Coming to the Netherlands from America was a very exciting adventure for me. I was excited to enrich and immerse myself in a new culture and to see sustainable innovations in action, but I was most excited about the reliable and easy-to-use public transportation that’s advertised. The United States of America is a very car focused society because of the lack of public transportation access around. It exists in some larger cities, like Chicago or New York, but even then they aren’t always the most reliable, safe to use, clean, and not available at all hours of the day. I was told that this experience is very different in much of Europe and the Netherlands in particular. They have sophisticated train systems to get you just about anywhere you want to go, whenever you want to go. I was also told that the public transportation is clean and mostly crime-free. Furthermore, I heard that it is easy to use as a foreigner who doesn’t speak the language as all the residents also speak English.
I don’t doubt that the public transportation systems here in Den Haag are easy for the locals to get around on and are efficient and reliable forms of transportation for them to use instead of a personal vehicle. The trams throughout the city are constantly operating and spoking out all over town. However, as a newbie in town, it is not as simple as saying “hop on, hop off.” While there isn’t a huge language barrier between myself and the residents of Den Haag as most of them speak English, English is not used within their public transportation system. As a non Dutch speaker, this makes it extremely difficult to figure out what tram stop I need to board on and where to get off to reach my destination. This uncertainty multiplies when taking into consideration that there are 17 different tram routes, even more if transportation methods like the city buses are included.
And unlike public transportation like the New York subway for example, there are no visual maps on display to help with navigation. There are mobile apps that relay information like tram times and stops, but without being super familiar with the area or the language, this is a hard feat to overcome. I feel as though if all of the stops had a map with labels like “you are here” and color coordinated routes with their stops labeled, I would be able to overcome this struggle more with a visual representation. I was able to find one map similar to what I have described after scouring the city, but the scale and lack of descriptions still makes it difficult to use as a reliable source. I have included this image in figure 1.
Furthermore, my ability to see all aspects of the city is hindered by not understanding this complex form of transportation. For example, I was looking forward to touring the Westlands Museum and seeing the Glass City here in Den Haag. Seeing the multitude of greenhouses I think would be cool as it is not something done in American agriculture. But, with this language barrier and complex train system, navigating out there is much harder than I originally anticipated and had to be nixxed from the plans. Even my program director, who has traveled out here numerous times, struggles at navigating this public transportation system, part of which is due to the language barrier, and part to do with not being familiar with the routes. There were multiple times where we had to get off a tram and get on a new one because we were on the wrong route to our destination. This process can be frustrating at times. In the week that I’ve been here, I have familiarized myself with certain routes and stops most important to my personal travels, but taking the tram still requires a lot of thought and planning out on my end. I have honestly found it easier to walk in most situations.
With this being said, I do think that the residents of Den Haag do not have these struggles when using the trams as there is much less, if any, language barrier and they are familiar with the various routes. The system here is amazing and there is no need for anyone to have to own a vehicle. This system is much more efficient than the small public transportation systems around US cities, but it is not as easy to use as it was advertised. I would suggest those traveling to the Netherlands to familiarize themselves with the routes they may plan on taking beforehand, as well as learning a bit of Dutch to make their travels easier.
Figure 1. Tram route map in Den Haag
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