Does Anyone Actually Cycle in Switzerland!? 

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This year we moved to Switzerland from Latin America. Because of your videos I didn’t wanted to buy a car when we arrived, and had to fight my wife to agree with me. I convinced her by showing her your videos. Been car free for 7 months and loving it!!!!!!!

As an Ontarian, I almost never visit "Fake London," since there's practically nothing to do and you're right, the streets are very unappealing. Always get a good laugh when you bring that city up lol

"fines are scaled by income" This needs to be the case everywhere.

Swiss here, having lived most my adult life in the SF Bay Area. Having cycled in both places, the difference could not be starker. In CH, even on roads with little to no bicycle-specific infrastructure, I rarely felt threatened or unsafe. Pedestrians, motorcycles, and bikes are simply an expected, accepted, and respected part of traffic. Here in the US, it's a different story. The lack of infrastructure is merely the symptom: The disease is the underlying mindset that anyone who doesn't drive a car doesn't matter. Walking, public transit, and bikes are for poor people, and who cares about them! To the extent most motorists even consider bikes as a mode of transport, they are considered a nuisance at best, and someone who needs to be taught a lesson at worst. Accidents and assaults are common, hit-and-runs happen daily, and even the police for the most part just consider this "normal".

I did my Bachelor's degree in Basel and my Master's degree in Zurich, and bicycling was my main way of getting around, so I have a lot of experience biking in both cities. I really do think that there is a world of difference between them. Basel's bicycling infrastructure might not be perfect, but at least it feels complete. As in, you can get from one end of the city to the other while only using dedicated bicycling infrastructure. Most of that is bicycling through quiet residential roads, and some of it is a painted lane on the street, but it's _something_. Biking to university always felt safe, which is why a majority of students arrive by bike as well. Zürich, however? Much of Zürich's bike infrastructure is still flat out dangerous. There are many places where the bike lane you're on will just disappear right in front of you and drop you into a busy 4-lane street with no warning. Which, to me, is a huge problem - while some of the inner city has made progress in its bike infrastructure, other parts have not, and so it creates this incomplete bike network where you'll be deluded into a false sense of security, only to bicycle right into terrifying car-centric street design when you turn a corner. There are several intersection that will have you bicycling _between_ two car lanes. Ugh. Knowing which parts of the city are safe to cycle, and which aren't, is just one of the things you have to find out when living here. But it's nice knowing we're going the right direction, as some other commenters have said, we recently voted to expand the bicycling infrastructure pretty extensively. Who knows - give it a decade, and we'll be in a much better place!

Growing up in Winterthur I remember biking there feeling almost as safe as I do today in the Netherlands. Also, in Switzerland children are taught how to bike safely at school by police officers, at least that was the case at my school. Nice to see my hometown featured here, what a pleasant surprise!

nice narrow gauge trams in Basel. Very cool 3 segmented articulated trolley Buses in Bern and then very funny to see rentalable electric scooters all around Zurich like its a north american city

There is currently a huge cycling movement in Zurich advocating for saver infrastructure: critical mass. Every last Friday of the month, thousands of cyclists come together for a demonstration through the city, completely taking over some of the biggest roads and paralysing motor traffic. They clearly demonstrate how many people are willing to cycle once it no longer is so dangerous. (PS: you missed the most terrifying bicycle infrastructure in Zurich: Bucheggplatz. I often times sit in the bus completely terrified for the cyclists next to us.)

I was so happy to see you cover my hometown Basel. I was absolutely laughing so hard seeing one of my best friends on a bike cursing down a car-driver for taking her right of way at 2:53. ‚Hallooo? Ich han Vortritt!‘ :)

As a young, fit, reckless man who regularly charges bicycle gutters without a concern and is inured to all but the most harrowing New Delhi traffic, I truly appreciate you teaching me what real bicycle infrastructure is and how it would greatly benefit the other 99% of the population. You've entirely changed my attitude about streets and continue to inspire me to be a lifelong advocate of improved urban design. Thank you Not Just Bikes.

Not Just Bikes: "Does Basel have good cycling infrastructure?" Me: *comparing it to my city* YES! Not Just Bikes: Well, no not really Me: Yeah no, of course not

What I really liked about getting around in Switzerland was synchronized timetables for trains and other modes of transport. Even in small villages.

