The editing came together really well for this one. It's amazing how well you can film from a bakfiets! Thanks for coming out in the evening. It was a good ride and it's nice to show people the parts of Amsterdam that the tourists never see.
Excellent collaboration. Could either of you make a video that highlights the signs and road markings for cyclists (e.g. Mini "haaientanden" as we see in this video)?
It's such a shame that the Netherlands are now at a point where they can say certain bicycle infrastructure was considered good in the '90s but is pretty flawed actually, and one country over here in Germany the exact same infrastructure is being installed and lauded as an upgrade for cyclists TODAY. We are literally a quarter century behind and not even aware of it.
And the same here in the UK, and probably most other places too. But did you pick up on Jason's point that the Dutch moved towards better cycling infrastructure because there were so many cyclists? Without this pressure we will not see rapid change I think....
@@captain1664 The amount of cycling in the 1970s was probably comparable to other cities in this world. However, I think the Dutch had more to lose than the other countries.Dutch cities weren't demolished by a crazy nationalistic 19th century dictator which means cities were just a sort of expansion of the 17th century city cores. It also had been 25 to 30 years after the Hunger Winter in which the Dutch were starving to death. People back then really had a "Never again" mindset after that winter. Building the #2 biggest exporting agricultural sector was an outcome of that mindset and if it weren't for Europe's biggest gas field the Netherlands would have built their country full with nuclear power plants Charles de Gaulle style. Aside from that, looking into cycling after the 1973 oil crisis was another result of that same mindset. The Saudis were using the embargo as a part for their negotiations, but to the Dutch this immediately triggered the memories from the Hunger Winter in which this time the Arabs were starving the Dutch to death. "Never again", so the government was triggered to look into fossil-free alternatives to the car.
As a kid in the 1980s, I did everything by bike. Places very very cycleable even then. One big development from the 1970s and early 1980s, was the "woonerf", a residential area where playing kids had right of way over cars, and cars could only go 5 km/h. Lots of traffic-slowing measures. That later grew into the standard of 30 km/h roads everywhere where people lived, though back then many residential streets were still technically 50 km/h. I remember the "50 is te veel" protests to slow that down. But none of that stopped us from riding bikes everywhere. The important part is that the big roads outside the cities have separate bike paths, and they did, even back then. And even on smaller roads where there wasn't a bicycle gutter, all drivers knew to keep enough distance from the curb to give cyclists a space to ride. I think the most important part is that there are places you can go by bike. You have to be able to ride to school, to work, to the shop. Dangerous, high-speed roads need separate bike paths. That is more important than the bicycle lanes on smaller roads. But also: car drivers need to be aware of how dangerous they are. They need to be aware that their own children might be riding on that road. That will also make cars drive more safely.
@@captain1664 True. This is often overlooked. Cycling infrastructure always existed to some extent, we have always cycled a lot, but infra began only to be massively improved and encouraged in the seventies, AFTER massive protests and demonstrations by the Dutch people. We protested and demonstrated against the dominance of cars. We protested to have more facilities for bikes instead. So it wasn't forced upon us by others, we chose ourselves. We revolted. I don't see this happening elsewhere tbh.
What I really like about Not Just Bikes, that really became apparent to me in this video, is that he does not only criticise and show solutions, but he also understand why things are the way they are and the way of thinking from which they originated. I think that is something more people need. Before criticising, it's important to understand why things are the way they are.
The street you were on at around 14:00 (Wielingenstraat) will be completely redesigned in 2022! Jason was completely right about the likelihood of a redesign in the near future
@@NotJustBikes Yes, before and after shots are the very best! Looking forward to this redesign! Been my high school area and it looks precisely like back then (90s!)
I hope you've all kept up with @NotJustBikes , there have indeed been very big changes and most of which I've loved as an expat living in the Netherlands.
Amsterdam's outdated safety standards of the 1990s are right now sold and installed as the newest hottest sh** in Hamburg Germany. "Ooh, wow, we did actually put some paint on the road to acknowledge the existence of bikes! The future is now!"
which is a bit sad, but to be honest, if they are an improvement to the current situation, they will boost bike use, and thus the push for better infrastructure in the future.
