Amsterdam's water authority Waternet pulls roughly 12,000 to 15,000 bikes out of the city's canals every year, and the Netherlands has more bicycles than people: Dutch industry groups BOVAG and RAI estimate about 24 million bicycles for a population of just over 18 million.
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What we found
Amsterdam uses crane boats to retrieve thousands of bikes from its canals. This edit follows the retrieval, suspected causes, and the cycling culture around it.
The receipts
Transcript
Amsterdam pulls over ten thousand bikes from its canals every year. Crews on boats with grabbers haul them up, dumped or lost in the water. So where do ten thousand bikes a year come from? The water authority suspects theft and vandalism. But the Netherlands has more bicycles than people. Dutch industry groups estimate about 24 million bikes for just over 18 million people. That's roughly four bikes for every three. Cycling is built into Dutch city planning. Some major train stations have huge multi-level bike garages. Cargo bikes carry groceries, dogs, even kids. So when bikes outnumber people, losing ten thousand a year barely changes the count. But someone still has to fish them out. Would you trade your car for a bike? Let me know in the comments and subscribe for a fact every day.
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