Author: Jonathan Mertzig

Dispatch from the Netherland, part 3: Innovation vs. Complacency

Post author By Jonathan Mertzig
Post date June 19, 2018

This is the third and final part of Jonathan Mertzig’s series on biking and biking infrasctructure in the Netherlands. You can read part 1, about wayfinding and complete streets and networks here, and part 2 about multimodal transit and bike parking here.

While I was thoroughly impressed by the state of cycling in the Netherlands on my first visit, I think what has impressed me even more over the years is seeing the constant tweaks and innovations that continue to improve the biking experience. The Dutch have established many great standards in areas like wayfinding and street design, but even these tried-and-true systems are constantly fine-tuned, like with a total refresh of wayfinding typography and various experiments in paving with eco-friendly materials and even glow-in-the-dark surfaces.

In Tilburg, the city is trying out new “smart” traffic lights that use a cell phone app to track when cyclists are near. The lights can be changed in cyclists’ favor if a large group is approaching. A much broader rollout of a similar system is underway in nearby Den Bosch.

On my most recent trip, to the province of Noord-Brabant, I was pleased to find some cool things I hadn’t encountered before, like traffic signals in Tilburg and Den Bosch that track mobile phones to give clusters of cyclists a quicker green light, and a growing network of bike “superhighways” spreading from the center of Eindhoven (even including grade-separated portions avoiding the busiest roads!). I’m always amazed at how careful thought and creative solutions are constantly applied to making biking better.

The province of Noord-Brabant is developing a network of “snelfietsweg” routes (basically freeways for bikes!) between major cities, converging on this stretch of spacious grade-separated paths around Eindhoven’s central station. Cyclists can quickly cruise below busy streets on a highway of their own.

http://imgur.com/jP6I05X

Takeaways: We can copy some really great, proven ideas from the Dutch to make cycling in Madison better, but don’t be afraid to promote some homegrown innovation! And more importantly, just because we have reason to be proud of relatively great bike infrastructure and culture here in Madison, we should follow the most important lesson the Dutch provide: Never stop improving!

Bike News

Dispatch from the Netherlands, part 2: Transit and Parking

Post author By Jonathan Mertzig
Post date June 12, 2018

This is the second part of Jonathan Mertzig’s series on biking and biking infrasctructure in the Netherlands. You can read part 1, about wayfinding and complete streets and networks here. The final installment of the series will be published next Wednesday.

Bike-friendly Public Transit and Mixed-Mode Journeys

You can take your bike on most trains for a small supplemental fee outside of peak hours. Here on a new Sprinter train, they even explain the rules in English.

While long-distance, intercity journeys are quite possible with the Dutch cycling network, you might find taking a train or bus to be a bit more efficient, and many public transport options in the Netherlands make it easy to take your bike with you. Nearly all classes of service on the Dutch railways support transport of cycles for a small supplemental fee (with some reasonable rush hour restrictions). Over the last decade the Dutch railways actually have been phasing out racks in trains because mounting bikes on them was deemed too cumbersome and inconvenient, and instead have shifted toward favoring spacious standing areas for cyclists to encourage quick and easy loading of bikes. Trams and long-distance buses also often have space that can accommodate cyclists. Notably, most cycle accommodation in Dutch public transport also serves as a good example of “universal design”—the same roll-on/roll-off compartments that provide space for cyclists can also accommodate wheelchair users, families with baby carriages, or tourists hauling luggage. (More info on taking bikes—or a few other wheeled things—on the train).

Entrance to the bicycle center beneath the rail station in Hilversum. The facility offers secure bike parking, a repair facility, and bike rentals.

Apart from the possibility of taking your bike along for the ride, Dutch transport hubs also tend to provide excellent facilities for cyclists, with large amounts of secure bike parking and on-site facilities for repair and rental of cycles. The national public transit card system (OV-Chipkaart) even integrates with a nationwide bike share scheme, the OV-fiets, which lets you hire a bike at most stations. And if you were wondering, yes, it’s possible to even bike to the airport—bike paths can take you all the way to the terminal at Schiphol.

A pair of OV-Fiets bikes on the street in Maastricht. The OV-fiets is a nationwide bike rental scheme connected to the national transit chip card (OV-Chipkaart) that allows you to bike up a bike at most major railway stations.

Takeaways: Encourage the installation of quality bike parking at major transit nodes and emphasize the need for simple roll-on/roll-off bike transport on new transit vehicles. A few cumbersome racks on the front of buses don’t truly make a transit system “bike-friendly.”

Madison’s most recent chance at having intercity rail service was unfortunately squandered, but while the plans were still on track—no pun intended—multi-modality incorporating cycling was a key part of the designs‚Ä¶ some of the initial reasoning for choosing Judge Doyle Square as a location for a bike center was the synergy with a potential future train station. When opportunities for planning intercity connections arise, let’s make sure those rail- (bus-, hyperloop-) to-bike connections remain a key part of the discussion.