You, BicycleDutch and NotJustBikes have gotten me so very interested on road design and city design in general. I now bike and look much more consciously around to what I see, and actually understand the changes I have seen in my 40 years of cycling around here. Thanks for that!!!
I think the power of Jason is his talent to keep on expressing his sense of wonderment about everything so well. And with everything I mean things that'll inspire anyone else's wonderment too.
@@ivo8312 That's something that makes it hard to like him, but, that's not his fault, it's what I grew up with. I love cars but I'm not blind to their impact on my North American streets, at least not anymore. I need to be reprogrammed if you will. I'm still and forever will be a car enthusiast, but the car does not belong in cities, people need real choice for where to live and what to take to work
@@coastaku1954 We (the Netherlanders) don't dislike cars. I cherish my car, I like cars I can't afford😅, and would feel bummed out if my car got dented or otherwise damaged 😖. It's just not the only convenient type of transportation I can choose from.
realized how you can have a normal conversation standing next to all these bike paths while it was more like screaming at each other when you were close to cars?
It's so strange as an American to see such quiet and peaceful streets. I think the only places even remotely like this here are college campuses, because everyone just needs to walk or bike a short distance to their classes.
I've have binged on all of these videos like CRAZY over the past few months- how do I even get my city to incorporate these ideas?? My heart aches for walkable cities! I can't believe I've been robbed of something other than a car centric life. My town is pretty young, about 25 years old but they made a huuuge mistake by building a huge sea full of just homes in one part of town. We were supposed to be the crown jewel of Oregon - we had great plans for walkable neighborhoods before 2008. But after the financial crisis they just wanted quick profitability. There's not a grocery store or other amentinites for miles. It's a sickening sight of asphalt and lawns. At least they have good bike lanes and roundabouts. In turn our town of 25k created a huuuge traffic problem already and not enough parking. It's insane to try to move around town or get onto the freeway during rush hour. They're trying to start developmental plans for another part of town. What can I do to stop them from making the same mistake again? I'm just a college student...
A picture is worth a thousand words. Can you recreate pictures streets from your town with bike infrastructure and mixed use housing without setbacks? Could you recreate part or the whole thing in games like Cities Skylines to give people a 3D view of how things could/should be? (Obviously these are not small projects and you would have to team up with plenty of other people).
You're not going to make a single difference. Sorry but it's just not going to happen (unless you happen to have millions of dollars you're willing to invest to lobbying)
I agree a lot of luck was involved with a few things coming together. Not just the oil crisis but also the fact that the Dutch fell madly in love with the car in an economic boom that came late because of the war. People did 'roadshoulder tourism', just put chairs out next to the highway and watch car traffic, even the first traffic jam was an event, a celebration. So cars stormed the Netherlands while a lot of people were still cyciing showing a conflict had to be solved. There's the Dutch idea that kids should play in the streets, lots of the counter culture of the 60's became mainstream or was accepted by the mainstream in the 70's like different lifestyles and environmentalism. From the late 70's to the 80's we had squatters slowing down and stopping demolition plans, partly because the whole underground/punk scene would show up to riot at a forced eviction. It's not just about political consensus in the administrative bodies, there was also civil disobedience involved.
The Dutch also do historically have a stronger relationship with bicycles than most countries. No, the Netherlands has not always had all this nice bike infrastructure that they have today, but bikes were more popular in the Netherlands than most other countries before the car craze started
@@RoScFan There are more flat countries and area's in the world, where this didn't and doesn't happen. So it helps but is not the reason. Besides the Netherlands has very strong winds.
Remember, we don't just kick our 11-year olds out of the door and let them cycle Amsterdam on their own. You start with the kid in the bakfiets, showing and explaining what's happening, while having them ride on the sidewalk with their tiny bikes with side-wheels. Then at some point you do small easy trips on his own bike, with flag on the back and strictly next to you, then they actually get cycling-traffic-safety lesson in primary school around age 10 I believe (?) and then, after years of training, you let them go by themselves on the roads they travelled before together with you, where they know where to be extra careful. Most dangerous things in Amsterdam are still drunk/otherwise intoxicated tourists, who did not get this training, on bikes or on foot on the bikepath I guess. Fun fact: we do the same thing with swimming.
