Given that 64 per cent of the entire population cycle at least once a week, something is clearly working. It’s little wonder former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte enjoyed commuting to his office by bike as often as possible.
By EB Content Studio
In the context of urban cultures, the bicycle is experiencing a symbolic rennaissance, in many African countries and making it desirable to more and more urbanites, but also trendier. As the bicycle gains attention in planning, politics, academia and media, it is also becoming more visible in urban landscapes and popular cultures in Africa and the rest of the world: young urbanites ride minimalistic, stylish and individualised bicycles and wear messenger bags.
But one nation is certainly the trailblazer as far as cycling is concerned. The Netherlands.
Cycling is the second-most common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of Dutch people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the car (45%) and public transport (11%). Cycling has a modal share of 27% of all trips (urban and rural) nationwide. In cities this is even higher, such as Amsterdam which has 38%,[5] and Zwolle 46%.[6] This high frequency of bicycle travel is enabled by excellent cycling infrastructure such as cycle paths, cycle tracks, protected intersections, ample bicycle parking and by making cycling routes shorter and more direct (and therefore usually quicker) than car routes. Presently, the Dutch make some five billion bicycle trips made a year.
But though they might seem to co-cycle with all the natural nimbility of a bee on a tar-barrel, a lot of effort has been put in place to make this form of mobility accessible, safe, eco-friendly, and inclusive.
Here’s what African countries can learn from the cycling capital of the world.
All in play
In the Netherlands, countless initiatives have been devised to make sure that cycling is inclusive, not just for young people who have grown up with it.
And given that 64 per cent of the entire population cycle at least once a week, something is clearly working. It’s little wonder former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte enjoyed commuting to his office by bike as often as possible.
The government’s ‘Doortrappen’ (pedalling) programme facilitates continued safe cycling for elderly people. Support comes in the form of tools – mirrors for visibility, for example – or as tips.
Since research shows that most accidents happen while the bike is stationary, recommendations include lowering the saddle or choosing a bike frame that offers ease of mounting and dismounting.
Other initiatives reach out to migrants who may not have cycled before. The ‘Make Way For Bikes’ cycling clinic is a course of 10 lessons offered by The Hague municipality at multiple community hubs.
Provided with a safe space to overcome any fears, users are taught to find their balance before contending with traffic.
Benefits include improved employment chances, greater fitness and independence, even “a means for parents to enjoy quality time with their children,” says sustainable urban mobility specialist Tessa Leferink who volunteers at the Moerwijk hub.
Cycling safety and infrastructure
In the Netherlands, over 37,000 km of dedicated cycle paths meet intersections designed to keep accident rates as low as possible. Many roads have one or two separate cycleways alongside them, or cycle lanes marked on the road. On roads where adjacent bike paths or cycle tracks exist, the use of these facilities is compulsory, and cycling on the main carriageway is not permitted. Some 35,000 km of cycle-track has been physically segregated from motor traffic, equal to a quarter of the country’s entire 140,000 km road network.
Yet the country hasn’t always been a biker’s utopia. As it is the case in most African countries today, urban planning in 20th Century Netherlands revolved, around car use.
Now a series of U-turns and ongoing innovations leaves the car in the shade. Take Utrecht where an 11-lane motorway once feeding directly into the city made her comeback as the Catharijnesingel city-moat.
Progress is also tangible on roads such as Cartesiusweg where four car lanes have been slashed to two, and at the bicycle bridge Dafne Schippersbrug which connects the historical centre with the city’s newest neighbourhood, Leidsche Rijn.
Uninterrupted longer-distance cycling routes usually travelled by car are also opening, with Utrecht to Amersfoort the first of nine long routes in the province of Utrecht to have its ribbon cut.
Intermodality – the use of more than one mode of transport to make a journey – is also key to cycling’s bigger picture.
Thanks to remarkable digital efficiency at underground train station bike storage facilities (‘Fietsenstallings’) people making an intercity train journey are incentivised to leave their bike at the station, take the train, then hire a public-transport ‘OV-Fiets’ bike on alighting at their destination. 180 bikes per minute can enter Utrecht Centraal fietsenstalling.
Reduced oceans of padlocked bikes overwhelming the pavements makes this a win-win.
Education plays its part in safety too, on the grounds that good practice in childhood feeds a lifetime of sustainable journeys. After preparing with digital games, videos and maps, children in Dutch primary schools can take a practical cycling test with the Fietsexamen programme to skill them up for more independence in their secondary school years.
The Netherlands is more used to exporting than importing cycling expertise – having recently been Webby-award nominated for its AI tool that transposes a vision of cycle-friendliness to any street in the world. But the Dutch are not averse to learning a trick or two from other nations.
‘Beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht’ (better stolen well than invented badly) you might have heard a Dutch person say when they replicated German ‘Fietsstraten’ (cycle-streets) where cars are guests.
Though environmentalists fear the new right-wing Dutch government will take the country backwards on climate action, the majority of cycling-related resources and decision-making capabilities lie with local authorities.
Physical and mental wellbeing
Bikes aren’t considered to be just for the functional commute to work or school. When cycling becomes a thing of pleasure, the Dutch discovered, and interfaces with culture, sport and community, pedals can directly pull at the heartstrings too.
Just ask The Hague’s cycling mayor Remco de Rijk about his social gatherings. Acting as an intermediary between the cyclist on the street and policy makers, his monthly Fietszwerm (‘bicycle swarm’) events bring all the locals together for a festival-vibe bike ride – wheel-good feel-good in action.
Cycling for sport also plays a vital role in promoting positive bike culture in the Netherlands.
Selected for its stellar public engagement strategies, Utrecht has already hosted all Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta) and come 12 August Rotterdam and The Hague will take centre stage on the first leg of the women’s Tour de France Femmes.
“The race will pass through residential areas where there is low-bike-usage,” explains Lidy Münninghoff from local racing club Kek. “The aim is to show women that they too can race.”
Meanwhile, the nation’s hearts become ever healthier as cycling uptake increases. “We’re always looking for blind spots and ways to stimulate more cycling,” says Ernest van den Bemd, super networker at Utrecht Bike Community.
He harnesses cycling energy every which way including putting medical professionals’ heads together at networking events (on bikes, of course) – given the overwhelmingly positive correlation between cycling and health benefits.
Repairing, not replacing
The Netherlands famously has more bikes than people, and sometimes they get out of hand – with thousands of wheels finding their way into its famous waterways.
To avoid the issue of mass bike soup, numerous initiatives drive home the message that to maintain the bike you’ve got is better than to abandon and source another.
The Hague municipality gathers thousands of unwanted excess bikes to upcycle them and distribute to children who don’t own one. While students at Utrecht University’s Science Park campus can learn how to repair their bike over koffee en taart at Fietshub.
Here, people struggling to find work can also apply to learn refurb skills to help them get jobs.
Going one step further, Roetz-Bikes in Amsterdam deconstructs second-hand bikes, then uses the parts to remake and recirculate bikes back into the system.
It has also pioneered the ‘Life bike’: customised, high-spec, modular and service-friendly vehicles that will literally last a rider’s lifetime.
Additional Reports by Wikipedia and EuroNews