Revisiting Bicycling in Minneapolis: One of USA's Top Bicycling Cities 

How is it riding on the streets where there aren't any bike lanes?

@@veziculorile Minneapolis has 16 miles of on-street *protected* bikeways, 98 miles of designated, but unprotected on-street bike lanes and 101 miles of off-street bikeways and trails. These trails can get you ANYWHERE in Minneapolis. Minneapolis even built & coined the first "Bicycle Highway" in America. Moreover, Minneapolis also has a solid public transportation system where all busses & trains have bike-racks on them. Like in most Scandinavian countries, bicycles are considered a legitimate form of road transportation, so by law, a bicycle can occupy a full "car" lane. (only the most rude or ignorant cyclist take up a whole lane). All that sadi, Minneapolis residents are used to seeing bikes, ast transportation & even encourage it _(I think the investment in our bicycle infrastructure proves that)_ so biking on the roads is rarely an issue. The money savings from rejecting the individually owned vehicle are astounding.

@@xjarheadjohnson Thanks for the detailed response. I live in Duluth and there is a lot of hate I hear for cyclists. Doesn't seem to be the case in Minneapolis.

@@veziculorile I find this "hate" in many other cities I've lived\visited. About 20 years ago, Minneapolis wasn't much different. We had a strong cyclling community, but very little infrastructure to support it. Back then, I was regularly cussed at, sometimes bullied by drivers & even had soda thrown on me. It is the tenacity of our cycling community that stuck to their guns & persisted, despite this misguided hate from car-drivers. We made ourselves seen on the road, advocated for more on, and off-road, bike trails (rails to trails) & got bike racks put on ALL of our public transport. This didn't just happen. We pushed for it.

@@veziculorile If you want to see more bicycle infrastructure in you city, join a city bike club &\or advocacy groups. You don't even have to work with them, just join these advocacy groups as a "supporter". Just pay dues & quietly support. The more people these groups have in their ranks, the more seriously they are taken by local governments.

You're 8X the size of Mpls for one thing...

@@bhatkat The MSP metro is more broken up into towns & cities than most metro areas. There's a reason why people call it 'The Cities'; and the size difference is more like 3x. But f a place is bigger, it should be more likely to have non-car infrastructure, honestly.

@@bhatkat All the more reason to be a leader in bike infrastructure.

It is.

Can I ask why you left? Im thinking of moving there for the bike infrastructure. It's sad where I live in Wisconsin.

The flatness is also quite nice

Part of that is improving when new road projects are greenlit rather than re-doing existing roads just for the bike lane.

@@Zarrx This is exactly how the Netherlands did it. Roads are due for repaving every 30 odd years anyways, so if you simply change the standards and add bike paths when the road is due for repaving, you get high quality bike paths for a pretty low cost. Just takes a bit of planning and consideration. Great to hear how Minneapolis is improving their bike infrastructure. As a Dutchman, I absolutely love that I can bike almost anywhere on safe, protected, comfortable and convenient bike infrastructure, and I wish that for everyone.

Wrong, it is people who are dangerous, unpredictable and inattentive. Poor driving is not ticketed by law enforcement because poor driving is not against the law. Maybe it should be.

@@rayF4rio lol

Cars are definitely inherently dangerous on city streets, at the least. Bad planning and design to put 35mph traffic in with bikes, pedestrians, and nice streets in general. Cars should be guests on most city streets, and have lower traffic priority. Especially cars coming from the suburbs

Its okay but its getting better

Hi how are you doing 😊

@@mariarusso1325 Bien, gracias.

@@elgrantubo nice to meet you here Ronaldo

Meanwhile, in Europe, even modern university campuses have car parking for about 1/3 of staff and that's it.

🤦‍♂️

Minneapolis has a ton of parking left over from earlier decades, but the city isn't deliberately building new parking. In fact, the city just eliminated parking minimums for new buildings and built a new city office building by tearing down a parking garage and not replacing it. Over time other parking lots are getting redeveloped and there is often less parking in the new building, in addition to the new uses as well.

If your talking about Stadium Village Station, the University has been buying ALL of the lots and old buildings near there in preparation for a huge expansion project that will include over 3-million square feet of mixed-use development. The project just entered the environmental review phase.

Definitely frustrating that the city is hindered by the smorgasbord of government entities you've called out: Bike lanes: City of Minneapolis Transit: Met Council (7-county RPO) Highways: State of MN/MNDOT University: U of Minnesota Not to mention the Minneapolis Parks Board (a separate entity from the city) and Hennepin County (a primarily suburban county which controls most arterials in Minneapolis) definitely lag in thinking anything but "cars first" mentality.

Noooooo ... don't improve theft!!

As a German living in Minneapolis I also understand that cities in the US and cities in Europe were develop0ed differently from the get go. You're comparing apples to oranges.

