What effect did COVID19 have on cycling in the Netherlands?
[Ep. 969] The Dutch cycle less than before the pandemic, how much less and is this effect permanent? Let’s study the latest figures of cycling in the Netherlands. More information in the blog post: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/?p=19363
This is nice, but don't forget: correlation doesn't imply causation.
For instance, it's likely that people are not overweight because they don't cycle – they don't cycle because they are overweight.
Weight problems are most often caused by diet and solved through diet.
Although physical activity does play a role – psychological as much as physical, doing sports without changing eating habits will not solve obesity in the long run – or at least not by much – for overwhelming majority of people. The reason is that people typically compensate weight loss by eating more than they otherwise would.
And obese people tend to refuse physical activity because it is uncomfortable for them. This does cause a positive feedback loop, to a point.
Furthermore, more health-aware people tend to both have healthier means and have more physical activity.
Wealth and income stability also plays a role. People with more money typically have more free time for healthy activities while poor take what they can to survive. Similarly, poor have less choice of food. Netherlands does well in terms of preventing extreme poverty, poverty-causing habits such as drugs and alcohol abuse, availability of cheap healthy food, and also cycling and walking is usually the cheapest option. But the correlation is still there.
This all causes the correlations that are not necessarily indicative of cycling actually causing healthier lifestyle.
I'm not saying cycling does nothing for health. I agree that opposite is true. Physical activity is still very important, but it alone won't make you lose weight.
As an occasional visitor to the Netherlands, sure, it's by far the best place to cycle (Denmark has done a great job, but most of that is marketing). But, as I say, I'm a tourist. And I think Holland has lots of other tourists. So it's strange that it doesn't have bike hire for them.
Sure you have OV-fiets at every railway station. But you need a Dutch address just to register. And then wait 7 days after applying to get the card. In London or Paris I just need to download an app and I can start hiring a bike. Much the same for Next bike around Europe. My only option as a tourist in NL is to hire a bike from a shop for the day, and go back to the same place to return it.
1,1 BILLION to get just 100.000 more people using bikes. Please let me do that. I will just BUY 100.000 EBikes at 2000 Euros each and give them away. And I'll keep the remaining 900 Million for myself.
Another side effect is by living healty people are living longer. The government apparently cannot afford to give it’s citizens an age pension so they want people to stay in workforce for longer. So the era where you can enjoy retirement will be gone. Soon you be working until you drop dead. If you want to do things such as travel do it when you are young.
I find this shows how entrenched and common cycling is in the Netherlands, that it dropped during COVID, whereas it rose in other countries. Overall journeys fell just about everywhere, but because cycling became safer, and is a COVID safe mode, it rose in other countries, where mobility wasn't already saturated by cycling, but because cycling has heavily saturated the transport system in the Netherlands, people taking less journeys meant less cycling. However, because the drop was smaller, that to me shows that cycling isn't totally saturated, and even in the Netherlands there is room for improvement
Very interesting statistics, thank you. The theft of bikes is a problem everywhere. When I visited Utrect, someone told me there are thieves in the city who steal old bikes during the early evening, and sell them to people for 5 euros at the end of the evening. We used the bicycle parking garage, which had security, very safe 👍 Do people register their bikes in NL?
For Germany we already have a few regional 2022 numbers and it looks like transit now has fully recovered and the long-term effect is shifting away from driving. I also think, transit should concentrate much more to distances over 5 km, because on short routes it mostly competes with cycling and may be a safety problem to cyclists itself.
26 Comments
Nothing.
This is nice, but don't forget: correlation doesn't imply causation.
For instance, it's likely that people are not overweight because they don't cycle – they don't cycle because they are overweight.
Weight problems are most often caused by diet and solved through diet.
Although physical activity does play a role – psychological as much as physical, doing sports without changing eating habits will not solve obesity in the long run – or at least not by much – for overwhelming majority of people. The reason is that people typically compensate weight loss by eating more than they otherwise would.
And obese people tend to refuse physical activity because it is uncomfortable for them. This does cause a positive feedback loop, to a point.
Furthermore, more health-aware people tend to both have healthier means and have more physical activity.
Wealth and income stability also plays a role. People with more money typically have more free time for healthy activities while poor take what they can to survive. Similarly, poor have less choice of food. Netherlands does well in terms of preventing extreme poverty, poverty-causing habits such as drugs and alcohol abuse, availability of cheap healthy food, and also cycling and walking is usually the cheapest option. But the correlation is still there.
This all causes the correlations that are not necessarily indicative of cycling actually causing healthier lifestyle.
I'm not saying cycling does nothing for health. I agree that opposite is true. Physical activity is still very important, but it alone won't make you lose weight.
As an occasional visitor to the Netherlands, sure, it's by far the best place to cycle (Denmark has done a great job, but most of that is marketing). But, as I say, I'm a tourist. And I think Holland has lots of other tourists. So it's strange that it doesn't have bike hire for them.
Sure you have OV-fiets at every railway station. But you need a Dutch address just to register. And then wait 7 days after applying to get the card. In London or Paris I just need to download an app and I can start hiring a bike. Much the same for Next bike around Europe. My only option as a tourist in NL is to hire a bike from a shop for the day, and go back to the same place to return it.
Time to get into the 21st century!
Cycling should be the future of urban transportation. Not electric cars. It would be nice to have more people knowing about the Netherlands
Non-western migration background people like mopeds a lot.
great report thank you
Heerlijke video!
De beste wensen voor het nieuwe jaar Mark
I wish we had more cycling here ,but unfortunately the town I live in has a lot of Hills ; eventhough I manage now and on the level roads
1,1 BILLION to get just 100.000 more people using bikes.
Please let me do that.
I will just BUY 100.000 EBikes at 2000 Euros each and give them away.
And I'll keep the remaining 900 Million for myself.
Healthier lifestyle
Another side effect is by living healty people are living longer. The government apparently cannot afford to give it’s citizens an age pension so they want people to stay in workforce for longer. So the era where you can enjoy retirement will be gone. Soon you be working until you drop dead. If you want to do things such as travel do it when you are young.
woo 14%!
Who else spotted the cameo at 5:11 ? 😉
I find this shows how entrenched and common cycling is in the Netherlands, that it dropped during COVID, whereas it rose in other countries. Overall journeys fell just about everywhere, but because cycling became safer, and is a COVID safe mode, it rose in other countries, where mobility wasn't already saturated by cycling, but because cycling has heavily saturated the transport system in the Netherlands, people taking less journeys meant less cycling. However, because the drop was smaller, that to me shows that cycling isn't totally saturated, and even in the Netherlands there is room for improvement
🙂👍🌻
Mindblowing numbers.
Thanks for all your work.
…why would this be the case :'D
As usual, a very nice look at breaking down of statistics. Thanks.
very very interesting and great Presentation of these Numbers. Danke
Very interesting statistics, thank you. The theft of bikes is a problem everywhere. When I visited Utrect, someone told me there are thieves in the city who steal old bikes during the early evening, and sell them to people for 5 euros at the end of the evening. We used the bicycle parking garage, which had security, very safe 👍 Do people register their bikes in NL?
2:25 wowww, niiice to see skaters too
7:26 haha, thats interesting
You did not mention the folding bike train combination. folding bikes go for free in the train.
Mark, you ARE a true promoter of cycling in Netherlands and beyond!👍
For Germany we already have a few regional 2022 numbers and it looks like transit now has fully recovered and the long-term effect is shifting away from driving. I also think, transit should concentrate much more to distances over 5 km, because on short routes it mostly competes with cycling and may be a safety problem to cyclists itself.