Public transport

Public transport in Amsterdam, operated by Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Connexxion, Arriva, and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, consists of:

* national and international train connections
* 3 metro lines, 1 light rail line and 1 metro line under construction, together the Amsterdam metro
* 16 tram lines
* An express tram line (IJtram)
* 55 local bus lines
* regional bus lines
* several ferries for pedestrians and cyclists across the IJ (free of charge)
* a Fast Flying Ferry towards Velsen-Zuid on the North Sea shore
* local night bus lines

A new underground line, the North/South Line (Noord/Zuidlijn) is under construction. The estimated completion date is in 2012.(See also Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, Amsterdam metro, Amsterdam Centraal). As of the start of 2006 most of the regional transport is handled by Arriva, Connexxion used to handle all of regional transport and still operates a few lines.

History
During the construction of the Amsterdam metro, plans to demolish the entire former Jewish neighbourhood near the Nieuwmarkt led to strong protests. The metro was still built (wall decorations at the Nieuwmarkt station are dedicated to the protests), but plans to build a highway through the neighbourhood in the centre of Amsterdam were abolished.

Private transport

Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and is a center of bicycle culture. Most main streets have bike paths. Bike racks are ubiquitous throughout the city. There are about 700,000 bicycles in the city. Each year, about 80,000 of them are stolen and 25,000 end up in the canals. In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged, parking fees are steep and a great number of streets are closed off for cars. The A10 Ringroad surrounds the city and provides connections to four major motorways: the A1, A2, A4 and A8, as well as quite a few exits to roads leading into the city (S101 through S118).

Airport

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, is less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station. It is the biggest airport in the Netherlands, the fourth largest in Europe and the tenth largest in the world. It handles about 42 million passengers a year and is home base to KLM, since 2004 part of Air France-KLM.