It is crowded on the narrow Amsterdam cycle paths. Fat bikes that pass by, Van Moofs with a penetrating electronic bell, flash delivery drivers who mainly look at their navigation and electric cargo bikes that no one can pass.
The number of e-bikes in Amsterdam has been steadily increasing for years – and the growth is not over yet. This also increases the mutual speed differences on the cycle path: a measurement by the Fietsersbond shows that e-bikes go an average of 13 km/h faster than bicycles without pedal assistance. Result: the number of accidents with e-bikes is last year increased by 50 percent. And more and more Amsterdammers feel unsafe on a bicycle, according to studies.
Ideally, the council would like to introduce a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour for e-bikes
The city council now wants to do something about it. The council would prefer to introduce a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour for e-bikes, alderman Melanie van der Horst (Traffic and Transport, D66) wrote to the city council on Wednesday. She also wants to entice fast cyclists to use the roadway.
Four years ago, Amsterdam banned moped riders to the roadway, where they were also required to wear a helmet. The measure was a success: the number of registered light mopeds in Amsterdam fell sharply, the remaining scooter users are no longer the annoyance they once were.
That gap was quickly filled with ebikes. They are a very attractive alternative to the scooter: just as fast, cheaper, welcome to the bike path, and the driver does not have to wear a helmet or take out insurance. Moreover, they are easy to perform – which happens frequently, and is hardly checked.
Feelings of insecurity
The rapid advance of the e-bike is a problem, says alderman Van der Horst. The growing feelings of insecurity on the cycle path, especially among the elderly and children, could lead Amsterdammers to abandon their bicycles from now on. And that is highly undesirable, according to Van der Horst: the municipality is busy making the city as unattractive as possible for cars.
For example, at the end of this year, the maximum speed in most streets in Amsterdam will be reduced to 30 kilometers per hour. That would be a good time to also set a limit to the speed on cycle paths, Van der Horst writes to the city council. Only: Amsterdam needs new national legislation for such a ban, limiting the speed of e-bikes is currently not legally possible. The municipal council is therefore lobbying the government for new legislation, says Van der Horst.
Alderman Van der Horst believes in the so-called intelligent speed adaptation
Reinder Rustema of the action group Geef Het Fietspad Back calls a speed limit for e-bikes “unfeasible”. Firstly, he says, it will take years for such a ban to get through in The Hague, as he himself experienced during his lobbying for compulsory helmet use on mopeds (finally in force since the beginning of this year). But the main problem, according to Rustema: such a maximum speed cannot be maintained. “Should we plant a police officer on every street corner, with a fast e-bike to give chase?”
Rustema believes more in another plan of alderman Van der Horst: let fast cyclists ride on the road, between the cars. When the lower maximum speed for cars is introduced at the end of this year, Amsterdammers on e-bikes could be given a choice: either 20 km/h on the cycle path or 30 km/h on the adjacent lane. Although on a completely voluntary basis, Rustema believes it can work. “The fast cyclist is lazy. If you can tear your Van Moof faster on the road than on the cycle path, then the choice is quickly made.”
The Amsterdam department of the Fietsersbond is working for yet another plan: a license plate for e-bikes. “Then you can easily fine them via cameras if they break the law, just like light moped riders,” said chairman Florrie de Pater last year. NRC.
Alderman Van der Horst believes in the so-called intelligent speed adaptation, where cyclists are encouraged via their screen to slow down in certain places. This spring there will be a pilot in Amsterdam. Bicycle activist Reinder Rustema is sceptical. “You then assume that manufacturers voluntarily introduce such a technique. But the industry will never do that: it is against their financial interests.”
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