A plan to put 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the streets of Amsterdam in five years has met with fierce resistance from an unlikely quarter - the city's famed body of cyclists.
Cyclists say that the promotion of EVs will diminish the status of the bike, swallowing up a large portion of the 550,000 parking spots currently used by cyclists and encouraging a more sedentary lifestyle.
According to research conducted by the city, cyclists are responsible for a full 55 percent of all movement within the centre of Amsterdam. However, transport planners want a big increase in EV use over the next five years, rising to 40,000 EVs trundling over its cobbled streets by 2020.
Cycle lobby groups are understandably concerned that a carbon-neutral way of getting round the city, proven for many years, will have to make way for a vehicle which is less environmentally-friendly.
"We are afraid. If you add more parking spaces, you get more cars," said Marjolein de Lange, a member of the cycling union Fietsersbond, "We think the cleanest means of transport is the bike. Definitely." *
* Do Amsterdam's cyclists have a point? Or will they just have to budge up and share? Let us know!
Is there any evidence that any of it actually happened at all?
Yeah, I'm out - come back to me when you've got one made of carbon nanotubes.
Strictly speaking, your last premise isn't quite true. After it had happened he said he hoped at that point that those things would result, but not...
Hellfrauds aren't capable of building or supporting "high end" bikes....
I'd highly recommend Scribe, especially if you love a nice, positive sounding freewheel! Brilliant service, great wheels. I'm running alloys on the...
In a "war on the motorist" of the kind you describe almost everyone loses, including most motorists. For every benefit there's a negative. They...
Good night, John Boy!
I was shouted at as I was cycling while unfit up a steepish but short climb the other week. I was so annoyed that I stopped and asked them to...
The above graph reflects the data obtained through an FOI request but even that was a struggle. The FOI was submitted in Nov 23 and finally replied...
I guessed it would be that sketch before I even clicked on the link, brilliant! For a time it was permissible and understood to respond to the...