Not sure if anybody has mentioned it yet but we in Zurich did vote the last two years to expand our bike infrastructure (about 100km of new bike lanes throughout the city, 50km of which will be free of car traffic) as well as make it more pedestrian friendly and have more 'meeting spaces'. We're also limiting car traffic to 30km/h throughout the city. All of this will be done in steps until 2040. Long way to go but it's going into the right direction. There's also gonna be a tunnel underneath the main train station (a remnant of the old metro project in 70s) that will be converted into a bike tunnel to traverse that area more easily. And those votes were pretty one sided: 70% and 74% for the bike bills, 57% for the general traffic plans. Sadly, I can't find any resources on it in English. I'm glad you exposed some of it though. It's something that bothered me for a while and hopefully over time this city you can see the differences. :)

Man, cycling in my hometown is nearly impossible. You eitherget hit by a car, or you get lung cancer over the year that caused by air pollution...

fines are actually not scaled by income in switzerland, only the "Taggeldsatz" which is a fine a court orders you to pay, which only happens with bigger crimes, not common Vehicle tickets

Such a stark difference between the bike/pedestrian friendly areas shown here and the more car oriented ones. The former has more room for plants, more people out, quieter, and just feels friendlier and more human. The car areas automatically feel kind of disconnected.

One of the most fascinating things about the tram network in Basel is that it stretches across three different countries. It may very well be the only one in the world.

There's so much to be said on this topic! For example, there's also an underground bicycle parking garage in Basel that I was in too much of a rush to film, and I didn't even get a chance to visit other cities, like Geneva. I guess I'll have to go back to Switzerland! :)

I would like to see you do Japan once. I'm a European living in Japan, and while I'm looking at your US/Canada suburb videos completely horrified, I can't help but find many analogies with smaller Japanese cities & towns that I've lived in. Tokyo and bigger cities are definitely different, and public transport is indeed great, but I can't say the same for cycling & walking. I really miss wide pavements & cycling paths that I had in my home country. So I think a Japan video would be quite interesting, many (unusual) tradeoffs!

I love how the cities are considered "small" while they are huge to most Swiss people, haha. One thing that was missed unfortunately: The very, very nice car-sharing services offered by the cities. The bikes themselves were shown in the video, but the system in general is super neat.

Inhabitant of Winterthur here. There are actually plans to make the inner city free of cars, so maybe if you come back in a few years... Also you can always take a side street in Winterthur, they are usually parallel to the main street and have a speed limit of 30km/h. The side of Zurich you filmed is quite unfriendly to bikes, it's also pretty hilly there ;) Near the lake, for example at Stadelhofen, the infrasturcture for bikes is significantly better, but not quite as good as Winterthur :)

The infrastructure looks a lot like what I grew up with and see in Munich, Germany when I visit. Overall it looks pretty amazing compared to so many other places. I now live in the United States, and there is a lot that can be learned from what is seen in this video.

One thing to mention, when you talked about the bycicle-unfriendly streets, is that often the bike paths follow entirely different roads far off the main car streets. You just kinda have to know where you're supposed to go with a bike which isn't always apparent if you're not from there.

Always fun to hear people about Switzerland. Basel and Zurich might be small by international standards but both are bigger then Bern, Bern is so small that you can get around to a lot of places just by walking if you don’t take public transportation. Things are all around slowly but steadily improving with a lot of places banning cars out of village centers and making things more accessible for bikes.

Whenever I watch these, I think about how my city Canberra is consistently rated the most cyclist friendly in Australia... and yet I think that's mostly because we can legally cycle on pedestrian paths. The most cycling infrastructure we have otherwise is painted gutters that are often in terrible shape, and only some 1% of Canberrans commute by bike. A recent discussion paper on making things more cyclist friendly got widely mocked. I wish we could get to the level that most of these towns are at.

Oh man, it's trippy seeing so much footage from my own neighbourhood. Side note about Basel, the investment in biking infrastructure has just began a few years ago. The Velostrassen for example were added just this year. There's much more to come and it's one of the main focuses of the city, including at least one new bridge over the Rhine focused on bikes and walking (from the northern part of the city over to France) and potentially a second bike only bridge between the Wettsteinbrücke (the steep one) and the Schwarzwaldbrücke to it's east. And regarding the density of people in the streets. Basel is a center hub of a fairly large tri-national metro area. So it's basically the focus point of around 800'000 people, despite it's small actual size of 180'000.

