Q&A: The Dutch Lead the Way in Cycling, Here Are Some Tips for the U.S. | Article

If you live in the United States, chances are your primary mode of transportation is a car. But in the Netherlands, other transportation options are more popular and accessible—whether it be cycling, public transportation, or walking. The Dutch are well known for their active cycling population; in fact, there are more bikes in the country than people. And as the United States looks to make its transportation system more sustainable, equitable, efficient, and resilient, the Netherlands can serve as an example.

A rainbow bike road in Utrecht, Netherlands. Photo Credit: Dutch Cycling Embassy

The Dutch Cycling Embassy, a network of public and private organizations from the Netherlands, shares expertise in cycling infrastructure with cities and countries around the world. EESI sat down with Chris Bruntlett, the marketing and communications manager at the Dutch Cycling Embassy, to discuss how Dutch cycling successes can be a model for other countries, and specifically the United States. Chris Bruntlett and his wife, Melissa Bruntlett, are the authors of two cycling-related books, Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives and Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Vitality.

EESI: How did cycling become so prevalent in the Netherlands?

Bruntlett: When you speak to people about cycling in the Netherlands, they assume it is prevalent because of the culture or because the country is flat and the climate is nice. But during the 1950s and 1960s, like every other country in the world, the Dutch were building their cities for cars—cars were seen as the mobility of the future. But the turning point in the Netherlands was facilitated by two converging crises in the 1970s: a social movement and an oil crisis.

In 1972, there was a political movement started by mothers and families in response to the growing number of fatalities and serious injuries, especially among children, from cars. The catchphrase of this movement, “Stop Child Murder,” spread across the country and many people were protesting to get their streets back from the automobile. This movement attracted environmentalists, cyclists, public health organizations, historical preservationists, and people from all political affiliations who shared the common goal of livable and safe cities.

The second movement came when the 1973 oil crisis hit the Netherlands and there were six weeks of gas shortages. The streets were virtually car-free during that period and the sale of bicycles doubled. The Dutch saw how much of their city they had given away to the private automobile. This was a lightbulb moment for the general population, and also for politicians, who suddenly understood that a car-centered, car-dominated transportation system was very susceptible and fragile to outside shocks and disturbances, whether it is a gasoline shortage or extreme weather.

These inflection points led to a very different set of values in the country. And now, almost 50 years later, about a third of all trips in most cities in the Netherlands are by public transportation, a third by walking and cycling, and a third by car. The Netherlands now has a more balanced and diversified transportation system and has seen amazing results like improved safety, livability, affordability, resiliency, and better places for people to live, work, and grow old.

EESI: Could you share some of the Dutch best practices for making cycling convenient, safe, and a preferred method of transportation?

Bruntlett: It has been about 50 years since the Dutch began to focus on cycling. The first 25 years of this were very experimental. There was a trial-and-error process that took place. But in 1996, the Dutch codified and established principles in a series of manuals and books of best practices for cycling, road safety, and bicycle infrastructure design. This blueprint can now be taken to cities around the world to expand cycling and help them skip the trial-and-error period.

One of the best practices is having a cohesive cycling network. Many cities around the world are building individual bike lanes that do not really connect. But the Netherlands saw an increase in cycling when it created cycling networks that connect schools to train stations to restaurants and shops, and more. Dutch engineers have also developed standards for segregating cycling from motor traffic, and there are best practices for designing intersections. Many Dutch intersections have barrier islands that physically protect the cyclists from being right hooked by cars. Safe intersections are crucial because they are where around two thirds of all bike-car collisions occur.

Some U.S. cities are working to make these improvements, but it is going to take time and resources, and unfortunately, the bicycle does not yet have a prominent place in transportation budgets. But we are hopeful that once these design standards are accepted and cycling is taken seriously, this infrastructure will become a standard rather than a luxury.

Graphic Credit: Dutch Cycling Embassy

EESI: How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we view space in our cities?

Bruntlett: There are a lot of parallels between the oil crisis in the 1970s and the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, streets were stripped of cars and people were able to walk and cycle more freely. A lot of cities, including in the United States, began reallocating road space, whether it was creating slow streets for physical and mental health or creating pop-up bike lanes to give people alternative modes of transportation. Hopefully, this will be a lightbulb moment. One-mode transportation systems are very fragile. Everyone wins when we use our streets in more varied ways, for this crisis and for crises of the not-too-distant future.

