After a seven-year battle, cycling in Amsterdam just got even safer
Scooters will be banned from Amsterdam’s bike lanes from next spring, making cycling in one of the world’s most pedal-friendly cities even safer.
It can seem baffling to visitors to the Dutch capital that mopeds are able to speed along a cycle network used by Dutch residents and families and an increasing number of tourists, with many locals considering the vehicles a menace.
This week, after a seven year campaign, the city’s council confirmed that mopeds - of which there are around 35,000 in Amsterdam, up from 11,000 in 2008 - will be restricted to the roads from April 8 next year or face a €95 (£85) fine. It is expected the measure, which applies to bike lanes within the A10 ring road, will reduce the number of accidents in the city by 260 a year.
Anne Knol, campaign manager for mobility organisation Milieudefensie, tweeted: “From April onwards, you don’t have to breathe scooter fumes on most of Amsterdam’s bike paths.”
Regular mopeds - which carry a yellow license plate, require riders to wear a helmet and are limited to speeds to 45kmph (28mph) - were banned from cycle lanes in 1999, but light mopeds - blue-plated, on which riders are not required to wear helmets and permitted to travel at 25kmph (15mph) - were still able to mix with bikes. Research by the city found that 87 per cent of moped drivers drove faster than the speed limit.
A national law passed by the Dutch government last year gives metropolitan councils the power to enforce such restrictions, but Amsterdam is as yet the only city to do so. A 2015 poll found that 56 per cent of Dutch residents in four cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague - found scooters irritating.
Cycling is a national obsession in the Netherlands, with 17 million inhabitants owning 23 million bikes. In Amsterdam, nearly half of all journeys are made by bike.
“The traditional Amsterdam bicycle is a heavy black affair, more Miss Marple than Tour de France, with back-pedal brakes and no gears,” wrote Amsterdam resident Rodney Bolt for Telegraph Travel last month.
“In lieu of a basket up front, many come equipped with a sturdy plastic milk crate, which doubles as a pedestrian-parting bullbar. The frame seems made of cast iron, and the rest made up of parts of an astonishing variety of vintages. Hipster taste is leading to the appearance of sleeker machines, yet the average Amsterdam bicycle would in many countries be considered a wreck.
“A bicycle may be built for one, but Amsterdammers consider this a bothersome and unnecessary restriction. Parents fit little seats – one to the crossbar and one to the back carrier – to transport their offspring, and build up sturdy calves pedalling along with one child on the front, one on the back, and panniers stuffed with shopping.
“To others, the cycle becomes an extension of body rather than a distinct means of transport. They behave as they would if they were walking: lovers cycle hand-in-hand, dogs are taken ‘walkies’ galloping alongside, and if it rains people pop up an umbrella with one hand and cycle on regardless.
"Sounds chaotic? Not so. It all functions with relative ease. Far-sighted legislation in the 1970s has provided a network of cycle paths around the city, and out across the countryside. Cyclists even have their own traffic lights (granted, not always obeyed). Whereas in cities like London a war seems to rage between cyclists and motorists, in Amsterdam most motorists are cyclists too, so come with a mite more tolerance. The real battle is with tourists."
