The Gym of Life 

You start already predisposed to like walkable cities but just don’t know why, then you watch one video, which leads to the whole channel, and suddenly you’re extremely anti-car and know why your life is so much better when you’re in walkable cities

@@MoustafaHabra18 Exactly!

My parents are 69 and my father had a heart attack two years ago. They were already avid cyclists but now that they've both retired they will take their bike and go cycling to another city for example. I love that they take their health so seriously! They'll easily do a chill 30-40km on a Saturday for fun. The city I live in is 20km by bike and they'll sooner do that than take the car or train, even though it would be faster.

Even here in Europe, there are a lot of "but person x can't bike, so there is no way we can ever try to ban cars".

@@sharpless not to sound ageist, but if someone is too frail to bike, I certainly wouldn’t trust them behind the wheel

@@sharpless Yeah and these people completely ignore that single-person "cars" (that run on motorbike-sized motors) exist. Way better than SUVs

Yep! My mom who is now a bit older is suffering from depression because there’s nothing to do nearby (we live in South Central Los Angeles btw). She spends most of her time alone indoors. Makes me sad. LA is definitely less walkable compared to Mexico City which is where she is from

Where I live in Canada there is an increasing trend that parks are off limits at evening /night. If you try to exercise at night people call the police to kick you out -.-

@@zomfgeclipse yea Canada sucks lol

Aaah yes, 广场舞 (city square dancing) is common in China, really livens up the city and a lot of old people take part, and I really miss it living in the west.

If you go to parks in New York, you'll see quite a few elderly people out and about.

@@bellairefondren7389 NYC/Chicago/SF/DC, or other metro areas, are relatively smaller areas compared with the majority of the US. On the other hand, most public parks nationwide in China are full of people.

Definitely agree

The accent is tough to listen to though

Necessary for Americans (US). Yes, I am American.

@@troubleman4125 what accent?

@@nikolaib5764 American/Canadian accent

Holy shit, that's amazing 😍😍

Life goals, right there. So happy to hear, that your grandpa is still so active. One pair of my grandparents were pretty much sedentary from the time they retired and as a direct result of that were almost unable to walk by the end of their 70s. It was always sad to see them take the car for the 600m "trip" to the bakery even back when they would have totally been capable of walking (in Germany, so walking would have definitely been an option). Not a very good example for their children and grandchildren.

My late grandfather was well known in his small town because he went everywhere with his trike. Unfortunately once his dementia got really bad the family would have to lock it up when he didn't have someone to go out with him because he would easily get lost and disoriented. It's nice to have a history of cycling on both sides of my family though and good memories of it.

101 and still able to bike? Ok that sounds unheard of..... Last i checked in britain people same age need assistance with walking. But jeez sounds like he's on track to 120.

a very nice story, hope your Grandpa gets as much fun time on his bike as possible!

The reason it gets twisted like that is because people are so used to getting the short end of car-dependency as a kid that finally getting a car feels like freedom

@@Jayanky Thats actually a very good explanation. And the first generation, that idolized cars, had the car as a symbol for economic freedom.

@@Jayanky Yeah. Its kinda like how you so looked forward to not having a bedtime, and then you ruin your sleep schedule.

I also like it more than “car-centric” because that would imply that street and roads were properly designed and way less traffic everywhere.

🤦🏿‍♀️

@@LukeIngels of what? falling?

This is happening to my great grandmother who is in her nineties. She actually got hit mildly by a small bus but was able to recover and keep walking afterwards until this past year she fell and could no longer recover. She now can barely remember any of the names of my generation of the family despite being able to fine before. It was a very dramatic difference.

@@placidmink2537 I'm surprised by your question because I thought everyone knew this. Surely you've had an elderly relative who started going downhill after one health incident and died within a few years? When you're old and one thing gives out, it very often leads to a cascading for problem. You don't recover. Lack of exercise causes the body to get weaker in general, making everything harder. To use a car metaphor, it's like trying to pull a load with a 1.1 litre engine instead of a 2 litre engine. In an old body this makes other things more likely to break. It also reduces appetite, leading to less nutrition - though it also leads to a worsening diet and all that accompanies this. It's very, very telling that there's a direct correlation between car dependency and life expectancy, when you take out factors like national wealth. The USA has a lower life expectancy than Lebanon and Lithuania.

Cycling is quite dangerous for the elderly; firstly, cycling is not weight bearing and thus promotes bone loss; secondly, even a low speed accident just falling over can cause serious debilitating injuries.

