A Dutch perspective on bicycles

tags: essay

You don't know what you have until it's gone. As a Dutch citizen living abroad, it has become painfully clear not only how wonderful the Dutch cycling culture really is, but also how misunderstood by the rest of the world.

I'm a fan of the YouTube channel "Not Just Bikes" and I think it does a better job than most of getting across the way cycling is integrated into everyday life in the Netherlands. However, as with most videos about bicycles, cars end up playing a large part in the narrative: cycling as an alternative to driving. As a Dutch person for whom the bicycle has been his day-to-day transport since the age of 6, this perspective seems to be missing the mark. For the Dutch, cycling feels like an extension to being a pedestrian.

Whatever these guys seem to be doing has nothing to do with the Dutch concept of cycling:

These contraptions are not proper bicycles! What are they wearing? Why are they on the road throwing themselves in front of the cars? How could anyone ever think this is a good mode of transportation? This has nothing to do with the Dutch concept of cycling. It is in fact so far off, that I'm going need a new word without any connotations to *waves hands around* whatever this is, if I want to explain the Dutch perspective.

Introducing: the velo

Let's use the French word "velo", as it blends better with English than the Dutch "fiets". Velo is short for velocity and that is exactly what this machine will do for you: it gives you extra velocity for free. "For free" being the key point here. Unlike the bicycle, where the amplification of speed comes at the cost of wearing special clothing, risking your life dodging cars, having to shower afterwards, spending time taking it out and locking it up, the velo amplifies your speed for free. This requirement drives all aspects of the design and usage of a velo.

First and foremost, a velo that you cannot grab without a second thought is a badly designed velo. This means it has to accommodate you as a person, wearing whatever you are happen to be wearing that day. You sit on it in an upright position (no wardrobe malfunctions with open blouses or skirts), with the chain and wheels shielded, so flapping garments don't get stuck, grease doesn't rub on your pants, and water doesn't spray when you drive through a puddle. Of course, this means no helmet either.

Unlike cycling, riding a velo is not a dangerous activity. At 15-25 km/h (9-15 mi/h) you are not going fast enough to make it likely that you seriously hurt yourself or someone else. The upright riding position makes it possible to look around and be aware of your surroundings. And as merely a pedestrian with superpowers, you are of course not riding on the road alongside cars, buses and trucks, but on the sidewalk. If riding a velo is dangerous enough to warrant a helmet, something is wrong about either its design or the traffic situation you are riding it in. For example, if the sidewalk cannot accommodate a velo, it probably also cannot safely accommodate pedestrians such as a parent walking next to their child.

As an extension of being a pedestrian, riding a velo is not meant to be a very sporty activity. If you really want to, you could put in the same effort as running or even sprinting, and the velo will happily amplify that for you (although the ratio drops), but this is not something you normally do. You might do this in the same situations as you might run as a pedestrian. For example, if you are very late for something important or are a kid on their way to spend their allowance. Normally, you want to avoid getting all tired and sweaty and wrinkle your clothes, so you maintain a leisurely pace.

A velo must be there when you need it and instantly gone when you don't. For one, this means it is very important for a velo to keep working without much (or even any) maintenance. Many features you will see on sporty bicycles, such as derailleurs and rim brakes are generally a bad idea as they are designed to save weight at the expense of being brittle, wearing out and requiring constant fine-tuning. Instead, a velo will often rely on hub gears and drum brakes. Second, you should be able to put away a velo with ease. This means a velo should not be valuable enough to warrant excessive protective measures and can be left out on the street given a proper lock. In addition to a good chain or cable lock, a velo has a wheel lock that takes mere seconds to close for a quick stop at a store or storage in a guarded or locked place such as a bicycle shed. Velos also have a kick-stand in order to park them in the absence of racks or other anchor points.

What "velocity for free" means

In short: on a velo, you are still essentially a pedestrian, but with superpowers.

As a normal pedestrian strolling down the street, you go about 3 km/h. This limits your action radius to about 1 km (0.62 mi), which is a 20 min stroll, or 12 min brisk walk (5 km/h). I hope you'll agree with me that walking is a convenient mode of transportation for trips within this radius. For example, in a typical residential neighborhood in my small birth city of Apeldoorn (see image below, orange circle), if you would want to visit a friend who lives a couple of streets over, you'd just walk.

A velo amplifies your speed by a factor of 5. So, by putting in the same effort as a calm stroll, you now move at 15 km/h. This means your action radius is now 5 km (3.1 mi)! For our resident in Apeldoorn (image below, blue circle) a trip downtown becomes just as easy as walking over to their friend's place.

When I learned to ride a velo as a kid at the age of 6, my action radius encompassed the whole neighborhood and by the age of 12, it covered the entirety of the small city. By then, I was allowed to go visit my friends from school, wherever they lived, by myself. This is what it means to ride a velo in the Netherlands: a kid that is allowed to walk to a friends house a couple of streets down the block can be allowed to visit a friend in another neighborhood on a velo, because it can be the same thing as long as adequate traffic infrastructure is provided. As a 12-year-old, my velo was not a replacement for my car. My velo made me a pedestrian with superpowers.

In those days, when I went somewhere with my borthers and parents, we would ride two-by-two and chat about the things we saw along the way. Riding next to your child allows you to retain control and communication. In the Netherlands, it's not uncommon to see an entire class going somewhere on velos: one teacher in front and one in the back. This is how I was taught the traffic rules and good manners, so that when the time came, my parents could let me go places by myself. As a teenager, I rode my velo everywhere with my friends: two-by-two next to each other, chatting about life, the universe and everything. When there were many of us, we rode in large groups that alloyed everyone else by taking up too much space on the sidewalk. The velo supercharges the movement for nearly all age groups.

It's not about velo versus car

Hopefully, you now understand why I say that thinking about the velo as an alternative to the car is limiting in many ways. There are lots of things you can do as a pedestrian that you cannot do with a car and vice-versa. Using a velo is all about increasing your action radius while keeping the freedom and ease of being a pedestrian. The bicycles in the video at the top did nothing of the sort.