The Dutch know what’s up when it comes to bicycles and bike riding. Recently, we Californians summoned their help for our desperate bike needs. With the guidance of Dutch bicycle experts, the local Netherlands consulate, Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition bike enthusiasts and specialists came together to try and make Los Angeles a more bike friendly city. What did they come up with? ThinkBikeLA!
ThinkBikeLA focuses on potential new bike infrastructure projects in three different areas. Downtown, Van Nuys, and USC are the 3 areas the bike engineers are focusing on. With three totally different concepts for each area, the invested groups are running tests and crunching numbers to see which will work out best for the city of angels!
Why are the Dutch qualified to be the outside consultants on redoing our transportation here in Los Angeles? Transportation in Amsterdam, and most of the Netherlands, consists mostly of cyclists. Government incentives actually steer residents away from owning cars, filling up, and parking in the city. Amsterdam is actually the most bicycle friendly city in the world! Approximately 40% of all transportation is done via bicycle! This is easy because most main streets are equipped with their own bike paths and bike racks. Renting bikes for tourists is highly encouraged. Rentals start as low as only 8 euro a day! Rental companies are dispersed plentifully across the city and countryside.
With their transportation culture revolving around cycling, we would agree they are pretty qualified to come give us suggestions on how to make this giant city more bicycle friendly. Expect updates when the plans are put into action!