Another commenter said their grandad went from a bicycle to a tricycle (to prevent injury from falling over), sounds like a good idea although I have never seen a tricycle for grown ups (let alone a senior actually riding one)... We need some serious cultural changes

It definitely helps if that walk is also _interesting,_ not just safe and convenient.

@@NotJustBikes or immediately rewarded! It's easier to walk to a yummy lunch than to walk in one place for the same amount of time.

According to the statistics, the same % of people in the US overall and in Amsterdam are overweight, but a larger % is obese in Amsterdam.

In the Netherlands you see a lot of people walking in their lunch break, especially office people, i join 1 or 2 times per week and it really just resets your mind too and when you get back you get a fresh perspective on what you're working on

@@ETBrooD The statistics I know (from world factbook) is different. In 2016 ~36% of Americans are obese while ~20% of Dutch people are, i.e. significantly less.

Glad to be of service. Sorry about the delay, but even RU-vidrs go on vacation. 😉

@@NotJustBikes hope your vacation was nice!

@@NotJustBikes Don't you dare apologize for taking some time off, especially on RU-vid where it should really be encouraged and accepted so RU-vidrs don't feel as guilty for getting off the content treadmill for a bit. Hope you enjoyed your vacation

Same here tbh

Makes me kinda miserable tbh. Everything I'd want to bike to around me has multiple dangerous intersections in between alongside forcing you to suck fumes the whole way. There's currently a whole bunch of construction going on to repave winter damaged roads. So long stretches of sidewalk are completely closed off. These videos just remind me how bad everything is here.

what’s the deal with Australia’s and New Zealand’s videos though?

@@daniel-alexandrunistor5489 they are upside down

Har-dee-har-harr; aren't you oh-so original? (Is a New Zealander, for the record).

Humans are very good at ignoring and denying systemic issues. 🤷‍♂️

Yes exactly! So often we hear that fat people are just too lazy to work hard....instead of making any exercise way easier and not judging people. Apart from weight specifics too- People tend to be much healthier and fitter when they get more movement of whatever kind, why not make it easier and more accessible?

"PeRsONal ReSpOnSiBILiTy" It's such a thought-terminating cliché.

Easier to shift the blame onto an individual so you don't have to do anything, even if science doesn't back it up.

Probably because most of weight lost isn't determined by exercise. It's calories in over calories out. It's easier to avoid the 250 calorie snack than it is to spend some hours working out.

Specifically Dutch bike brands and shops have many types of special needs bikes. And some of them are made to aid the user in getting exercise without electric assistance, too, which I think is nice that such specific option is available instead of only having electric bikes

Additionally, wheelchairs and motorized electric scooters are also capable of using shared infrastructure. If it's in walking distance, elderly mobility aids can probably reach it as well.

Hi there, person with a physical disability here. *People need to get through their heads that walkable cities are better for the disabled. I cannot think of a single legitimate reason people have for thinking that car-centricity is somehow BETTER for us when it makes everything else harder.* People have this weird belief that the only way for the disabled to get around is to have some selfless saint of a person drive them around everywhere but the ONLY reason we'd need someone like that is if there isn't a store or a clinic close enough to walk to for our needs. Back when my disability was so bad I was in a wheelchair, living in a car-focused suburb was hellish because there was ZERO consideration for my life or transport needs. It's impossible to wheel over to the store when the store is multiple miles away and the sidewalks only last 20% of the way there. It's impossible to get to a clinic or a doctor's office without either chartering a vehicle of some kind or relying on understanding friends who have the ability to take time out of their workday to help you. It's impossible to even do the very basic thing of _visiting friends_ because you're the one guy who can't drive and would have to deal with either getting the wheelchair stuff figured out or risk going out without one and deal with the fainting and dizzy spells associated with that (ask me how I know) I'm not in a wheelchair anymore but still have very large issues moving around in general. I now live in a mixed-use developed apartment block and my life has changed dramatically for the better. Now instead of planning for days to make a grocery trip, and the subsequent panic of forgetting a medication or whatever when I do shop, I can just...walk to the grocery store. Now instead of worrying about what I'm gonna do if I need to go to the doctor I can just...walk to the clinic nearby. Now instead of needing to plan ahead with some very forgiving/selfless friends if I ever wanted to go do something fun with them, I can just...walk to the movie theater literally on my same block. _Even if I needed physical assistance like during the worst days of my illness, this would ALL be easier because my assistant would be able to help me get to where I needed to go without figuring out the whole car thing to begin with._ And one last thing to consider for people who drive around the disabled and still think car-centricity is better: When you live in a walkable city, car traffic is _non-existent._ Trips that you take with your disabled friends/family are so, so fast compared to dealing with the horrible traffic that comes with car-centric design. Even if I was fully regulated to my wheelchair and not able to move without help, living in a walkable city would be so much better because there are so few other cars to get in my/my driver's way. There's no gigantic parking lots you have to wheel through, there's no stress of being in a costco parking lot where you're probably gonna get hit by a busy mom rushing to get back home to feed her kids because she's trapped in this same hellscape as you (again, ask me how I know), there's no worry that if you need a medication and it's the middle of rush hour that taking a trip to the store will delay your relief even more no matter how much it hurts, and most importantly, there's no barriers to your caretaker just walking BY THEMSELVES to get you what you need. I wasn't always disabled. I used to be able-bodied and make the same exact arguments as car-centric, non-disabled people thinking I knew what disabled people needed more than they themselves did. *I was wrong, and if you're reading this you won't have to make the mistakes I did.* It took becoming disabled to realize this, and I'm openly ashamed of myself for that, but I hope to spread the word so anyone reading this doesn't have to deal with the same guilt and confusion like I did when I realized I wasn't being the good citizen to the disabled like I thought I was.

