ABSTRACT
This introduction describes the background to the study into combining cycling and train travel as a full-fledged alternative to flexible door-to-door travel by car. An overview of the existing scientific literature shows that this combination became popular very soon after the rise of bicycle use. Travelers were the first to discover the combination. However, due to the enormous growth and improvement in car mobility, chain mobility was no longer an obvious alternative. The principle of chain mobility shows the strengths and weaknesses of this mode of travel. Urban planners and transport economists did the necessary research but hardly mentioned the bicycle. Much of the knowledge about the combination of bicycle and train is in the Netherlands, mainly hidden in primary sources close to passenger organizations and transport companies. Based on a review of the literature, this chapter explains why the history of passengers in the chain and the approach taken by Dutch Railways (NS) should be studied, as has been done in the following chapters. A short reading guide is therefore included.