I feel like I went the full circle! I started watching NJB around when it first started, while I was living in California. Now I'm watching this video from my apartment in Zurich.

Fun fact: The word for bicycle is one of the things that's different between high German and swiss German. As mentioned in the video, the Swiss say "Velo", but the Germans say "Fahrrad".

Luxembourg is also currently very similar to what is shown here for Switzerland. We don't have separate cycling infrastructure in most places but the cities are trying better especially in the capital there is a huge push towards cycling and better cycling infrastructure each year

Awesome to have covering Switzerland! As Basel being my hometown and my current resident town, Winterthur being the place where I lived during my studies and Zurich the place I studied in and now work in for more than 10 years, I can tell you that your analysis is spot-on and I really hope your view and outlook on Basel (and Switzerland in general) is correct! Growing up, we never had a car and used bicycles & trailers or public transportation. Using the bike for everyday getting around and the "last miles" to work in all of those three cities for more than 8 years in each, I can definitely see all of your points. Commuting to Zurich (from Basel) by bike every now and then, I wish this would be possible for more people and I can't tell you how often I get upset and angry about the situation in Zurich compared to especially Basel. A few things I'd like to mention here: - Normally bicycle gutters/lanes are fine as long as the overall traffic is not too fast, however what is really bad is when it is next to parked cars. That's dangerous x10 and there have been enough fatalities for that case! - What pisses me of the most in Zurich is the fact that whenever the space is getting narrow, the bicycle gutter or path just ends. Sometimes in the middle of the road. With Zurich having too many cars and traffic jams, this is just ridiculous and it's "forcing" a lot of cyclists to go for either the sidewalk or snake-like in between cars - both of which is not allowed and dangerous but understandable. - Finally after many years, turning right at a red light with your bike is fine in case there is the "yellow-on-black" bicycle sign. Hopefully this is becoming the norm. - The "Velostrasse" you mentioned has an important new concept: On those roads it is okay to ride side-by-side and also those roads have always the right-of-way - which is super useful as a cyclist compared to the "whoever is coming from the right has the priority" in normal 30-zones and very bicycle-friendly. Stop-signs (the worst!) and traffic lights have been reduced a lot. And last but not least: Everybody who is living or has lived in the city understands that a public transportation-, cyclist- and walking-friendly city is the future and cars should be reduced to the absolut minimum. Unfortunately, it's mostly the people coming from outside (with cars) who have quite a saying depending on the political situation (e.g. in Zurich). If it was only for the cities to decide, a lot of them would be moving forward a lot faster with this change.

2:55 "Hallo, i ha Vortritt" What a legend

Thank you from Roger Sexton for a superb video. I have holidayed in Switzerland many times, and I can agree with every thing you said. You missed one point in Basel. There is a huge underground bike park at Basel SBB station - and it has been there for many years! About 5 years ago the House of Commons Transport Committee was questioning a cycling expert. An MP representing a Cornish constituency said. 'You cannot expect cycling in Cornwall - it is too hilly.' The expert replied, 'In Switzerland, 9% of all journeys under 5 kms. are made by bike.'

Having grown up in the Netherlands in the 90s, I can confirm that current Basel is about what the situation was in NL back then. So Basel seems to be on the right track.

There has been a general push to make cities more cycling friendly across the whole country. So your comparison to amsterdam is pretty spot on. We're just a few decades behind (like usual)

I dream about the day when America has a train system like Switzerland.

4:30 dont let the population number fool you. Basel isnt able to expand their city limit since it mostly directly borders other cantons (swiss "states") and other countries. The actual urban area has quite a bit more people. But great video, I agree with just getting rid of cars isnt automatically being bike friendly. Personally I prefer taking the trams or walking over biking too

Ooh, the mountainous land of transit :D

I grew up in Basel and moved to Zürich about a year ago. I can only confirm the stark contrast between these two cities. And interesting fact about Zürich is that the most important (and worst cycling) streets are owned by the canton and not by the city. This is similar to Basel with the defining difference being that in the canton of Zürich only about 30% of people live in the cities and another 30% in big villages while the city of Basel makes up almost 90% of the total population of the canton. Which of coarse leads to the differences in transportation policies you saw between those cities.

I'm a Cyclist from Basel, I know some traffic planners personally and will forward this great video to them right away.

