page_title: Cycling in the Netherlands
section_title: OV-fiets
hierarchical_section_title: Cycling in the Netherlands / Bike rental / OV-fiets
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Een OV-fiets, gemaakt van onderdelen van oudere OV-fietsen. Dergelijke OV-fietsen recycle waren te zien tijdens de Spoorparade in Amersfoort.
context_page_description: Cycling is a common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of the people listing the bicycle as their most frequent mode of transport on a typical day as opposed to the car by 45% and public transport by 11%. Cycling has a modal share of 27% of all trips nationwide. In cities this is even higher, such as Amsterdam which has 38%, and Zwolle 46%. This high frequency of bicycle travel is enabled by excellent cycling infrastructure such as cycle paths, cycle tracks, protected intersections, ample bicycle parking and by making cycling routes shorter, quicker and more direct than car routes.
  In the countryside, a growing number of routes connect the Netherlands' villages, towns and cities: some of these paths are part of the Dutch National Cycle Network, a network of routes for bicycle tourism which reaches all corners of the nation.
context_section_description: OV-fiets (literally: "Public Transport bicycle") is the name of a very large, nationwide bicycle rental / sharing system run by Nederlandse Spoorwegen aka NS (Dutch Railways) — by far the Netherlands' largest rail service operator. Almost 15,000 OV-fietsen are offered for rent at over 300 locations across the Netherlands; at many train stations, at bus or tram stops, in several city centres and at P+R car parks. When you arrive at a town's station by train, you can quickly rent an OV-fiets to cycle to your destination.
  The OV-fiets program, which started on a small scale in 2003, has steadily grown in popularity, first registering 1 million rides in 2011, but Dutch Rail expected 3 million rides in 2017, up 25% from 2.4 million in 2016. However, this was even exceeded — the number came out at 3.2 million.
  In recent years Dutch Rail expanded their rental fleet by around 1000 bicycles a year to keep up with demand. However, a surge in demand forced NS to rush order an extra 6000 bicycles in 2017. The company aimed to have 14,500 bicycles available by the end of 2017.
  Membership to the OV-fiets scheme is required, but as of 1 January 2017 only costs €0.01 per year, to verify identity and payment data. Bikes can be accessed using the normal NS public transport card — and 24-hour rental costs €3.85. Since the new policy is in place, the number of registered users has jumped from ≈200,000 to ≈500,000.
  The nature of the OV-fiets bike sharing program differs somewhat from that of similar schemes in other countries, partly because of the already high bike ownership of the population. The Dutch system is highly integrated with the public transport network, so that people who cycle to the station in their place of origin can
  continue traveling by bike from the station of their destination.
caption: OV-fiets share bikes in the Netherlands
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