I had to sell my trike because the infrastructure was so bad here that I couldn't really use it. I broke a rib trying....Now all I get to do is watch hubby stay fit on his bike :(

Are those the ones where people pedal with the handlebar?

Even if not spending any money at all, any form of exercise in car-dependent cities requires active decisions rather than doing it passively. Deliberately taking longer walking routes, avoid elevators, etc.

It's weird. Reducing calorie intake is supposed to get you that much further than exercising. And if you take a look at how you can forego consuming 500 calories vs. how you can burn them by exercising, it makes sense. But I still hardly needed to do anything about my calorie intake when I had to not just work on my feet all day, but walk around all day at work from one place to perform some moderate manual labour to the next. Also, the walking/strolling for easily four hours about three, four times a week also did wonders.

I went through a similar thing, recently. last year, I got a job that was an hour driving commute each way. not only was I spending that much time sitting in a car, but the commute made me so miserable that I didn't want to do anything when I got home. I definitely gained weight from that, and though I've moved closer and cut down my commute time, I still don't live in a particularly walkable area, and am continuing to work on the effects of just those few months.

@@GwendolynnBY I had to move four or five times (depending on how you want to count), and while most of these moves didn't require all that much work, I still took about half a year to a year to recover. The constant moving in and realising after maybe six weeks that I wouldn't be able to stomach to stay where I'd just moved to, followed by two months of looking for a new place and such ... It was so stressful.

Amen, I'm not paying money to exercise, rather make it a practical part of my daily life, two birds one stone am I right?

i hope your response was "what? why would they think it's silly that you're using the main and most normal mode of transport to get around?"

If she starts cycling regularly, she won't *be* obese for all that long. But maybe word such a statement more diplomatically, if at all.

We probably shouldn't judge people for wearing a helmet, especially ebike users.

@@autohmae yea we shouldnt judge the old people

I didn't judge the 80+ year old lady for overtaking me, so why should I judge people that I can overtake?

I actually love exercise but I struggled to fit it into my day when so much time was already spent on a commute.

Same!

@@ligametis Because you don't have time for that?

@@ligametis Forests should of course be accessible, whether by bus or car. But people who don't have the time or inclination to visit forests should also be able to get some exercise as part of their daily routine.

But at least downtown Abu Dhabi is quite cyclable in my opinion. The summer months are a no-go of course.

Yeah, I would agree to some extent. But what is there to see? You just can’t compare it to Amsterdam, Leiden, or even Paris or Copenhagen for that matter. Yup, the current weather is horrible. It’s only nice from November-March. Was surprised with all the rain and clouds last week though. Stay safe!

I hear you lol 😂 but it’s 42 degrees Celsius as we speak, and it feels like 47 according to the “Weather” tab on my iPhone. I’m pretty sure the sea water of the Persian Gulf is boiling too to some extent. Never been a swimmer though, I must confess. London yesterday, was hotter than Abu Dhabi by 2 degrees Celsius, I kid you not. I wish I can show you the screenshot lol. Abu Dhabi was 37 and London was 39. It’s crazy, and I just heard that only 5% of homes in Europe have air conditioning at home. Compared to America’s 90%, and most probably 100% of all homes across Arabia. Stay safe, it’s getting better starting from today, at least from what I’ve gathered from the weather forecast. It’s only 25, and will be raining for the next two days across Europe.

