Some bikes are more equal than others
With more bikes than people, bikes are part of the “streetscape” in the Netherlands. This also challenges the idea of an immaculate environment, because bikes often end up as forgotten orphans, demolished and left behind. “Deterioration” is what the government calls this. We don’t want deterioration, we want “clean“. This causes a problem, because officially these orphans are someone’s property. Even the government can not just take someone’s property away.  So, the following will happen: when the law enforcement notices a forgotten or damaged bike, they attach a warning sticker on it: “This bike will be removed on a specific date”. On that particular day, the bike will be removed and brought to a bike storage, where the owner can get it back after paying a fine. Bikes that will not be picked up, either get sold or demolished after 3 months.

I was surprised by the amount of warning stickers I found. And  I was also surprised by the variety of criteria the bikes were selected on. Some where just fine, some were barely bikes anymore. A person had to decide whether a bike gets a sticker or not. 

When I welded two –well maintained– rears of bikes together and placed it back on the street, it got removed within a week and without a warning. Although all parts in this bike were perfectly fine (no flat tire, no rusty chain) it was clear to the authorities this was not a bike anymore but ‘an object’.