Amsterdamnnnnn: No Car Necessary

From the moment my spouse and I stepped off the plane in Amsterdam, we were in awe of the bike infrastructure and easy transit the Dutch enjoy. 

Bikes can take you everywhere and anywhere, safely and in comfort, as the Dutch have built cycle paths (fietspads) that line nearly every major street of most cities in the Netherlands. About 70 percent of traffic to and from work or school is done by bike in Amsterdam. There was even a nine kilometer (five-and-a-half mile) path from the airport to the city center! 

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We saw people biking with three kids in tow, people biking while eating a sandwich, people in business clothes and leisure clothes. No one had the anxiety I experience when biking for transportation in Tacoma, where I have to merge with a full lane of car traffic in any direction from my South Tacoma home. 

The best part? The transit is just as solid. Not knowing the roads well, my spouse and I walked or took transit everywhere we went. From sunrise to sunset, we could reliably get around Amsterdam in trains and trams that arrived every seven minutes. We never worried about missing one because the next was so close behind. And if we wanted to walk, sidewalks and separated paths existed through every intersection. 

After buying tickets for a bicycling food tour of nearby Utrecht, we looked up transit options to get to the neighboring city, and it was 40 minutes by train or 75 minutes to drive. Fast, reliable transit = more people choose the climate-friendly option over driving.

Compare that to simply taking transit to SeaTac airport from my home, which relies on a 41 bus that runs once every 35 minutes to connect you to the 574, which also runs every 30 minutes, and then the two combined take about two hours to get you there. When it is about 35 minutes to drive to SeaTac from South Tacoma, it is no surprise most people who can afford it choose that option. 

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The truth is the Dutch didn’t always have such kind and accessible infrastructure. In 1971, a 6-year-old girl was killed while cycling to school in the Netherlands, while around 3,330 deaths from traffic crashes happened per year at that time. Through government intervention and new cycle routes, speed bumps, and car-free city centres, the country paved the way to the stunning and jealousy-inducing cycle paths of today.

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, and our car habits are largely to blame. In Amsterdam, it was so easy to stop in shops, to greet neighbors, and to literally stop and smell the flowers above the canals because we were not locked in our cars looking out through the windows. 

As soon as I got home from the trip, I felt a pang of that isolation. We are lucky to live in a part of South Tacoma with a 69 walk score so we can get to the library, coffee shops, and South Tacoma small businesses on foot. But only within a mile or so radius, because busy multi-lane roads and highways still surround us, and most people are driving in this community so we still feel alone. 

In Amsterdam, nearly every day we stopped at a cafe with tables and chairs poured out into the street where we could rest and relax, and where locals gathered with friends and family frequently to chat over happy hour or a coffee. It felt so cozy and welcoming. It made me want more third places that I can go to by foot or by bike after work to relax and socialize. 

Only 14% of Americans socialize with family or friends on a daily basis. If we lived in communities with more connectivity – more ways to move and be mobile on foot and by bike – we would likely have more care for each other and better mental health outcomes. Maybe we would understand those who don’t look like us more because we’re interacting and getting to know each other. 

Seattle and Tacoma have both come so far. When I moved to the King County area in 2009, the Link light rail opened up with a Tukwila to Westlake line that now extends into Lynnwood and will reach Federal Way soon. There was no separated bike lane on 2nd or 4th avenues in downtown Seattle, no separated bike lane on Roosevelt where I lived for a few years, and no separated bike lane through the heart of Fremont, not to mention South Seattle. 

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Tacoma, which built its first separated bike path in 2021, has its own grand plans and funding for building bike infrastructure to make it safer to get around, though we still need more strategic planning around upgrading our sidewalks and curb cuts for safe walking. 

The Dutch have a different understanding of the public good – anyone there who makes more than about €75,000 pays 50% of their income toward taxes, which allows for frequent transit, connected infrastructure, free education, and free health care. Seeing what’s out there makes me believe it is possible here too to put people moving through our communities before cars. Because the Dutch people are proof that if you build it, people will bike on it. They ride bikes and take transit not because bikes and transit are superior morally but because it is cheap and makes sense and gets them where they are going on time. It’s in their self-interest to bike, walk, roll, and take transit.

We’re working on adding more infrastructure here in Washington state too, especially with the Climate Commitment Act’s $1.3 billion in bike infrastructure funding. I know we may never enjoy the same bike love as the Dutch (or be able to bike into the airport), but I do believe biking can be a safer option to get around, if we invest and make it happen. 

See it, believe it…and now, to advocate to build it.