As for the financial district being new: When I was still working close to Station Zuid, about 30 to 20 years ago, the area was just sports fields, not a building is sight. And before that, as a student, the station didn't even exist. I still have a city map of Amsterdam where the spot is marked as 'toekomstig station Minervalaan'.
See how liberating this is for children. Any child at the age of 10 and above has the freedom to cycle anywhere he wants. Whereas in the US, they are virtually locked in, in their Cul-du-sac, unless their parents drive them out and pick them up again.
@@kerrermanisNL Same here. However, I think that people have become a bit more skittish when it comes to letting their kids roam around the neighborhood freely. Btw: I can't remember of a single instance where it went wrong.
@@Mo_Honcho Sure, in the city centre where they don't want cars. Meanwhile, you can park just fine in most of the Netherlands. And long lines at traffic lights? You're joking, right? Most traffic lights here in the Netherlands are cleared during rush hour in just 2 or 3 cycles. Go take a visit to the US or even just one of the bigger less bike friendly cities here in Europe and look at how many cycles people have to wait there. In fact, how about I just sent you to Not Just Bikes video about driving in the Netherlands. Spoiler alert, the Netherlands is one of the best countries to drive in.
Thank you from Lansing Michigan. This type of mind opening content is much appreciated. I became friends with a couple that have Dutch style bikes and were influenced by NJB channel. We connected on a very good level discussing the channel and the topics it brings up. They decided not to buy a house in the suburbs! We now only live a half mile apart.
I think he's kinda racist, and euro centric. Seems allot like the new "white mans burden" I hate getting criticism from a guy who willingly moved to a nation with over 84% white people. I bet he just loves all the good these white people are doing. America is more diverse, we don't have a strong tradition of cycling and tradition and personally I'm glad we don't have white cycling tradition. I bet you won't find not one black person cycling back in the day. Kinda racist
This channel is pure gold! Thank you Propel for putting quality content out there to raise awareness of the value of urban cycling. Normalising cycling within the urban environment is a long, slow process, but content like yours, especially from cities where urban cycling is normalised, significantly contributes towards building momentum to achieve this. Thank you.
My 3 take-aways: 1) “.....driving a military fuel truck through Iraq.....made me think there has to be better way” 2). 30 years ago Amsterdam was being designed for cars. 3) 1 stoplight on bike commute to work.
When you serve in the military, or worse, when deployed abroad, you will quickly understand the burden of fuel logistics and its extremely adverse effects on the economy and human lives. And once you've experienced how bad that fuel dependency in a hostile environment is, you'll come to understand how much it's still bad even if you're not being shot at. It's a tragic, yet interestingly enough, invigorating way to learn about fuel dependency. Basically put, fuel dependence is shit to most people, but if you drive fuel trucks when you get fired at in Iraq, that's a whole other level of shit.
18:10 to 26:05 absolutely deserves to be its own video. Despite being completely unscripted, it became the best argument I've ever heard for the entirety of focusing on people-first design when it comes to suburban development.
I watch both channels, Not Just Bikes, and your videos, It was a real treat to get both creators in one video. Canada has so much to learn from the Netherlands about bicycle infrastructure.
I'm an engineer by education as well and highly interested in this topic. And I've been following Jason's channel for years, I think I've actually found this channel due to his. If it can't be for years, it certainly feels that way :)
People are always interested in the bicycles and I understand that . But walking is also a viable mode of transport in the NL. I walked to school , I bought my groceries walking.
Nah. Walking is still mainly for when people are in the city centre, arrived somewhere through the use of public transport or just to get some exercise in. People generally prefer bikes when they are available. While walking is just as safe as biking, it is just a nice bonus that good cycling infrastructure also brings good walking infrastructure with it.
@@rendomstranger8698 It depends on how far you need to go. If it's just a 15 min walk to buy groceries or consume services, walking is often preferable. You don't need to live in the city center for that. Having your workplace so near is rare, though.
