?” “I’m hitting the city, playing catch up with the blog.” “Wanna walk around together? I’m bringing my camera, too.” “Of course, dude, come on over.”

I finished my coffee, watching the neighborhood coming to life.

Morning Feeding Time

Then 15 minutes later…

My Accomplice Arrives

And off we went.

Leaving Mr & Ms To Bask In The Sun

Cutting Through The RLD

Train

Buying Flowers & Owning Flowers

Forgot His Gloves

Bipedal & An Act Of Three (III)

Casual Chic Attack

Follow The Red Tarmac Road

Rare Species

Sunday Suit & Secret Service

Bipedal

He Also Takes Pictures Of People On Bicycles

Spot The Tourists

Purple Haze & (No) Thought

Jolie

Two Going Up & Two Going Down

hAMSter Weeks

Practical, Spots A Spot & Parks It

Just The Three Of Us, Gezellig.

#BikeAMS & Daddy-Son-Dog-Mum (II)

Yeah, Seriously?

I Always Smoke A Cigar & Read A Book When I Ride My Bike & MMM

Urban Camouflage

TXT (VII)

Red Lady In Red

Leaving & Arriving

Legs, Pedals, Rail

Penny For Your Thought & Front Row

Porcelain Is Boring

She Doesn’t Do Sit-Ups

Sunny Chic & Comfy

Color Splash

Into The Darkness

Tubes & Spokes

Practical Petit & Carry On

And Then She Smiles

She Does Art

Handlebar Talk

Chauffeur & Passenger

The Bearable Tightness Of Bike Parking

Him & Her

I saw Haley, a friend, ride by, going too fast to acknowledge & yell ‘hi’…well, I could have opted NOT to take this pic, of course :)

Fun Two

Later on our friend Rose joined us, who always adds flavor to any day. Not coincidently, she wrapped up in style.

Peace, Out

Yes, a picture perfect day. Bring it on, spring.

Humans and their pets. One thought that comes to mind is that we mostly treat ‘m like humans. In good & bad ways, but let’s go for the majority vote, the good. A snippet from a municipal policy guideline:

No city can really thrive without animals. Animals represent an important part of our community. As companions, as an endangered species and sometimes as a source of nuisance.
By connecting the interests of users (humans and animals) of the public space and align these with each other, we’ll be able to create a more harmonious co-existence. The municipal welfare policy should not only represent the human vision, but also give animals a voice. There needs to be recognition that animals shouldn’t be viewed primarily on the basis of their meaning, usefulness or the damage they possibly cause to humans, but that they should be assessed on their value as living beings.

Isn’t it striking how one can so easily replace the above subjects with ‘people on bicycles’ & ‘car drivers’, to describe a virtually equal objective? Or for that matter, ‘people on foot’ & ‘transit’? Exactly. I could now veer off into an expose on how equality has prevailed in everyday traffic & policies in the Netherlands, but I won’t.

In these pictures you can easily see the ‘chain reaction’ of positive bicycle policies & promotion at work. The more human you treat your city landscape (by design), the more inviting and inspiring it is for people to act accordingly. Cycling is dealt with as a faster way of walking, so that gets facilitated appropriately. Cycling becomes the norm, then the most normal thing in the world: not giving it another thought. With the ease of cycling comes the natural selection of applications, aka: what can I do on my bike? The options are almost limitless. And pets, well, they form just one extension of those applications. Thus, people are able to seamlessly have their pets join them on their A2B routes, regardless of time & place (& weather).

In short: nobody will look funny at you. Better yet, people copy behavior. And who wouldn’t want to copy this, right?

And why not add ‘The Chase’, while I’m at it. And click here if you wanna see me ride around with my parents’ Jack Russel named ‘Beau’.

You may remember this post from last fall, Le Grand Départ, in which I showcased my lovely Lauren, leaving the house & getting on her bicycle. Simple, mundane but beautiful. To me, anyway.

To recap, she dressed (up) for the occasion/destination (a night out with friends/cafes, clubs), stepped out, unlocked her bike, walked her bike to the bridge and set off. It was a beautiful evening, not too cold, no wind, all perfect to enjoy the ride, even more than usual that month.