YAY!!!! I AM ACTUALLY QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT THIS!!! Qualified meaning, I am an American citizen who lived and when to highschool in Basel, Switzerland for three years, meaning I have grown up in both a car centric hellscape, and in a city with actual, functioning public transit, and it made all the difference. In fact, my parents purposefully picked a house to live it that was next to the tram stop so that I could take the tram to school every single day and never need a car. It was amazing. The trams were clean, frequent, and reliable, and took me to all of the places I wanted to go, if not directly then via one or two connections, by bus or a very short walk. I lost weight and walked at least 4 or 5 miles a day just by living my life. Bikes were noticeably more common than in America, I knew many kids from my school who commuted by biking, but honestly the trams are so well connected that tram(or bus) + walking was enough for most people. Coming back to America, public transit and people-centric design was the number 1 thing I missed most, and this was before I ever watched your videos and developed an understanding of WHY these things were so good for people, and why car centric design was so bad. Now that I have that understanding, I miss it even more. Grüzei von Baseland! And hello from Memphis, TN!

18:26 Note that the only train delayed, is the one coming from Germany...

I feel like we can get away with this as cycling infrastructure for several reasons. One being the fact that every student undergoes training and a "biking exam" [Veloprüfung] at primary school where they teach you how to behave on the marked&unmarked cycling paths. You also learn genuine traffic rules such as cars know it, how to enter and exit roundabouts, etc. During the drivers exam for cars you're also always taught to check mirrors and position the car correctly in a way that bikes fit anyway, and how to safely overtake one without danger for anyone. Another thing you perhaps may not have noticed right off the bat is the multitude of bike lanes and paths along rivers and lakes, they're usually the best way to enter a city such as Zürich or Bern by bike. (And they're car free, usually near forests or nature protection zones which makes them incredibly nice)

Shout out from a fellow Canadian who moved from Toronto to Winterthur! Winti as the locals call it has a bunch of protected bike paths, I just think that you missed them as they are accessed from small residential streets so you have to know where the are. For example, I feel safe taking my 7 y.o. for a ride-along to the city centre. Reach out when you're visiting next time and I will be more than glad to show you around!

Native Swiss here - To be dead fair, you did end up choosing quite flat cities relative to some other towns more in the mountains (albeit that's where waaaaay less people live), like my hometown, which is built on a hill with a 15% incline, which does make cycling quite challenging at times... Though most of the population does live in the flatlands, so really, not an excuse not to expand cycling infrastructure :P

Great video taking a look at my country! Next time you visit make sure to join our critical mass every last friday of the month in zurich at the "bürkliplatz" (7pm)! Thousands of people get on their bicycles and drive through the city to advocate for safer Infrastructure. Anyways, as someone who's in zurich every day I couldn't find any mistakes in that part and agree with your takeaway. Roads suck for bicycles right now.

While it's easy to salivate over Japan's trains or the Netherlands' enormous bike infrastructure, people just aren't talking much about Switzerland's efforts to make their alternatives to cars feel worth taking. I honestly don't know why. Is it Switzerland having a similar culture to Germany? Is it Switzerland not being a huge country?

"I wonder why nobody is cycling in this part, it.. must be the hills" lmao always caught off guard by the sweet comedy and laughs on this channel. Great video as always. Switzerland blew us away in beauty and public transit, I wasn't even thinking about bike infrastructure while there.

NYC comes to mind when it comes to dangerous places to bike. While yes the city does have cycling infrastructure, the problem is that cycling in NYC is still hardcore mode as the cars surrounding them don't view cyclists as equals. I've lost count at how many cars I've seen block bike lanes (I've seen official city vehicles do it too ironically), and how many accidents that have occurred. They've just introduced mini street sweepers to help clean bike lanes, the aim is that it will allow the Dept. of Transportation to create narrower bike lanes that wouldn't be blocked by cars. And they're experimenting with new barriers. But alas, only time will tell if it actually makes a difference.

Something you didn’t mention in your video are the long range cycle paths in Switzerland. The Swiss cycling infrastructure is very well suited for long range cycling tours. It’s truly amazing how interconnected the long range cycle paths are in Switzerland. You can go from anywhere to anywhere using only the official cycle paths which almost always are quiet and well maintained streets through the country side with very good sings showing the distance to large cities but also to nearby smaller villages. If you have some basic knowledge of the Swiss topography and don’t mind memorising some names of villages there is no need to look at map during longer cycling tours.