During winter time, I would frequently get out in the early mornings with my bike and do a tour. My motivation was that morning is the only daylight time available when I'm not working, so better to use it productively. I hope they don't abolish winter time, despite people loving the summer daylight saving offset so much...

Every time I'd hear someone in the media talking about how people love work from home because they hate commuting I'd say "They obviously aren't talking to people that bike to work!"

But you could just take an hour off in the morning or late morning and ride your bike for an hour, instead of being stuck in commuter traffic for an hour.

@@Casey093 I could, but it's a lot heard to convince the mind to actually do so (especially in between all the zoom meetings and team chats that are happening)

…”free” exercise…? Why the quotes? Not just free but exercise that puts you ahead financially. I rid myself of my car 20 years ago so have been exclusively bus/bike/walking since. No gym membership fees. No car maintenance, insurance, gas, depreciation. Conservatively I’m not spending $5000 each and every year. That’s $100,000 in 20 years. It’s helped to get my wife and I mortgage-free while our peers are laying out over $1000 a month rent for far more cramped shelter.

yeah you have to wait for over an hour for the next bus if you missed the last one. It's ridiculous. If you are lucky there might be some sort of metro rail system, that connect you from nowhere to nowhere.

I honestly thought American people were exaggerating when it came down to bus frequency, but it turns out that even in huge cities, there are routes that are served less than once every hour. Meanwhile, in Italy, I have a bus each hour that goes to a hamlet with less than 200 people living there. And people still complain about buses not being frequent enough!

Ok, but why did you move to the USA?

@@cakeisyummy5755 because

@@cakeisyummy5755 because I was looking for a better life, just like most people that moved here. My personal life story is really unrelated to the topic of the video.

I also went to a British school in the Netherlands and remember doing the exact same class. Which school did you go to and how old are you?

@@disposabull I think this experiment is done in all biology classes in Dutch secondary school because I did it too hahaha

@@disposabull I don't recall ever doing such a thing in biology at school in the UK, so maybe it is actually a Dutch thing as the other commenter notes. We did something similar in PE though.

When I was a kid I preferred anything to school

@@disposabull This type of cnut will never answer you. People who went to those schools (British school Netherlands, Paris, Luxe, etc.) are mostly d/heads. You'll see.

The treadmill is at least beneficial if you have joint problems (sometimes caused by walking or running on hard surfaces).

@@karlrovey a majority of joint injuries from walking and running usually stem from unnatural heel-first stride caused by raised heels.

@@hithere5553 now wait for "not just bikes" to make a video on how sidewalks should be walkable while being barefoot.

@@karlrovey in that case the biking movement is better because it's more round. At least for me.

The treadmill was actually invented in the UK as a way to get free labor from prisoners

And that's STILL different from how Dutch people use their bikes. For us, it's just a very efficient way to get from A to B, or to transport our kids to school, or get groceries. I don't even have a driving license, and I'm 45. I think my nearest supermarket only has about two or three parking spaces for cars in a side street, not even a dedicated parking lot. It's not "fun" or "exercise", it's just one of the best modes of transport for short to medium distances (up to about 10-15 miles).

"Congratulations, you've reached 150 Heart Points!"

My watch always asks me if I want my exercise recorded whenever I take a walk long than 5 minutes. I never understood who would count that as an exercise

@@kutter_ttl6786 Hahaha exactly!

YES omg same!!! Hahaha. Netherlands resident here

Lol, I hit that on a single 10k run before turning it off. I was like damn, those are some low standards.

Hmmmm Busses are better off for local driving. For longer distance theres only 1 true master. Trains.

its actually originally for segregating white and black

"wow these people are using a way of getting around thats good for them and for nature we should tax them"

did this person name any reasons? i mean they are good for you, don't destroy the roads and also good for the enviroment, so why would you want to tax them? xD

That is just hillarious.

That's depressing... although the visual of a group of kids on bicycles fleeing from a civil servant running after them (and somehow collect taxes from them) makes me giggle.

