On 22 February 1967 Schimmelpennink was elected to the Municipal Council of the City of Amsterdam, but was unable to get the needed political support for his White Bicycle Plan.

When a club member inserts a card with an embedded microchip into the console, they are asked to identify their final destination and at that time book the use of a bicycle for thirty minutes.

Designed as environmentally friendly, non-polluting, safe, low speed city transport, the Witkar is a small three-wheeled electric shared car.

The Witkar cooperative opened to its users on 24 May 1968, and while it failed to get the political support needed to become a full scale, permanent part of the city’s transport landscape, it continued to offer service for its members until on October 27, 1986 when it was decided by the Witkar-association to dissolve itself.

In 2002 and again in 2006, he was elected to the Municipal District Council of Amsterdam Centrum, this time as a member of the Dutch Labor (Social Democrat) party PvdA.