Amsterdam, often held up as an example to follow when it comes to sustainable transport, is to ban cars in much of the city centre on Saturdays, one of a series of initiatives aimed at reducing motor traffic in the Dutch capital.
The trial, announced last Thursday, is part of a package of measures costing between €350 and €400 million that are aimed to give more space to people on bikes and on foot, reports the website NL Times.
The pilot area, inside the central Canal Belt, includes the boutique shopping district known as the Nine Streets.
If successful, car-free Saturdays could be expanded to other parts of the city, says Pieter Litjens, the alderman in charge of traffic and transport in the city’s government.
Other proposals include building new cycle paths, widening some existing ones, the introduction of cycling-only streets, and improving junctions to make them safer for those on two wheels.
As part of the initiative to reduce motor traffic in the city, 12 underground car parks with a combined total of 4,000 parking spaces will be built, aimed at reducing the time motorists spend looking for somewhere to park their car.
More park and ride locations will be added on the outskirts of Amsterdam, while residents who own cars but don’t use their vehicles often will be offered discounted parking outside the city.
Mr Litjens said: “Amsterdam is growing. Hustle and bustle is part of city life, but it is starting to take a toll in more and more areas.
“Everyone knows what needs to be done to ensure that the city remains accessible and to provide pleasant public areas: create more space for cyclists and pedestrians, park as many cars as possible underground and establish a better flow of traffic.
“A lot has been said on the subject and there are plenty of ideas. But the time has come to make a decision and to start executing the plans,” he added.
12 thoughts on “Amsterdam to introduce Saturday car ban in part of city centre”
Obviously Amsterdam is a
Obviously Amsterdam is a different city compared to say London or Paris, but it would be so good to see other cities follow this idea with bans on motor vehicles on Saturdays in city and town centres.
You’re right it is a
You’re right it is a different city, but actually had very similar transport issues as London or Paris in the 60s and 70s. The citizens of Amsterdam campaigned for safer roads at that time and refused to allow the car to take priority. In 2015 we now see that, somewhat due to presumed liability, bikes take priority over cars.
London should follow the example of Amsterdam if it wants to increase cyling in the city, it’s as simple as that. I have lived in Ams for 3 years, I have seen zero high-viz, and rarely see a helmet (about once a week). Bike accidents are about as rare as bike helmets in this city.
Sorry but I have lived in
Sorry but I have lived in Amsterdam for 6 years and whilst there are a lot less ‘visible’ accidents than say London it doesn’t make it any better. The presumed liabilty law makes the driver so wary of hitting a cyclist that a lot have become arrogant in their interuptation of the ruling. Jumping red lights is a common sight and not just at highly visible junctions but at blind ones too, plus riding without lights in the winter even though it is illegal to do so. Coupled with the fact that we share the cycle lanes with scooters, who are a law unto themselves, it is only by luck that there are not more accidents. Outside of the cities it is where you find the dedicated cycle lane infrastructure which is what people recognise about Holland. The most stressful part of my daily commute is through Amsterdam city itself but either side I am very lucky to have the huge Bos woodland park and 5kms of canal to ride along to get to work. The issue the UK has it is so far behind with infrastructure that making any new cycle lanes will be cost prohibitive to be high on any agenda despite the false promises every party is making!!
The highest number of
The highest number of cyclists combined with the best safety record in the world is “luck” ?
We must be a lucky nation.
=))
KnutdeIJsbeer wrote:The
Don’t forget the ‘presumed liability’ law that pretty much absolves all cyclists of any responsibility in ‘any’ accident no matter how stupid they were before they had one. The onus being on the driver’s insurance company to provide the evidence to say they deliberately rode into the car or were in at fault in some way. I have seen them take on buses and trams for no other reason than they could because of it and yes I have seen the results too. Flesh and steel don’t mix and there is only one winner in all cases. When I was in hospital 3 years ago there was young lad in the bed opposite who had already had 12 operations as a result of an accident with a car and the scooter he was a passenger on. He was going to be in that bed for a very long time. Whilst I didn’t know all of the history my experience here gave me a good idea how it happened and, before anyone says it, yes I may be totally wrong. However 6 years of living and working in Amsterdam is enough experience. The minimum age to ride a scooter is 16 and if you think I am being an old foggy check this out – https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/the-moped-menace-in-the-netherlands/
The car and other forms of faster transport has created a situation that, as said in an earlier post, will take more than new infrastructure it will take a change of attitudes towards other road users and that is a long long way off.
davidgray968 wrote:The car
The purpose of safe infrastructure done properly is to separate different modes of transport from each other – ie, keep vulnerable road users including people on bikes out of reach of those driving motor vehicles – thereby eliminating opportunities for conflict. If it achieves that objective, then why would something more than that be required?