I would normally never say this because my wife is an immigrant who came from a different country that doesn't have such luxuries but if you're unhappy with it then go back to your countries. Some of us need to get to work and it's become really difficult now that they've taken half the streets for leisurely bicyclists

@@matthiasweigel311 Quatsch. Hat damit nichts zu tun. After 10 years of safe cycling in Köln, you would realize we had more space to build. I'd invite you to come over and bike on East Franklin between Seward and 35W and test your sense of adventure after this self-praise video.

@@andrewmitchell4764 You could just move, right? Or have you been appointed spokesperson on behalf of non-immigrants with automobile commutes?

Minneapolis is one of the best biking cities in the US, but not in the world of course, as that would be a completely different scenario. So in US standards Minneapolis ranks very high compared to other American cities, tough in world or European standards it would obviously be a lot lower.

yes I think so

Those are recreation-oriented bicycle amenities. I think they're trying to showcase infrastructure that eliminates car trips for basic necessities.

They wanted to showcase transit-oriented bike infrastructure. While the lakes and the minnehaha creek paths are definitely nice, they are intended more for recreation and leisure than for serious transport. They are winding and a little out of the way from functional destinations like places of work, grocery stores, etc. Even a relatively direct trail like the Luce line dumps people out into the chain of lakes instead of bringing them downtown, or anywhere worth going, if we're being honest.

I would have definitely revisited there from my previous trips going there. But only 3 days where every day was over 90 (and one hit 100) really slowed me down since it is just me and I have to get everywhere by bike or transit - plus most of my dozen interviews were in city center.

studded bike tires. get lawyered

Probably visibility. Back when the concrete seperators were newly constructed I definitely saw some cars perched on top of the barriers.

@@mrbovinejoni7227 so again, its more about appeasing people half paying attening driving their cars, than protecting bike riders

@@dalton-at-work The flexi poles yeah. The concrete barriers help, until a vehicle is parked inside them and then you have nowhere to go.

The city uses downed flexposts to determine where to put more robust barriers

And then there are two foot snowfalls in winter. Cars and plows need to know where that concrete is.

He's referring to one particular bike road that is 5 miles long, not all bike paths in the whole city.

@@calvinminer4365 And I was referring to the 36.000 km of CONNECTED bike lanes in the Netherlands. Not just patches of bike paths here and there, but one huge system.

That's fantastic, thanks for sharing I'm so happy for the Netherlands.

Its a pretty great place to live!

I applaud Minneapolis for being one of the most bikeable cities in America and for continuing to improve.

Not asking for A'dam would just like to travel on bike around the corner on East Franklin without the constant fear of being mangled by a car. Too much?

Omg why isn't Minneapolis nothing like Amsterdam yet, like come on, can't the city just get rid of all the cars and buy everyone new bikes. Wwaaahhhh waa waaaaaaahhhhh.

@@rip8993 Cool middle school comeback. After watching a jerk off video about how great mpls does something in nice neighborhoods, just come bike down Franklin around the litter, needles and abysmal roads. Looking for Amsterdam? No. Akron? Maybe.

@@rip8993 I mean that's not amsterdam but okay

Specifics?

​@@chrisE815 The Twin Cities has a dominating leftist, Social Justice culture. There's a general repression and people can be very cold and distant, and flaky. They claim to be interested in social events or forming relationships, but most of the time they don't show up or falter early on. I realized this is a traumatic reaction; too many people are used to being bullied and coerced into subservience to a specific, religious, political set of ideas. And even if you are a leftist and support Social Justice, it's NEVER good enough. The ideology is destroying itself from the inside out. It escalated in the 2010s and exploded with the events of 2020. Police brutality is a real problem that's unusually bad here, but leftists with an agenda turned it into a race war. They stereotype EVERYONE based on race and gender. It is good that this has improved because the extremists have receded to their own pockets, and a lot of people are much more cautious now. They don't seem to WANT to participate or push SocJus, they now explicitly avoid bullying and targeting people. Outside of this nasty problem there's a lot of amazing qualities to the Twin Cities. It's nature-integrated, great to bike in, take the train, and has interesting cultures. There's a great music scene (it's way better than when I lived near Austin, TX), and lots of active people in community groups on all kinds of topics. I suggest you visit and mingle in many different local places. Start talking to people and ask about their experiences. You need to be able to navigate the political/religious extremism to survive here. I'm transparent about my values and experiences as a survivor of Social Justice abuse, which filters out the wrong people quickly.

Someone is certainly free to make another video of whatever they like. I don't live there. I was there for 3 days and spent most of it outside in 90+ temperatures. I had to shoot over a dozen interviews and also went to St. Paul for an excursion. This is not some super mega-budgeted film and I get everywhere I can using bike and transit.

Sorry to hear that. But I get so many positive comments too. Very rarely anything negative regarding music. We will continue our style.

Hahahaha! Downtown is already an abandoned of pedestrians! Go for it!😀👍

@@Agent77X There are no pedestrians because of all the cars and car based construction. All the cars are mostly people from outer suburbs driving in for work and they work from home now so now is the perfect time to give downtown back to pedestrians and locals who actually live downtown.

