Cycling in the land of tulips, ducks and canals

It was in the summer of 1982 that I first visited Amsterdam. Going back in time, I recollect the city with its usual traffic, and with buses and cars like any other city of Europe. But recently, it is the 'Coup de Cycles' - the two-wheeled pedaled marvel - is what has fascinated me.

The city that I see today has been redesigned with slim roads that are flanked by cycling paths. At places with scant spaces, I came to like the signs on the roads shows an image of a cyclist with a car behind, and reads, 'Bike Street: Cars are guests'.

With a population of 17 million, the Netherlands has over 22.5 million bicycles, yielding a figure of 1.3 bicycles per capita. This is the highest in the world with over 33,000 kms of infrastructure dedicated to cycling alone.

The roads are also 'traffic calmed' with a speed limit of 30 kms an hour for 70% of the urban streets of Holland. With such favorable conditions for cycling, 84% of the Dutch own cycles, and 27% of their travel is through cycles, an increase of 12% since 2005.

An average Dutch person covers about 1,000 km a year in about 250 to 300 cycle trips, again, the highest in the world. The elite class prefers cycling as against the less affluent sections, which is also making cycling an aspirational behavior. But how did this transformation happen?

Before World War II, cycles were the staple mode of transportation in the country. After that, as elsewhere in Europe, burgeoning cars overtook cycles. This car congestion and speeds, as expected, led to over 3,000 deaths on road, including 450 children in 1971.

A local journalist, Vic Langenhoff lost his son in a road accident, and wrote an article with the headline Stop de Kindermoord (Stop the Child Murder). The oil crisis of 1973 further dampened the dependence on cars. This made Dutch town planners diverge from the car-centric road systems of Europe to cycle-friendly road infrastructure.

During my last few days here, I preferred walking to and fro the conference venue, clocking nearly fifteen kilometres daily. The greenery and cleanliness, flowers, ducks and canals were as refreshing as the tall, peepal like trees with leaves in a perpetual, happy-clapping movement.

The main inspiration was the hordes of people who were cycling - ranging from young boys and girls to young parents carrying their children, to the elderly. Cycles also came in various shapes, colours and sizes. The Omafiets or "granny style" bikes, complete with wicker basket and pedal-back brakes were quite common.

One saw many variations of the "Mamafiets" (mummy-bike) too, which are bikes with a child-seat attached, at the back or at the front. The other special kind of bike was the famous bakfiets or bucket bykes. These had two wheels or even three wheels, and could hold a pram and other essentials in the carriage in front of the bike. Some even had colourful canopies to protect the children or pets that occasionally peeped out.

The site of hundreds of cycles parked near a station is very clearly etched in my mind. I later leant that there is underground parking for 10,000 bikes in the university city of Groningen — a cyclists' paradise! This habit of cycling is of great value in respect of health, fitness, environment, and leading a relaxed, happy pace of life. Netherlands is, not surprisingly, the 6th happiest countries of the world, as ranked by the World Happiness Report, 2018 of the United Nations. On my last birthday, the special gift that my father gave me was a cycle and I loved that! Can we too adopt and adapt this practice and habit of cycling to work and for errands? Can we have cycle-friendly roads in our cities too? The cycle, a living symbol of simplicity, frugality, sensitivity, self-reliance, equity and respect for life and time, can usher in a new freshness into all our lives, radiating more happiness and health.

The author is a Harvard-educated civil servant & writer, and has worked in the education sector
jayanti.ravi.dna@gmail.com