Why Biking? Start of the Bike Quest with Mike West 

Thank you so much for the support and for sharing! I have a long list of ideas that are very relevant to planning here in North America and hopefully interesting to anyone wherever they live. I’m a huge fan of your channel and have to let you know things are changing for the better here because of your videos. One example is that I am working with some housing developers to design and build some continuous sidewalks and bike paths on a couple of different projects. The next video I am working on is a visual example about a how to better use the same space on the same street for safer and more comfortable bike facilities. Nothing new but hopefully helpful to those here in the US since I still see so many typical (for us) on-street bike lanes getting put down!

It wasn’t even set up for it. In that we were technically breaking the law and only got away with it because cute kids, but some of my fondest memories are riding on the sidewalk down to the library in my suburban downtown

@@space5339 There is a reason dutch kids are among the happiest. That kind of independence is priceless and really attributes to their happiness.

Precisely! In downtown areas you should simply be on foot and taking public transit

@Bike Quest with Mike West, that would be helpful! As an affordable housing developer for a nonprofit in rural America, topics like making the most of bike lanes through using existing spaces are the things I'm looking for to try and implement on projects or encourage cities to use. You know how slowly some developers (and planning commissions) can be to change how they do things. Even so for developers with nonprofit goals to build more livable communities; It's important for us to see successful examples too. The stakes are always high with any housing or commercial development project.

What he said.

It is awesome to have another fellow Utahn watching, thank you so much! We got our family cargo bike in early 2020 and was the best decision we made. My kids love it! I have even carried furniture, $300 of groceries, and delivered Christmas to a family in it! (all separately of course 😃) I hope to keep leading by example here and hopefully this channel will be helpful to others locally and even in many other places.

I’m also a Utah local and love biking: I’ve commuted in every weather, once during a blizzard even! Good luck to your channel, I hope it puts more butts in the saddle!

@@sartorialcinema this will be my first winter biking. Any winter biking tips?

@@gregorynuttall Carhartt double knee pants, waterproof hiking shoes and wind proof gloves. I also really like using a shemagh for a scarf because it can become a face covering if you need it

Thank you! The other thing I should have shown is that a car dependent city turns the pyramid upside down on it’s point with the car on bottom. This makes for an unstable system of transportation that often fails us.

I hope so too! We have a ways to go here in Utah but I am hopeful with some of the progress that has been made. It is sad to me that biking is such an affordable way to get around compared to driving yet so many places around the world continue to prioritize widening roads thinking they will “fix” traffic. I don’t know how many times cities can do the same thing and expect different results!

Absolutely! I live in Daybreak and I love the fact that the streets are narrower than most places and have some traffic calming elements too. Not bad for a modern American suburb. Great to have another fellow Utahn, thanks for watching!

Totally agree! I have given powerpoints in my career for the last 10 years advocating for so many planning issues, and a powerpoint or other methods just don’t quite strike emotions and understanding like videos do. I have always heard a picture is worth a thousand words, but to me a video is worth a thousand pictures!

Thank you for the tip!

Thank you so much! I have some ideas for videos that I hope to be helpful and interesting!

Thank you so much! I spent a summer in Houston in 2010 and I had to drive most places because you really do take your life into your hands crossing or riding along the many major roadways there. I hope you find a great place to live when you’re ready!

Growing up in Houston, I had the notion that most buses were for folks who couldn't afford cars... and that in the 90's, buses were more for the affluent when areas like the downtown flyers had the nice Greyhound style buses from the park & rides, the Galleria and Upper Kirby had lightly filled buses every 5 minutes, but coming out of Third Ward, we (minorities) were filling buses to the doors, with almost an HOUR between buses. I can't tell you how many times I was an hour late getting to UH when I started 2 hours prior from near Hobby Airport... it's only a 20-30 minute drive!

I feel you there! After watching all the Not Just Bikes videos, my backup plan is to escape to the Netherlands! I hope to stick it out here though and help push for some positive change. Awesome to have someone local watching too!

Haha, me too.

@@bikequestwithmikewest I often think critically of those who choose to or have the privilege of escaping their current home for greener pastures instead of sticking it out to improve their current home. But other times, improvement feels like an endless uphill battle, or just plain impossible. So I appreciate that you can come at this from multiple perspectives. I came here from Not Just Bikes as well, and look forward to seeing more of your content! :D

Thank you! I am also concerned by how auto-centric things are here, which is a big part of why I started this channel. I see improvements being made here going in the right direction, so I have hope that we will be better over time!

