Promoting bike use during closure Piet Hein Tunnel
Promoting bike use during closure Piet Hein Tunnel
While the Piet Hein Tunnel is closed, Amsterdam promotes bike-use with interesting offers and information about alternatives for driving a car. The tunnel has been closed for maintenance for more than a year and will be re-opened by the end of this year.
The Piet Hein Tunnel, an important thoroughfare at the east side of Amsterdam, has been closed for all traffic since 25 June 2021. Except for tram 26, which connects IJburg with the centre of Amsterdam. From 2 December, all traffic can use the completely renovated tunnel again.
Alternatives
During the closure, traffic can make a detour, but that increases travel time, especially during rush hours. Motorists get information about alternatives such as:
- travelling outside of rush hours
- cheap parking at P+R (Park + Ride) locations Noord or Boven ‘t Y and taking tram or train,
- trying an electric scooter with a discount
- working from home
But the closure also gives occasion to promote bike-use. Cycling in the area of the tunnel is a fast and healthy way of travelling from door to door. It is also very handy to take the bike to a P+R location or train station, park it there and continue the journey to the final destination.
Save points
Until the end of September, travelers can try an e-bike or electric cargo bike for a week for 10 euro, or use one of the existing share bikes or electric share cargo bikes (both free for the first hour). With the app Toogethr Cycles, all cyclists can save points when their bicycle ride is an alternative for travelling through the Piet Hein Tunnel. These points can be exchanged for nice presents or donated to one of the good causes in the neighborhood.
Interim score
The aim of the promotional actions is to get travellers on the bike and get them acquainted with bike sharing concepts. Another aim is to contribute to the ‘mobility transition’ in Amsterdam. This is the interim score for the bike promotion program in July:
- With the Toogethr app, 15,000 validated bike rides have been registered. 2 validation zones were defined, when a ride goes through both zones it can be seen as an alternative for a car ride through the Piet Hein Tunnel. In these 15,000 rides, 135,000 kilometer was travelled.
- There were 7,900 ‘rush hour avoidances’. These are all validated bike rides during rush hour (between 07:00 – 10:00 and 16:00 – 19:00) by persons who indicated in the survey that they occasionally go through the Piet Hein Tunnel by car.
- An e-bike (including speedpedelec and electric cargo bike) has been used 252 times.
Evaluation
The promotional actions will keep running for a short while: cyclists can try the e-bike up to October and the saving program Toogethr Cycles runs up to December. Afterwards, Amsterdam will share the ‘final score’ of the program and the lessons learnt.