Fast forward to a week ago. One nasty Saturday. Cold, heavy winds, non-stop rain, a real downpour. Now, to show you more than one side of the coin, here’s an updated version of that series: ‘Le Grand Départ…quand il pleut’ (The Grand Departure…when it rains).

Where she was going, you ask? Again a social occasion: a bachelorette party, which required her to go all over town and take all kinds stuff with her. She dressed to a T once again…the only thing different was she put on my rain coat. “Way too big, but it is way more practical”, she said.

Hence her smiling, despite the rain. :)

It’s uneventful and a given, but I share what I enjoy and last night was nice. On our way to a cafe for pre-dinner drinks, Lauren and I cycled along the Amstel River and the mild temperature allowed me to whip out my iPhone to record a little something. With her family back in the US in mind and Amsterdamize, of course.

An hour and a half later we rode on, into De Pijp. A little damp, but a very nice ride. Hardly any car traffic, soothing, adding to an already good mood.

We turned into Albert Cuypstraat (which during the day has a buzzing market) and parked right outside Turkish restaurant Bazar.

Convenient, as it goes in a bicycle-friendly country.

Mikael recently published a set of 49 pictures called ‘Bicycles: Cyclists Signalling* a Turn or a Stop‘, 48 of which he took in Copenhagen, 1 in Amsterdam. Two examples, one of a stop & one of a turn:

Given the similarities of our two bicycle cultures (which also includes drinking habits), I figured I could match that, so I roamed my archives and found out I had the opportunity to top that figure by 1..call it symbolism :) (and I’ll get to cycling & drinking some other time).

As you obviously figured out on your own, Amsterdammers & Copenhagenianerannersuskjuians (freely translated from a Dane’s mouth chewing on raw herring with pickles) have the signaling in common, but the Dutch don’t do and have never done the stop sign. We don’t miss that, what we have works for us. Stopping just needs a little anticipation, a quick scan of your environment and it’s fine to do so. No fuss.

Or…you could just argue that the Danes are more polite, in conversation (less blunt) and in this case, regarding gesturing to their fellow human beings – leaving out the middle finger phenomenon. But…then you could counter that the Dutch are more laissez-faire, no-nonsense. Which in turn are generalizations that probably have some truth to them, but don’t do little nuances any justice. Nuances like that people on bikes in Amsterdam are so intuitive in traffic, they don’t need to read a whole lot of body language to see what’s going on or going to happen. [...] Oh right, ‘body language’. No no no, I’m not even touching that sexist filth called ‘Cycle Chic’. Ugh, what is he on, right?!? People in normal clothes on normal bikes (or vacuum cleaners, as he calls them) going from A to B, chatting about livable urban utopias and what not. Pff, you’re not fooling me.

Anyway. For those who can’t be bothered to take a look at the rest of my specially arranged photo set, here are a few more:

Oh wait, about that ‘cycling & beer’ thing;

It’s not my kind of beer, but it is my town & exactly my spirit. Now, can somebody direct me to København’s equivalent? :p

* ‘Signalling’ is British spelling. Mikael is half British, half Dane. ‘Signaling’ is North American spelling. My girlfriend is from the US…yup, that’s my excuse.

Top photo: ‘Ayuntamiento de San Sebastian’. Courtesy (cc) of Fernando Arconada /

The bicycle will be San Sebastian’s official vehicle if designated European Capital of Culture for 2016. Orbea, a Spanish bicycle manufacturer, will participate with San Sebastian 2016 in projects combining business, culture, research, innovation and creativity, placing the focus on joint collaboration in developing new business and artistic initiatives.

Photo ‘Mastiles y bicicletas’. Courtesy (cc) of ‘Bichuas‘.

I quote from the official press release:

For years now, San Sebastian City Council has been leading the way in sustainable mobility policies promoting the bicycle as a method of transport in its committal to a healthy city and lifestyle, values shared by Orbea and the cultural programme designed for San Sebastian 2016. This is based on the ability of culture to transform as an essential element for consolidating coexistence in European cities.

San Sebastian also leads the way in the network of bike-friendly cities, an organisation fostering the use of this means of urban transport which contributes to developing strategies permitting public administrations to be more efficient in promoting bikes.

Photo ‘donosti_9162f’. Courtesy (cc) of ‘Rafa Espada‘.Photo ‘bike lane’. Courtesy (cc) of ‘
Mike_el Madrileño‘.

