Submitted by Bertram Bourdrez, who says:

I ran into this while reading about Houten (the Netherlands), a town celebrated for its high cycling rate (about 52% of all journeys):

Translation of the first paragraph: 

“Houten is a true cycling town, but all of its red cycleways look alike. Not everyone knows how to find their way around the different neighbourhoods. To solve this problem, the town council and the local chapter of the Dutch Cyclists’ Union have created a wayfinding system, based on a transit map.”

I actually quite like the map, for the gimmick that it is. It has very few of the inexplicable inconsistencies that tend to plague transit maps made for non-transit uses. Apparently they’ve marked lampposts along each route with coloured and numbered indicators to show what “line” you’re on.

On a transit-related note, the main destinations in a Dutch sleeper town like this would definitely be the train stations, which are at the core of the network and easily reached by routes 1, 4, 6 and 7. Both stations have extensive free and guarded bike parking for easy interchange.

Transit Maps says:

First off, Houten looks like an amazing place to get around by bike – cycle paths that are largely separated from roads, a very clear differentiation between arterial and local streets, low local speed limits, and curving streets to effectively deter speeding. It all adds up to that amazing 52% bicycle journey rate that Bertram quotes above. By comparison, my city of Portland, Oregon – often held up as a leader in cycling here in the US – has a bike commute rate of just 6%.

The map itself works well for a couple of reasons. First, it doesn’t overdo the “transit map” concept, remaining true to the actual layout of the city, albeit in a nicely simplified form. Secondly, the numbered routes actually seem to cross the city in a useful, logical manner, rather than just being created in an effort to push the transit map metaphor (something I’ve seen other bike and walking maps do, overcomplicating things to make the map look more impressive).

I also quite like the logo for the network, which has a stylised bike made out of “route lines”. Its rear wheel looks like an interchange symbol from the map, and sits at the intersection of a Blue Line and a Green Line. On the map, these lines (routes 1 and 4) intersect at the main train system: the heart of the city and the network.

Our rating: Simple is better sometimes! Three stars.

Source: Municipality of Houten website