Transportation in Amsterdam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Transportation in Amsterdam is a selection of ways of transportation in and around Amsterdam. Transportation within the city itself is characterized by bicycles and public transportation. Large freeways only exist around the city, terminating at the A10 Ringroad. Navigating by car through the city center is discouraged, with the government sponsoring initiatives to reduce car usage.

1 Local
2 National
- 2.1 Car
- 2.2 Rail
3 International
4 References

[edit] Local

Many bikes parked in Amsterdam

Light Tram in Central Amsterdam

[edit] Car

Transportation by car is discouraged by the local government, with initiatives such as Autodelen and Meerijden.nu being sponsored,^[1] and steep parking fees and a great number of streets are closed off for cars in the city center. The A10 Ringroad surrounding the city connects Amsterdam with the Dutch national network of freeways. Interchanges allow cars to enter the city by transferring to one of the eighteen city roads, numbered s101 through s118. These city roads are regional roads without grade separation, and sometimes without a central reservation. Most are accessible by cyclists. The s100 is called the centrumring, a smaller ringroad circumnavigating the city center.

[edit] Bicycle

Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and is a centre of bicycle culture. Most main streets have bike paths. Bike racks are ubiquitous throughout the city. There are about 700,000 bicycles in the city. Each year, about 80,000 of them are stolen and 25,000 end up in the canals. In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged, parking fees are steep and a great number of streets are closed off for cars or one-way.^[2]

[edit] Public Transport

Public transport in Amsterdam, operated by Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Connexxion, Arriva, and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, consists of numerous bus, metro and tram lines. Several ferries exist, operating for pedestrians and cyclists across the IJ (free of charge)

During the construction of the Amsterdam Metro, plans to demolish the entire former Jewish neighbourhood near the Nieuwmarkt led to strong protests. The metro was still built (wall decorations at the Nieuwmarkt station are dedicated to the protests), but plans to build a highway through the neighbourhood in the centre of Amsterdam were abolished. A new underground line, the North/South Line (Noord/Zuidlijn), is under construction. The estimated completion date is in 2012 (see also Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Amsterdam metro, Amsterdam Centraal).

[edit] National

[edit] Car

NS double-decker train at Amsterdam Central Station

Amsterdam is a major hub of the highway system of the Netherlands by design.^[3] Dutch freeways (comparable to US interstate and UK motorway roads) numbered one through eight were originally planned to originate from Amsterdam in 1932.^[3] Complications, like the outbreak of the Second World War and shifting priorities led to the current situation, where roads A1, A2, and A4 originate from Amsterdam according to the original plan. These connect the capital with Germany (via Apeldoorn), Utrecht and Leiden respectively. Cancelled road A3 would connect Amsterdam with Rotterdam via Gouda, but conservation of the Groene Hart was deemed more important in 1970. Road A8, leading north to Zaandam and Ringroad A10 were opened between 1968 and 1974. ^[4] Besides the A1, A2, A4 and A8, several freeways, such as the A7 and A6, mainly carry traffic bound for Amsterdam, but terminate at one of the former.

[edit] Rail

Amsterdam is served by eight stations of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways),^[5] the most of any city in the Netherlands. Five are intercity stops: Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Amsterdam Amstel, Amsterdam Zuid, Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA and Amsterdam Centraal. Many other stations exist in the Amsterdam urban area.

[edit] International

The international airport Schiphol

Eurolines has coaches from Amsterdam to destinations all over Europe.

Amsterdam Centraal is an international train station. From the station there are regular sevices with destinations in Belgium, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Among these trains are international trains of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen and the Thalys, CityNightLine, and InterCityExpress.^[6]

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station. It is the biggest airport in the Netherlands, the fourth largest in Europe and the tenth largest in the world. It handles about 42 million passengers a year and is home base to KLM, since 2004 part of Air France-KLM.