You mention a change of attitudes – but as I pointed out, attitudes tend to be fluid and can be dictated as much by the local environment as by education. For all their supposedly different attitudes, Dutch motorists will still behave like our uneducated UK drivers, given the same poorly designed transport infrastructure to travel on.
Unfortunately I think it
Unfortunately I think it would cause more, not less, issues in the UK. Issues I see and have had fall in to two categories:
1) Bad driving and riding in general, the same people who cause issues on my bike do the same when I am in the car. Not looking, wrong lane, not indicating, etc. They do the same in cars and on bikes.
2) Those who have an issue with cyclists. Don’t like filtering, give abuse for “getting in the way”, shout things about “jumping red lights” (Which I never do). I seem to get the same type of behavior on my motorbike, people blocking me filtering etc. (And you see the same attitude in some cyclists, which just causes more anger on both sides).
The first lot will continue to drive badly and the second will, at the moment, be made more angry. For this to work you need an underlying respect for other road users right to do what they are doing, and not an “I’m right and will enforce the law with my bonnet” attitude. We need a change in attitude first, and this would just make those people more angry at cyclists “Why do they get special treatment”.
We need more education all round before we can start doing things like this.
Oh, more cycle infrastructure would be good though. Less pointless paint (which makes things worse) and more good infrastructure, like a cycle and walking path along the Oxford canal all the way from the Kiddlington and the Park and Ride in to Oxford, joining up with NCR5 at Yarnton (for the purely selfish reason of making my ride to work a little better).
John Smith wrote:
We need
You describe the argy bargy out there very well. I think if one of these angry bad drivers you describe were plomped down in Amsterdam or its environs, we’d see the change almost instantly. The sense-of-road-ownership would evaporate and with it the stresssful need to dominate and protect turf. We’re all human and I think we are affected by infra very much and by awareness videos etc very little.
vbvb wrote:John Smith
You describe the argy bargy out there very well. I think if one of these angry bad drivers you describe were plomped down in Amsterdam or its environs, we’d see the change almost instantly. The sense-of-road-ownership would evaporate and with it the stresssful need to dominate and protect turf. We’re all human and I think we are affected by infra very much and by awareness videos etc very little.— John Smith
According to one blogger who has done a lot of cycling in the Netherlands, Dutch drivers aren’t much different to British ones when faced with badly designed infrastructure that has built-in conflict between modes. Thankfully they have much less of it to deal with than we do here.
The answer therefore is not education. We’ve had nothing but that for the past 40+ years while the Dutch went about building safe infrastructure.
congokid wrote:The answer
Sounds like we agree. Interesting link too.
“Everyone knows what needs to
“Everyone knows what needs to be done to ensure that the city remains accessible and to provide pleasant public areas: create more space for cyclists and pedestrians, park as many cars as possible underground and establish a better flow of traffic”
If only EVERYONE really did know that…
Though it’s heartening to see that at least someone does.
The Labour party have
The Labour party have promised £300m to mend the potholes in the roads, which is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the money needed to create an infrastructure needed to match the Dutch system. The Dutch people protested over 40 years ago to end the deaths of children on the roads and whilst we have built a system centred around the motor vehicle they have built what you see today. That doesn’t mean to say they live in harmony as a result, far from it really and that is because of attitudes of the modern wo/man.
I admire your idea of attitudes being fluid and if local government followed those we might get there but today is all about how much things cost and they have a finite pot of money which is being eroded year on year by central government. so unless we start to tax every penny you earn, which is what the Dutch do by the way, then we will never have enough money to change attitudes. Living here in Holland for the last 6 years makes me appreciate what they have achieved in those 40 odd years but that comes at a price – tax. Whilst they don’t tax the cyclist the motorist pays a heavy price – imagine adopting that in the UK given the current anomosity towards the cyclist in some quarters.
Unfortunately we may never reach a point where we live in harmony for many reasons, but we can live in hope. :B