In the first half of the twentieth century the first a slow start was made into researching roads and railways in the section Weg- en Waterbouwkunde (Road and hydraulic structures engineering), however only in 1960 the management and structuring of traffic became part of the discipline at the TU Delft. Prof. Ir. J. Volmuller introduced the term ‘Verkeerskunde’ (traffic engineering) in his speech when entering the position of director of the section in 1960. This was the start for traffic as a discipline at the TU Delft. In 1980 the first professors in the traffic department were installed.
In May of 1990 Dispuut Verkeer was officially founded by the notary, however Dispuut Verkeer was already active for four years at this point. In 1986 Dispuut Verkeer was created from Dispuut Verkeerskunde and Dispuut Verkeersbouwkunde. When these disputes were founded is unknown, however the earliest signs of their existence are found in the end of the sixties. The hammer that is used by the chair during the General Assembly’s is a hammer which is still from this period.
In 1987 the first activity of the new Dispuut Verkeer took place; an excursion to Switzerland. Multiple trips followed and the enthusiasm grew. To make the association more financially stable it was decided to become a notary certified association. On May 10th 1990 Dispuut Verkeer was officially founded. The minister of traffic (Minister Verkeer en Waterstaat) was invited for the first General Assembly but could sadly not attend.
During the first GA a big focus was the culture of the association, it should be a club of both genders without any difficult traditions. During this GA it was also decided that board members would stay for one year and half of the board would switch per each half year.
In December 1990 the first Fly-Over was published and the enthusiasm for the trips continued; each year at least one trip was held.
In 1991 Dispuut Verkeer welcomed their first two honorary members and also their one hundredth member joined Dispuut Verkeer in this year. In 1992 the TU Delft celebrated their 150th birthday in which they wanted to show off the many different disciplines at the university. For this a steam locomotive was used to play tug of war with. The guys from the company of the locomotive were very surprised when the students of the TU Delft won. During this event the flag of Dispuut Verkeer could be seen for the first time.
In 1993 the disciplines of POO (Planning, Design and Organisation) and Verkeer were merged at the TU Delft. The section POO had been separate from the section Verkeer since 1972. What this would mean for Dispuut Verkeer was unclear, however a dispuut for POO was tried often but did not stay alive. In 1994 Dispuut IPL (Infrastructural Planning) was founded to pick up the pieces that were not within DV after the merger.
In 1995 it was time for a party, the first lustrum was upon Dispuut Verkeer. During the lustrum Dispuut Verkeer organised (among others) a trip to Australia and a party at Sint Jansbrug.
The first time Dispuut Verkeer could be found on the internet was in 1997 when the first homepage was launched. This year was also the start of the sponsor agreements with companies. On February 5th 1998 the first symposium was held by Dispuut Verkeer with the title ‘Cargo traffic, where should it go?’.
In 1998 it became clear that both Dispuut Verkeer and Dispuut IPL were not necessary and talks about a merger started. This would basically mean that Dispuut IPL was disbanded and Dispuut Verkeer would pick up the pieces. In February 1999 the merger happened with a new board room as a result: room 5.50.
In 2000 the second lustrum happened with many fun activities (including a trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand) and a new honorary member.
In 2002 the new master Transport & Planning started for the first time and the Bachelor and the Master structure was introduced.. This was a large change in which many courses disappeared (mainly on the former POO-side). In February 2003 the monthly V-drinks were reintroduced, which were a huge success. The SIG committee reimagined the logo and the looks of Dispuut Verkeer.
In 2004 the Master Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics was introduced at the TU Delft as an interdisciplinary Master which was immediately accepted into Dispuut Verkeer. In September 2004 the chairman of Dispuut Verkeer completely lost contact and was therefore discharged. 2004 was also the year the Dispuut Verkeer-song was introduced (in Dutch; it can be found here). Sadly 2000 euros of Dispuut Verkeer was lost due to a break in at the faculty.
For the third lustrum in 2005 some activities were a ‘pull a tram’-contest. In 2006 Dispuut Verkeer started helping the faculty in the evaluation of the courses of the TIL Master.
In 2008 the first international member joined a committee at Dispuut Verkeer and in 2009 the first international member was part of the board. This led to the main language of Dispuut Verkeer moving to English. The lustrum of 2010 was celebrated with stunts in the Mekelpark: racing with ATV’s or driving a bus.
The lustrum of 2015 was organised by the Lustrum commissioner (instead of a committee): Erik Arends. It contained a alumni dinner (which returned from absence) and an excursion to the port of Rotterdam (‘‘Some chose to stay on the deck to watch all port activities in all its glory, while others chose to built a party at the dance floor.’’ - Fly-Over 24-3).
In March of 2020 the corona pandemic hit the world and thus Dispuut Verkeer also had to stop all their activities on location. The community stayed active however, via an online yearbook and online or outside activities contact was kept. Sadly this meant the lustrum had to move mostly online. Members of Dispuut Verkeer participated in the tv-show ‘Weet ik Veel’.
Huge credits for the contents of this history page to Wouter Folles who has written a historical review about Dispuut Verkeer until 2003.