As long as they also increase taxes for cars by three times as much ^^

Car to the gym? Take your bike and get in some excersize already

@@sd-ch2cq do you even watch this channel? That's likely not feasible

@@sd-ch2cq if i took a bike to the gym i would probably get hit by a car, or it would also take about an 30 mins both ways because everything is so sprawling lol

In my city, people on bikes get hit by cars even when they are on the sidewalk. I dont even understand how that happens. But if you don't get hit by a car, then you'll get hit with a fine for riding your bike on the sidewalk instead of in the bikelane-less streets. ( drawing a yellow line one foot from the grassy shoulder is hardly a "bike lane")

@@sd-ch2cq In a place where I live, for about 6 months out of the year, it is too hot to walk outside. You will die if you tried walking to the gym. I remember I tried doing that. I had to have an umbrella, portable fan that sprays water, and ice packs just to get there safely so I don’t experience heat stroke.

Exactly

At the end of the day the people decide what their cities look like. If enough people ask and enough people really care the city will change even if it might take some time. The problem is americans simply dont know their cities are wrong.

This reminds me of a meme: "KIDS DON'T GO OUTSIDE ANYMORE" (shows stroad horror show) MY BROTHER IN CHRIST YOU MADE THE OUTSIDE

A structural problem requires structural solutions. Its ez ro dismiss people for being lazy, but if this is a recuring trend (like it is in the US) might wanna look for different reasons.

@@stevenwier1783 sure, americans made their cities the way they are. A handful of americans, compared to the entire civilian populace. Then they subjected us to those city designs. The majority of american citizens are not civil engineers, city planners, city council members, etc. This is the fault of the few, not the many.

@@moon-moth1 Trams in Amsterdam are LOUD.

When I walk, i try to avoid busy streets, you can't hear your thoughts. Especially when people go home after work.

​@@Liisa3139 At least it is occasional noise instead of continuous.

@@dbclass4075 Ha ha, occasional, when the trams run all day.

@@Liisa3139 I prefer that than sheer number of gridlocked vehicles. If unlucky enough, occupied by impatient drivers frequently honking.

Good for you!

Same. I moved from the US to London. In the US, I kept gaining weight, despite taking time out of my day to exercise. Now I just walk to university every day, without even changing my diet, and I have lost so much weight. Taking a walk in the morning is also so relaxing and really wakes you up and gets you hyped for the day!!

It's crazy how much of a difference it makes, because it seems like so little exercise.

The only period of my life where I put on a significant amount of weight was when I was driving to work for 18 months. 5 steps to the car from the front door, 20 steps to the office, sit in a chair all day. As soon as I switched back to a bikable job, only 10 minutes ride away, the gained weight melted away again.

Even in the Netherlands, people underestimate how much exercise they get from taking public transport. When I had to take the train to work, I walked about 10 minutes to the station, then four flights of stairs, then taking the train, another 15 minute walk to my office, and the same thing in reverse at the end of the day. All in all it was about an hour of moderate exercise 5 days a week JUST taking public transport, not counting things like grocery shopping by bike, or visiting friends by bike, or going to a cafe or restaurant by bike. When I became unemployed, I immediately gained weight.

Walking in Dubai heat during the day does not sound like it would be fun.

Yes, it's crazy how many people are sleeping on the topic of infrastructure, and on how it affects our lives in many different ways.

I had to stop and "Dubai" to understand the first phrase on your comment. That city is a joke. I live in Thunder Bay and it also is a copy of the car centric model of NA. Fortunetaly, there have been more and more people commuting in bikes each year, and surprisingly more in winter. I hope this trend continues.

@Zaydan Naufal You're gonna blow AC outside? Lmfao please don't be stupid.

@Zaydan Naufal Dubai is one of the most hellish places on Earth. Look at all the stupid shit they have, artificial islands (that destroy the environment), fake steel architecture, etc. It's Disney World for nouveau riche tourists. It doesn't exist as a city, but as a set piece so they can say "hey, look how wealthy we are!". I remember reading a while ago that in Dubai, the hotels are *full* of things (restaurants, bars, shops, etc.) so that the tourists can simply stay in the hotel for most of the stay and don't have to leave.

😉

I think what many people in badly walkable cities not realise is that it's not just young-ish and already rather fit people who bike or who can start biking. I live in Bern, Switzerland, and I see morbidly obese people in their sixties or seventies on bicyles quite regularly.

Did you find Dutch food healthier? I'm confused bc I would think English and Dutch food would be pretty similar

What's wrong with British bike lanes?