I love how the woman was screaming „Hallo, Ich hab Vortritt!!!!“

It's crazy how London, Canada with a population of 400k has comparable transit to a bus service connecting rural polish villages around a town of 13'000.

I live in North Staffordshire in England, where the Stoke-Newcastle conurbation has a population of over 375,000 - so more than twice that of Basel. At one time the area had a dense tram network as well as suburban train lines, but these were ripped out in the postwar years, leaving buses as the only form of local public transport. We had a decent municipal network until the Conservatives deregulated and privatised buses in the 80s, and it has been on a steady decline since then - bus routes here have halved since 2015 alone! Coupled with a road network designed in the 1960s around the car complete with very dangerous intersections and few crossings even for pedestrians, almost everyone here drives. As a result we have horrendously bad traffic jams at all times of day, illegal air quality choking the area, empty high streets as everyone shops at out-of-town shopping centres, and a growing obesity problem. Local planners and politicians are clueless - whenever there is any funding available, it is spent on building more roads to 'open up land' for yet more car-dependent new shopping centres or housing. This is repeated in almost every city or large town in the country, with very few exceptions. When I visit places on the European mainland - for instance, I just spent a lovely week in Estonia - it really hammers it home how backward this country is. Urban England is even more densely populated than most of The Netherlands, and yet we emulate North America in our planning decisions...it is crazy. PS Great video - I have always wanted to visit Switzerland to experience the amazing public transport as well as the scenery, and your video has reminded me to plan a future visit!

I never clicked on a video faster (I'm actually from Switzerland). Totally agree with every point. I was always very proud of our public transport. But honestly, this channel made me realize how lacking our bike infrastructure is. It could be worse for sure. Look at the Netherlands though, they are miles ahead of us. We can do better. I think we will do better. In time, step by step :) I also switched to biking to work instead of using public transport so.... let's go bike infrastructure! :D

in my town San Diego Ca. nimbys come out like zombies when the mayor tries to make safe bicycle lanes , they call the local media that never fails to show up and they shout and scream and cry about lost parking spaces .

"Several of my shots were ruined by a passing transit vehicle" This might be the most first world problem.

As you mentioned in the end one of the biggest differences in Switzerland is the culture. My town here has basically no bike infrastructure but I still feel relatively safe driving my bike, because most car drivers are actually decent human beings

Transport by river cushion is also definitely a thing in Basel! :) Had a great summer trip there and seeing as we were broke that was the main thing we did, haha.

As a Dutchie, it's super interesting and hopeful to see the progress in other countries! One thing that does keep surprising me is the luxury of having good cycling infrastructure throughout a country. Here in the Netherlands you don't really have to think about cycling safety for about 95% of the times and it keeps getting less and less. Choices about where to live or work with regards to travel are mostly based on distance, public transport and overall safety (e.g. whether it feels safe to be outside when dark), but I don't think I have ever heard people say: "I don't want to live there because there is no safe way to cycle to the shops or work"

I have just finished watching all your videos so far in the channel. It's been a delight. In some part I too have experienced several of the issues addressed in the videos. From my experience, as a Portuguese who was born in a small 4.000 inhabitants island, moved to the capital, I made the decision of leaving Lisbon and some future in my career for a worse job in Évora, where I don't need to take public transportation, nor bikes, nor cars. I can just walk 10min to work, lunch at home, etc. And although I have more work load I feel much more happy in these last 6 years than 2 years living in Lisbon. All best for the channel, the videos are amazing!

Greetings from Switzerland. I love that you came and visited. As someone who commutes daily by bike and uses it for every day necessities , I sadly have to agree with you. Inner cities are well developed, but once you leave the center it get dangerous real fast. We have recently started to invest, in long biking paths along main roads, to the outskirts of cities and smaller town. We do however have a long way to go... I also feel much less save that I used to, car drivers seem to have gotten more aggressiv in the past few years. To be fair, id probably be annoyed as well being stuck in traffic at least twice a day :) Edit: Also the amount of swiss people in the comments gives me hope.

This is a great introductory handshake with Switzerland for those of us who've never been there. How was the ride out from Amsterdam Centraal?

As a Swiss person I'm happy to see us represented :D And nothing in this was more Swiss than the lady in Basel shouting "Hey, I have priority!" at a driver...

I live in Prague, and had the exact same thought a few times: the public transport is too good to even consider the bike. However i am glad that the city is communicating it’s intention to change for the better. It’s just gonna take time.