EESI: The Dutch Cycling Embassy works with governments and organizations around the world. Could you share an example of your work in the United States?

Bruntlett: Austin, Texas, is a great example, and I cover the city in chapter four of my book, Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Vitality. The Dutch Cycling Embassy did a workshop with the Austin Department of Transportation in 2012. A team of Dutch experts went to Austin and analyzed the streets and cycling network and modeled the short car journeys in the city that were under three miles. From there, they came up with a plan for a network of cycle routes that would capture a percentage of those short car journeys. The city now has a bicycle master plan which was funded through a series of ballot initiatives. Austin is currently halfway through this 20-year plan to build out that cycling network.

This is a great example because Austin is a fairly car-dependent, car-dominated city, but that is beginning to change. It is quite amazing what can be accomplished with sufficient political will. Part of this political will was built up through visits to the Netherlands. Austin’s city councilors and the mayor at the time came to the Netherlands for study tours that were organized by the Dutch Cycling Embassy. Austin has sent teams of engineers and decision makers to the Netherlands almost every year for the past 10 years as part of their ongoing efforts to build out their cycling network. Most recently, they sent their fire chief to Rotterdam so he could meet his counterpart to discuss how to improve emergency response with reduced road space.

EESI: How can cycling be used to connect with other transportation methods and why is this important?

Bruntlett: It is really about providing people with choices. As someone famously said, Americans have 1,000 choices for breakfast cereal, but one for mobility—the car. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for alternatives to cars. For example, bicycles do not have the range of cars, and public transport does not have that door-to-door convenience. But when we start combining cycling and public transport, that is where the magic happens.

Bike lane next to a tram in Amsterdam. Photo Credit: Dutch Cycling Embassy

I think this is something that the Netherlands figured out around 2000, when they noticed a ton of bikes parked outside train stations. In response, the Netherlands created a national strategy to provide secure bike parking at the train stations. Over the last 20 years, the Netherlands has built 300,000 bike parking spaces at train stations, so there are now about 500,000 bike parking spaces at these stations. And there is also a bicycle rental system that can be accessed by the tap of an OV-chipkaart, which is the universal payment system for all public transportation in the Netherlands. With this system, people have the same door-to-door service as the private automobile and it's much more affordable, sustainable, and efficient.

The Dutch public transportation system is used on a mass scale in the Netherlands—650,000 people use the bike-train combination every day. Cycling is often used in the country because it quite seamlessly links with the public transportation system.

EESI: What innovations in cycling are you most excited about?

Bruntlett: The electrification of cycling has been a real game changer. Electric bikes have allowed people to cycle in different weather conditions, for longer distances, and over various terrains like hills. Although the Netherlands is relatively flat, it has the biggest electric bike market in the world per capita. In fact, for the last two years, more electric bikes were sold than regular bikes.

Electric bikes were first adopted by the elderly population in the Netherlands but are now more widespread. People are using them to travel further distances, and not just within the city, but between cities. In many cases, electric bikes are competing with or replacing car journeys.

Electric bikes can also outcompete electric vehicles—they are more space and energy efficient, require a simpler battery, and use fewer resources to produce. When we talk about the electrification of our transportation system, unfortunately, electric cars take up a lot of the oxygen in the room. But subsidies and incentives could be offered for people to take up electric cycling.

There are some barriers to electric bikes, including a lack of infrastructure to use them, whether it is a lack of secure bike storage or upfront cost barriers. But, as we have seen in the Netherlands, it helps other demographics that would not normally cycle to get on a bike, and that is a definite win-win for society.

EESI: What are some of the lesser-known benefits the Netherlands has seen from cycling?

Bruntlett: There are a lot of benefits of cycling in terms of social cohesion, livability, and mental health. The Netherlands has one of the most physically active populations on the planet largely because it is built into the fabric of the city. The Netherlands is also regularly ranked as having the happiest children in the world, and one of the reasons is that they are able to navigate their city freely and independently from the age of seven or eight. This has a tremendous impact on their happiness levels and development. Children are not sitting in the backseat of a car being chauffeured everywhere, they are out in the elements being children.

The Netherlands has provided people with alternatives to the car that are time-competitive and comfortable. And while people are still welcome to drive when they want to, many people still choose to cycle, and everyone wins in that scenario.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Interview by Savannah Bertrand