Americans, it is commonly said, have had a love affair with the automobile. By the same token, it is fair to say that the Dutch have had a love affair with the bicycle. A 1938 newspaper article declared the bicycle to be “the most Dutch of all vehicles.” Some 32 years later, when some friends and I spent a summer bicycling through Europe, we found the Netherlands the easiest of all European countries to navigate. All major roads were paralleled by bicycle paths — it was nice not competing with automobiles for space on the road. But it is only since then that the Dutch have gotten truly serious about bicycles.
The Netherlands has proven that a transportation system that relies heavily upon bicycles is fully compatible with a modern, urban economy with a high standard of living. Between 2005 and 2007, Amsterdam residents took more trips by bicycle than by car. Nationally, almost 30% of Dutch commuters almost always travel by bike; another 40% sometimes commute by bike.
The 14-minute video above records what a delegation from several American cities experienced recently when touring the Netherlands to see first-hand how its cities are organized for bicycle transportation. It is remarkable to see how many Dutchmen ride bicycles — the streets of Groningen look like a never-ending bike festival.
I recommend the video not with the thought that U.S. regions should aspire to the same levels of bicycle ridership as the Netherlands. After all Holland is flatter than the U.S., so cycling is easier. The country has fewer temperature extremes, so cycling is more pleasant. Netherlanders are well behaved and more inclined than many Americans to obey traffic laws, so cycling is safer. Perhaps most important, Dutch settlement patterns are more compact, so riding to work isn’t like completing the Tour de France, as it would be, say, in the U.S. suburbs.
Rather, I recommend the video to show what is possible. In the U.S., only one to two percent of all commutes take place on bicycles. If the Dutch can push that figure higher than 30%, surely some U.S. regions — or, at least, the urban cores of some regions — can realistically aspire to a third that number. Imagine how a shift of that magnitude would clear the streets of congestion! Imagine how much more fit people would be!
One last thought inspired by a comment from one of the people quoted in the video: “Dollar for dollar, euro for euro, bicycle transportation is the best value there is.” That’s something for Virginians to consider as we decide how to unleash hundreds of millions of dollars in new transportation spending.
— JAB
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