Car-Free Grand Prix: How the Dutch Bike to Track

Each year on the first weekend of September, the tiny seaside village of Zandvoort hosts the entire world for the Dutch Grand Prix. And while a Formula One race is an unlikely place for an active travel revolution, for reasons of practicality and sustainability, the event’s 110,000 daily attendees have been prohibited from arriving by private car. Instead, organizers have implemented a detailed integrated mobility plan, which has resulted in an astonishing 98% of ticket holders arriving by foot, bicycle, or public transport—often in combination with each other—in 2023. This plan involves the creation of park-and-ride facilities outside the village, and tens of thousands of rental bicycles available for the last mile of the journey, along with the requisite pop-up parking spaces. Each year, the plan is evaluated and refined, with the lofty target of reaching a 100% sustainable mode share during the 2025 edition.

The details of this integrated mobility plan are outlined in the new 16-minute film, “Car-Free Grand Prix: How the Dutch Bike to Track”, produced by Mobian with the support of the Dutch Cycling Embassy. Key players are interviewed and describe the painstaking process of planning and executing such an intricate and ambitious policy, without any traffic jams or major impact on local residents. The world premiere will take place at the Autonomy World Expo in Paris on March 21st, followed by a Dutch premiere in Haarlem April 9th. After that, the Dutch Cycling Embassy will take the documentary to conferences and events around the world, combined with a curated panel discussion with local stakeholders to discuss how this model might be replicated for other mass events—such as the Olympic and World Cup.

If you would like to arrange an exclusive screening of this film for your conference or event, along with guidance on related programming, please email International Relations Manager Chris Bruntlett at chris.bruntlett@dutchcycling.nl. We are excited to engage with and inspire audiences and organizations around the world, to see how they can translate the success of the Dutch Grand Prix.