Donostia, as the city is called in Basque, has been indeed a pioneering city in Spain in terms of bicycle policies. Back in 2008 the city refurbished a 850m long old train tunnel as a bicycle path that links different parts of town. Here’s a little video showcasing this fine example of bicycle infrastructure.

Top photo: ‘In the snow’. Courtesy (cc) of Saskya

Amsterdam has about 750.000 inhabitants, roughly 1.5 million in the city proper an urban population of 1,364,422 and a metropolitan population of 2,158,372. The cycling rate downtown is 55% (more bike than car trips since 2007, if you don’t count pre-war & shortly post-war rates), the rate for the greater city hovers around 40%.

Photo ‘llibreria – bookstore – Amsterdam – HDR’. Courtesy (cc) of MorBCN.

The national modal share for bicycles for all trips is 27%. When I mention ‘cycling rate’ or ‘modal share’, we’re talking about cycling by all people of all ages, both sexes (women a few % more than men), not the popular category ‘bicycle commuters’ mostly known elsewhere.

Let me restate that Amsterdam is NOT exemplary for the Netherlands & for what can be done. Yes, it’s quite good, you won’t hear me really complain (give or take a few issues that will be covered soon). Yes, it is still the #1 yard stick for many capitals/major cities around the world which look for guidance & inspiration and it will probably fulfill that role for years to come.

Photo ‘Frosty Amsterdam’. Courtesy (cc) of Ben.

Just for my favorite wonks (yes, you, you know who you are), I’ll continue, using the Fietsersbond’s (Cyclists Union) latest data wrap up ‘Cycling in Figures‘:

There is a lot of cycling going on in the Netherlands. In no other country in the world with similar levels of prosperity do people cycle this much. The Dutch cycle mainly because they find it a comfortable and reliable means of transportation: 84% of Dutch people have a positive opinion about the bike. Of the regular cyclists 95% considers it positive and even more than half of non-cyclists have a favorable opinion. Dutch give the bike the following qualities: quiet, no aggravation, be by yourself, no delays, always on time and it’s cheap. Independence and flexibility are highly valued, only slightly less than the car (Source: Min. I & M KIM)

Photo ‘Dutch Biker’. Courtesy (cc) of ‘Stuck in Customs‘.

A quarter of all our movements and a third of all trips up to 7.5 km are by bike. That’s more than 4.5 billion annual bike rides. In doing so, we cover 15 billion km. On average, a Dutchman rides 300 journeys every year, well over 900 km. In total, the Dutch cycle nearly 200 billion kilometers every year. 75% of all journeys are by car, 9% by train, 8% by bike, 3% by bus, tram and subway, 2% on foot and 3% by other means (moped, motorcycle, etc.)

Photo ‘…Weekend…’. Courtesy (cc) of AmsterS@m – The Wicked Reflectah.

Who cycle?
In the Netherlands almost everyone cycles: young and old, men and women, rich and poor, car owners and those without. 13.5 million Dutch people (84%) have one bike, or more (est. total of 18 million bikes). Women cycle slightly more often than men, natives far more than immigrants.

Photo ‘School Bus The Dutch Way’. Courtesy (cc) of Akbar Simonse.

When do Dutch people cycle?
Dutch people cycle a lot. Of course there is more cycling in the summer than in the autumn and winter. But cycling rates also vary between days of the week. On an average working day, 5 million people make an average of 14 million cycle journeys. Monday and Thursday are the top days with a million more journeys than on the other days of the week. On Saturday, 11.5 million cycle journeys are made, and on Sunday 6.5 million.

Through the week, between 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening, more than a million cycle journeys are made each hour. The high point is between 8 and 9 in the morning with 1.75 million cycle journeys during the hour. In that hour, many journeys to work and school are made, and more bicycles are in use than cars. Cycling on a typical week-day:

David Hembrow picked up on all of this as well (naturally) and he continues:

“The scale of cycling in the Netherlands is quite phenomenal. If you go out, at any time of the day or night, you’re not unusual, but are joining with a mass of other cyclists making their journeys. It’s impossible to travel far on a bike without seeing other cyclists. I don’t think I’ve ever made it further than 200 metres from my home (in a 100 m long cul-de-sac) before seeing at least one bike. Riding a bike is not in any way a political statement. It’s just normal.

