Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

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 cycl ...

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. Bycicles Amsterdam

Though considered one of the best-known centers of

bicycle culture Bicycle culture are unwritten rules, social norms, values and infrastructure that support cyclists and shape how cycling takes place. It can refer to a mainstream culture that supports the use of bicycles or to a subculture. Although "bike ...

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

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

and

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

, which were nominated for the ''Fietsstad 2014'' awards. The city of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

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 or a cycle 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 " ...

, 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: th ...

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 Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analys ...

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 short, moderately paced rides through relatively flat urban areas. It is a form of utility ...

road bike The term road bicycle is used to describe bicycles built for traveling at speed on paved roads. Some sources use the term to mean racing bicycle. Other sources specifically exclude racing bicycles from the definition, using the term to mean a ...

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

s, 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 38%

modal share A modal share (also called mode split, mode-share, or modal split) is the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation or number of trips using said type. In freight transportation, this may be measured in mass. Modal 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 transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

;— 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 A zero emission engine, motor, process, or other energy source 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, sea, air, rail) and ...

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 with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

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 called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

and

smart city A smart city is an urban area that uses digital technology to collect data and operate services. Data is collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras. Applications include traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities ...

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 ...

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