Bicycle

Amsterdammers like to think of their city as the international bicycle city number 1, but in fact it is just bicycle city #259 of the Netherlands. At least, that can be concluded from a study by Fietsberaad, which analyzes the percentage of trips locals make on bicycle.

According to the study, Amsterdammers use a bicycle in 21% of their trips. That is a bit more than Utrecht (20%) and The Hague (18%) and quite a bit more than Rotterdam, notorious for its bicycle-unfriendly traffic lights (14%). However, Amsterdam is doing considerably worse than Groningen (30%).

In the inner city and at stations, there is insufficient room to park a bicycle. However, measures are being taken to deal with this, the administration assures. The problem is persistent: year after year, the message has remained the same. Meanwhile, new spaces are added, but bicycle parks may disappear as well.

“Bicycle parking is the greatest challenge we face with regard to bicycle policy”, says policy advisor Geert de Jong. “You can’t solve it just like that.”

“Amsterdam is full of art”, asserts designer Koos van den Berg. He created a map guiding cyclists along 300 of the estimated 1,000+ works of art in the city’s public space. The map will be presented next Thursday.

Van den Berg, who has designed a series of bicycle maps and who produces drag queen cabaret as a hobby, says the real challenge consisted in ‘tying it all together into a route that is easy to navigate on bicycle’.

The government focusses too much on the disadvantages of the car, argues urban geographer Joram Grünfeld. Increasingly, Amsterdammers turn to neighbouring municipalities for work and recreation. This requires a good transportation infrastructure.

Next Thursday, Grünfeld hopes to obtain his doctorate with a thesis on ‘polycentric’ urban residents. By this term, he refers to people who frequently stay in at least three different cities for work, recreation and housing. In Amsterdam, the share of polycentric residents has doubled over the past 25 years, from 13% to 25%.