Photos ‘(T)Rusty Companion’ & ‘A Bike’s A Bike’ by Amsterdamize.

The figures above are national figures, applying to the whole country. The Netherlands has a population of 16.7 million people. That’s just twice the population of London or New York. However, the cycling rate of the country as a whole is far higher than that of cities in other countries. By comparison, treating the country as a “city”, the people here are spread out at a remarkably low density of just 400 per square kilometre, vs. 4800 per square kilometre in London or 10000 people per square kilometre in New York.

Photo ‘L1020421′. Courtesy (cc) of Guido van Nispen.

However, despite having the advantage of high density and the resulting short journey lengths, neither of these cities manage more than a small fraction of the cycle usage of this whole country. London has only around 2% of journeys by bike, and New York even less at only around 0.6% of commutes. In neither of those cities would you find masses of school children riding at any time. (more about population density and cycling)

Photo ‘Dutch Family’. Courtesy (cc) of danihernanz.

The difference comes down to infrastructure which invites you to cycle. Cycling is not a difficult thing to decide to do in the Netherlands.

I’ve several posts about what brought this level of cycling about. Key to it all is of course a high degree of subjective safety.”

Photo ‘Amsterdam Cycle Chic’. Courtesy (cc) of Mikael Colville-Andersen.

How far do we cycle?
An average bike ride is a little over 3 km and takes a little less than 15 minutes. 75% of all bike rides is less than 3.7 km. Between 1 and 4 km, the bicycle is the most important means of transportation. Up to 1 kilometer walking is the primal mode, and when traveling over 4 km the car is dominant. For distances up to 20 km people cycle more than they take the train or bus.

Photo ‘Street’. Courtesy (cc) of Hans van Reenen

Are you faster by bike in the city?
In the city, people on bikes arrive at their destination on average 5% faster than car drivers. In larger cities (more than 100,000 inhabitants) they are 10% faster. For trips with distances up to 3 km the bicycle almost always wins, usually not up from 4 km. That’s including parking and walking to the entrance of your destination (Source: Fietsbalans-2).

Photo ‘Parking…..”. Courtesy (cc) of Iam sterdam.

How important is the bike for our travel needs?
For most purposes the bicycle is an important means of transportation. For example, the bicycles accounts for half of the trips to school and university, one quarter of trips to work and over one quarter of the trips to the store.

Reasons for using a bicycle for transportation:
Going to work: 25%
Business appointment: 11%
Services/personal care: 18%
Shopping: 28%
School: 50%
Visiting: 21%
Social, recreational, other: 31%
Touring/hiking: 16%
Other: 26%

Photo ‘Amsterdam’. Courtesy (cc) of Bart van Dijk.

Can cycling grow further?
The bicycle competes very well with other modes for short distances. 70% of all trips are shorter than 7.5 km. Of all car trips, more than 50% are shorter than 7.5 km. For most people that’s less than an half hour of cycling. A big portion of that can easily be replaced by bike trips. The major differences in bicycle use between municipalities show that there are big gains to be made.

Photo ‘Marching Band, Dutch-Style’. Courtesy (cc) of happyrach8.

How healthy and safe is cycling?
Several studies show that sufficient exercise reduces the risk of health problems. In the long run exercise reduces risk of mortality by 20-30%, ± 40% risk reduction in coronary heart disease, 20-25% risk reduction in heart strokes, ± 40% risk reduction in diabetes mellitus type 2 and 20-40% risk reduction in breast cancer. The short term effects include lower risk of depression, increased quality of life, improved fitness and decrease in (severe) obesity. (Source: VU) Cycling is a great way of moving. And although in the cities a cyclist is exposed to dirty air and runs the risk of an accident, the positive effects of cycling outweigh these by far.

Photo ‘Lovers on a bike’. Courtesy (cc) of Iam sterdam.

The bicycle is a safe means of transport in the Netherlands. The risk of a person on a bicycle becoming victim of a serious traffic incident in the Netherlands is the lowest in the world. There are two major reasons: the creation of separate infrastructure for cycling and the large number of people on bicycles.

Photo ‘Man with bass and dog’. Courtesy of Bart van Dijk.