@@falsemcnuggethope Only if you don't require a bag to carry the groceries. An advantage of a bike while doing groceries is that you can just throw your bag in a pannier or put the bag on the wheel. Much less annoying than having to carry the bag.
@@rendomstranger8698 It's good exercise to carry a bag and a backpack full of groceries for 15 min. And you don't need to carry that much stuff at once every time when it's just a 15 min walk in a nice environment. I'm not saying that walking is a superior option, just that it's a valid and convenient one.
Outside towns and cities there's often no sidewalk in the Netherlands. But you can walk just fine and safe on a bike path. Just walk on the opposite side so you see close traffic coming cause you don't hear them lol
I live in the same awful city (London Ontario Canada) that Jason comes from. Every terrible thing you can do in city planning is done here! I ride a bike but it can be pure hell. Love both of your channels. They have inspired me to keep riding at sixty. Hope to move to Montreal soon which is a much better place to ride. Keep up the good work!!
I live in New Brunswick (rural) where there is no public transportation and even in summer it is dangerous to ride a bicycle because no one does it, so you need to make sure they SEE YOU. However, I am Dutch original and so I bike (in summer). Now I am on vacation in the Netherlands and the FIRST thing which I notice is that there are PEOPLE outside. I mean: PERSONS, not cars. People are everywhere. Walking, cycling, with rollators, on scoot mobiles for the elderly. In Canada you just see cars until in a major parking lot of the mall, or a nature trail. Jason from 'crappy' London opened my eyes that it is special what the Dutch have on infrastructure.
Yes, great to see Jason's face! :-) In addition to all the other benefits touched on - transportation choice, traffic congestion, physical health, oil use, emissions, noise, safety, quality of life, on and on - one other aspect of greater bike use is the contribution to a sense of greater social integration and equality. On a typical city street you could be riding next to a student, a stockbroker, someone taking 100 beer cans to a recycling depot, a mother with a child on the back seat, etc., and everyone looks more or less the same. It's a significant contrast to one's perceptions of other people in a car-dominated urban setting - people in cars versus people walking, people in cars versus people using transit, people in cars versus people on bicycles, even people in expensive cars versus people in beaters. Cars are inherently isolating, even alienating, both psychologically and socially. Bikes encourage people to 'decompress' and engage - with nature, with the city, with other people.
Very true indeed. It's one of the things I like the most about using a bike as my main mode of transportation nowadays. Even wearing a mask, I feel so much more connected to people around me than when I used public transport where we're all packed like sardines and only sharing germs. I do think that a good network of public transport is a great thing for a city to have, but personally I prefer my bike.
In my home state of Pennsylvania, this video gets shared with my state Senator. When I find the ones that emphasize health and safety, I'm directing those to my local school district. These videos are more than inspirational. They are appropriate tools to be used to educate and motivate. I'm struggling and learning how to get the powers that be to watch and become informed! My town's existence is locked in third world infrastructure. Thank you guys and the whole network of urbanists contributing to the cause.
Usually I'm just trolling here on YT but your content is getting better and better, even for people who are not (yet) considering buying a bike. Been a long time fan of NJB too. Keep up the good work!
Awesome! It drives me crazy that people think building like this is some tree-hugger agenda to take away their cars. The only argument you need is quality of life; finances and being better for the environment are just a bonus. It's a no brainer.
To people growing up in a car centric environment, the car represents quality of life. And with the every day examples they see of very poor bicycle infrastructure, and a very low quality public transport system, they are probably not even wrong to have that believe. That is what makes it so hard to start a change.
@@hendman4083 Agree. I look at the area I grew up in and I feel like it will never change. Trillions of dollars in houses and infrastructure built for the car. The few places that are actually walkable are also ruined by becoming bizarre amusement parks for all the suburbanites. It's just a disaster.
The difference between places with poor road and street infrastructure, and Dams approach..is staggering! It took me 10 years of visiting to really realise that with the help of NJB...
The thing is that Amsterdam isn’t even that good compared to a lot of other places in the Netherlands. Utrecht has better infrastructure, Groningen has better infrastructure, a lot of places have better infrastructure than Amsterdam.
