More space is needed for public transportation bicycles

Central to Ploeger’s thesis is that the bicycle as a means of transportation and the link to the train is unique in the world. “Traffic officers from all over the world come to the Netherlands to see this, so how do we keep cycling in the Netherlands?” Abroad, the advent of the automobile has greatly reduced the use of bicycles, but not in the Netherlands.

According to Jan Ploeger, it is characteristic of the Netherlands that ordinary Dutch people did not exchange their bicycle for the car and that cycling remained very ordinary: “Rutte also went to the king by bicycle.”

Maintain success

Where he lives in Delft in particular, he finds the spatial planning around the link between bicycles and public transport to be very flexible: “You ride your bike directly to the bike storage under the NS station.” You can also get out of the city within 15 minutes, as well as to sites such as Den Hoorn.

Renting a bike at NS station used to be difficult, as you had to pay a deposit and sign a lease, but now it’s a matter of getting a public transit bike in about 3 minutes and driving away. According to Blogger, this is an unprecedented success: renting a bicycle from NS is much cheaper than taking your own bike on the train. The fact that Delft knows that all public transport bikes are rented around 10am means that more space must be available in order for it to continue to be a success.

Now that Jan Blogger is publicizing his thesis, he likes to use this to present his vision of chain mobility to the people and organizations currently inviting him. He hopes that his vision will be reflected in his field.

The final piece of advice given by Jan Plüger is: “Listen to the users.” As early as 1929, a gentleman went to NS with the idea of ​​making bicycle rental possible at stations.