Amsterdam. The Model for Building Bike Culture

Over at the always illuminating CoolTownStudios Blog, Neil Takemoto has a must read post (Amsterdam's Extraordinary Bike Culture, July 31, 2009) for those of us who are trying to bring more of that over here. From Neil's post:   

- More than 75% of residents own bikes. 50% use them daily and 38% use them to commute, more than by car.

- The city has 240 miles of protected, dedicated, shielded bike lanes. By comparison NYC has 5 miles of the same.

- When a car and cyclist collide, the driver is almost always found to be liable. 

Says an Amsterdam public official: "Everything you do for a bike is very cheap compared to what you do for cars," claiming that bike infrastructure improvements typically cost only 5% as much as auto and mass transit improvements.

Around our office we've been discussing in earnest of late about how to raise the level of bike culture in Arlington and the region and cities like Portland, NYC, Davis, Boulder, Copenhagen and Amsterdam are seen as examples. A co-worker, John Durham, constantly tells us there's nothing like witnessing Amsterdam's bike culture in person. Neil points out why Amsterdam is likely the best example.

If you'd like to get involved in our discussion about building bike culture and helping more people bike for commuting and other trips, drop me a line.

Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County in the Transportation Division of the Department of Environmental Services, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
 

Comments

[David]

Japan has extreme bike culture, too.

One thing strange I notice about bike riders in this area is that the majority use a bike for exercise instead of using it as a device for running an errand, going to work, or visiting a friend. I just don't understand it. It really is peculiar to our locale.

And there seems to be an obsession about looking like a racer and wearing racing clothing...even down to thoses shoes that you can't walk in but clip onto the pedals. How convenient is that for picking something up at the grocery store? It's all a bit crazy to me.

[Dave Reid]

I always point to Copenhagen as it has a pretty amazing bike culture as well. It's good to see that a lot of cities are looking into improving our bike infrastructure to create a better quality of life.