Travel, Trams and Amsterdam

Ten ladies from the Moor Park Explore Club volunteered to go to Amsterdam in the company of Margaret Grieco, Professor of Transport and Society, Transport Research Institute, Napier University to do a comparison study between their transport and our transport here. The youngest group member on this visit was 30+, and our eldest was 70+.

Hotel and Plane reservations were booked on line by Margaret Grieco, by the time we were ready to leave we were booked to fly with KLM (UK) from Newcastle on Friday 26th July at 12.50 arriving at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and returning to Newcastle on Sunday 28th July at 17.50, and booked into the Lairesse Hotel for the weekend. We were to meet Margaret at Newcastle Airport. The rest of the trip was down to us to sort out. We started by checking web sites for any information we could find on Transport and places of interest we might want to visit.

There are many web sites with information about Amsterdam, some better than others. I found several full of interesting information on, eating, shopping, travel and places of interest to visit as well as the history of Amsterdam.

TRAVEL

We knew from the Cambridge visit how difficult it is to get from Moor Park to the airport so we decided to book a mini bus at a cost of £45.00 each way to pick us up for the airport. Friday morning everyone met at the Community Centre in plenty of time, at the airport we found Margaret waiting at the main entrance as planned.

The flight over was good and it took just 1hour 20 minutes to reach Amsterdam, that's only 20min longer than Newcastle to Stanstead Airport when we went to Cambridge.

We found Schipol a very busy Airport, and we all agreed it was far more interesting than Newcastle, Margaret had advised us that most people spoke good English so we would have no trouble being understood. After a cup of coffee we set off to get to our destination. At the ticket office, we asked for 11 tickets to Centraal Station, each ticket cost 2.90euro = approximately £1.84p for a journey of about 20 miles. When the train arrived I thought I was hearing things when Margaret asked if we would like to go upstairs but no, they really do have upper decks on the trains. I thought about our overcrowded commuter trains and thought, "surely we can learn something here".

CENTRAAL STATION Centraal Station really is the gateway to Amsterdam, when we arrived we went looking for the ticket office only to find it had been recently relocated to the travel office across the square from the station.

Outside the station the sight is amazing and the amount of traffic is quite daunting, this is the terminal for trams. Members of our group set off to the Travel Office across the road from the Station to buy our tickets. We intended buying 11 stripakart tickets to cover our weekend transport needs. After a debate with the ticket salesman we took his advice and bought a better value ticket which cost 10.70 euro= £6.75 each for unlimited travel from morning to late at night for the whole time we were there. These tickets are great value and we certainly got our money's worth from them he also told us the number 2 or number 5 tram would take us to our destination.

Centraal Station

TRAMS

One of our first difficulties came when we went to find our tram stop; there are so many of them around the station. Eventually we found our stop to find that a number 2 tram waiting. The tram was an experience in itself, it was what we came to call a "Bendy Bus" as certain sections of the tram bend outwards when the tram takes a bend in the track, at this section there is a turntable in the floor which turns back and forward as the tram takes the bend, it is a strange experience if you are standing on the circle as it moves.

Tram Crossing Canal Bridge

Our journey took about 20 minutes and it was only when we alighted we found we had a good bit to walk, the number 5 however would have taken us to the bottom of the road where our hotel was. Once we booked into the hotel we went out for a meal then spent the evening looking around the area not to far from the hotel.

Digital displays above tram stops show time and number of tram due. It is an excellent, regular and reliable service which we noticed was always on time. However, deep and high steps on the trams were not suitable for the disabled. Pushchairs had to be manually lifted on-board. At weekends there are conductors on the trams to check tickets.

AMSTERDAM As the object of the trip was to see how easy or difficult it would be to travel around Amsterdam by Public transport we decided to split into groups, and then meet back at the hotel at a later time, we were reminded that all trams terminated at Centraal Station we could get the tram back to the hotel from there, armed with a map off we went. We spent the day hopping on and off trams, with the ticket we had it did not matter if you went passed your stop you simply got off the tram, waited 5 minutes for the next one hopped back on and got off at the right stop.

Flower Market

First stop on our list was the Floating Flower Market with its fascinating array of flowers, bulbs and garden ornaments. We also found a fascinating little shop which was open 356 days a year, called "Christmas Palace", that sold everything connected to Christmas.

There are four market places on the map so two of us set of on foot to find them. We must have walked miles yet, no matter where we went we were in sight of the tramlines.

Several of the ladies took a canal trip, which started from, outside Centraal Station. They told us the ferry stops at many places along the canal and you can get off anywhere along the way. Another group took a different non-stopping canal trip lasting just over an hour where they saw most of the tourist attractions. They found the guided tour very informative, and along the route they passed lots of houseboats in which people actually lived. This tour cost 8.50 Euros. (aprox £5.00)

Bikes are a great form of transport in Amsterdam and we saw many different ones over the weekend - "no designer bikes were to be seen".

The roads are divided into two by the tram tracks running both ways, along side that the cars and taxi's run and into the side of the road are the bikes, roller blade runners and electric wheelchair users.

It was fascinating to see how all road users shared the same road yet each kept to their own space. No screaming horns, speeding cars or loud music.

Shared Useage of Road Space

The controlled crossings are great, some roads have three sets of lights across them, each set change in sequence allowing you to cross the whole road without stopping while others have two sets and you have to stop half way. One-way streets still have bike lanes in them; foot passengers have to be very careful, a lot of the streets do not have kerbs and you are inclined to accidentally wander into the road as you take in the sights, as we did many times. It would be all too easy to get knocked down by a bike or worse.

Trams run every 3 minutes or so from early morning to late at night 7 days a week, during rush hour two trams come along at the same time so everyone gets taken on board.

By the time we left Amsterdam we all felt we had had our first experience of what an Integrated Transport System really meant and I felt that we in the North East have a lot to learn.

The Group with Margaret Greico (right)...	and our Photographer

Above are the members of our group who visited Amsterdam and helped to create this report. Our thanks to them all.

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