There is a photo of Mark Rutte, outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leaving the Binnenhof—Parliament building in the Hague— on his bicycle, wearing dress clothes, no helmet, snack in one hand, work bag over one handlebar. Images like this made a splash in major global news outlets, accompanying articles about how recently defeated Neo-Liberal, representing a political party for free markets, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage, the EU, a major supporter of Ukraine, was on his way to becoming NATO’s new Secretary General. International coverage of Rutte’s transition was less focused on his politics than on the fact that he left his job on a bicycle. a fact that was never a big deal in the Netherlands, where most people do likewise.
The photos of Rutte could be used as an instructional illustration for how to ride your bike Dutch-style: in work or play clothes, helmetless, with your belongings/children/dogs attached in all kinds of precarious and unbalanced ways, with one hand free to hold food, phone, or the hand of your beloved biking partner.
I
Jehovah’s Witnesses recruit in every country. In the Netherlands, they use bikes.
It was fascinating to observe the bike culture in Groningen and the Haag. Here are some of the things I noted.
- The Netherlands is as flat as Florida, facilitating a culture of cycling that is not elite, not a sport, and not just for the fit, young, or thin.
- The infrastructure is complete. You can go anywhere on a bike. Autonomous paths and road allocations are beside freeways, in suburbs, farmlands, inner cities, and even in surrounding beltways that are the worst places for a cyclist in the US. Infrastructure also includes bike parking. In the Hague, there are huge indoor lots with pulleys, lifts, lot numbers, and tickets. In Groningen, there are sidewalks where you can park, and those where you can’t, and bigger bike lots than car lots at grocery stores. The train station has acres of bike parking, elevated, indoors, short and long-term.
One small part of the train station’s bike parking. Groningen, The Netherlands
- Wide definition of “bike.” The bike paths also allow mopeds, e-bikes, small motorcycles, and motorized wheelchairs, though most users ride non-motorized bikes. It seems to work. In Den Haag, motorized wheelchairs were a common sight, more than I have ever seen on the streets of any other city. I also saw multiple people riding hand-only bikes.
- Bicycles as trucks. People carry much more than themselves on bicycles. There are cargo bikes of all sorts, including ones with passenger seats. A common model of the Dutch bike has a metal front rack with a large square wooden or plastic basket. Bikes with large trunks are common. Also, people are adept at carrying bags on handlebars. We saw people carrying large dogs, multiple children, furniture items, groceries… everything. I saw one man riding in the countryside with two full-grown Great Danes in his cargo container. I thought it was the strangest thing until I saw many other people with their healthy young dogs riding with them, sitting or lying quietly, as they would in a car.
- School scene: in Den Haag, we had breakfast at a shop next to a school and watched parents dropping off young ones on all kinds of bicycles. Muslim moms in kaftans, other moms in miniskirts and heels, dads in pajamas, parents on their way to work, kids on handlebars, bike seats, three to a cargo hold, in a small seat on the back of a tandem, or little kids riding their bikes, with a parent next to them, maybe getting a push.
- Rush hour scene: The stream of bikes is constant, and the crowds at each light swell to several dozen. The only thing missing is the rush hour stress.
- A cultural practice. In Groningen, people often ride holding onto each other, hand to arm. Couples use this method as a replacement for hand-holding. Faster riders help slower riders keep up. A parent with one hand on the handlebars of a child’s bike pulls them along. Teenage boys put one hand on their friend’s forearm.
- A question on the urban/rural divide. Bicycles are perhaps not a focus of the urban/rural divide as they are in the US and elsewhere. Farmers ride bikes too, so they are not as adverse to having paths near their farmlands. I saw farmers mowing beside paths. Perhaps they were paid to? In the US, the push for bike infrastructures, especially in rural areas, often receives pushback from farmers and other rural landowners. I am conjecturing here, but I think it is safe to say that bicycle culture is truly national in this country with an array of urban, rural, and suburban landscapes.
- Incentives Municipalities institute a series of incentives for biking and disincentives for driving. One of the ways they make it easy to become a rider is a bike leasing program, which costs 15 Euros a month. If you have mechanical issues, you can bring your bike in and have it replaced. No upkeep costs. No need to be mechanically inclined. The bikes in this program have blue front wheels, and they are everywhere.
Bike swap system with blue tires.
- Mass transit accompaniment: Trains take you nearly anywhere you want to go in the Netherlands. Within cities, there are buses and trolley cars that go everywhere. When we visited Schiermonnikoog Island, we took a city bus for a 48-minute ride to the ferry. Buses and ferry times are coordinated so you can easily take a day or overnight trip from the city. And when you get there, a bicycle rental center awaits you at the terminal
- The Dutch Bike: Most bikes on the roads are the unique Dutch Bike: upright handlebars, a step-through design, an internal hub with zero, three, or seven speeds, a chain guard, fenders, and a large seat that puts you in an upright position. Standard back racks with straps allow you to carry any bag or pannier. Often, a front platform is included for attaching a large basket. They have built-in locks with keys like e-bikes and an easy-to-use plastic-covered kickstand that doesn’t bite you. These bikes are made for riding in work clothes, including long skirts, short dresses, pants with big cuffs, and all kinds of work shoes. You are not hunched over and can see the world, which is a good thing, because…
- Helmets: 95% do not wear them. Not parents, not babies sitting in the front baskets. Our helmets stood out and signaled “tourist.”
How did the Netherlands make the transition to a bike culture? The movement began as a campaign by mothers against streets that were no longer safe for children to play. Thousands of children were killed by cars. Stop de Kindermoord (stop child murders) was the slogan. The movement resulted in a thorough governmental investment in restructuring roads, parking, and security systems, and creating incentives to bike and walk, and disincentives to drive.
The former Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been replaced by Dick Schoof, a former spy and rabid xenophobe, who promises to target immigrants and Muslims. In the Netherlands, center and far-right political parties are not about to dismantle this fiscally and environmentally responsible, popular, good-health thing. It has become connected to Dutch identity. Now they—and all of us—need to work on making concepts like love your neighbor and no human being is illegal central to our cultural identities.