Absolutely agree about having room to grow! That’s where we need the political will to make things happen and the decision makers need to have an understanding of the true issues and externalities of the current transportation practices. I find that so many people are just used to the way things have been done and the general population believes roads need to continue to be widened to accommodate mobility. I hope once more of my videos are up that this channel will create some understanding with the right people. I am hopeful we are going in the right direction since the State just appropriated I believe over $30 million in this last legislative session to go to active transportation projects. Thanks for watching and great to have another fellow Utahn on here!

I love to hear that! I am 18 miles from work and have a combined 80 minutes of biking and riding transit and I am also totally used to it. My drive otherwise would be 30-45 minutes depending on traffic to go 18 miles. Parking is not charged though so I definitely lead by example here! We have what we call transit oriented development (TOD) here in the US (I don’t know if they have other terms over there), but some are built with a ton of parking. That makes absolutely no sense since it makes driving super easy and the parking is free much of the time! Parking demand management is key to providing some ability to drive but disincentivizing it. Limiting parking supply or charging for it definitely are a couple ways to manage it well. Thanks for the comment and I love hearing about experiences from the Netherlands! I hope to travel to Amsterdam and Utrecht next year and do a lot of “research” biking around!

Thank you! I love to mix my passion for planning and recording music and include the cool drone shot. Biking as a form of mobility is awesome, so I have to make it look that way!

@@bikequestwithmikewest sounds like y’all in Utah should set up a pro biking concert. Half off entry fee for everyone who bikes to the venue. You can be the first act

@@BingBongFYaLife I love it! It is fun because our community has concerts every Friday and Saturday in the park and a lot of people come by bike or walk!

Thank you so much! I do all I can in my sphere of influence to improve the way we plan cities here in Utah! Hopefully this channel will help many to visualize the issues of car dependent cities and what solutions may help too.

Thank you! We definitely take mountain biking seriously here and the trail networks are continually growing. The town I work for is also developing more mountain biking trails which has been exciting!

Yes, he's top ending and blowing out his mic. I'm guessing his gain is up too high and should check the sensitivity levels as well. However, the lapel mic location is correct.

Thanks for the feedback, I’m always looking for ways to improve! I definitely need some better quality equipment and hope to work the mixer better for the next video.

Also, speak a tiny bit slower :-)

Thank you so much! I’m a huge Not Just Bikes fan too and I have learned that videos are a powerful tool in relaying a message. I honestly hope more channels pop up and keep spreading awareness!

Thank you for the suggestion! I am definitely learning a lot on how to make videos better, so I appreciate it!

Thank you so much! I have a couple videos currently underway so I hope to be getting some more content coming soon!

Thank you so much! I think the more awareness created the more people will catch on and push for positive change!

Thank you for the support!

Thank you so much! It is so awesome to have you watching from across the Pacific too!

It is so awesome to have a neighbor on here! That is exciting on the ebike, I’m sure I will pass by you on the trails! If you ever see the white Ferla cargo bike from the video going around, then you know it is me 😃 Thanks for the comment and if I have anything to do with it we can hopefully keep things improving here locally!

Thank you! I hope to have a variety of video types and interesting topics!

Thank you! I hope to take my best shot at a future video about equity as well!

I think that would be great! If everyone had local examples to look to and how things could improve, it would do more to create awareness of the issues.

Thank you so much!

It is hard being a planner and seeing things done dumb, but I also get hopeful when I have seen things done well too! Thanks for the support and for watching!

Thank you so much! I think many more people here in America are catching on too which makes me hopeful!

Thanks so much! I’m also excited about all the other channels I have seen popping up too. I have many ideas that I hope you will find interesting!

@@bikequestwithmikewest ah cool, like what channels?

Things are definitely better now than 20 years ago, but we still have a ways to go! Totally agree on taking transit to help air pollution. Luckily I have access to use Trax for my daily commute.

Thank you so much! Positive change has to start somewhere right?

Go Utes! I did my undergrad in Urban Planning at the U and found that my time in a car commuting to class and back was wasted. However, when I started riding transit to school, that time was given back to me to do homework, take a nap, and even meet and socialize with other people. Much different than being stuck in congestion on I-15! Now I take Trax and Frontrunner to work and I love doing planning work while on the train!