@@KatherineNaumenko Not sure if this is sarcasm or you're actually asking, but they're not great, much more dangerous and where I lived in Birmingham there were hardly any. The Netherlands is the golden standard for bike lanes, UK doesn't come anywhere close to it.

@@daverobertson5633 I'm actually asking. Thank you. Not everybody saw the UK bike lanes with their own eyes. Somebody has this pleasure to look forward to. Is there any hope the UK is moving towards the Dutch standard?

Yes! That part didn't make the final script, but for the best walkability, the city has to not just be safe and feasible to walk in, it also needs to be interesting.

It is always more interesting to walk when you are traveling to new places

Me, Dutch, really like the Spanish cities.. Despite the disadvantageous terrain (lots of rocks and hills usually) they really try to make their cities bike / e-bike friendly. and their public transport is pretty good as well. (note: I am only familiar with tourist destinations in Spain)

@@Blackadder75 They certainly try. Their bicycle paths need some work in some places (did a bicycle tour through France and Spain last year) but at least they are there most of the time. Well except for that one time I had to ride a highway because it was literally the only road out of there.

That's the #1 thing I dislike about this place. Also, many (potentially) walkable areas here are half-abandoned and stigmatized. But I've actually lost weight since moving to Connecticut from Barcelona, because I never stopped bike commuting :D

I would seriously love to do the same as soon as I can. Can I ask though, how did you approach moving to the Netherlands? Did you need to save a bunch of money, was it easy to assimilate, and what should someone know before moving there? Any insight you can provide to me would be so so appreciated!

@@JFlint.02 where do you live now?

Just curious, which city you live in? I moved 4 years ago and I love it.

@@livingmaze3094 Why?

@@livingmaze3094 can you elaborate more

I know, right? New Zealand gets left off of so many world maps, so I feel like it needs more representation.

@@NotJustBikes On many maps New Zealand just is the land of legend. Best place to put it :P

New Zealand is real??

@@jayBBvid95 named after the province Zeeland in the Netherlands, the same guy 'discovered' Tasmania.

My 81-year-old grandad still walks and cycles to nearby places - it's a big part of why he's still in such good shape for his age.

@@samw5924 yeah. That’s great, but in most cities, towns and places, it’s not feasible, and dangerous, with lack of sidewalk and cicle ways

After seeing the prices of wheelchair equipped cars, I'd like to say, wow, fuck.

@@dnlgrmn7169 That's the whole point.

And the worst of it, Chicago once had world-class rail service. To that end, Chicago DOES have walkable districts, but the bike infrastructure outside of the loop is so poorly planned that connecting to some neighborhoods can be a dangerous excursion without a bus or train to connect you.

I've definitely gained weight working from home. It's nice not to commute by car but I end up being even more sedentary in the end. I miss being able to bike to work to my first job out of school, even though it was along a really ugly stroad

I got an indoor bike. I will mindlessly ride for 1-2 hours a day.

recently moved from san diego and my new coworkers gawk at the fact that i biked a total of 60 minutes to work at least once a week, and think it was insane. in actually, it was fun and i miss the fact i cant bike to work anymore, even though i brought my bike

Chicago itself is working on being the most bike friendly city in the country. In the suburbs we have lots of trails that actually take you places. And then there are the trails in the Cook County Forest Preserves, one of which was presented in a bid for the olympics.

I can literally not understand why anyone would prefer standing still in traffic over biking. At least with your bike you're getting somewhere, even if there are road works here they will make a tiny passage for pedestrians and cyclists so you can still get through. There is no such thing as a cycling traffic jam.

Yep. The focus only on absolute commute time is so myopic.

Yeah, I also lived in waterloo for university. I miss it now, especially the gym of life aspect. Lived close to campus and walk/bussed everywhere. I don't go anywhere anymore or do anything. It is terrible.

I did not know Waterloo Canada was that walkable. I'm from Toronto!

@@DonutsIceCreamAndCottenCandy We have two universities on the same street.

Nice! Well, hopefully I can orange-pill a few million more people, and maybe, with a bit of luck, we can start to have some community engagements meetings with a majority of people under 60 years old for a change!

I hope so much that you're working in calgary. We need people who know what it's like outside of north america to fix this garbage pile we have here.

@@odizzido it is in the channels name, I suggest to watch the first video he made. Then watch the rest from start to finish, including the paint drying video, aka moving house. 😊

American here. My dad was in the military and lived much of his career overseas. He taught me I should always park at the absolute furthest parking spot at like Walmart or other grocery stores. Yes you look weird to others but it’s more about getting as much exercise as possible. It’s also great cause you don’t have to drive around looking for parking typically cause no one parks back there.

