Fast, fashionable mode of transport for some, scourge of the cycle path for others: in bike-mad Amsterdam, complaints about “fatbikes” have driven authorities to impose an unprecedented ban in one of the city’s top parks.<\/p>\n
Hugely popular with children, fatbikes — so called for their ultra-thick tyres — are electric bikes that look like squat motorcycles and can reach speeds of up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour.<\/p>\n
Competing for space on busy cycle paths in the famously flat Netherlands, many classic cyclists see fatbikes as a menace due to their superior speed and size.<\/p>\n
Complaints of “fatbike gangs” of youths tearing around Dutch cities and causing havoc are also commonplace.<\/p>\n
A petition against “aggressive fatbikers” in Amsterdam has garnered 2,400 signatures, complaining: “Pavements are racetracks. Public space no longer feels safe.”<\/p>\n
So city authorities have decided to ban them in the Vondelpark, a busy park that attracts locals and hordes of tourists on hire bikes or roller skates.<\/p>\n
“We get a huge amount of complaints,” said Melanie van der Horst, the Amsterdam city official who introduced the ban.<\/p>\n
“A few years ago, we only got around 20 complaints about fatbikes. Now we have more than 2,000,” she told AFP in an interview in the park.<\/p>\n
Aside from the nuisance value, there is a safety aspect, given the fatbikes’ popularity among children, added the official.<\/p>\n
Fatbikes are supposed to have a maximum speed of around 25 kph, but they are often illegally souped up to reach anywhere between 50 and 60 kph.<\/p>\n
“Imagine an 11-year-old child driving around town at 50 kph on a big, souped-up fatbike. It’s extremely dangerous,” said van der Horst.<\/p>\n
Children have been rushed to hospital with serious injuries after fatbike accidents, she said, including brain injuries and torn knee ligaments.<\/p>\n
“Doctors say it is the same level of impact as a motorcycle accident.”<\/p>\n
– ‘Goes very fast’ –<\/p>\n
Visitors to the Vondelpark generally welcomed the ban, with a healthy dollop of the liberal scepticism for which Amsterdam is world-famous.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think you should ban anything but I do believe that they should have started maybe by banning kids under a certain age… because I think that’s the biggest issue,” said Aleksandar Rankovic.<\/p>\n
“For the park and the people who just want to have peace, I think it’s a good thing,” the 47-year-old football coach told AFP.<\/p>\n
Tanja Meuris, who has recently moved into the area, also welcomed the ban, but admitted she didn’t see the difference between a fatbike and a classic electric bike.<\/p>\n
“I have an electric bike myself and I think that this thing goes very fast and it can be dangerous if not handled well,” said Meuris, 27, a psychologist.<\/p>\n
Officially introduced on May 11, the ban applies to all fatbikes with an electric motor and whose tyres are more than seven centimetres (about three inches) wide.<\/p>\n
From next week, anyone caught riding a fatbike in the Vondelpark will be hit in the wallet.<\/p>\n
People over 16 will have to pay a fine of 115 euros ($133). Children between 12 and 15 pay half that.<\/p>\n
Children under 12 get away without having to pay the fine, but their parents are informed.<\/p>\n
Amsterdam authorities are keeping a close eye on the effects of the ban, which could potentially be extended to other parts of the capital.<\/p>\n
Officials in Enschede, in the east of The Netherlands, have also taken action against fatbikes, banning them in the city centre.<\/p>\n
“We’ve never seen anything like this before. That’s why, to protect our children, I would like to see a national law passed,” said van der Horst.<\/p>\n
“I would actually just like to get to a situation where children, especially the youngest ones, are simply not allowed to ride these bikes,” she said.<\/p>\n
sh\/ric\/jhb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fast, fashionable mode of transport for some, scourge of the cycle path for others: in bike-mad Amsterdam, complaints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[101],"tags":[199,47905,200,47906,16517],"class_list":["post-90970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-amsterdam","tag-amsterdam","tag-electric-bikes","tag-netherlands","tag-van-der-horst","tag-vondelpark"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116628644653217371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}