[00:00.00]unit 9
[00:01.00]lesson 33 On Your Bike
[00:02.00]Return of the white bikes!
[00:03.00]People have been enjoying the benefits of cycling in Amsterdam for years.
[00:04.00]It is a good city for cycling because it is flat
[00:05.00]and there are convenient facilities for bikes.
[00:06.00]There are plenty of places to park bikes
[00:07.00]and most streets in the city centre have a bicycle lane.
[00:08.00]Today some people call Amsterdam the"City of Bicycles".
[00:09.00]In the 1960s,a group of cycling fans had an idea.
[00:10.00]They believed that it would be better for everybody
[00:11.00]if cars weren't allowed in the city centre and only bicycles were.
[00:12.00]They hoped to save energy,reduce pollution and provide free public transport.
[00:13.00]The group painted hundreds of bicycles white
[00:14.00]and placed them around Amsterdam for people to use.
[00:15.00]Anyone was allowed to take them and use them for short journeys.
[00:16.00]Wherever someone finished a journey,
[00:17.00]they would leave the bike there for someone else to use.
[00:18.00]The problem was that it didn't work-thieves took all the bicycles within weeks!
[00:19.00]However,more than thirty years later,
[00:20.00]the"white bike"is back in town-
[00:21.00]this time with a computer chip to record its every move!
[00:22.00]To take a bicycle,you have to insert a special card.
[00:23.00]The new"white bike"is not actually white but is an unusual design with bright colours.
[00:24.00]The bikes are parked at special parking places
[00:25.00]and people who want to use them
[00:26.00]have to take them to another special parking place that has enough room.
[00:27.00]There is already less traffic in central Amsterdam,
[00:28.00]because both locals and tourists have been using the white bikes.
[00:29.00]Also,thanks to the good ideas of lots of people,
[00:30.00]like the cycling fans in the 1960s,
[00:31.00]many people around the world have been enjoying city centre streets without cars,
[00:32.00]for many years.
[00:33.00]Did you know?
[00:34.00]The Netherlands has the highest proportion of bicycles in the world-
[00:35.00]14 million bicycles between 15 million people!