[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. In this engaging piece, Neal Pierce, an influential advocate of metropolitan regionalism, argues for robust systems of transportation alternatives, with Amsterdam as a model. -Ed.]

By Neal Pierce

"So Americans bedeviled by $4-plus-a-gallon gas want more transportation choices? They have no idea of what real choices are.

"For a taste of our necessary future — driven by rapid energy cost inflation and climate emergencies — check the streets of Amsterdam.

"Sure, cars still function here. But by our standards, their numbers are remarkably modest. Especially on center city streets, another king reigns: the bicycle."

"Bikes, overall, account for 37 percent of Amsterdam transport. Public transit comes in second, at 22 percent of trips. On top of regular and high-speed rail, there’s a massive light-rail network — 50 miles of tramlines, with many stops, dense in the center city, radiating out to neighborhoods and suburbs with cross-connecting lines too. Recently, freight tramcars began running through the city, cutting truck use (and pollution) [See this article. -Ed.]. And Amsterdam has added three new subway lines since its first in 1976.

"So what’s the Amsterdam game plan? For decades it’s been to nurture the 'compact city,' slowing a middle-class exodus and preserving the open landscape by dense development, recycling old industrial areas and intermingling uses. Reducing auto use — now just 41 percent of trips compared to 90 percent-plus in most U.S. cities — is the heart of the plan."

Photo credit: Alix Guillard