Getting around Amsterdam by bicycle

In Amsterdam, the bike is the most used way to travel.

People also walk, drive cars and take trams and trains. But more trips are made by bike than any other way.

Amsterdam's research office counts how people who live in the city travel on weekdays. In 2017, about 35 out of every 100 of their trips were made by bicycle. Walking made up 24, cars 19 and public transport, such as trams, buses, the metro and trains, another 19.

Car trips by residents had dropped a lot: from more than 520,000 a weekday in 2005 to 2008, to 324,000 in 2017. Most trips happened between 5 and 6 in the evening, but most bike trips happened in the morning, between 8 and 9.

OIS uses the term modal split for the share of trips made by each means of travel. For Amsterdam residents on weekdays in 2017, it was: bicycle 35 percent, walking 24 percent, car 19 percent, public transport 19 percent and moped or light moped 2 percent. It was the first time in decades that residents used a car for less than a fifth of their trips; car trips fell from more than 520,000 a weekday in 2005-2008 to 324,000 in 2017.

The picture changes with who is counted. Including visitors and commuters (but not tourists), trips to, from and within the city were split almost evenly in 2017: car 27, bicycle 26 and public transport 25 percent. On that measure, OIS says, the car's share had fallen sharply since the 1990s while cycling grew strongly, though it had been fairly steady in recent years. Dutch visitors made 46 percent of their weekday trips by car and only 5 percent by bike. Most residents' trips took place between 17:00 and 18:00, but most bicycle trips between 8:00 and 9:00.

Amsterdam has many parts, called districts.

In some districts, people bike the most. In others, people drive or take the train more. Every place is a little different.

Not every part of Amsterdam travels the same way. In 2017, the bicycle was the most popular way to get around in the districts of Centrum, Oost, West and Zuid, where people used it for most of their trips (not counting walks).

In Noord and Nieuw-West, the car was used most. In Zuidoost, people made more trips by public transport than by bike. Age mattered too: older residents made more trips by car than by bike, and pupils and students used public transport more than middle-aged people did.

OIS breaks the 2017 figures down by stadsdeel (city district). In Centrum, Oost, West and Zuid, residents used the bicycle for a majority of their trips, walking excluded. In Noord and Nieuw-West the car was the most used means of travel, and Zuidoost was the only district where residents made more trips by public transport than by bicycle.

The report also notes differences by age and education: among older residents the car's share was higher than the bicycle's, young people (especially pupils and students) used public transport more often than middle-aged Amsterdammers, and residents with more formal education were proportionally more likely to cycle. The report presents these as patterns in survey data; it does not give reasons for them.

There are lots and lots of bikes in Amsterdam.

Most people over 12 have a bike of their own. Some bikes have a small motor to help with pedaling.

More than half of Amsterdammers said in 2017 that they cycle often: 54 percent, while 22 percent said they never cycle. Owning a bike also became more common. Among residents aged 12 and over, 75 percent owned a bike in 2011 and 80 percent in 2017. That added up to more than 900,000 bikes in the city.

Electric bikes, which have a small motor to help the rider, were growing fast. In 2013, 2 percent of Amsterdammers had one; by 2017 it was 8 percent. About 10 percent of tourists rode a bike during their stay.

In the 2017 survey, 54 percent of residents said they cycle often, 16 percent sometimes and 6 percent rarely, while 22 percent never cycle or cannot. Bicycle ownership among residents aged 12 and over rose from 75 percent in 2011 to 80 percent in 2017, which OIS puts at more than 900,000 bicycles in the city that year. E-bike ownership rose from 2 percent of residents in 2013 to 8 percent in 2017, and 10 percent of tourists cycled during their visit.

Shared bikes grew as well. The national railway's OV-fiets rental bikes recorded about 404,000 rides from Amsterdam Centraal in 2017 and more than 483,000 in 2018, a 20 percent rise; OIS reports that no station in the Netherlands had more. In 2018 there were 2,500 OV-fietsen at locations around the city.

So many bikes need lots of places to park.

Near the big train station, there is a bike garage under the water. Boats can sail right over the parked bikes!

With so many bikes, finding a parking place can be hard, especially near train stations and in the city center. In 2017, 57 percent of Amsterdammers said there was too little room to park bikes.

The city has been building more. Between 2012 and 2016 it added 16,000 bike parking places, 11,000 of them at stations. In January 2023, a garage for 7,000 bikes opened under the water in front of Central Station. To build it, the water was pumped out of the harbor basin. It is open day and night, the first 24 hours are free, and it is linked underground to the metro and the station hall.

Parking is the system's pinch point. In 2017 residents rated bike parking in their own neighborhood 5.5 out of 10 (down from 5.8 in 2015), with Centrum lowest at 5.1, and 57 percent said there was too little space. OIS names station areas, the center and nearby neighborhoods with narrow sidewalks as the hardest places. The Meerjarenplan Fiets 2012-2016 (multi-year bicycle plan) added 16,000 parking places, 11,000 of them at stations, and its 2017-2022 successor prioritized hotspots such as Centraal Station and the Rembrandtplein area.

The Stationsplein garage, opened in January 2023 with 7,000 spaces, was built by pumping the water out of the Open Havenfront basin in front of Centraal Station; the municipality said that tour boats would literally sail above the bicycles. NL Times reported that it is open 24 hours a day, that the first 24 hours are free, and that it links underground to the metro and the station hall.