While attending an exhibition of Dutch painting in the 17th century, I read an explanatory label that detailed scheduled barge travel among the major cities and noted that the trip from Amsterdam to Leiden took an hour -- What happened to canal travel and why is not a part of the urban landscape?
What happened to canal travel?
Do you think this is smart?
I think I understood most of the Stichting description on its site. This is very interesting and contributes to the discussion I part of on Eshington DC where river transport is just starting up after a long time of no river transport.
The height and condition of bridges in dutch cities and the polder is not a big issue in revitalisation of passenger transport on the water. Maybe on some spots connections between different canal systems and the operation of locks could be improved. This to create shortcuts and to avoid heavy cargo traffic.
The big issue here is the absence of a governance policy for energy infrastructure, and the governmental absence of a vision for a feasible transition to clean propulsion. No one wants to shift noisy road traffic with its air and water pollution to the canals. New and smart energy infrastructure for the waterways should be highly approachable and support traffic which is 100% emission free, only. Stichting Elektrisch Varen has a solution for that, see www.elektrischvaren.org
I would be interested if there is any study of the cost or feasibility of upgrading bridges etcc... to use canls s a psrt of the public transportation system since they are ubiquitous in towns and cities and form an extensive interconnected system
How do you think we can boost type of travel again @marjorielightman ?
You would need a fast boat to travel from Amsterdam to Leiden within an hour. That was impossible in the 17th century. Travelling by passenger vessels was for the upper class these days. Ordinary people joined cargo barges at times. It is a pity we don't make time anymore for this elegant way of travelling.
I know DHL is delivering packages by boat-bike combo: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dhl-amsterdam-boat/in-amsterdam-packages-travel-via-canals-bicycles-idUSTRE56E2TE20090715 As far as I know they are the only one, already doing this for many years.
Other than that, I think it is generally faster to travel by bike/tram/train etc.
I don't know what happened with canal travel in the Netherlands, though I do know that Scotland has spent years to revive their canals (https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/), now being a tourist attraction including among other things an innovative rotating boat lift https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/falkirk-wheel/. I am not sure though if the canals are also used for commuting.