More developments in 's-Hertogenbosch and Rotterdam

Via the Fietsberaad, I hear that 's-Hertogenbosch is to spend 16.5 million euros on cycling between now and 2015. 's-Hertogenbosch has a population of 136500 people, so this amounts to €120 per person - around €24 per person per year.

The money will be spent on new cycle paths, separating car routes from cycle routes (as seen here), more cycle parking, and tackling cycle theft. The intention to increase the cycling modal share in the city from the current 33% of all journeys to 44% of all journeys.

(Note that the relatively high figures for cycling modal share shown above are not reliable. They result from not including walking as a transport mode and only considering cycling within the city.)

After this has been achieved, the city says that they will be able to tell everyone that they are now a real cycling city.

There's a nice video on their website as well as many other details, including a map showing the cycle routes grid.

I've had a few other posts showing Den Bosch in the past, largely thanks to Mark Wagenbuur, who lives there.

Meanwhile, not to be left behind, Rotterdam says it is planning to become the cycling city of the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, I've no details of the Rotterdam investment apart from that they're planning to build an underground cycle park for 5000 bikes at the railway station.

Assen also didn't refer to itself as a "cycling city" until the cycling rate was over 40%. The Dutch are very modest about their achievements in cycling compared with many other places.