Another great and informative video, when you put people first , not cars,when designing cities, just look at what can be achieved. Defo make more of these type of video. No wonder the Dutch people are so happy.
It's certainly one viable argument for bicycle infrastructure. There are lots of bikes around here in the Netherlands. Both on the road and parked. Now imagine the chaos if all of those were replaced by cars.
What that a majority white nation panders to white european tradition and all the white people go this is amazing? Yeah i bet all the white people are super happy that their tradition was preserved probably a tradition not many black people could have enjoyed
Great video. So glad you made so much of your trip to the Netherlands. I felt the same inspiration when I first visited in the early 1990s. Cycling in the Netherlands completely transformed my sense of what was possible. I shifted from someone who mainly used a mountain bike, to reimagining how my community could travel and live.
Great discussion fellas - if he saw most of the bike paths in LA he’d have a heart attack lol -and the truth is although YES they are usable by hardcore riders and adapted urbanites they’re really not used that much because cars are blasting by and it is dangerous for families and less experienced riders - after all these years of hyper -consumption based living people will soon be seeking and seeing the wisdom in these pro human / pro pedestrian concepts
Hello, great, great, great video. All cities should copy the transport system of this city Amsterdam, it is clean, healthy and happy. I congratulate you for this beautiful report, I hope it will be useful for many infrastructure managers from other countries and take an example from this beautiful city, until the next video, greetings.
Such a delightful and refreshing conversation! I've already watched this 3 times and will watch many times more! We need more of these conversations in the US. I'm in New York which is ahead of the pack in the US for infrastructure but it's still in the dark ages compared to the Netherlands.
There is a 42 minute youtube video about New York in the 1930s in color. The Netherlands truly was in the dark ages compared to that in 1935..... And now the roles are reversed....
Nothing is ever perfect, but too many times people say "But this is the way we've ALWAYS done things". Heading towards the norm of "How can we make this better?" Should be our life's mission. Thanks for sharing this video! 😀👍
Great video. I'm a fan of both of your channels. As an American, I'm jealous of the amazing infrastructure i see in these videos but perhaps the most important part of being able to cycle safely is the change that needs to take place in the minds of drivers. I haven't taken a written driver's test in over 30 years but the rights and responsibilities of bicycles and how to interact with them on the road was never presented.
I've been to Amsterdam once at around 7 AM in the Morning. And it amazed me how freakisly quiet it was. Like, the biggest city in the freaking Netherlands and there was NOBODY outside. HOW?
@NotJustBikes I really enjoyed this non scripted in person kind of content and I would love to see more videos like that on your channel. It would be a great addition to the scripted videos and you can just explore and showcase different parts of the city!
While I've been into riding bikes from a very young age thanks to my parents for providing me with the bike and lessons, I didn't start riding for real leisure and exercise until I reached the age of 19. I grew up in Daytona Beach and spotted a group of riders enjoying a nice night ride with proper lights and following the rules of the road. This intrigued me and I was hooked ever since. I've primarily owned MTBs until the last few years when I developed knee issues. Which my wife asked if there was any way to retrofit our bikes with assistance. Thankfully Trek started their electric assist line and we sold our old bikes to purchase 2 FS Powerfly bikes. We have really enjoyed them. Our riding culture seems to be drifting further from those not interested as years go on. IMHO, if we truly want to more folks interested in cycling we need to foster the cycling fever at a young age. Additionally we should learn to coexist on the roads. Actual City planning engineers need to be fully invested in designing future developments to include multiple methods of transportation and leave room for growth as well. You mentioned that some roads are designed way too wide. Have you driven on any roads in countries where the drivers don't follow the rules of the road much less the lines? Currently working in Saudi and most cyclists can only enjoy main roads in the early mornings on the weekends. Otherwise the driver mix of multiple cultures here would be too dangerous to navigate by bicycle. Altho the government does have plans for the future to make road improvements to include special bike lanes protected from the busy traffic. They have several nice areas now for sports and recreation, but mostly around the perimeter of big cities.
