Bullewijk

The station and district are named after the Bullewijk, a small river of about 3 kilometres that flows into the Amstel at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

A metro stop named after a little river

Bullewijk sits on Karspeldreef, between the Bijlmermeer and the office district around the ArenA. It is an elevated station with an island platform and two tracks, and it opened in October 1977 along with the rest of Amsterdam's first metro.

The name comes from a small river you cannot see from the platform. The Bullewijk is about 3 kilometres long and starts at the Voetangel bridge, where the Holendrecht and the Waver also meet. It flows past the polders south of the city to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, passing under the A9, and joins the Amstel just beyond the Kerkbrug. On a map from 1687 it was still called the Oude Amstel.

The planners of Zuidoost often borrowed names from the old peat landscape: Holendrecht and Gein, further down the same line, are also named after nearby waters. The Amstel III/Bullewijk business park later grew up around the station, so office workers now get on and off here as well as residents.