What are the costs for bicycle infrastructure in the Netherlands?
Every year, the Dutch government (national, regional & local) spends over 400 million euros on cycling infrastructure. Per kilometer traveled by bicycle that is as much as Flanders (Belgium) and Denmark combined. 400 million includes operating bicycle parking facilities, but excludes the establishment of infrastructure in new residential areas and major maintenance and renovation of old areas. (Sources: Fietsberaad, MON)

Photo ‘The Nanny’. Courtesy of Iam sterdam.

How many paths are there in the Netherlands?
According to the latest census of the Central Bureau of Statistics from 1996 the Netherlands had 17,075 km of separated bicycle paths and 1909 km of on road bicycle lanes. An analysis of the digital maps of the Cycling and Bicycles Routes in the Netherlands shows that there are currently actually over 29,000 km of separated bicycle paths and 4700 km of on road bicycle lanes. (Source: Fietsbalans 2).

Photo ‘Rain is upon us’. Courtesy (cc) of Gurugo.

How many bicycles are there in the Netherlands?
There are an estimated 18 million bicycles in the Netherlands. 13.5 Million people of 4 years and older (84%) own on average 1.3 bicycles. Every year, about 1.3 million new bikes are sold with a total value of nearly 1 billion euros. Half of all sold bikes are regular touring or city bicycles. In recent years, the sales of electric bikes spectacularly. The average price spent on a new bicycles in retail stores (including supermarkets) in the Netherlands is 750 euros. In specialty bike shops people spend on average over 900 euros on a new bicycle.

Photo ‘Amsterdam – Girls going to college’. Courtesy (cc) of Stephane Pironon.

‘Two Tongues Do Not Make A Right’ & ‘1+1 Own The Lane. By Amsterdamize.

How many bikes are stolen annually in the Netherlands?
Fear of theft is an oft-cited reason for motorists to take the car on short distances. (Source: CCV)
The actual number of bicycle thefts per year is not clear, since not all bicycle thefts are declared with the police. In two different studies the CBS made an estimate of the real extent of theft. Under the old method theft fell from 909,000 in 2005 to 541,000 in 2009. The new and reliable method revealed a much higher theft rate: in 2008 858.000, in 2009 a 4.5% increase to 897,000.

Photo ‘Cycling in style’. Courtesy (cc) of sindändùne.

How fast do people cycle?
Most people cycle at a fairly steady pace: between 15 and 18 km per hour. Obviously this can be done faster. The absolute world speed cycling record(behind a car as pacemakers) was clocked at 269 km/h in 1995, achieved by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg. On a recumbent bicycle, the Canadian Sam Whittingham reached a speed of 133 km/h in 2009.

Photo ‘Bicycle, Amsterdam’. Courtesy (cc) of SimonWhitaker.

Photo ‘Eddie and kids’, summer & winter. Courtesy (cc) of henry in a’dam.

Doesn’t it rain too often to cycle?
According to statistics of the KNMI it only rains 6.5% of the time. The longer you’re outside of course the more likely you’ll get wet from the rain. Being outside for about one hour, getting wet has a probability ranging from 0.09 in May to 0.16 in December.

Photo ‘Giro d’Amsterdam on a Friday afternoon’. Courtesy (cc) of hoofdweg.

Photo ‘P5197478-Edit’. Courtesy of El-lvis.

Update: Inspired by these figures, Mark Wagenbuur sat down at his editing suite and created this must-see video. I reckon this is a powerful tool and inspiration for any advocate or supporter of cycling in general to get the message across of what’s possible:

Bicycles came, saw, conquered, got beleaguered (1950-1970), needed ‘a little’ help & overcame (1975-present day). Elsewhere, it’s happening now. Some places experience revolutionary changes, others more evolutionary ones.

Growing pains are a small price to pay for all these big gains. N’est pas?

Photo ‘Framed | ‘Adjust” by Amsterdamize.

For closure, here are two of my own videos I made a few years back, timeless enough to keep spreading, imho.

Let me pick up where I left off a few posts ago. Adjusting my lens a bit, zooming in, focus.

Scene 1.
Setting: (again) Skinny Bridge over the river Amstel.
Topic: interaction.

It starts with the top photo: Mother & daughter chatting up a storm, having a laugh.