A bike shop at Maastricht central station, one of two facilities offering bike rentals and repairs at the station.

Parking and Support Facilities

Bike parking is quite plentiful in Dutch cities, but it seems they can still never build quite enough. Perhaps the most extreme example of demand for bike parking is around Amsterdam Centraal station, where several huge parking areas, including a few multi-level garages, are often overflowing with bikes.

If there’s one glaring problem with cycling in Netherlands, it’s parking‚Ä¶ they just can’t build enough! But from an American cyclist’s perspective, the parking situation in most Dutch cities seems downright luxurious. Most major destinations like stores, schools, and offices have large bike parking areas with quality racks and many include lockers available for rental to long-term users. In city centers or at transit hubs, centralized parking garages provide a place to stow your bike before exploring a neighborhood on foot or taking a journey on mass transit.

A large bike parking garage serving Den Haag Centraal station and surrounding office buildings

The best types of these facilities, known as a bewaakte fietsenstalling, combine a large number of lockers or locking racks with video surveillance and on-site attendants to provide a highly secure place to stow your bike. And as a bonus in the often-rainy Netherlands, many also shelter your bike from the elements. In the past, parking in such facilities was typically was a paid service, but in recent years I’ve noticed an increasing tendency to provide such facilities for free. The preference towards providing free centralized parking helps maintain a less crowded streetscape with reduced need for on-street parking—and less of an excuse for illegal parking—and helps cut down on bike theft and vandalism. Many of these parking complexes also provide bike maintenance shops, self-service repair areas, and rental facilities.

Den Haag provides an example of the move towards free centralized parking in many cities. To help eliminate clutter from chaotic bike parking on busy shopping streets, the city expanded their secure parking garages and made them available for free.

Apart from the ample provision of parking and repair facilities, supplies for simple repairs and bike accessories are widely available at locations beyond specialized cycling retailers. Most variety stores and convenience shops carry at least a basic selection of supplies like tubes, patch kits, and accessories like bells, locks, lights, and reflective gear (notably, a trip to the Netherlands is a fantastic opportunity to stock up on affordable cycling kit!). So if you find yourself with a flat tire, a quick fix is usually a short walk away.

Basic bike supplies are easy to find—here at a HEMA store (sort of like the Dutch equivalent of Target), you can find a variety of parts and accessories.

Outdoor markets are not only a place to buy fresh veggies and other edible delights‚Ä¶ you can often find bike supply vendors and repair stands at many markets. Here at the Woensel Weekmarkt in Eindhoven, you can find two Dutch staples right next to each other: fresh herring and bike tires!

Takeaways: The Judge Doyle Square bike center could be a great pilot of this sort of concept, but there are many other destinations around town where quality indoor parking could be a huge perk to encourage cycling. Many major employers and institutions like the UW have good connectivity to our bike routes but perhaps not the best opportunities for parking. We should encourage high-quality indoor bike parking to be a part of development plans. And maybe with that parking, include a nice bike repair stand! And while we’re at it, let’s nudge our neighborhood retailers to carry at least a modest selection of basic bike repair supplies.

Beneath the 18.September Plein square in Eindhoven, between the central station and the central business district, there is a huge ‚Äòbewaakte fietsenstalling’ with free parking. The architecture seems to match the nearby building known as “The Blob.”

Bike News

Dispatch from the Netherlands, Part 1: Wayfinding and Complete Streets

Post author By Jonathan Mertzig
Post date June 7, 2018

Editorial note: This is a three-part guest post by Madison Bikes supporter Jonathan Mertzig. Thanks, Jonathan, for sharing your experience living and cycling in the Netherlands, and what we can learn from the Dutch in improving cycling here in Madison! Part 2 will be published next Wednesday.

In the summer of 2005 I had the privilege of attending a Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) summer course held in the beautiful town of Zeist, a short bike journey away from the Netherlands’ fourth largest city, Utrecht. Apart from being an amazing immersive experience in learning the Dutch language, the course also provided plenty of opportunities to experience the Netherlands’ amazing bike culture and infrastructure.

After class each day, our group of students from around the world could grab our bikes and head off for an adventure, exploring our surroundings without ever even needing to look at a map. You could pick a destination and follow the signs for a safe route to just about anywhere. Even the most novice cyclists, many coming from countries with almost no culture of cycling, could in a few days become quite confident riders.

In the years since, I’ve had many opportunities to return to the Netherlands and observe the evolution of bike facilities there. The Netherlands can seem like a cyclist’s paradise that would be hard to match elsewhere, and indeed, there are some local factors in the popularity of cycling we can’t easily match: compact cities, short distances between towns, relatively flat terrain, and milder winter weather. But there are plenty of things the Dutch do well that can serve as examples to replicate elsewhere, including American cities like Madison.