Nice to see Not just bikes from a different angle! I hope more people in North America see these videos. Specially the part of independent children, I had a very happy youth sycling everywhere I want to go from the age of 8.
Chris, a very well done video firstly, but more importantly and overview / discussion in a casual way of explaining and demonstrating what is available with planning and design for active transportation for pedestrians, bicycles and public transportation. Thanks for the perspective and very enjoyable night ride around Amsterdam.
I follow Jason's channels and it's amazing how much more relaxed he is when riding in Amsterdam vs when he rides in Toronto. All the swearing comes out. High blood pressure, whereas we Toronto folk are thankful for our biking gutters. 😉 Awesome video.
What always got me when I lived in North America was the number of drivers that ended up driving into a house/office/restaurant. That rarely ever happens in Northwest Europe and when it does, it's headline material. Says something.
Thanks again for another very interesting video. The 2 books you recommended in the last video, I suggested them to be a useful purchase for your local cities libraries. The library will be purchasing one of them for the cities collection. It is all about community. Building better communities. Thank you for building this one.
Living in middle of america seeing these improvements overseas makes me feel like america is so far behind. We are becoming a second world country, and the infrastructure bill is only going to help highways and cars. Not cool
OMG, I missed all these videos. I love the cross over, even though the Not Just Bikes guy said he hates Houston, which made me sad, but I love all yalls channels. This is a great series!
This is so great guys!!! Way to explain all these awesome things. Dropping so much knowledge on a beautiful bike ride. I’m also so happy to know both of you IRL ❤️🤘 Legends. (Ps definitely want to hear more about Chris’ origin story driving trucks in Iraq getting shot at and wanting to get off oil… )
Not just Bikes is one of my favourite channels on RU-vid, because it is so informative as well as enlightening, without insisting on being either of those things. And I love the very dry, sense of humour of J.S. with just the right amount of sarcasm. It was nice to finally have a face to add to the voice.
Never will I ever get over his amazingly metal name, Jason Slaughter, like a 90s shooter protagonist phenomenal, amazing, breathtaking, truly the best!
I found your channel a few months ago when Louis Rossman, one of my favorite channels, talked about your 25k fine that NYC wanted to give you. I've been a fan of the channel ever since! NJB is one of my other favorite channels, and I wasn't expecting this cool collab! Really interesting video and keep it up!
RE: 9:20 Massachusetts resident here, I'm so happy the city is evolving to have more bicycle-friendly pathways. Not just in Boston, but the surrounding areas. That said, I just moved to a town that still...needs help. I want to ride my bike no more than 2 miles to various town buildings and stores (town hall, the local shopping center, etc.) and it's either super narrow rural roads or wider "stroads" with little to no sidewalks or bike paths. RE: ~14:00 YES: your bad bike lanes would be a large improvement here in the US! lol
Thanks for sharing the story of progression of biking in Amsterdam. In Melbourne and other Australian cities we could learn from lessons in bike infrastructure from Amsterdam.
@@mikeowen3478 It'll be too dangerous to Dutch standards when having to scan the motorised-traffic-only on-street parking spots. But for the other, mixed-use traffic routes, that's actually a brilliant idea!
@@nickb7381 Good point Nick B. From my UK perspective I never thought of that. Oh, if only the UK would just give all our traffic engineers a CROW manual. A bike ticketing a car seemed like such a sweet David v Goliath type moment.
Amazing to see you analize what is so normal for me living in the Hageu. It makes me proud. I live in the city centre and do own a car but I rent it out to others who need a car for a day or two en walk and cycle everywhere most of the time. Whenever I need I use my car to get somewhere outside the city. All the time my neighbourhood is very quit and most trips to anything I'd like to go only take 5 minutes. really perfect.
It still absolutely baffles me that the Dutch have such a prevalence of cycling and good infrastructure for it and don't wear helmets - absolute madness. Next to that, I have always been pretty comfortable riding on the road (in Australia) and while it is true that there is some risk from traffic, I've found you develop confidence and skills riding in traffic as well.
