The Copenhagen vs. Amsterdam (or better every Dutch city) comparison comes up periodically because it’s hard not to marvel at some of the considerable differences between two places that much of the world population probably doesn’t even realize are in separate countries. I think just a couple weeks ago we discussed the strange Danish preference for family trikes. Yes, of course I do realize that they probably wonder exactly the opposite… but I happen to know that I’m right

During my visit to Copenhagen a few years ago I also noticed the lack of bike parking racks and structures and even more strikingly the pathetic locks people expected to keep their bike safe. Here in Amsterdam people are gradually coming to accept that not only does any rideable bike have to be locked with 10mm thick hardened steel shackles… but that you also have to affix it with said chain to an immovable object if you want it to be there when you return. That said, old habits die hard as witnessed by the recent rash of cargobike thefts here. Thieves are cruising family friendly neighborhoods at night with vans, carting away cargo bikes not locked in place. But if you lock your bike properly there’s very little chance it’ll be stolen, thanks to the large number of people still unclear on this concept. I assume the thief figures “Why go to the trouble of grinding through locks on the street when you can do so in the comfort of your own subsidized apartment?”.

- stealing bikes is extremely easy. Between 65-80 000 bikes are stolen every year (according to the only figures I could find). A recent attempt to introduce chips glued to the frame was abandoned after it was shown that several million kronor investment had not lead to a single returned stolen bike.

- Most people ride relatively simple and cheap bikes because of the risk of theft. In fact I would bet that this is the main obstacle for bike stores to sell any high quality and expensive bikes or bike parts

- Finding a place to lock your bike to something solid (such as I do) is easy, because people tend to do it only for their expensive tricycles. So in a way I should not complain too loudly about this.

- Given current infrastructure it would be impossible for any considerable proportion of danish bikes to be locked in a safe way

I need a photograph of the bike garage at Amsterdam C.S. You have this one on your site:

http://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/amsterdam-fietsflat.jpg

I was wondering if I could make arrangements to use it in my forthcoming book, Carfree Design Manual.

Thanks & regards,

Joel

Het is ironisch maar de bakfietsen, transportfietsen en stadsfietsen met grote voordragers en kratten blijven mooier want ze passen gewoon niet in de rekken.

Wij keizen meestal ook een lantaarnpaal, brug of trapleuning om een fiets vast op slot te zetten… maar niet iedereen wordt er zo gelukkig van. Er was recentelijk een artikel in een van de grote kranten hoe mensen klagen over de bakfietsen geparkeerd op stoep. Maar dan is eigenlijk een beetje belachelijk want vele van die fietsen vervangen autos die veel meer ruimte in beslag nemen.

Groet,
Henry

Er staat een opstelling in Utrecht op de Laan van Puntenburg ter hoogte van het ns-kantoor. We hopen natuurlijk dat de gemeenten massaal kiezen voor de gebruiksvriendelijke Bikeeper.

We doen ons best om ze te overtuigen.

Groete,

Ronald

Hier is een link voor iedereen: http://www.bikeeper.nl/

Groet,
Henry

Bedoel je dat je bezig bent met oplossingen? Ik denk dat de gemeente hard bezig is om het fietsparkeerprobleem op stationeiland op te lossen. Maar dat gaat het voornemelijk om volume en niet zogenaamde “uitzonderingen”. Ik ken wel mensen die veel van de amsterdamse fietsenstallingen runnen. Mischien hebben ze interesse.

Groet,
Henry