Comments on: Are the Dutch replacing their bikes with cars?

By: henry

henry — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:02:38 +0000

Marc,
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree on each point. I have feeling (completely without hard evidence) that scooter riding is on the rise amongst the younger crowd, both allochtone and autochtone. Almost all of the teenagers who’ve worked for us or applied for jobs have shown up on scooters. When asked why they’d show up on a scooter to interview at a company that’s well known for its promotion of bikes they just shrug and tell me they don’t like riding bicycles. We tried “educating” a couple but have given up for the time being.

But I’m not too worried; the Dutch are practical and like a good deal. As auto use becomes more expensive and impractical more people will chose to get around on bikes… and unfortunately scooters. Actually I wouldn’t have much problem with scooters if the 2 strokes would be replaced by quieter and cleaner 4 strokes and they’d just get them off the bike lanes. Yesterday evening I had three kids (two delivery boys, one girl) buzz me while riding with my 9 month old son. The girl even had the gall to yell “idioot!” at me while she zoomed past me within a narrow bike lane while I was signaling to turn left. Oh, and not that it matters but I don’t ride like a tourist or timid foreigner.

By: Marc

Marc — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:24:40 +0000

Even a cursory glance around places you mentioned where bike policy is weak, like Utrecht where I live, shows that many peole still cycle. I don’t recall visiting any other country where so many old people cycle. The fact that so many people have turned to scooters, particularly the Moroccan youth and (ahem) overweight young ladies, just reflects income growth and a culture of vehicle ownership, evident everywhere.

Just compare the train station in Utrecht, with three or more enormous bike parks, and a hundreds of bikes outside, with most other European and US cities and most of the work of proving it is already done.

The growth of car ownership and use is stil a worrying trend though. The Netherlands has been built around small vehicles and car growth is making the streets uninhabitable.

By: AMSTERDAMIZE » Fresh Cycling Statistics From The Netherlands

AMSTERDAMIZE » Fresh Cycling Statistics From The Netherlands — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:01:39 +0000

[...] Photo insert is mine.Elsewhere the bicycle usage stats are separated. Here we see that the Dutch cycle, on average, 909km per year, which translates to 2.48km per head, per day. This has largely held steady since 1991, the earliest year shown in the chart. Thus, a definitive NO to the question posed in an earlier post “Are the Dutch replacing their bikes with cars”. [...]

By: BAKFIETS EN MEER » Blog Archive » Fresh cycling statistics from the Netherlands

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:49:29 +0000

[...] Elsewhere the bicycle usage stats are separated. Here we see that the Dutch cycle, on average, 909km per year, which translates to 2.48km per head, per day. This has largely held steady since 1991, the earliest year shown in the chart. Thus, a definitive NO to the question posed in an earlier post “Are the Dutch replacing their bikes with cars”. [...]

By: Velorution, London's urban cycle store

Velorution, London's urban cycle store — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:05:29 +0000

[...] be interpreted differently, and I stand corrected. Incidentally my original source, was Workcycle (in this post), which I regard an expert commentator of the Dutch cycling [...]

By: John Power,Dublin,Ireland

John Power,Dublin,Ireland — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:33:48 +0000

Good Day Henry. A lot of People are showing a great Interest in your Azor Kruizframe,Pastoors Fiet, The Preachers Bike. One Chap says he likes the Handlebars the way they wrap around as he has Arthritis and it would make it easier for him to use instead of his Ordinary Bike. I referred him to the Work Cycles Web Site and told him of the costs of each Bike and Delivery Charges. They like the Schwalbe Marathon Tyres as our Roads are not consistently good and you come across a lot of Potholes. When I saw the Bike for the first time , i realised it was a big strong Bike and wondered how it would manage the Hills, but I could find no extra Strain when going uphill. In fact it is very good. It seems to have more of an Advantage and is very smooth. Unless you go along the Coast ,you will Eventually have to go uphill to get out of Town. It is no better or worse than a smaller Bike. I am no Eddie Merkzes or Steven Roche but i have always had Bicycles and Cycle most Days into Town and if a Hill is very Steep I will push a Bike uphill. The only time when Hills are a Problem is when I am in Howth or Wicklow and it is Mountaineous . I am Delighted with it it is very smooth it just Rolls along . You will probably get a few Inquiries from Dublin about the Bikes in Future.Thanks John.

By: henry

henry — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:32:46 +0000

John,
Mr. Hesemans noted above that the 30% was a misquote in the article that I had based my post on. But I do believe his basic thesis that while bicycle use is increasing in many other places its not really doing so in the bicycle-mecca Netherlands. As I wrote in my post increases in cycling within the cities seem to be offset by decreases in less densely populated areas and the fact that many immigrants do not cycle.

Heseman’s research is interesting because it seeks to learn whether the Netherlands can learn some lessons from the places where cycling is growing in popularity. Cycling is often taken for granted in the Netherlands and its likely that more active policies will more effectively stimulate cycling here.

-Henry

ps: I hope you’re enjoying showing Dublin how its done on your WorkCycles bike!

By: John Power,Dublin,Ireland

John Power,Dublin,Ireland — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:16:50 +0000

Very Interesting but I think Mr Hesemans is wrong. What is that Song there are 5 Million Bicycles in Bejing ,I think there are 10 Million Bikes in Amsterdam there all over the Place in the Netherlands. We were the Same Years ago pre 1970 in Dublin with Bicycles everywhere then People got more Affluent and Bicycle usage fell off , and now the trend is for Suvs and People pick up there Children from School and they only live a few Hundred Metres up the Road. But now it is reversing and Bikes are getting Popular again because of the cost of Maintaining a Car on the Road and the cost of Fuel,and also People do not want to get Fat. So a lot of People Commute to Work and Shops by Bike now. The Government tried to bring in Paris type Sponsored Community Bikes. With Jc Decaux the French Advertising People providing Advertising on the Bikes but it is still in Discussion at moment and we do not know if it will go ahead.But our Bicycle Infrastructure is no where as good as the Netherlands ,they are only playing around with putting bits of Cycling Lanes in the City, and is still quite dangerous at Rush Hour in Morning and Evening. I think Mr Hesemans should come to Ireland and check us out, and put a Rocket under our Government Road Planners with a bit of bad Publicity about our Cycling Facilities. Good Luck.

By: henry

henry — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:01:29 +0000

Hello Loek,
Thanks very much for your reply – Its rather an honor actually.

Judging from the CBS statistics I read through the 30% of trips made by bicycle sounds about right. At least its unlikely that it’d be much lower. There seem to be more trips made by car than bike (by perhaps 50%), but then all other modes were very small in comparison to cycling and driving. Thus 50% of trips by automobile, 30% by bicycle and the last 30% a combination of walking, train, bus, tram, scooter, jet-ski and hovercraft. Mind you, I didn’t do any statistical analysis here. These are just educated guesstimations.

Groeten,
Henry

By: Loek

Loek — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:48:05 +0000

Interesting. With the 30% I was referring to the mode share (the percentage of all trips by bike) though, not to the percentage of people who ride bicycle in the Netherlands which is much higher, probably close to Henry’s estimate. I believe Jonathan misquoted me here.