Thank you! I have gone through my own learning process throughout my career, but I am finding what better planning looks like! I will say I have a couple videos in process but the next will likely be a design video with some graphics that I hope will help visualize how to better use the same street space.

Thank you so much!! Since I work for a city I have pretty thick skin, so I won’t feel too bad if I get criticized. I always appreciate genuine constructive feedback though! I hope to keep using good visuals to talk about planning theories and ways to hopefully improve our cities!

Thank you so much! I haven’t been to Quebec before in person but have travelled many cities in Quebec via Google street view and RU-vid videos. I was surprised to see how many streets had separated bike lanes in Montreal and its suburbs! Definitely a step ahead of most of North America but always can improve with intersection protection and more separation on some of the facilities. Thanks again for watching!

Thanks so much! I’m a NJB-er as well advocating for better planning here in the States!

Thank you so much! I hope to have a lot of great videos to come!

You’re absolutely right about Euclidean zoning! I plan to address land use in a future video why Euclidean zoning is a problem and why sprawl actually makes traffic worse, even though all the time in the US the general public fights to have lower densities to “reduce” traffic among other things. Not Just Bikes had a great video comparing land use in the Netherlands to the US. I hope to explain more on why it creates problems in one of my videos.

We need a nationwide revolution!!

Thanks for the support! I just hope to keep helping spread awareness on these issues and provide some possible solutions too!

Absolutely agree on the needed changes to the suburbs! We have some version of that under construction in my community, but we have a ways to go until we are like some of the European suburbs. Thanks for the support!

Thank you for the support! If I ever have to move, my rule is that it has to be somewhere more bikable than where I am now.

Thank you so much!!

I actually have it on my list of ideas and would love to share our experiences with it! If you share some of your questions I could keep them in mind for that video!

What is it, where’d you get it, why do you have it, what brand, how do we potentially get one, what’s it good for, etc, etc. Nothing special. Just when something goes unmentioned in a youtube video, it piques a lot of curiosity.

@@juliemac5604 no problem! The brand is Ferla and this is their family cargo bike that I bought direct from them almost a year and a half ago. This one has electric assist too which is nice for the hills here in Utah! Cargo bikes come in all kinds of configurations, but this front load trike was best for our needs. It seats up two four kids up front so we take them a lot of places in it. It really can replace a car too for so many things. It is great for large grocery trips and I have carried all kinds of other things like some furniture in it too! This bike will serve us for a long time too since my son has special needs and can ride in it as an adult.

Definitely will be improving the audio! I just bought that mic and it didn’t do to well with the wind. The noise canceling feature on my recorder sort of cut things off. Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much!

I have read some of the articles on LCC, but I can’t remember if UDOT or UTA is leading the study. I honestly would love to see some rail laid down or even a frequent electric bus system and closing it off for personal vehicles like you said. Gondolas have a lot of visual impact and I would hate to see roads getting widened. The situation reminds me of Zions in summer and how they have their bus system. I think having a mode that is quiet, low emission or zero point emission, and less visually impactful would be the best to keep the canyon as natural as possible.

@@bikequestwithmikewest I think buses are a good option, however I'm surprised a cog lightrail system didn't take priority. Also both the road widening and gondola require destroying some really famous boulders and decimating wildlife habitat. All around it's a terrible idea- especially because from what I've read the gondolas will move between the mouth of the canyon and alta- no stops in between.

Also, have you ridden the S - Line yet? You def. need to make a video on that line, it's european level infrastructure in the US. It's a frustrating taste of what safe, responsible infra looks like. I have a lot to say on that line, perhaps I could reach out and we could chat about infra. Bikes and electric vehicles in utah? I'm loving where this channel is going. I think my DM on YT is open and I can send my email there.

Thanks for coming and watching! I also go all the places Not Just Bikes suggests, there is some great content out there!

Love it! It is reassuring to me to keep hearing from more people that there is a strong desire to change how we currently plan and design our cities. Great to have you watching!

