This post is something you’re not really used to from me. I usually look at everything I see with a positive perspective. This time, however, I was asked to come and speak in Wageningen and, in particular, to be critical about the cycling conditions in this town.
Wageningen is a town of about 42,500 inhabitants that perhaps unexpectedly has a world-class university with 12,000 students from 100 different countries. I had never been to Wageningen before, at least to my knowledge. It is plausible that my father showed me one place in Wageningen: Hotel De Wereld, where on the 5th of May 1945, the Nazis signed an agreement that is seen as the end of World War II in the Netherlands. But if that is the case, I do not remember. The local branch of the Cyclists’ Union (of which I personally know some people) asked me to use my fresh perspective when assessing their cycling infrastructure. And they asked me to be critical.
I visited twice to cycle around town to get an idea of it. That’s when I broadened the scope a bit. How are things in general with regard to transportation? I had to compare Wageningen with places I know much better, such as my hometown, ʼs-Hertogenbosch, and another city I know well, Utrecht. Before you object, because those cities are much bigger, the council of Wageningen wrote a report in which they themselves draw examples from Utrecht. If they can do that, I can do that too.
What you notice before you even arrive in the town is that while there is a railway station called Ede-Wageningen, that station is, in fact, over 8 km from the centre of Wageningen proper! Fortunately, efforts are being made to create a fast and convenient cycling connection from the station in Ede to Wageningen, but unfortunately… the closer you get to Wageningen, the less developed it is.
Five things that really stood out to me in Wageningen:
1. Warmly welcoming car drivers!
Wageningen is very welcoming to the private car. There are many main roads and very few streets have been traffic calmed. Cars can roam free in even the smallest streets. The ring road is even going to be extensively expanded (albeit by the Province). When you try to find out why, you see that Wageningen’s accessibility mainly focuses on cars, which, for someone with a strong connection to Utrecht, is a striking difference. In Utrecht, such studies and reports mainly focus on creating a better environment by improving cycling and public transport.
2. Car Parking Lots galore!
In line with the previous finding: the town’s centre offers so many parking spaces! And all these parking lots are numbered too. Letting those numbers go up and up caused a comical effect during the presentation, but it is obvious that the space could be much better utilized for everyone. One of the squares looked very similar to a place I know in ʼs-Hertogenbosch. In both my presentation and the video accompanying this post, I juxtaposed the two to show the different atmospheres. If only Wageningen would build so many parking facilities for bicycles, but no, there are hardly any parking racks for cycling, not to mention (high-quality) indoor facilities! As an alternative I pointed out many cities now have parking lots at the edge of their shopping areas or the town intself, such as the “transferia” in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
3. How welcome is the pedestrian and the cyclist?
To contrast the previous two points, I asked myself: How welcome are you with a bike or by public transport? You cannot reach Wageningen by train alone, but there is a station; a bus station. People arriving there to visit the town’s main attractions need to cross a busy Provincial Road (N225) without a zebra crossing or traffic lights. People mostly have to rely on friendly drivers to let them cross the street. The walking route then takes them through a dark underpass and then… via a car parking lot! That is not a very inviting route to enter the town. Other places have had projects to upgrade the walking routes into the center to be more inviting for pedestrians. In Utrecht, the street called Mariaplaats was upgraded for that reason by removing almost all the car parking spaces.
4. Is this really the best you can do around a new school?
A school on a busy road, how safe is that for the children going there? A brand-new school, just opened on a road busy with through traffic that, in my opinion, doesn’t belong there. The parking lot for cars was already finished (is there a common theme here!?), but the children’s bicycles had to be left standing in the mud. It’s also strange that the school wasn’t planned on a main cycle route, as is common in most towns and cities in the Netherlands.
5. Where is that cycling network?
But this leads to the next and final point. Which cycling network? The infrastructure I found seemed like a mishmash of various types of infrastructure that have developed over time. Different times, different bike paths. For instance, one residential street, with a 30 km/h speed limit, had separate cycle paths. That is unusual and unnecessary. But it turned out to be a remnant of a time when that street used to be a main road. Couldn’t and shouldn’t that have been changed? Fortunately, the most recently added cycle paths are of good quality. Perhaps that new fast cycle route to Ede can provide an additional boost, so it’s not seen as the end of cycling development in Wageningen but rather as the beginning.
During the member meeting of the local branch of the Cyclists’ Union, where I presented these five points, the alderman for mobility, councillor Erik-Jan Bijleveld, was present and he was invited to respond to my story. He understood my tongue-in-cheek comments but also felt that I was pointing out some sore spots. The local businesses traditionally always wanted as many parking spaces for cars as possible. The many bigger roads were conceived in different times, to indeed give the car free rein to the city centre. But there is a change taking place. The road I mentioned, where there is a bike path next to a 30 km/h street that’s no longer up to date, has indeed already been converted a bit further down into a cycle street where cars are guests. There is a cycling vision for Wageningen and more beyond that. The alderman is looking at the possible development of new residential areas where there is a much less prominent place for private cars, with options for shared cars and parking garages at the edge of these neighbourhoods. Utrecht is already building that, but Wageningen is also seriously considering plans in that direction on a more moderate scale. My example of ʼs-Hertogenbosch, which is now planning to cut up the inner ring road around the city centre and therefore partially close it off to cars, also generated a lot of interest from both the audience and the alderman.
So, maybe it’s not so bad in Wageningen after all. If the old legacy is cleaned up and updated and some of the great new plans materialise, things could be fine. Oh… now I’m back to my optimistic self again… Well, maybe that is for the best. That is a far better role for me.
BICYCLE DUTCH 
Thank you, Fresh Perspective, for being such a refreshing source of insight. I feel like I’m gaining new perspectives with every article, and it’s truly a pleasure to read.
It is also worth noting the lack of a train station at a walkable distance from the university and/or the center, particularly given the fact that Wageningen attracts a lot of university employees from the region.
For instance, a public transport trip between den Bosch station and the Wageningen Campus lasts 1:30 hours. Almost twice the time as with a car.