Wayfinding

A particularly information-dense cycling route wayfinding signpost outside Amsterdam’s city hall. Red signs point to locations of interest (like the Artis zoo, or the central station), major neighborhoods, or even other cities (like in this example, Hilversum and Utrecht). The green signs denote major recreational routes‚Ä¶ from here you can even follow the signs to take the Stedenroute (“City Route”) all 340km to Brussels—no guarantee though that the signage will be as good once you cross the Belgian border!

One of the first things that stands out to visitors observing the bike scene in the Netherlands—besides the sheer number of bikes everywhere—is the excellent system of wayfinding signage throughout the country. The national travel association, ANWB, provides uniform standards for bike and pedestrian wayfinding signage, with signs installed at nearly every intersection or path access point throughout the country. Signage features directions and distances between cities, highlights major points of interest, and delineates regional and national recreational and long-distance routes.

In some scenic areas, a lower-profile format of bike wayfinding signage is used, though the design features are otherwise consistent with the rest of the national signage system. Here you can choose your direction through the dunes at Kijkduin.

The signage scheme for cyclists is visually distinct from other types of road signage, color-coded (red for general directions and local points of interest, green for recreational routes) and uses consistent shapes, symbols, and highly-readable typography to provide a universally recognizable scheme for navigation. The scale and placement of signage also often doubles as a useful reference for those traveling on foot. One can easily navigate within cities or take a long-distance ride without much need to break out your smartphone‚Ä¶ just follow the signs.

The green-signed recreational route network ties connects historical town centers and scenic natural areas around the country. Here in Maastricht, the “Maas route” LF3b takes you through cobblestone streets and up the St-Pietersberg, one of the few hills in Dutch territory that actually is referred to as a “mountain.” Contrary to popular belief, the entire country isn’t flat!

Takeaways: Being able to find your way around without much of a hassle is key to a great cycling experience, especially for beginners and visitors. We should strive for a system of consistent, high-density signage for cycle-friendly routes. The Dutch standards for signage provide a great example of a well-executed wayfinding system.

Complete Networks, Complete Streets

Cederlaan in Eindhoven is a great example of a Dutch “complete street.” This street, built in a new residential development in a previously industrial district, combines a bus rapid transit way and stations, general traffic lanes, a separated bike path, parking lanes, and sidewalks.

The network of bike routes in the Netherlands is quite comprehensive, with a thoroughly interconnected system of urban bike lanes, separated bike paths, traffic-calmed neighborhood streets, and rural roads and trails suitable for safe cycling. Bike routes are easily recognized through consistent visual cues, like the aforementioned wayfinding signage, or the use of red pavement to mark lanes and paths reserved for cyclists. Cycling becomes a practical option for commuting, shopping, or even intercity journeys because it is easy to travel by bike without having to contend with riding on unsafe roads or breaks in the network. It is quite possible to find a safe bike route between most any destination in the Netherlands, whether at neighborhood level or cross-country.

Outside the cities, an extensive network of paths crisscrosses rural and natural areas, making it possible to easily bike between towns while enjoying the scenery. Here is a path that connects Zeist and Amersfoort via the wooded hills of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and heathlands of the Leusderheide.

Taking a look at Dutch street design also shows what “complete streets” looks like when proper design and investment is put into the concept. It’s not unusual to find arterial streets that combine safe, separated lanes for bikes, cars, and mass transit, and still have ample space for sidewalks, landscaped medians and terraces, and on-street parking. Smaller neighborhood streets use designs that are appropriate for the context and available space, like traffic calming measures combined with on-street bike lanes, or even intentionally ambiguous zones (you may be familiar with the Dutch term woonerf) where a blending of low-speed traffic actually improves safety and livability for surrounding neighborhoods. Not all Dutch street designs are perfect and not all are feasible for Madison’s streets, but the overall experience is noticeably better than American design standards.

The intersection along Rotterdam’s Blaak avenue provides a particularly complex example of a Dutch “complete” street. Bike lanes and broad sidewalks on each side flank a busy avenue, the start of a separated busway, and a tramway. Aerial view.

Takeaways: Find the holes in the network and prioritize these for improvements. The Madison area has done a good job of this in terms of regional and cross-town routes, but the real gaps are at a more local level. Think about those neighborhoods where you can’t easily use a bike to do errands like getting groceries, take your kids to school, or visit the park, and target those areas for improvement. Make sure proposals for new infrastructure connect up to existing routes in safe and logical ways.

American discussions of measures like traffic calming are often framed as “experiments” or denounced by opponents as “unproven” but Dutch cities are full of working examples of complete streets and safer design paradigms, and these are often implemented in situations where space is quite limited compared to American streets. And investment in quality bike-friendly infrastructure doesn’t necessarily have to come at a cost detrimental to those who drive—any trip on the superb freeways of the Netherlands quickly demonstrates that the Dutch don’t hate their cars! The Dutch don’t view transportation planning as a zero-sum game where only one mode “wins.” (For more on the state of the overall transportation system in the Netherlands, and how bikes fit into the picture, I recommend this report from Statistics Netherlands: Transport and Mobility 2015).

Check back next week for part 2 of the series!