Being Swiss(-french) living in Canada I was very curious to see what was that last city! Glad to see you loved our public transport. The whole country is really like a big metro system. Boats can also be used as public transport on big lakes like in Geneva. However I never liked so much biking in Switzerland, never felt safe, especially in my hometown of Lausanne. Things are getting better slowly... At a Swiss speed.... And I'm the happiest biking in montreal!

I live now for 1,5 years in switzerland (Bern) and i love it here, most time i use public transport - for the reasons you said. But to choose "Ostring" at 10:17 its a bit unfair, this is a street coming from the motorway/Autobahn. The official Bike routes are also often not through the city Center (Bahnhof + Zytglogge 9:41), e.g. more often through Bundeshaus (8:20). There is a nice Map with the official Bike routes called "Velohauptrouten" (should be one of the first search results) But nice video like always! :-)

Weird topic idea: a video about how emergency service vehicles like ambulances and firetrucks, and the routes, they take, and how they differ between car dependent and non-car dependent areas.

What you said at the end basically sums up transport in Switzerland: It's a 1st world problem. The competition for bikes is from public transport, not cars. Anyone sane would never drive in a Swiss city, it is so congested. On a side note: Notice how there are extremely few streets that have 2 lanes or more per direction for cars (other than motorways). Because the moment a city street is wide enough, that space is given to trams or buses.

This was interesting! I lived in Zurich for 28 years, in Bern for now for over 13. I've basically always cycled everywhere in the city that was more than a 5-minute walk away, so have plenty of first-hand experience. Zurich wasn't especially bike friendly, however the issue wasn't infrastructure or traffic per se, but rather the interpersonal aspect. There was a lack of mutual consideration between cyclists and motorists. Car drivers in Zurich tended to invade cycling lanes a lot. Where there were no cycling lanes, motorists frequently made a point of driving dangerously close to cyclists. They would often stop VERY reluctantly for pedestrians, slamming on the brakes at the last possible moment and flooring it again before the pedestrian had safely reached the curb. Cyclists in Zurich were no angels, either, often not stopping at crosswalks, instead riding around the pedestrians like they were on an obstacle course. I find the cycling routes in Bern to be generally ok, but as you noted, there are some intersections that are very tricky. Still, riding (and walking) here is way safer than in Zurich. I don't think I've yet had to deal with a car blocking the cycle lane since moving here. Bernese motorists don't cut me off or drive unnecessarily close to me. I've witnessed many drivers here, who upon seeing someone in the vicinity of a crosswalk, slow right down in anticipation of that person potentially wanting to cross (I'm putting thoughts in their heads here). When said person does indeed cross, the motorist waits patiently. No screeching of tires or honking of horns. Whether driving or pedalling, there's no rushing a Berner. If I'm out at night, I'll 100% encounter a singing cyclist, and if the weather is nice, the odds are high of being serenaded by a cyclist during the day as well. You noticed that in Basel there were lots of parents with their kids in cargo bikes, Netherlands-style, and that in Zurich you saw only a couple of cyclists pulling a trailer with their kids in it. I think that may just be a difference in local tastes. My daughter grew up in Zurich and now lives in Basel. She spent her first couple of years in a seat attached to my bike. Trailers caught on in Zurich, but not until she had already learned to ride. She moved to Basel after graduating, bought a cargo bike a couple of years ago when she and her partner got a Schrebergarten, and they now transport my granddaughter in it 🧸💕.

You should do a review of Bergen, Norway. These hills in Switzerland looked very gradual and long, whereas in Bergen it is short and steep slopes. Also it rains a lot, and in the winter it doesn't stay cold and snowy for long periods like in Finand, but right around and above 0°C, which means wet snow, salt and very cold for cycling.

Thank you so much for visiting Switzerland! Wanted to add on that a few months ago (November 2021), there was an approved vote on improving pedestrian and cycling infrastructure while reducing car traffic in Zurich. I personally travel everywhere by public transport, but have considered getting back into cycling partly due to your channel, so I'm glad things have gone full circle!