Approaching the intersection, the mother gently gestures to her offspring to hold…and checks the (right of way) road for (bicycle) traffic.

A split second later: yes, it’s clear.

The girl needs to step it up a bit, while the conversation continues..

..and it eases even more on the way down. Time to adjust your earmuffs. Blast, that wind!

Scene 2.
Setting: on top of a brick bridge over a side canal of the River Amstel, not far from Skinny Bridge.
Topic: interaction. One difference with Scene 1: the interaction is with me.

I see these two fellas approaching, one of them is ghost riding, a familiar scene in Amsterdam.

Just how familiar ghost riding is you see here: he spots me & makes the effort to wave at me. Not a wobble.

Then they start laughing. Probably at the fact that they can’t figure out why on earth anyone would be interested in a taking a photo of them.

The boys continue, comfortably, in their natural habitat, and make an effort to entertain their audience. “Did you take that one? Did we do ok? Yeah? Cool.”

And life goes on…

I randomly came across this news item earlier today: The Fattest Place on Earth.

Nauru, population 14.000 has the highest obesity and diabetes rates in the world. ABC News decided it might set a valuable example for the fattening population of the USofA -an most of the western world. According to the ABC 95% population in the island are overweight and 80% of the male population are clinically obese. 50% of the population suffers type II diabetes.

The message is simple enough: processed food will kill you if you only feed on it. Big news, right? Now, can we just blame the food for this obesity pandemics? I’m sure a sedentary lifestyle doesn’t help, and the reporter notes that the Government of the little Republic is in fact trying to encourage its population to be physically active sponsoring free aerobic lessons. Unfortunately, due to a fuel shortage, attendance is low.

Wow. That is a shocker. The Island is 10 times smaller than Amsterdam. Cycling at 15 km/h, it would take you less than 2 hours to go around the whole island. Yet, you only see two -and a half- bikes through the whole video. The reporter openly questions the food, but not the car culture that somehow makes it impossible for people to go to an aerobic lesson in a tiny island due to a fuel sortage. In fact, the first thing he does is drive around the island using the only paved road available. It takes him 17 minutes to cruise its 24 km.

How come walking and cycling to places is not an option in such a small place? Western civilisation has created a good number of evils, junk food is no doubt one of them, but the sedentary lifestyle associated to it is playing a big a role in the obesity pandemic. If we are going to go around pointing fingers and trying to educate the audience into a healthier lifestyle, maybe we could start with car culture.

Let’s question the logic that linked car ownership and progress, that brought the sprawl and multiple car lane streets inside cities. Let’s question the need -or even the point- of counting calories and driving to the gym. Maybe there is an easier solution: ride a bike, walk to places and eat sensibly. Stay active.

Just for reference, obesity rate in The Netherlands is at 10%. But of course, this doen’t mean that everyone you’ll see around looks like Barbie or Ken, that’s just silly, isn’t it?

Mark, from I Bike London, published a few days ago a fantastic blog post about Enrique Peñalosa’s talk at the LSE. I think both Mark’s post, and Enrique’s vision of how to build better cities for the people who inhabit them, are worth sharing.

Us bicycle enthusiasts, bloggers et cetera often put so much passion behind our arguments -and we are so often confronted with many opposing views- that I personally feel we sometimes miss sight of why we want more bikes on the streets. In other words, we sometimes sound like we no longer remember that the bicycle is a just a tool, a means, but most certainly not an end. The end must remain clear: livable cities.

In this regard, Enrique’s talk was refreshing. He is talking as the former major of a 7 million people city -that’s half the population of The Netherlands- in a developing country. A city with very pressing issues, like social and economic inequality or widespread violence. And he has a vision. A vision of what democracy means and how to achieve it. This vision materialises in the form of a city were people can be happy. Isn’t it wonderful? How simple is this.

By the 2050 70% of people in this planet will live in cities. Thus, what happens in cities will be more relevant to people than countries and nations. Decision making in their city will affect their life more directly than anything else. If 70% of humanity lives in cities, the best way to bring social change, to actively enforce democracy and human rights, will be, more than even before, through urban policy and urban planning.

Majors and urban planners in developing countries have the opportunity to reflect on how cities have evolved in developed countries and learn fron all that went wrong in the 20th century. We now understand that the vision of such planners as Le Corbusier, of cities criss-crossed with motorways and one way multilane streets, brings socially exclusion and worse living standards for everyone.

