Mobility in Amsterdam: How the Bicycle City Becomes Electric
About #nextvisions on mobility in the Netherland’s capital
As beautiful as the view of Amsterdam’s canals with the beautiful brick houses around them is, they cause many problems regarding mobility. The narrow alleyways alongside the small canals have only one lane, which leads to traffic jams. A mixture of commuter and delivery traffic, as well as crowds of tourists, quickly congest the picturesque alleyways. The consequences are far-reaching: In a study by the environmental organization Milieudefensie, the European limit for nitrogen oxide was exceeded on no fewer than four roads in Amsterdam in 2016. On the street Stadhouderskade, which runs right through the city, they measured the highest value across the country.
Since then, the city of Amsterdam implemented various projects to tackle the problem including new regulations and the switch to electric mobility.
Amsterdam is the capital and with more than 850,000 inhabitants the most populated city in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Although concrete piles are now used for their durability, Amsterdam still stands on around five million wooden piles. The Central Station stands on approximately 8,600 piles and the Royal Palace on exactly 13,659 piles.
The “Structural Vision Amsterdam 2040” project aims to make the metropolitan region more sustainable through various measures.
More detailed data on mobility and the structure of Amsterdam can be found in the Urban Mobility Index.
Amsterdam goes electric
The title of the initiative “Amsterdam electric” shows as simple as clearly where the city is heading in the coming years. Amsterdam is already recognized as a bicycle city and is now set to become a global figurehead for electric mobility. The purchase of electric cars has been subsidized for years now, along with a steadily growing network of charging points (already the best in the world according to the Urban Mobility Index) and a change in the type of engine in taxi and delivery traffic.
Especially for taxis, Amsterdam wants to become a European role model for electric mobility. Currently, 650 e-taxis are already on the roads, which corresponds to a share of 16 percent — and the trend is rising. Anyone who wants to spontaneously drive electrically through the streets of Amsterdam can use one of the 350 electric cars from car-sharing provider Share Now. By the way, the switch to electric drives applies equally to land and water: by 2025, all gasoline and diesel-powered boats are to be banned in the city center.
Eventually, the plan is not limited to the drive of the cars, but to reduce the private cars on the street in general. Bit by bit they will disappear from the cityscape. Currently, 1,500 parking spaces are being removed annually until 2025 and will be used to widen sidewalks, create more green spaces or make more space for bicycles. Be it for cycle paths or for bicycle parking lots, which the bicycle city always lacks. After all, there are streets in Amsterdam which have ten times more cars than bicycles.
A biking city with no app-rental bikes
Just under 60 percent of Amsterdam’s residents ride their bicycles every day and take advantage of the excellent infrastructure that already exists. But here too, growth demands new measures. Over the past 20 years, the proportion of cyclists in the city has risen by a proud 40 percent. To ensure that the Dutch capital can continue to live up to its reputation as a cycling city, the network of cycle paths is constantly being expanded and improved. In addition, in the near future, the construction of large-scale cycle paths across the city will make cycling even more attractive as an alternative to the car, even for longer distances.
In comparison to other metropolises, however, you will look in vain for stationless bikes and e-scooters in Amsterdam for spontaneous app rental. They are simply prohibited. On the one hand, the traffic in the narrow alleys along the canals probably does not get along too well with badly parked bikes and scooters. Additionally, the authorities are afraid that those rental bikes and scooters will be found in the water as it happened in Paris.
In Amsterdam, there are none of the usual rental bike services. If you want to explore the advantages of the bicycle city on your own, it is best to take the traditional way to rent a bike. After all, there are providers such as Black Bikes, where you can return your rental bike at various locations in the city.
If the canals already determine the cityscape, one of course does not only have to stay ashore. Numerous providers rent boats from small to big in order to discover the city also from the water.
The most important part of public transport in Amsterdam is the tram, which runs through the city on 14 lines and a total of 200 kilometers of track. The number 2 line, which has been described by National Geographic as one of the most beautiful tram lines in the world, has recently gained particular prominence. For more than 110 years, the tram has been running along the main artery of the city, connecting the top sights of Amsterdam. If at some point you get aching muscles after extensive testing of the cycle paths, you only need a day ticket and you can treat yourself to the full Amsterdam experience.
The Amsterdamse Bos is the perfect place for an extensive excursion into the countryside. The wooded area is a public park on the edge of the city. Since 1937, the most historic part of the park has been the Bosbaan, the oldest artificially created rowing course in the world.
With the I amsterdam City Card you get free admission to over 70 museums and sights. In addition to small freebies and discounts at various restaurants, the card also allows you to use public transport.
For those who can’t make up their mind easily, Amsterdam has created numerous top 10 lists on various topics around the city.
Markus Herrmann is a blogger, author and member of the successful podcast “Gästeliste Geisterbahn”. For Porsche, he is testing the mobility level of the Back 2 Tape metropolises in Europe.
The project “Back 2 Tape” is a cooperation between the Porsche Newsroom and music journalist Niko Backspin. It follows the tracks of hip hop in Europe. All further information on this project can be found in the Porsche Newsroom.
An important note: Markus’ trip through Europe as well as “Back 2 Tape” were produced before the outbreak of COVID-19. Porsche, Backspin and the involved agencies and artists are aware of their social responsibility and advise against such a trip at this time out of consideration for the health and well-being of all people.