Thank you for covering this. I live in a hilly city in Britain where the council is making some early steps to provide cycling infrastructure and tame cars, but people keep saying nobody will ever cycle here because there are hills, so I've always wanted to see examples of hilly cities with decent, if not actually good, cycling infrastructure. Also I like the bit where you said "which is the best city for cycling" as the letters "NO" appear over Bern ;-)

I'm glad you enjoyed Basel. It's overlooked a lot especially as a tourist/travel destination. You don't have an epic panoramic view of the alps there like in other Swiss cities but it's full of culture and it's close to the Jura mountain range. And as a side note: The population might seem small but it's still the third biggest city in Switzerland population wise after Zürich and Geneva. The area of the city is really small and unable to expand since it's surrounded by Germany, France, and the canton Baselland. But if you count the suburbs which expand across canton and even country borders, there are a lot of people. Most of the people living in the suburbs are using public transport but I also know quite a few using bikes or e-bikes.

As a Basel resident it was quite funny to hear you talking about and showing the streets and places where I cycle everyday. I commute and do about 99% of my errands by bike and I never really thought about the missing infrastructure since I feel like I can get around the whole city fast and safely. But now that you pointed it out I noticed that there really are some problem areas, for example the road you showed near Badischer Bahnhof, which should be fixed to make cycling even more attractive (by the way, most of the people I know already cycle religously). Still, I think Basel is an amazing for getting around without a car so thanks for making these videos and taking a look at my hometown!

in defence of Bern: The place at the end of the tramline nr 7 you showed in the video is called Ostring. Its one of the two most important motorway access points and thus gets lots of traffic.

Not gonna pretend Brussels is on the same level as Amsterdam, but the city is making amazing progress these past few years! Would be cool to see a video on returning on how this progress is going

In my town (Darmstadt, germany), they reduced the common speed limit from 50km/h to 30. This made cycling so much safer and more pleasant. It's the quickest fix to improve the infrastructure that's already there

In Switzerland the mail gets delivered in such electric bike things since they mostly drive early in the morning, so they don't wake you up. If its just to much mail or big boxes delivered its going to be delivered with a sprinter or another van, they usually arrive a few hours before 12.00

I'm sure that flatness helps make cycling popular in some places, but, as you've shown us in your videos, it goes hand-in-hand with infrastructure.

The Mail Delivery with those trikes is actually the standard in basically all Towns large enough to have their own Post office

Congrats on 700K NJB!

Thanks, as a Swiss citizen I loved your outside perspective. I think your analysis of the current state is spot on, but I fear you're a tad too optimistic about the future. We really are moving at a snail's pace here: For example we just passed a national law that will massively improve biking infrastructure all over the country, but its effects will only become visible in around 15 years...

Oh man, you reawakened my time when I used to live there. I lived in a "suburb" of Zurich (they call it a Gemeinde) and it was very pleasant and serene to cycle on the streets, especially when they weren't main streets. In 5th grade, we learned all the important traffic signs for cycling and then each student would cycle, with a huge distant between each student, to avoid cheating, across our Gemeinde to see if we passed or not. So, even though cycling in Zurich isn't the best, there's an encouragement for people to cycle from an early age in the Gemeinde. I would say outside of the city centre, cycling is decent. Anyway, great video as always. If I ever have the chance to move back to Switzerland, I would. The world is so chaotic, but I feel Switzerland is the only country that has a consistent quality of living.

As a swiss person its really fun seeing some places i have frequently been to myself in a youtube video XD Its also funny and interetsing to see someone be amazed at so many things that are completely normal to me I think one reason why cycling everywhere, especially to work, is so normalized in switzerland, is because its the norm for most school kids of a certain age to go to school by bike We're even thought about road ruels and safety in school and i had to complete a bicycle riding test supervised by the local police in order to be allowed to use my bike to get to school Car drivers also seem to be way more mindful of everyone else on the road compared to the US, which i think helps a lot with making cycling a more viable and safe option Also i would like to add, that hearing someone refer to Basel as a small city was the WEIRDEST thing to me! XD

I went to Basel for work (Novartis) a lot and I have to say I fell in love with Switzerland. At this point, my wife is ready to move there. A lot of things would be very tough for an American, stores not open late except Thursday, no noise on Sunday, etc. But it is a calm, great place to live.

I’ve lived in Zürich my whole life and my parents have always been driving to work by bike, I only just picked up that habit 4 years ago. I don’t doubt that biking in Zürich is much easier than in cities in America. However, there are still major flaws in our biking infrastructure, such as bike paths that disappear abruptly, bike paths that are obstructed by building sites without any diversion possibilities for bikes, and a city centre that is pure anxiety to drive through on a bike. The city government has been saying that that they want less cars and more bikes because of climate change and pollution - which is great - but they have so far failed to really back their words up with actions. It is very clear that in most public construction projects bikes were never considered, as many of them are incredibly frustrating to bike through. P.S. I love how extensive and punctual our public transport is, but I’d love it even more if it was actually affordable for regular people.

