Dutch love of bikes increases

The Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek revealed today that cycling usage in the bike-friendly Netherlands is increasing.

There are some graphs and stats from CBS here. (It’s all in Dutch at the mo, but the CBS website does carry information in English, albeit at a timelag).

The distance the average citizen cycles each day has increased by nearly 10 percent in the past five years.

Car ownership and use has also increased in the Netherlands, but not as fast as the growth in cycling.

The Dutch bicycle industry has benefitted from the boom. In 2006, bike sales rose by 9 percent year on year, to $616m.

The good weather in the first quarter of 2007 has resulted in a further increase in sales. Q1 sales were 20 per cent up year on year, a rise mirrored in the UK.

Here’s a YouTube video of the bicycle-friendliness of the Netherlands.