In all countries were the car is in any meaning still the king off the road, people have to wear helmets if biking. If that country has also a huge car industry it is very clear. Germany is such a country the car industry has been lobbying on the govertment that helmets had to be for cyclists by law. Example if you cross The Dutch/German border you see directly who are Dutch or German cyclists....of course with helmets Germans. In the Netherlands you recognize tourists on a cycle directly by their helmets..... Only when people are on sport- cycling they put on helmets. Another fact is that even if you wear an helmet and a car hits you with 80 km/p/h or lesser it is finito anyway for the cyclist. 90 % off cycling accidents and up with swellings, grazes or little worser broken bones as highest risk, head injuries maybe 3 % or even lower. Most important is that most Dutch drive car & cycle you really know the difference.
I often ask myself whether the “not just bikes” channel contributes to improving the infrastructure outside the Netherlands, in other words: do inner-city engineers from other countries look at Not just bikes?
I think it has enormous influence. Any new engineer will have seen, even if he doesn't agree with it. But if you haven't seen it, you are just not a goid engineer. Also, it gives the tools for politicians especially the local governments.
Here from Brussels. Thank you for the great explanations. Politicians in Brussels shoud have a look at this video and take a trip to our dutch neighbours
Very recognisable from across the border here in Belgium. We're a few years behind but getting organised. It's not perfect, and there's a lot of grumbling from car people every step of the way, but we're slowly moving ahead. Central planning remains a problem, though: were notorious for our splintered governance 😅
Very nicely done by cycling at night. You know the infrastructure is save if you are still save with limited visibility at night. Also with the lights it shows how cozy a city can be during winter time.
Terrific conversation guys - collaborations like this allow your different backgrounds to highlight nuance in the arguments and a sense of wonder about what's possible. Great work! Btw - cargo bikes make such a good platform for shooting video.
I am awestruck by the infrastructure of Amsterdam and my pithy comment about the Color yellow is embarrassing. Great video, and I think every North American urban planner should make this a must watch….
I‘m pretty sure they are aware of this stuff, especially when it comes to financial aspect of it, the main problem here is to get rid of those oil lobbyist, I think they‘re one of the main reason why north american cities are the way it is
Because of Jason I've been searching for the really old and crappy infrastructure. And streets without trees. Thnx for making me aware of this little paradise we live in.
Great video and very innovative to use a bakfiets for it. I just like to add an other circumstance that added to the change from cars to bikes and public transport. At the moment the oliecrises and people started to realise that cars were killing people, all over the Netherlands there was an urge to modernise the city, called stadsvernieuwing. Amsterdam was leading the way and when that got really going people saw what devastation all this car infrastructure brought to the fabric of the city. A counter movement came up, in Amsterdam leading to the formation of an organisation called Stadsherstel. In the early years they focussed on raising awareness and upgrading neighboorhoods, but the most powerfull was the fact that they bought property in key places so they could block developments, like buying the buildings around crossroads making it harder to widen the road by demolishing one side of the street. By doing so they were able to slow down the development and at the same time using the process to raise awareness. This example was copied to many bigger and smaller cities all around the country.
Get involved with advocacy efforts in your city. Lobby your state legislators to set targets around decreasing vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and increasing bike mode share. I've given up on federal government. There's a lot of progress that can happen on the city and state level
Some (not all) traffic lights for cyclists in Groningen show you how long you have to wait. I feel that should be standard and universal. Gives you something to look at and the illusion things go faster. The exceptions are some very busy intersections with wide roads and you have to wait a lot on cars.
We have like 2 of those traffic lights here in Etten-Leur (small town near Breda) and I love them, they show you exactly how long you have to wait until you can cross, which takes out a lot of guess work and that can cause people to be more patient, instead of deciding that this is taking too long and they just go.
In the 1970s when I lived in Chicago, I rode my bike everywhere. I found I could get from point to point quicker than in a car and I could prove it because I drove a cab for about 5 years back then so I knew how much time it took to get from place to place. Of course you couldn't ride much in winter because of snow.
OMG...the title of this video reminded me of my trip to Europe when I was 16 y/o and one of my fave experiences smoking ganja in a downtown Amsterdam bar-very risque for me back then (early 70s).
