Amsterdam Bike City received 22 foreign delegations in 2023

Politicians, administrators, students, civil servants, mobility experts were all curious about Amsterdam’s cycling policy. Last year, 22 delegations visited the capital, ranging from representatives of the Irish parliament, the German bicycle industry and the Turkish cycling city of Konya.

Most delegations got on a bike for a bike tour through the city to experience Amsterdam’s cycling culture first-hand. There is opportunity for questions and exchanging ideas with Amsterdam cycling experts and municipal officials involved in cycling policy.
Climate policy is a reason for many visitors to want to know more about cycling. The new bicycle parking garages near Central Station attracted lots of interest as well. Therefor railway company NS, manager of bike parks at stations, was often involved in the visits.

Amsterdam Bike City receives the delegations and stages tailor-made programs upon request. To this end, we collaborate with the Dutch Bicycle Embassy and others.

Examples

In April, a group of six members of the Irish Parliament visited Amsterdam. More cycling and limiting car use are part of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. That’s why they wanted to learn about Amsterdam’s cycling policy.

In June, a high official from the Nigerian city of Abuja and a representative of an NGO from the same city visited Amsterdam. Abuja was built in the 1980s as new political and administrative capital of Nigeria, as traffic in Lagos had become heavily congested. The new capital got very spacious streets, but that space is now filled up again. Many of the (richer) people live 20 to 30 km away from the city and drive back and forth by car. Amsterdam had similar problems in the 60s and 70s. The discussion and tour for this group focused on how to Amsterdam managed to reduce car driving in the city: policy for parking of cars, road safety, public transport and cycling. Long-term plans and solutions for acute problems were discussed.

In October, five civil servants from the Turkish city of Konya came to Amsterdam. The government in Konya wrote Turkey’s first cycling master plan in 2019. Konya’s main struggle in the field of mobility is what they call ‘the habit of driving’. Therefor they were interested in activities in Amsterdam to promote bicycle use. Such as cycling lessons at schools. They also wanted to know more about the policy to discourage car use. And they had practical questions: is asphalt always used as paving on cycle paths or are there better materials?

World’s first underwater bicycle parking

Throughout the year, 12 delegations came to see the new bicycle parkings near Amsterdam Central station. Anne Hovingh, bicycle and road safety policy advisor at the municipality of Amsterdam, suspects that a YouTube video about “World’s first underwater bicycle parking” has generated a lot of interest.
Delegations often ask the building costs of the parking (about 60 million euros) and how long the construction took (4.5 years), who uses the parking (everyone, especially cyclists to the station) and whether electric bicycles can be charged in the parking (that is not possible).

Sometimes the program in Amsterdam Bike City was part of a more extensive visit to Amsterdam or the region, in which cycling was not the only topic. Many European delegations were specifically interested in the bicycle. For example, a delegation from Trondheim, Norway, wanted to know everything about the public transport bicycle and the multi-storey bicycle racks.

Would you like to visit Amsterdam Bike City yourself?

For municipalities, provinces and countries from all over the world we stage visits to share our knowledge about cycling. Please contact us at bikecity@amsterdam.nl.

Or set off yourself with the specially developed Do-it-yourself cycling routes.

Do-it-yourself cycling routes

How can you get to know Cycling City Amsterdam and the region better than by bike? With our Do-it-yourself cycling routes you will discover interesting, beautiful and challenging cycling facilities in the city and the region.

Go to our Do-it-yourself routes!