All about cycling in the Netherlands
Summer has started and that means we can watch beautiful people cycling in their summer outfits. The contrast with last week’s post couldn’t be sharper when you see these typically Dutch people cycling in the park! And even though they’re riding in a park, that doesn’t mean that these people are recreational cyclists. They just ride on a main cycle route that happens to go right through Wilhelminapark in the center of Utrecht. But because it is a cycle track in a park, it is forbidden to mopeds and look how that improves the atmosphere: everything is even more relaxed!
Of course there are also a lot of people in the Netherlands who cycle for recreation, but I filmed this on a Wednesday afternoon so you mainly see people going about their daily business. Primary schools in the Netherlands are closed every Wednesday afternoon, so there are a lot of children on their way as well.
I thought it would be nice to have a look at some of the people and imagine what they could be thinking.
First some pictures and the long video can be found at the end of the post.
Why don’t you have a seat on a park bench and enjoy all these very different people cycling by in 20 minutes! It’s pure tranquillity…
So just how busy is it here? This is on the route to the Utrecht University area. Traffic counts on points just before and after this route goes through the park, show figures of first 14,850 cyclists per day, dropping to 10,200 and then rising again to 12,130. It is therefore safe to conclude that at least 10,000 cyclists a day cycle through this park. That is only a bit more than the figure for London Bridge mentioned in the article Move over Amsterdam, the London cycling revolution is in top gear. But the cyclists in London look so very different! Imagine what cycling could be like in London if cycle conditions would be improved to appeal to ordinary people as well, and not just to daredevils…