As part of the Amsterdam regional light rail system a tramway was constructed in the Amsterdam suburb of Amstelveen some years ago. Recently protective fences have been placed along the greater part of this section, as the light rail, situated in the central reservation of an urban motorway, was thought to invite unsafe passenger conduct, resulting in at least one fatal accident. At some stops, the fence means that passengers now have to walk significantly greater distances. From an analysis of the urban structure of this part of Amstelveen, especially the `Ouderkerkerlaan' stop, the conclusion is drawn that the light rail system is in fact a `foreign object' in a built environment exclusively designed for private transport. Because of this, use of the light rail system isn't made easy, let alone stimulated. Nor has the relatively high `location value' immediately around the stop resulted in a more intensive use of the adjoining (sub)urban space. The authors make some suggestions for improving the `public transport quality' of this part of (sub)urban Amstelveen. They illustrate this by focusing attention to the last section of the line in Amstelveen, in a recent extension of this suburb. It is recommended that, in future comparable situations, explicit attention should be paid to adapting the existing built environment from being solely orientated towards private transport to being orientated towards both public and private transport.
Abstract