Ronald Haverman (55) received the award for, among other things invent and roll it out of the successful public transport bicycle. The public transport bicycle is the easy rental bicycle for the last part of your journey. If you arrive at the station by train, you can quickly and easily rent an OV bicycle and continue cycling to your appointment. There are almost 300 rental locations: at many stations, at bus or metro stops and at P + R areas. Haverman received a royal decoration in his hometown of Leiden on Monday 26 April.
“When Haverman walked into a NS parking facility where the then blue public transport bicycles were left cluttered, he secretly put them in one neat row. So that they were all lined up again; the carrier straps neatly draped next to each other, right in the middle of the luggage carrier. ”
Because local public transport is being phased out rapidly in most cities, the public transport bicycle has the wind in its sails. With the public transport bicycle you have the freedom to go where you want, when you leave and how you cycle.
OV chip card is the key
With the new OV bicycle lock your OV chip card is the key to the OV bicycle. Below you can read step by step how the new OV bicycle lock works exactly. Currently, you can only rent a public transport bicycle with the new public transport bicycle lock at Apeldoorn and Den Bosch stations. In the course of 2021, more and more stations will be equipped with public transport bicycles with the new lock.
stichting
According to Haverman, to allow the public transport bicycle to grow and to make it cost-effective Society for Better Public Transport the OV-fiets Foundation was set up. As chairman he had to lobby a lot and overcome resistance, among others from the cautious NS and conservative parking owners, who first had to see that renting out public transport bicycles was easier, faster and more lucrative because they rented more in less time.
Once the public transport bicycle was a resounding success with travelers, NS took over the operation at the beginning of 2008 after some struggles from the OV-fiets Foundation. The number of journeys has grown enormously: from 33.000 in 2003, via 330.000 in 2007, to 5.200.000 in 2019. The inventor has always dreamed of millions of journeys per year.
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