As I think I mentioned, there are a huge number of bikes in this city - over a million. It is easy to see how our city planners come home from visits to Amsterdam full of ideas about getting everyone onto bikes! I think that in the city streets around here cyclists would outnumber other road users, and even pedestrians. As pedestrians we are learning that they are not all our friends.
There are bike lanes all along all roads of any size, even to the point where there is nowhere left to walk! In many places we have no choice but to walk in the bike lane, as for example in this photo:
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| Where are we supposed to walk? The bike lane takes all available space. |
Cyclists come up behind at considerable speed, and they don't like finding us in their bike lanes. They seem to have become the most important road users, and expect us to get out of their way. Cars must give way to them. Some even ride on the footpaths even when there are bike lanes! In Amsterdam the bikes come first.
As New Zealanders we have the additional problem that we are conditioned to look right before stepping onto the road, when it is vital that we actually look LEFT here.
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| A bike recovered from the canal |
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| They come in all shapes and sizes |
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| One of the more unusual "bicycles" we saw (photo foodlogica.com) |
This amazing contraption (above) is an electrically-assisted refrigerated delivery "bike" we saw powering along the cycle lane.
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| Colourful bike |
