The All Party Group met representatives from NedRailways at Rotterdam station, and travelled by train to see the cycling facilities at Voorshoten, Leiden, and The Hague main train stations. The Group had a meeting on Wednesday, 29 April to discuss the findings of the trip, which Emily reports below:
The culture in the Netherlands has evolved differently than in the UK because there was a movement in the 1960s and 70s run by parents who were campaigning for their children to be able to cycle safely to school. This campaign was highly successful, and the movement won the debate amongst all parties for investment in cycling infrastructure.
Many of the "problems" we have in the UK are not problems in the Netherlands. For example, in any accident between a cyclist and a car in Holland, the presumption is that the car was at fault. At train stations, it is assumed the way to maximise its use is to build cycle parking rather than car parking. And more generally, cycling is seen as "enhanced walking" - a relaxed way of getting around that you don't need to wear lycra for!
We can't simply replicate the Dutch culture in the UK - car use is so much more entrenched here, we have a different starting point. However this cannot be an excuse to do nothing.
Cycle training is an important tool we could use more in the UK - to help fill the gap of a generation who have got out of the habit of cycling, and of teaching their children how to cycle.
We should build separate cycle lanes wherever possible, but we could also replicate the Dutch system of "cycle superhighways". These roads are shared by cars and bikes, but cars are not allowed to overtake. They are prevented from overtaking by a physical measure, such as a rumble strip in the middle of the road which makes it very uncomfortable for drivers trying to do so. This is a potential way of extending the cycle network without needing to spend huge amounts of money or reroute cars.
There are also lessons from Holland on the way we think about Bike Hire schemes. The Dutch experience shows the most important decision when setting up a scheme is to work out who it is for - tourists? commuters? casual users? This impacts on the whole design of the scheme; if or how bikes can be reserved, whether large numbers of bikes have to be moved between collection points and so on. For instance, Boris Johnson's proposed scheme for London is being designed for use by tourists and casual users, and would not be able to cope with commuters.
There is always going to be a difference in cycling culture between the Netherlands and the UK - but it does not need to be so vast. At Leiden station there are 10,000 bike parking spaces... How many are there at Waterloo? We need to keep up the pressure to make cycling easy and convenient for people in London and the UK, to give people the confidence to get cycling.
If you would like to discuss any of these ideas in more detail, please get in touch with me.
