About Geert Kloppenburg

Geert Kloppenburg is recognized both nationally and internationally for his holistic vision on the innovation of transportation, its implementation, and financing. He consistently prioritizes the interests of end-users.

Clients

Works with national governments, municipalities, provinces, and mobility companies in the Netherlands and internationally, including in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Ghent, and Istanbul.

Network

Collaborates with scientists, investors, transport companies, construction firms, housing corporations, and both public and private decision-makers, along with communication professionals.

Long-term Vision

  • Transitioning from supply-driven to demand-driven public transport.
  • Utilizing shared vehicles based on data insights.
  • Successful public transport is characterized by affordability, availability, and safety.
  • Implementation by public-private organizations, focusing on collective benefits and shared ownership (Commons and corporations).

Services

  • Identifies and addresses mobility issues with key decision-makers in the public sector and business community.
  • Researches, calculates, and develops future scenarios.
  • Delivers concrete final products, ranging from publications and campaigns to successful grant applications, and participates in founding innovative companies and corporations.

 Media Production, Publicity, and Reach

  • Produced 40 mini-documentaries viewed 5 million times.
  • Hosted 150 podcasts with 135,000 listeners.
  • Authored several books.
  • Has 25,000 followers on LinkedIn.
  • Engages through WhatsApp and interviews.

Methodology

Operates independently, collaborating per project with experts to initiate, undertake, and execute projects.

Education and Background

  • Legal expert, consultant, and entrepreneur, involved in mobility since 2006.
  • Initiator and participant in the E team: a dialogue from 2008 to 2013 among top civil servants, businesses, and scientists on the introduction of electric transport in the Netherlands.
  • Founder of an industry association for electric transport companies.
  • Creator of the ‘Low Car Diet’ campaign.
  • Supervisory board of Fastned

Current projects –>

Past Projects

Which investments in sustainable mobility in European cities are effective?

Which investments in sustainable mobility in European cities are effective?

An analysis of sustainable urban mobility plans in approximately 40 European cities including Paris, Milan, Dublin and London to see which investments in the areas of bicycle sharing, car sharing, road safety and digital innovation are effective and provide opportunities for both municipalities and companies. In this project, I partner up with EIT Urban Mobility, a European initiative for the future of urban mobility, co-funded by the European Union.

Using the existing ring roads in a different way

Using the existing ring roads in a different way

For a period of over 2.5 years, I advised the cities of Rotterdam and the Hague, the province of Zuid Holland and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management through the Move programme. This programme focused on ways to use the existing ring roads in a different way, combining them with a new hub system and using the current asphalt network of the A4/A13 motorways in a different way.

Extending the metroline towards the airport

Extending the metroline towards the airport

Would it be possible to extend the North-South metro line of Amsterdam to Schiphol Airport, using the existing 4 train tracks and thus having both metro and normal trains on the same track? This research is still very topical and an option in 2024.

Bus Rapid Transit (best practices from around the world)

Bus Rapid Transit (best practices from around the world)

The 2019 report of the Dutch government on the future of public transport in 2040 barely discussed the opportunities and possibilities to use the asphalt in a structurally different way, that is, as a network. This resulted in the founding of the Bus Rapid Transit working group, for which I extensively analysed, calculated and visualised best practices from all over the world in the field of Bus Rapid Transit.

Metropolitan Mobility Podcast

Metropolitan Mobility Podcast

I am the founder of the Metropolitan Mobility podcast, which has over 150.000 listeners. During these podcasts, I have interviewed over 150 different experts from all over the world, who give new insights into the world of mobility.

I started making podcasts 5 years ago, and have since become a professional podcaster, assisted by a production and editing team consisting of Andy Clark and Richard den Haring (Studio Lijn 14 and ex- BBC).

Investor in Energy Transition New York

Investor in Energy Transition New York

I invested in Tim Kreukniet’s company Energy Transition New York, as a way of stimulating Dutch Cleantech companies in the United States. Some of its most notable successes is EV-BOX USA, a company selling Dutch charging poles (https://www.evbox.us/).

Advisor to the board of Fastned

Advisor to the board of Fastned

In 2014, FastNed founder Bart Lubbers approached me with the idea of exploiting fast-charging stations in the Netherlands. Fastned extended its network to England and Germany and has been listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange since 2019.

Workshops for over 50 companies on how they can change mobility patterns

Workshops for over 50 companies on how they can change mobility patterns

Proud? Definitely!
After a discussion regarding new policies, I proposed the idea to let people experience an alternative form of transport to and from work. So that they could experience what worked for them, rather than just talk about it.
Over a period of five years, 200 corporate companies, such as Unilever, EY, and Microsoft made their approximately 10,000 employees leave their car at home for a month. They let them experience what it was to ride a bike to work, use public transport or try another form of transport. The result: after five years, 30% of the employees had structurally changed their means of transport.
And more importantly: following this experiment I gave over 50 workshops at companies such as Unilever and Eneco, in order to change their mobility policies.

Introduction of electric transport in the Netherlands

Introduction of electric transport in the Netherlands

In 2008, when electric means of transport started emerging, I was involved in the introduction of these means of transport (electric bicycles, cars, buses and, as a long-term project, lorries) in the Netherlands, founding a branch association called DOET (Dutch Organisation for Electric Transport, www.doetdoet.nl).
Furthermore, I was a member of the Formule E-team, a public-private partnership aimed at stimulating the development of electric transport in the Netherlands, and helped 50 corporate companies change their fleet management regime as well as their company policy regarding transport.

Co-founder and director of the Tuk Tuk Company/Factory

Co-founder and director of the Tuk Tuk Company/Factory

In 2004, I started the process of importing traditional Thai tuk-tuks from Bangkok to Europe, founding the Tuk Tuk Company together with a friend. A couple of years later, we were the first company in Europe allowed to drive a commercial tuk-tuk taxi.
In 2009, we founded the first factory to produce electric tuk-tuks, which were even exported to the USA.
I had been walking around with the idea of writing a book about my first steps as an entrepreneur for quite a while before I actually put pen to paper.
Eventually, I published my book ‘De Tuk Tuk Company’ in 2019. It tells the tale of all the mistakes I made and the adventures I came across when starting my first company.
Order the book and find out a lot more about me (only in Dutch!).

Order the book ‘De Tuk Tuk Company’ here for free

Books

Books

I published 3 books:
1) De Gulden Snelweg; My vision on a future on-demand public transport system, illustrated through an imaginary journey. 10,000 copies sold until the end of April 2024, the 5th edition is now being printed.
2) De Meent Amsterdam; An insight in shared mobility for the city of Amsterdam.
3) The Tuk Tuk Company; The tale of my first steps as an entrepreneur, opening up a new taxi system in different European cities and creating an electric version of the polluting Thai tuk-tuk, a first in Europe!
For now only available in Dutch, but an English version will hopefully be available by the end of 2024.