Velo-city conference 2017 Nijmegen

Except for wooden shoes and tulips, you know we are also world-famous for our bicycles (average ownership of bicycles 1,3 per inhabitant)!

Bicycle congress

This week there is a bicycle congress going on, called  ‘Velo-city 2017’ in the city Nijmegen. As a foreigner with a fresh view, the American professor city-planning Kevin Krizek was invited for the last three years on the Radboud University Nijmegen, to study all about the use of bicycles in the Netherlands.

Light-years ahead

His conclusion is that the Netherlands are light-years ahead on the use of the bicycle.’ In other countries people take the bicycle because they cannot afford a car. Here people take the bicycle because it is the best option’.  He is amazed how fluent all the traffic including the bicycles mixes up with each other. He thinks it is a result of the fact that everybody knows how it is to be a bicyclist.

Bicycle highways

And of course the services for bike-riders are good. Nowadays we even get more and more special bicycle-highways which provide the opportunity to reach your destination even quicker. This makes it more attractive for people to go to work on the bicycle. The result is less car traffic, less pollution and no parking problems. But also a great opportunity to move, to breathe fresh air, to enjoy nature and un-stress!

Bike wearing wooden shoes

When you see somebody on a bike wearing wooden shoes, mostly it is a farmer. For his or her work wooden shoes are very convenient.