Over at Amsterdamize we hear about a "problem" that their cyclist's union came across. If only we had such problems!
- A few weeks ago I read that the Fietsersbond (Cyclists Union) had been busy this summer re-mapping, re-calibrating all of the (segregated) bicycle lanes and thus routes in the Netherlands. From 1996 up until now everyone relied on the numbers from the Central Bureau for Statistics, showing 17.000 kilometers of those connecting the entire country.
Uhm, apparently it was in dire need of an update, because these good people found many, many more of them. 12.000 more. Yes, 29.000 is the new number. And this is based on extensive research by 7 people actually going around on bikes and creating digital maps. 7 people? The Cyclists Union chose 7 out of the 14 Dutch provinces as a firm basis for their calculations, hence one person per province.
Maybe someday we can have such problems here. Meanwhile, someone more cynical than I might suggest that maybe the city has been putting bike lanes in all along and just not telling us. Maybe we just need to go looking for them!
[Edit: just moved this to the "Around the World" section. - Joe]