Small Info: Switzerland actually included bicycle infrastructure into it's constitution in 2018. And really a lot is going on in this direction. In general though, Switzerland has the approach to create shared and safer traffic spaces instead of splitting up each mode. This means a lot more 20km/h side streets with blockades to prevent through traffic, removal of sidestreet parking, or even better, designing onstreet parking in a traffic slowing matter (slalom). Actually, many cities want to reduce car traffic speeds within the cities to 30km/h. Mostly to reduce the noice levels, which currently also violate law regulations. But as a nice sideeffect, it's becoming safer all around. In summary, I think your assessment of "how car friendly is the infrastructure" was basically just "sorting the infrastructure chronologically". But definitely: Basel is moving faster than Zurich does.

I live in Europe and got a friend living in Switzerland. She sends pictures of her place of residence looking out the window and you can see the beautiful landscape. This alone makes me want to visit Switzerland and travel through the mountains. Its soooo amazing :O :)

One thing, drivers when learning for the exam, need to know how to safely pass Cyclist, to look out for them, and not cut them off. It is also a part of the Driving Exam, I was stunned you do not learn that in America. Also, most people in Zurich rather take the Tram, Bus or the S-Bahn, public transport is also very frequent and good in Zurich. Not many people like cycling in Zurich, because it is very hilly, also why E-Scooters are so popular there. Next time, go to the Limmatal Area, (Dietikon, Geroldswil, Weiningen, Oetwil a.d.l, Spreitenbach) you will see a lot of people using their bikes. In smaller Towns people cycle way more often, because the Streets are way more quiet, even when there is no Bike infrastructure (or almost none).

8:00 Together We Cycle is a great documentary on the history on people cycling in the Netherlands.

As a Dutchie who recently moved to Basel, I think you nailed your analysis on that one! Love it here! 🚲 Just gotta take care with those tram tracks!

People thinking The Netherlands is an easy country to cycle in because its flat, never cycled there during days where you almost get pushed of your bike due to wind!

14:28 there are multiple ones in Bern too btw.

6:09 Who the hell drives a Dodge Durango in Switzerland?

in my childhood i always dreamed about moving to US because its rich and awesome country with lots of possibilities. But after watching your videos it seems to me that living there and rising children is gonna be really hard.

I really recommend that you come to Malmö, Sweden, just across the bridge from Copenhagen. The cycling infrastructure, well the urban design generally, is absolutely phenomenal. A whole different level to Winterthur!

I am from Zürich and have lived in Bern for 2.5 years, and the cycling infrastructure is so much better here. The main thing I notice whenever I'm in Zürich is that cycle lanes simply end whenever they become inconvenient (i.e. when there's not enough spaces). This is all that needs to be said about the city's past priorities (they are working on changing it) and it's also this that makes cycling dangerous. Bern is a step ahead in that their lanes and routes are usually thought through and they have actually scrapped some car lanes to make room for a bike lane in which you can overtake (I have a fast ebike) and that is separated from the remaining car lanes by bollards. I haven't cycled much in Basel, so I can't say whether your comparison is accurate, but I do feel that you are not giving Bern enough credit. Yes, the multilane road around the station is terrible, but there is high priority for the pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights, and there are at least half a dozen other exits from the station. The one you mention is the main one, but I'm not sure if it's even the most used one. Nevertheless, there are plans to scrap the road entirely (which personally I'd support).

Shame that you didn’t go to some french speaking cities ! The german part is notoriously more advanced with cycling, going to the « other side » would have painted a more complete picture in my opinion.

Yeah well I am happy to report to my fellow dutchies that it still feels extremely different to cycle here than in Switzerland. But as shown Switzerland is progressing and that’s good news for all Europe . The more countries and towns with proper bike culture the more it will expand to other places.

i think you should make it a series where you review different countries like this. seeing the places in this video made me happy because it was really cool to see what other countries look like. i think the coolest place in this video is basel! it just has such a cool atmosphere, specifically the place with a lot of trams. also seeing bike lanes make me happy. also this video is really fun