Utrecht is the beating heart of the Netherlands. With a medieval city center small enough to explore on foot. Large enough to enjoy world class festivals, modern architecture, trendy shops and interesting museums. Since Roman times it is at the crossroads of just about everything, a hub for new meaningful ideas and talent. With a population that is the youngest of any Dutch city. Utrecht provides a vibrant, creative, inspirational environment for leading innovations. Utrecht is the fastest growing city and the most healthy city of The Netherlands. On top of that, Utrecht is one of the most happy cities in the world according to the United Nations.
Healthy urban living – the Utrecht health approach
Utrecht is the fastest growing city of the Netherlands. We are building a healthy future for both our city and its inhabitants. We therefore put public health first in all fields of policy. We urge residents and other stakeholders in the city to take the initiative, to seek to forge partnership and thereby do their part in making Utrecht a healthier place to live.
Mobility
Utrecht has different train stations with connections with all of the big cities in the Netherlands. The central train station is the heart of the city. Travelling in the city is easy with our buses and trams. And even more easy is travelling by bicycle. Each day approximately 90,0000 bikers travel to their work or school by bicycle.
Bike
Utrecht is a bustling, bicycle-friendly city. Every day, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., over 125,000 cyclists ride to their work, school, university, public transport, shops or home through the city centre. The municipality wants to make cycling even more attractive for these and other cyclists. Consequently, the bicycle is given precedence in the mobility policy of the municipality of Utrecht. We want to be the most bike-friendly city in the world. We want to keep our growing city liveable, accessible and economically strong, and we are convinced that the bicycle can and should play a major role in this.
Facts and figures 2018
- Bicycle parking places near Utrecht Central Station: 12.000 today; 33.000 in 2020
- 12 manned and monitored bicycle parkings and 5 Pop Up Parkings
- 60% goes to the city centre by bicycle
- 33.000 cyclists along the busiest bicycle route in the city centre every day
- 43% of all journeys shorter than 7.5km is by bicycle
- Utrecht is building the largest bicycle parking in the world (12.500 bicycles)
- 245km bicycle path; 90km bicycle strip; 18 km bicycle street in Utrecht
- Public Transport
The train is an easy method of travelling to other Dutch towns and cities or to other countries like Belgium, France or Germany. The central station of Utrecht is the biggest train station in The Netherlands and provides good connections to Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport (30 minutes), Rotterdam and The Hague (45 minutes). The terminus of the central station is also connected to the bus, tram and taxi services of Utrecht. The tram connection is between Central Station and the cities Nieuwegein/Ijsselstein. At the moment Utrecht is building a new tram line, the Uithoflijn. The tram between Central Station and Utrecht Science Park (location of University) is ready in December 2019.
Car
1 January 2015, the municipality of Utrecht introduced an environmental zone (low emissions zone) for diesel passenger cars and vans. Diesel cars manufactured before 2001 are no longer allowed inside the environmental zone. The introduction of the environmental zone contributes to good air quality for residents and visitors of the city. Are you travelling to Utrecht by car? Park at P+R Utrecht and get your day off to a good start. The municipality of Utrecht has four P+R facilities located conveniently on the outskirts of the city near the A2, A12 and A28 motorways, where you can park your car easily and economically. From here, it is only minutes by bus, tram or public rental bike to the city centre. Because of the importance of a good environment in the city Utrecht has a growing network of public charging stations for the electric cars.
Utrecht and School Chance
The city of Utrecht did already many projects to stimulate children and parents to walk and cycle from and to school. Within School Chance Utrecht focusses on those target groups who do not frequently walk or cycle to school. The city of Utrecht has seen and can learn from a lot of good practises in other European Cities that participate in this project. The goal of Utrecht is to create a good mix of measures in order to reduce the total amount of car trips to and from schools. This will be created in good partnership with elementary schools, the cyclists union, parents and the Province of Utrecht.
