Amsterdam Impressive!

Why not follow a cycling blog with another cycling blog entry? I am a rather casual cyclist compared to others I know, but I do enjoy the option of riding to work and making the trip along the water is such a pleasure. During our first two months in Belleville we have managed to function quite well with one vehicle because both of us cycle when possible.

I am fascinated by communities and countries which have made a significant shift away from a car culture. In Greece and Spain it has been economic necessity which has mounted ten of thousands onto bicycles again. In Denmark and the Netherlands significant efforts have been made to provide the infrastructure for safe and efficient bike travel. It is great exercise, it offers a different perspective on surroundings, and it reduces greenhouse gases. These all seem to be worthy aspirations for those of us Christians whose desire is to "live with respect in Creation," as the United Church creed states.

I truly believe that the lack of effective transportation options to the automobile in this country comes from a failure of imagination and outdated ideology, not cost or even climate. Toronto is an example of a city where the mayor uses terms such as "war on the car" to curtail development of cycling as an option within the city. Recently he tried to kill a bicycle parking facility under construction in the downtown.

The portion of an article I have included below names the rather remarkable problem in Amsterdam -- bicycle traffic jams. Bicycles outnumbering people? More bike riders than car drivers in around the city?

While cities like New York struggle to get people onto bikes, Amsterdam is trying to keep its hordes of bikes under control. In a city of 800,000, there are 880,000 bicycles, the government estimates, four times the number of cars. In the past two decades, travel by bike has grown 40 percent so that now about 32 per cent of all trips within the city are by bike, compared with 22 per cent by car.
Applauding this accomplishment, a Danish urban planning consultancy, Copenhagenize Design, which publishes an annual list of the 20 most bike-friendly cities, placed Amsterdam in first place this year, as it has frequently in the past. (The list consists mostly of European cities, although Tokyo; Nagoya, Japan; and Rio de Janeiro made the cut. Montreal is the only North American city included.)

Smit’s problem is largely what keeps Thomas Koorn, of Amsterdam’s Transport and Traffic Department, awake at night. “We have a real parking issue,” he said in a conference room overlooking the IJ. Over the next two decades, Koorn said, the city will invest $135 million to improve the biking infrastructure, including the creation of 38,000 bike parking racks “in the hot spots.”

What do you think about transportation alternatives? Do you ever take the bus or GO transit? Is your bicycle gathering dust, or do you use it for Point A to Point B travel? Do you encourage your kids to cycle?