Or just have car free days during the year, as a start. That would be really cool I think

And the only one riding without a helmet rides on a typical Dutch omafiets 😂 😎

It’s definitely something we have to watch out for here. But I would say that most of the trails and bikeways in the city overall are clearly separated.

Yeah that's my main problem with the sidewalk level bike paths. If I'm riding at anything above a leisurely pace (8-10mph) I'll just end up riding on the road. Too many people on headphones looking down at their phone and just thinking they're on the sidewalk.

and they certainly use the word "protected" loosely. Sure these is a visible difference in color of the bike lane, but a car out of control (or someone on the phone) can just drive onto it. Nothing new there

A few trails and around the Lakes have separated paths. Common sense would help.

@@andydahl181 Correct! No need to repeat the mistakes that were made in the Netherlands. We have put all non-cars together on paths for leisure, but there is nothing relaxed in pulling your kid away from getting hurt by a bicycle. And it's not relaxed if you have to pay attention to people walking and not to the landscape. So even when it's just for fun, give bicycles and walkers their own space. No need for big measures, just a (forgiving) curb and another surface, so both know where they should be.

With proper dress, 95% of the days are very rideable. But, it does suck with all the added weight.

Weird how even because of that we still have better biking infrastructure than places that don't have a winter.

Light rail and buses are available friend but it's a myth that you can' winter bike, the paths just need maintenance.

Hi Anthony how are you doing 😊

Minneapolis has been consistently rated as the best biking city in the country.

​@@kasjamm You made me want to see how each city compares currently since I haven't lived in either for a while and I wanted to see if what I said still held any weight. Anchorage population 300k/207miles of trail. Twin Cities population 3.4million/80miles. Now the Anchorage stat doesn't include a lot of the city park, ski trails, dog sled trails, and unofficial trails that zig-zag the city; if you start to include that you get over 350miles. The Minneapolis numbers are counting every bridge and isolated park trail they have. Maybe the "ratings" were only counting cities over 1 million people and not every major city?

@@AR-mm6so I'm nor sure but Anchorage has a bikescore of 52 while Mpls has a bike score of 83.

@@kasjamm My only experience is living in both places. If you ever find yourself in Anchorage go rent a mountain bike (so you can enjoy the non-paved trails also). No map, no time constraints, and just start to bike. You won't be disappointed.

@@AR-mm6so Maybe Mpls has a higher score because it's more functional as a means of commuting. Are Anchorage's bike paths more remote and less reliable as a means of transportation and more recreational?

Someone has. And there are plenty of videos on Twitter and RU-vid I have seen. People can post clips or make their own videos. That is the beauty of it all.

Why are they increadibly misgueded?

​@@ckrolczyk Why? Because sidewalks are for non-mechanical (foot) transportation (pedestrians). Sidewalks are for old ladies with cane's, mothers with baby carriages, and drunk people & people waiting in line for an event, or just out celebrating, on the town. I have been riding those, very misguided, sidewalk bike-lanes, on Hennepin Ave. I assure you, they are a recipe for disaster & will HAVE to be re-engineered to be separated from pedestrian foot-traffic, in a definitive & physical manner.

Are you talking about the proposed redesign for 2024? Because that's a hell of a lot better than the current dumpster fire of a corridor they have now, which serves everyone badly, especially cyclists.

@@altriish6683 No. I'm strictly talking about the, current, Hennepin Ave. bike Lanes. They have similar lanes in Richfield; they work there, in less foot-traffic suburbs. On side-walk bike lanes in a busy down-town area seem like a, VERY OBVIOUS, design flaw to any cyclist.

6 months of winter ? 😅🤣 You're a whining drama queen 👸. Winter counts only when sub zero C afternoon temperatures. (So let it be 3 months). Those bike paths are

You should see what we spend on roads 😬

Winter doesn't prevent you from riding a bicycle.

As a person of color, I didn´t know biking was white privilege. Thanks for the information and the great comment.

Bike advocates skew white. Bicyclists excluding recreational users skew male and non white

Try the 29th street trail, where you can see groups of assorted colors and ages, more diversity in the neighborhood's. Do you just judge from afar, with no direction? CHOOSING to ride, a different matter. There are a few non profits whom GIVE FREE bicycles away.

🤨

White privilege ?! Lmao ! But the South Asian guy? Is he the 'typical minority quota seat ' ?! 😁🤪 of course biking is open to everybody , but even in Holland migrants don't cycle as much, due cultural differences . Partly due lack of skills, familiarity, habits and, sometimes, money. But more important is that esp among migrant male the bike has low status ( also among lower classes btw). You need a car to show ( preferably a BMW, Audi or Merc ). Given the car pimp culture among Chicanos i guess it will be the same among us hispanics and afro americans... And that's too bad because it is a great combi of practical, affordable mobility, health and fun in one. (Even NL goverment would like to see otherwise for multiple reasons ..) That said i can imagine spending time in bike advocacy groups is quite a white scene... Question : is going out camping also ' white privilege' ? so far I haven't met many POCs who take pleasure going into the wood..😉