In Peñalosa’s vision, the bicycle can be instrumental in creating a more democratic city. It empowers citizens to travel large distances and carry heavy loads at will, without many of the problems associated with car culture. It is a tool for creating a liveable city, nothing else, and certainly nothing less. It deserves therefore public promotion, quality infrastructure and proper investments.

A city that caters for the majority must offer quality common spaces, not quality roads.

(Enrique Peñalosa’s Photo credit: Calitexican, via Flickr)

I’ve tweeted many times about my Australian cycling friend Paul van Bellen from Sydney & his cycling tour project ‘Cycling Dutch Style‘:

“If you want to get more people cycling in Australia, you need to make it more attractive, easy and convenient.” – Paul van Bellen.

In May 2011 Paul will lead 30 Australian cycling thinkers over a 500km, 13 day tour in The Netherlands, the world’s most cycle friendly country. Filmmakers Rowena Crowe and Paulo Alberton will follow and record van Bellen’s tour as his team studies innovations and attitudes in cycling. Rowena and Paulo will shape the material collected into web friendly stories and information for a website called www.cyclingdutchstyle.com.au, and also into a documentary, once participants of the tour return to their homes and routines in Australia. Our website will be fully functional by early March 2011, in time for us to engage with our audience.

The Impact
Major cities around the world are embracing cycling as a way to commute, in a bid to combat pollution, save petrol and avoid traffic congestion. While cycling groups in Australia are trying to promote cycling as a sustainable transport alternative through initiatives like Ride to Work Day, our major cities are lagging behind the rest of the world in infrastructure investment. The Netherlands has invested heavily in bicycle infrastructure over the last 30 years. The result is today 30% of all trips are done on a bicycle throughout the country, whilst in Australia many cities are aiming towards 5% by 2016.

These stories will not only entertain broader audiences but they will also contribute to a valuable and unique online resource that may inform policy making in Australia and inspire other city planners around the world.

The Tour
The 30 participants meet in Dieren, the Netherlands on May 10th 2011 to begin their tour. Over the next 14 days they will ride an average 50 km per day. Our cameras will follow their journey, recording the sights and sounds and seeking their views on the state of cycling in these cities.

We will meet Dutch people who use the bike infrastructure daily as they ride to work, school or to the shops. We will meet with experts who are involved in developing and maintaining this infrastructure. Together these stories will help us better understand the positive effects of investing heavily in cycling infrastructure.

Each day we will be reporting from the saddle, bringing knowledge from the road. We will invite our audience to engage with our findings and consider how these ideas could be adapted to Australian conditions and way of life.

Key moments on the tour will include a visit to: Groningen, the world’s number one cycling city with 60% of all trips done by bicycle; Utrecht where they will meet the cycling infrastructure experts from Fietsberaad, the Dutch centre for cycling policy; Houten, which is recognised as a yardstick of a liveable sustainable city, where the direct route to town is on the bike path and cars are forced to use peripheral roads. For full break down of the itinerary go here.

What We Need & What You Get
We are asking US$ 8,000 (not Australian dollar) to cover the expenses of the plane ticket and accommodation, so we (Rowena and Paulo) can participate on the tour and create content for both the website and documentary. Our professional and creative work is voluntary. Also in order to offer you these fantastic and irresistible prizes, we have accessed the support of Gazelle Bicycle Australia who is offering Gazelle products (Gazelle bikes and accessories) as prizes at cost value, only for this project. This means a great return for your contribution!!! The monetary value of your contribution is just over to the value of the prizes. Check the prizes underneath. And if you prefer another bike, Gazelle is flexible and happy to discuss this with you. Please be aware that contributions are made in US dollars. Currently A$ and US$ are nearly the same value, but please check for up to date exchange rates prior to making your contribution.

This project desperately needs to get documented, thus funded & supported, so go click!

FFFYI (Fun Facts For Your Information):
- ‘van Bellen’ is a Dutch surname
- the verb ‘bellen’ means ‘ringing’, either calling on the phone, ringing the door bell or…wait for it…ringing your bike bell :)).

