Bicycle Mad Country Netherlands makes way for more bicycle riders | 200000 people to get benefits
The Netherlands seems to be in the news
everyday for past few weeks, all for good reasons. Just a few days back, the
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was applauded by everyone when a video of him mopping
the floor of the parliament himself after he spilled coffee on it went viral.
And now their deputy infrastructure
minister Stientje van Veldhoven has announced the government’s plan to
encourage more people to leave their cars and travel to their workplace on
bicycles. The aim, she said, is to make 2,00,000 people use bicycles instead of
their four-wheeler. Incentives and a reward system are being developed for
those ditching their cars for bicycles.
The Netherlands, with a population of 17
million people of whom 13 million are cyclists and already own 22 million
bicycles, is considered a bicycle-mad country. The transport of the country
already has special paths for bicycle riders intermingling with their roads and
canals and is planning to invest another 100 million euros to improve the
infrastructure to accommodate the bicycle riders.
The government is in talks with major
employers to reimburse their employees who travel on bicycles from home to work
and back with 19 cents (INR 15) per kilometer traveled. Its also looking
towards giving subsidies on the purchase of bicycles.
As a major part of the Dutch population
live within a 15-kilometer radius of their workplace and with the ease of
availability and usability of electric bicycles, the distance to their work and
back can be covered quickly, the minister added. The proposed plan, if
implemented will not only help clear the congestion on the roads and help those
drivers who are forced to drive a car, but it will leave a major impact on the
health of the citizens. Another major advantage would be the positive effect it
will have on the planet which is already plagued by global warming.
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