Same. I lost so much weight when I moved to Japan, despite having a desk job as a programmer. I’m now a civil servant at the local city hall and enjoy living where I work. I just walk a couple minutes from my doorstep to reach my desk. I love this place so much. I have a fun easy job, nice polite people around me, beautiful towns, and delish food.

@@adamlynch9153 Considering the car-centric development that limits option for walking, your father's suggestion is the next best available option. I have another suggestion for you when in multi-story buildings: elevators to go up, stairs to go down. Though if you want a bit challenge, it wouldn't hurt to use stairs for upward travel as well.

It's the detours and the wandering that I miss the most! I stubbornly bike everywhere but my neighbourhood is designed for cars and it's just a bummer to be in. I can get from A to B but I have to ride super defensively and the scenery sucks. No one wants to wander into a strip mall to buy groceries. Sigh.

I have never been to Tokyo (but I plan to someday). Isn't it a somewhat car dependent city too?

Yeah I had the idea for this video years ago, but it took me a while to get around to it. This is one of those topics that's super-important, but you don't think about it often.

@@NotJustBikes this is the topic I noticed immediately when I moved to the US. How come I cannot walk anywhere? I felt my body literally losing muscles because I had to sit down every day in the car, at work and waiting for any appointments. American lifestyle is to sit in traffic to go to work, sit in traffic to get processed fast food and then sit in traffic to get to the gym to lose weight because you were sitting in traffic all this time.

This is something that my dad has talked a lot about before. He's an immigrant from Kenya, born and raised in Nairobi. I also got a chance to visit Nairobi with him and my mom when I was younger, so I have some personal experience with the place too. Nairobi, for all its faults, is still a place where you can get around fairly well without a car. If anything, anyone smart will recommend that you try to avoid driving yourself around the city unless you're an experienced driver in some of the absolute worst city traffic that the world has to offer (like Bangkok or Mumbai), since Nairobi traffic is on another level of insanity. Lucky for people, a lot of the more popular shopping areas, with CBD being the most prominent one, are very easily walkable and lively. One of my favorite things has to be the hawkers who will go around either setting up an impromptu shop on the street with just a fold-up table and whatever thing they're selling (like watches for example), or the ones who go out onto the roads during particularly bad traffic jams and sell stuff to people in their cars (got some really nice Macademia nuts that way once). One of the most prominent methods of going longer distances in the city, Matatus, are so ubiquitous that there's basically no area of the city that you can't get to by finding the right Matatu. Living here in the US though, and raising me here, has allowed my dad to find out firsthand just how different it is to live here. The way of life in the US is far more sedentary than most of the world, and you end up having to go out of your way to keep up a decently healthy lifestyle. He's certainly not fond of it, and having grown up in it myself, I'm not either. Heck, I'm possibly looking to do the same thing Jason did and straight up leave the country. I know for certain that nobody will catch me dead raising kids in the US, not with this lifestyle. I'm not very happy here, and I don't want any children of mine going through what I did.

I 100% agree with you. I used to sometimes wonder why (especially high school) students complain about being tired and not being able to concentrate in the morning whereas I was always pretty motivated. It's only now I really grasped that even 10 minutes of high energy cycling really made that big of a difference.

@@trustnugget280 I had the exact same revelation after I got my drivers license and started to drive instead of previously cycling almost every day of my teenage life.

@@mccreeper03 At first you think being able to get everywhere by car is the best thing ever only to realise that riding your bike is the favourable option in so many aspects.

I used to have to take two busses to school for a couple of months. Hectic walk to bus, bus ride, hectic change from one bus to another at the train station, bus ride, hectic walk to school. When going to school, I couldn't really help it. But going home from school, I could. I quickly started walking to the train (edit to add: station) from school, which took me about 20 to 30 minutes, and only took the bus from there to get home. And it wasn't the hectic that was missing. When taking two busses home after school, I was never in a rush. No hectic there. But taking two busses still made me tired, while walking over three kilometres and then taking a bus didn't.

But how do you do that without swearing so much and not showing up to work drenched?

That's unhealthy, should compost them instead.

Nice! Living up to your RU-vid username.

that is great!

Awesome to see you here SMSP

What really bothers me here is that apparently 1 mile is considered a long distance to walk. That is a 20 minute walk. Though If I had the option I would take the bike because I'm lazy.

