Since June last year, there are 430 bicycles and 100 electric cargo bicycles in the city. It is an experiment by the municipality to reduce car use, among other things. The experiment will take another year, but is already causing annoyance to some Amsterdammers because of the special separate parking spaces that are being created for it.
The 100 electric shared bicycles are located in East and South and the 430 electric shared bicycles are spread throughout the city, mainly at public transport points. According to traffic alderman Egbert de Vries, the use of shared cargo bikes is increasing every month. “We want people to be able to make a choice for a cargo bike, without having to buy one. You often only need a bicycle like this once in a while. Then it’s nice to be able to share a cargo bike,” he says. .
However, shared bicycles also cause some annoyance among local residents. Devika Partiman lives near such a special parking space on the Wibautstraat and is annoyed by the separate spaces. “I think that shared bicycles are an irritation for many Amsterdammers anyway, but when I saw that they were given a special parking space, I found it irritating. I don’t understand why you suddenly have to create a first and second class bicycle space in Amsterdam. Places to park your bike parking is already scarce, so I find it strange that not all people are allowed to use it,” she says.
According to the municipality, separate bicycle areas such as those on Wibautstraat are necessary because they are so easy to recognize. Previous experiments have shown that this makes public space less cluttered. Parking spaces for cars are also sacrificed for this, so no bicycle parking spaces for regular bicycles are taken in this way. In addition, the municipality says it does not enforce normal bicycles that are in these types of special compartments.