Amsterdam Is Appointing a Bike Mayor

This summer, Amsterdam will go one step further to cement its reputation as the most bike-friendly city on the planet, appointing the world’s first ever bicycle mayor. Due to be selected on June 24th, Amsterdam’s chief cyclist will promote and protect cycling in the city, acting as a go-between connecting city hall, cyclists, community groups, and anyone who might be affected by new measures designed to improve citizens’ cycling experience.

Creating a post in an already supremely bike-friendly city might seem like overkill from outside, but Amsterdam’s experiment is one they plan to export to many other cities where two-wheeled transit is not so obviously well provided for. The concept arose from bike advocacy organisation CycleSpace, whose co-founder Roos Stallinga outlines plans to roll out the concept internationally in a press release: