Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

is well known as one of the most

bicycle-friendly Bicycle-friendly policies and practices help some people feel more comfortable about traveling by bicycle with other traffic. The level of bicycle-friendliness of an environment can be influenced by many factors including town planning and cyclin ...

cities, with high levels of bicycle infrastructure, planning and funding, tourism — as well as high levels of bike theft, safety concerns and overcrowding in places. Though considered one of the best-known centers of

bicycle culture Bicycle culture can refer to a mainstream culture that supports the use of bicycles or to a subculture. Although "bike culture" is often used to refer to various forms of associated fashion, it is erroneous to call fashion in and of itself a cu ...

worldwide, numerous other cities in the Netherlands and globally outrank Amsterdam in bike-friendliness, including

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, Eindhoven and

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...

, which were nominated for the ''Fietsstad 2014'' awards. The city of Groningen won the award in 2001.

Background

As is common in Dutch cities, Amsterdam has a wide network of traffic-calmed streets and facilities for cyclists, including

bike paths A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

, bike racks, and guarded

bicycle parking station A bicycle parking station, or bicycle garage, is a building or structure designed for use as a bicycle parking facility. Such a facility can be as simple as a lockable bike cage or shed or as complex as a purpose-built multi-level building: the ...

s (''Fietsenstalling''), the latter available for a fee. According to the most recent figures published by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2015 the 442,693 households (850,000 residents) in Amsterdam altogether owned 847,000 bicycles — or 1.91 bicycles per household. Bicycles are used by all

socio-economic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

groups because of their convenience, Amsterdam's small size, the 400 km of bike paths, the flat terrain, and the arguable inconvenience of driving an automobile: driving a car is discouraged, parking fees are expensive, and many streets are closed to cars or are one-way for motor vehicle traffic (but not for cyclists). Amsterdam's bike paths (''Fietspad'') are red in colour, in order to differentiate them from both the road ways and footpaths. Amsterdammers ride a wide variety of bicycles including the traditional ''Omafiets'' - the ubiquitous Dutch roadster with a step-through frame - to anything from modern

city bike A utility bicycle, city bicycle, urban bicycle, European city bike (ECB), Dutch bike, classic bike or simply city-bike, is a bicycle designed for frequent very short, very slow rides through very flat urban areas. It is a form of utility bicycl ...

s, road bikes, mountain bikes, and even recumbent bikes. Many tourists get around Amsterdam by bike, following the Dutch custom. Bicycle tour groups offer guided bike tours through the city. Bicycle traffic, in fact traffic in general, is relatively safe: in 2007, Amsterdam had 18 traffic deaths, of all types, in total. Bike traffic has a 32% mode share. Bicycle theft in Amsterdam is widespread: in 2005, about 54,000 bicycles were stolen and every year between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles are retrieved from the canals.

History

Amsterdam has addressed automobile-dependency radically and aggressively, by sharply inhibiting car access and expanding availability and convenience of

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

;— while being transparent in its aim to be an eco-friendly city. Roughly, two-thirds of daily urban transportation is by bicycle, while 19 percent is by car. Amsterdam's ultimate goal is to become a car-free and

zero-emissions Zero emission refers to an engine, motor, process, or other energy source, that emits no waste products that pollute the environment or disrupt the climate. Zero emission engines Vehicles and other mobile machinery used for transport (over land, se ...

city by making it harder and less convenient to use automobiles. This will be done by making central roads through-routes, using one-way systems, narrowing roads and creating barriers. Initiatives are taken by the city of Amsterdam itself, by the

alderperson An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members th ...

and city hall, encouraging riders to use public transportation by running the Metro on weekends all night and be free for children under the age of 12.

Urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

and

smart city A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in retur ...

planning often face the issue of cost. However, the Netherlands’ government is being cost-efficient by using street-design tool “knip”, making cuts. They are closing roads for cars and opening them to two-wheels and pedestrians, and creating space for sweeping squares, especially around big public spaces like a train station. Also, the city encourages the use of public transportation and drop-off taxis by slowly decreasing the number of parking spots. The government is pushing to reform the use of public transportation and make drivers give up their keys to reduce the number of cars on the roads in Amsterdam, hence reducing the emissions from gasoline. On top of all the efforts done by the legislation, the government is opening their City Data to the public online for free and easy access for its citizens; creating honest transparency with their people. Amsterdam is creating municipal policies under government-citizen transparency to become a smart city and to adapt to the growing

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

happening globally.

Issues

By 2012, cycling in Amsterdam had grown tremendously in popularity — up by some 40% in the previous twenty years. The city had 490,000 ''fietsers'' (cyclists) take to the road to cycle 2 million kilometres every day according to statistics of the city council. This has caused some problems as, despite 35,000 kilometers of bicycle paths, the country's 18 million bicycles (1.3 per citizen old enough to ride) were clogging Amsterdam's streets at peak times and parked bicycles were overcrowding train stations and other areas. This is being addressed by building even more bike lanes and

s with much greater capacity to tackle a problem many other cities in the world would envy, that of ''bicycle traffic congestion''.

Gallery

References

External links