Thanks!

That’s what was missing! I miss it too it’s nice to be able to get a feel for different places since I’ve never been able to afford to leave the us

Thanks!

Oh God Houston. Now THAT'S a hell of a difference, Bruges vs. Houston lol.

@@FGH9G I know! What I absolutely love about Bruges is the fact that it's so ridiculously small, that you are a 20min walk from pretty much anything you may ever want. The distance between my gf and the nearest Walmart, is the distance from me to the biggest shop in the area, which is waaaayyyy outside of town (about 8km). Also they're thinking of banning cars from the center of town which would be heavenly!

@@m.j.t.4889 That'll be perfect for Bruges! Given how tiny Bruges is, that seems like a no-brainer. I'm surprised that hasn't happened sooner. But wow, that must've been a hell of a culture shock for your GF, living in Houston and then *POOF* you're in Bruges. I really hope that will lay the seeds of disgust on the awfulness of North American auto-oriented urban planning. 😂🤞

@@FGH9G with Bruges it also helps that the entire center of Bruges is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so they can't really change it lol

When I visited Będzin (near Wrocław where i was born), the public transport was a significant improvement over the conditions that I grew up with in Ireland. But the underground pedways were the worst - not only does this project a sense of car superiority by forcing us pedestrian plebs to go underground because cars on the surface are more important, but they feel like the perfect place to get mugged - dark and out of sight. Every time I was forced to walk through them, I was constantly anxiously looking around my shoulder, and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

I lived in Warszawa for a little bit during COVID times, and I did enjoy the walkability of the area I was in. However, the entire city is not like the Śródmieście area, as there are a few areas that are still car centric in design. I think Poland is still in a prime position to rebuild and develop as a post-communist country and create even more cyclist and pedestrian friendly areas.

Speaking just from personal experience, if I stop weight training at the gym I feel it instantly. I am lucky enough to live in a North American city (Montreal) that has decent/good bike infrastructure and cheap/accessible gyms so I can bike to work and go to the gym when I want.

thats why its nice to be able to bike to the gym, you can jump straight into the weights because you're already warmed up and that cardio after gets blood into the muscles for faster recovery

When I was in university, I would purposely give myself less time to make it to the bus stop to force myself to run instead of walking. So I typically gave myself 15 minutes to cover 1.7km, sometimes even 10 minutes, when I typically carried a 10-15kg backpack. The first time I did that, I was completely out of breath by the time I arrived. But over time, my cardio did significantly improve. To this day, I practice my cardio while taking my dog for a stroll - and I typically cover 5-7km during those strolls.

Switzerland is pretty car centric - from memory Lausanne and Geneva still have far too much through traffic

I've been to London once, but it's not a bad example (I think). There are sidewalks aplenty, parks to leisurely walk through and the public transport makes it relatively easy to cover distances you can't by walking

While the outer parts of London are not always walking friendly, the inner city is. Many small parks as well as the big ones and sidewalks/pavements everywhere. And while London is quite big, the parts the tourist go to are compact enough to do a lot walking. It is the small towns and villages in the countryside where the English need a car most, and even there you can mostly walk away from the roads. Commuting without a car is often hard, as the small roads between towns and villages are full of cars going too fast on narrow roads.

London's a pretty good example! It's probably the best of the big UK cities for walking and cycling (I say this begrudgingly, as a non-Londoner with a lot of latent bitterness at the funding they get for things like public transport compared to the rest of us). Even better than London are small cities and towns like Cambridge and Oxford, or other ones which have retained some medievalish layout, although the vast majority of Brits don't live in places like that.

London is definitely not a bad example for walking, maybe for cycling ( we're getting there 😅) but it's an amazing place to walk from point A to point B anywhere within zone 4 :)

Drivers wanting to run over anyone and/or anything for no apparent reason? Quite an antisocial behavior. Might be due to limited human interaction after sitting in a metal/composite box for too long.

I choose to bike a sane speed on the sidewalks of my city. It's not as big a deal here, but even if it was I don't care. The whatever-hundred dollar ticket they would give me is worth less than my life. It's not very often I have to do it anyways since there's bike paths in ~60% of the city.

I used to bike a lot. then, when I was 18 and riding my bike to the grocery store, I was nearly hit by a car three times - one was a driver deciding to park in the bike lane in the exact space where my bike was currently passing through. I stopped riding after that.