It is true that a lot of biking is recreational around here, but in my experiences riding everywhere, I see an upward trend of utility biking. The local culture has to change and it will require proper land use and comfortable, safe, and convenient alternatives to driving. The biggest problem I see with Daybreak is it is farther away from major employment centers and most of the shopping areas got built as regional car-centric centers such as the District, and placed on the other side of a major highway barrier without a safe way to get there. In the afternoon it is actually faster for me to bike from my house to Harmon’s in the District than to drive because of the traffic congestion on 11400 S. I don’t go to Harmon’s though because you take your life in your hands going down there. I instead bike to Smith’s out west since it has bike paths the whole way. I am hopeful to see how the new Harmon’s at North Shore will change things since it is closer to a lot of the neighborhoods. As I mentioned in the video, it isn’t easy to change, but I’m not going to sit back and let things keep going the same way. I’m trying to do something about it and hopefully more people will do the same in their cities!

@@bikequestwithmikewest To make it safer we need to address zoning. What is the average car ride....2 to 3 miles. Having separate zoning for residential, retail and offices just adds more cars. In Amsterdam or Copenhagen you have apartments above retail. I take a tram most places in 10 minutes.

Sure thing, I am happy to take a look and let you know what I think! Fencing can be tough depending on the situation. I do find often where fencing is more of a hinderance than benefit, but it again depends on the situation. You can email my channel email address at bikequestwmikewest@gmail.com.

Sure thing! It is a Ferla family cargo bike. We went with a trike since it has a larger basket area that my son with special needs can grow into and still ride in as an adult. He absolutely loves riding in it too!

I don’t know if this is a perfect answer but here is my shot at it! Generally speaking planners in North America are strong advocates for equitable cities which includes making them more walkable and bikable. There are definitely great planners out there and many more knowledgeable than I, but I think there are those that don’t quite understand what it truly takes to make a bikable city. A lot of that comes down to proper design and planning principles. The other and probably bigger issue is that North American planners are not decision makers, we are basically influencers and advocates. We provide our professional opinions to elected officials who then make the decisions. Residents, other city staff, developers, and other stakeholders often advocate against what planners recommend or just have other issues that push for priority. That is why deviating from the status quo development patterns of US cities takes political will, and much of that will comes through true understanding of the issues at hand. There are many small successes in cities around North America and small successes will hopefully add up to meaningful change over time.

Haha that is right! Any place that makes you share busy turn lanes with traffic on a bike is inferior to the Netherlands! Thank you for watching!

@@bikequestwithmikewest thnx

I am just a little more than a mile away and take Trax every day with my bike to work! I totally agree it is a huge benefit and Salt Lake’s transit for a mid-sized American metro is fairly good.

It can definitely be tough to change the way of thinking and get designs with the proper separation. I find that driver’s behaviors are worse towards people on bikes or walking the faster they are traveling. When someone driving is at a high enough speed they don’t want to have to slow down. Traffic calming is key to slow roads into streets that are bike and pedestrian friendly. Hopefully proper infrastructure will make its way to more cities all over North America! We have to take baby steps unfortunately to get there just as the Netherlands did over time to get where they are now.

Unfortunately many of the western US cities are plagued with stroads! I see a glimmer of hope for Utah to improve, but change definitely takes time and baby steps.

Definitely! It sounds like one of the top things for me to improve on!

I think you are right in that there is a balance to be achieved. I am not here to say that cars should completely be taken out of the picture. Cars and trucks serve a purpose but what I am going to get after is that people are essentially forced to use them for just about everything because there aren’t any realistic or safe alternatives. I absolutely agree that urban areas need safe biking and walking facilities, and that is typically where people think they would be. I think there are so many opportunity costs by not providing separated walking and biking facilities in the suburbs as well. I personally live in a quiet and safe suburb, but it is a new urbanist community designed with walking and biking in mind. It shows since I see many more people outside walking and biking here when compared to neighboring suburb areas. The whole idea is if more people can walk, bike, or take transit, then roads shouldn’t have to be so wide, thus incurring less expense to the people to provide for mobility. The question I have is how are Americans supposed to keep paying for so all the huge new roads that keep coming and to maintain them all? An asphalt shared use path is super cheap in comparison to a road and can do more work with less infrastructure. I actually have videos planned to talk about some of these issues.

Very true statement! Good understanding of the issues can create the political will to reallocate funding priorities. My hope is that this channel will help create some good understanding. It may be a while before any revenue is generated though, but I hope I can create great content with some of my own contributions towards this work!

Yes I definitely am going to be improving my audio moving forward!

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