AND…look at Gazelle’s famous print ad series from the early 20th century that came in the form of a cartoon called ”t AVONTUUR van PIET PELLE op zyn GAZELLE.’, which translates into ‘The adventure of Piet Pelle on his Gazelle’. Both rhyme, and so it does when you exchange ‘Piet Pelle’ for ‘Paul van Bellen’…

I rest my case, there’s only so much that can be written in the stars, I suppose ;).

Coincidently, I hooked up with Rowena Crowe late November when she was in town for the IDFA. She’d bought a crappy but lovely bike to get around. Crappy as many other beater bikes, but lovely all the same, because…it got her around ;).

We rode together, she asked the questions and filmed for prosperity. As Rowena writes: “This film gives you a sneak preview of the kind of people we will be meeting on the cycling Dutch style study tour in May 2011.”

Of course we stopped for beers as well. Like the ride, we took it slowly, as her jet lag was starting to kick in. I’m looking forward to springtime, to give that part of cultural integration another shot.

Information I wanted to share with you weeks ago, so here’s a copy-paste:

Hey, my name is Curtis, I’m a film director from Canada. In the summer I worked on a film called ‘The Bike Heist’ we shot in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The central theme of the film is bicycles and friendship. We our currently releasing promotional teasers every month or so until the release this summer (2011).

Our best marketing tool is word of mouth, telling friends, blogs etc. Then they tell more people and so on, you get the idea. We have been featured on a couple bicycle blogs so far, but would greatly appreciate your support also. The website for the film is www.thebikeheist.ca and perhaps you can make a post on your blog or even embed the teaser. I would appreciate your support and it certainly is for a greater cause.

Long live cycling.

I’m riding right with ya, Curtis, thanks for making and sharing The Bike Heist!

Dear readers, followers, subscribers: share, embed, link to, RT, syndicate away

From the source (via @VrijeFietser on Twitter): “A bicycle, dramatic music & great editing: all ingredients of the short film ‘Fiets!’. There’s no narration, but the actors’ facial expressions are sufficient. Words are not needed. The music adds drama, but at the same time it’s also cheeky. At first you probably don’t see the purpose of the film, but it all comes together in the end.”

Doesn’t it always :).

Mission Workshop is a little utility bag design company based in San Francisco -they also make some other nice garments. They recently came to Amsterdam to celebrate that Pristine would stock their goods and they made this nice short film about their stay.

I like their ‘When in Rome’ attitude. They certainly made the most of their visit to our beautiful city, including transporting a Christmas tree with their Dutch bike.

Just another day in Bicycle City.

Let’s raise our glasses to adding another fabulous year of world wide cycling, exchanging ideas, meeting interesting people, riding along and just having good fun living our lives on two (or more) wheels!

Thank you for continuing to visit this blog & share your thoughts. I couldn’t do what I do without it. Cheers! See you in 2011!

Slowly but surely a heavy snow front moved over the Netherlands last Friday. Given that our national railway company has shown to be ill-prepared for anything wet, whether liquid or solid, I left the office (about 55 km south of Amsterdam) early, around 3pm. Unsurprisingly, trains were out of order indefinitely.

I took a shot at taking a bus. As that schedule was shaky too, I used the winter scenes as a way to calm down :).

I’ll spare you the details, but I got home over 5 hours later. Yes, completely knackered, fed up & generally frustrated at the complete melt-down of our public transportation network.

So I popped a beer, took it easy and occasionally looked out the window, appreciating the fact that I actually made it back home.

I woke up to an even whiter wonder world. That called for a ride & pictures. Not exactly a comfortable one, because again the city ordinance neglected to do the right thing & clear the roads, even the most traveled ones. And this weekend it’s certainly worse than last one, lots of ice, sleet and piled up crap that creates unnecessary havoc & risky situations. Of course, Amsterdammers/the Dutch are pretty pragmatic, you’ll still see ‘m out there on two wheels, but not as much as usual. With trams and buses not exactly running on time, there are only two options left: on foot or by car. Guess what, people will not walk 2-7 km for their daily errands.

Anyway, I think I managed to capture the essence of the aforementioned. Regarding the mood of this post & to be absolutely clear: this city’s beauty quickly melted away all my built-up frustrations. Some would say: nothing a bike ride can’t fix.

I fell on my butt twice this weekend. Both on foot. Just sayin’. :)