American Reacts to Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston) Not Just Bikes Reaction
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2022
- Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston) American Guy Reacts Not Just Bikes Reaction
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The dad of a girl I knew walked down a street, and got a coke bottle thrown at his head. He dead a few days later because of the brain hemorrhage. Throwing things from cars to pedestrians is attempted murder.
Jesus christ u for real? That’s so fucked up
Holy crap! The bottle thrower must have thought he was a hated "other" for any or no reason and wanted the dad to notice and react for $#!ts and giggles 😠😡🤬
My condolences to the young lady 😢
To the defense of everyday Americans - when I as a European naively went for a walk to the store in an Arkansas town, and the sidewalk disappeared, a lot of people stopped and asked if I needed help. After the 5th or 6th stop I just gave up explaining I was fine and just walking and let a nice woman give me a lift to the local store. Americans are ok people generally... but this design is truly horrific. If you walk around a compact city, you also meet people, that is nice. Driving everywhere is so... sad :)
Being from Europa myself (Belgium) , i can definitely state that people stopping spontaneously to ask if you need help would not happen in Europe what so ever. It might happen occasionally, but it is a rare sight
I have to.take public transit since i dont drive and when i go into town the streets are soo wide and theres soo much trafic its almost impossible to cross the street its like highways in the middle of town
@@helafed I bought a new mattress a year ago. I thought I'd get them as a vacuum roll. But then they were handed over unpackaged. Much too big for my small car. In the parking lot next to the shop, someone with a van immediately offered to drive the mattress to my home. We're not that unhelpful in Europe, either.
that is not a defense. that is crazy to think if you saw somebody walking then something must be wrong.
This is so true. I used to walk to middle school and these moms would stop constantly to ask if I needed a ride and I'd have to explain over and over and over again that I was a kid and I'm not getting in a strangers car. Lol
As Dutchman those area's shown on this video look like warzones to me, it is all grey without color with hardly any green. It looks unlivable (and I understand that those area's are not for living, but still ...). It looks really depressing
Concrete jungles
That's why all the Americans have weapons. Their cities don't provide any defence bonuses as they are all made of highways and parkinglots. They radiate this feeling of not beeing safe.
and most people who live there don't see anything wrong with it. including myself a few years ago
I lived in Houston and loved it for other reasons but yes it’s one of the ugliest cities ever built. I remember driving in thinking… this is it?
Thankfully not everywhere is like Houston. Half my family lives in the Netherlands. I love the engineering of the Dutch. All American cities need a lecture from the Dutch. Thankfully I live in one of the few cities (Portland) who are somewhat similar to the Netherlands.
I have only been to the U.S once. That was a busniness trip to Houston 3 years ago. I've been to 30+ countries on four different continents. Of all the cities I have been to, I rank Houston last when it comes to cities I would like to live in. If other U.S cities are even remotely close to Houston in design.....well let's just say that I am happy to live in Europe (Sweden)
come, come to the Netherlands? And not just to Holland! And then we go cycling together. I never do that myself. And it's ONLY 3.7 KM/2MILE to work.
I mean Sweden is nice and exists mostly above the waterline so at least geographically it's phantastic. Even some laws are great like the allemansrätten that makes for easy wild camping...
Only the Swedish sex laws and drinking laws are realy stupid and even the Sweedes know it...hence all the drinking and sex tourists from Sweden in Germany.
Sweden is nice :) Where do you live?
@@techtutorvideos Well I'm not a Swede I live in Germany. We can drink starting at 14 when supervised and at 16 Beers and Wines are legal to buy and consume. Also unlike the USA we can put a crate of beer into the lake and enjoy sitting in the gras or beach tanning and having a nice beer and good time outside totally legal.
@@gerbentvandeveen And why is that? not cycling to work, is it because it is dangerous?
I now realise how happy and free my youth was. From the age of nine I went to the swimming pool, later to highschool, nearby lakes, discos, restaurants, visiting friends, the movies, skating and later to work. All of that on my own and biking. When the children were small, I took them to school by bike and just a few hours before the labour of the youngest one started, I had seen the midwife also by bike. I bet my life has been, and still is, much more interesting and divers than the avarage American one and I have never owned a car.
@@techtutorvideos You know? I do pity Americans specially the younger ones. I hope that you soon will be able to come and live in the EU to experience what living in freedom really is.
@@techtutorvideos this sounds so insanly depressing daaamn - growing up in Serbia we would literaly drive around town on bikes, i literaly daily go everywhere by foot
if you're serious about moving to the Netherlands, start applying for a job, (shouldn't be that hard with more vacancies than unemployed) and have a company sponsoring your move. As an expat you're exempt from many rules that would otherwise apply.
Welk bedrijf is dat?
@@the_real_Wieniet no business in particular,... however I work a lot with expats and I hear the same story time and again. They were hired by some firm in the netherlands and the firm took care of most fees, licenses, visa's etc.
Are there any places that would sponsor someone physically disabled?
@@shizuwolf Given the way businesses operate, I think it mostly comes down at what you can bring to the company. If you have qualifications they need, I am sure a handicap isn't an issue.
There is a massive shortage in labour at this point in time.
@@shizuwolf I am not 100% sure, but there should be a EU directive about equality and inclusivity that basically says that if two people with the same qualifications apply for a job and one is disabled, the disabled one gets prioritized in the choice. I know for sure that in Germany works like that, they have to specify it even in the job offer. In any case, try first the Netherlands or big cities like Berlin or Munich, there is at the moment a lot of opportunities here too and most people can speak pretty good English, so that you don´t struggle too much with the local language at first.
To answer your questions at +- 7.20 oh hell yes, I would love to see how you people live, and what daily routines are like over there, and I think a lot more people would be interested to see that!!!
As a Belgian when that road is shown with no sidewalk, my reaction was also "where are the bikelanes". On wide roads like this in my town we have seperate bikelanes. Cars definitely have to take into account the bikes and pedestrians because in Belgium bikes and pedestrians always have priority on cars.
I’m the US a cars always have right of way
When I watch these video’s, I always get the confirmation that America is a third world country. Big mouth, big promises, but nothing really there then poverty or filthy rich. Unpopular opinion, I know. Probably gonna get hate for it. The one time I was in America was in a university city. And it did not have any character or nice buildings. I didn’t felt at home at all and was happy to be back home. But I am grateful to live in a ‘small’ city in the Netherlands.
The only difference to Africa or SA (let's say Sao Paulo) is the type and age of the cars running over pedestrians.
As a Northern Irish we have poor cycle infrastructure too. Its been proven that the more highways you build the more congestion it creates. But I guess the car dealerships support it for obvious reasons. But I like to randomly ride my bicycle on car dealerships public land just to annoy them.
its cool to hear that you guys enjoy to walk more (I think we humans just are made for walking/running and enjoy it if we do). To bad that its really not nice to do in the US. I saw it myself when i visited. I was just used to walk :D I would like to see an IRL video about your city/area!
I've lived in Boston, San Francisco and now New York City over the last 40 years. I walk everywhere. If it's too far , I take public transit. I rent a car for long road trips. My point is that not a places in the US are like Houston, Atlanta or Phoenix. We have many walkable cities. Most are older cities. I wouldn't want to live in Houston. Aside from being too spread out, it's just ugly and flat.
Love to see how it is in your neighborhood. This video is a good explainer how terrible the situation is in the US and it's true that a lot people in Europe have a general idea that american people just drive everywhere because they're fat and lazy.
About your idea of making video's in your hometown, I think for you and Amy it would be nice to look back to these videos if you eventually move to The Netherlands.
I'm also still learning stuff like you because of your reaction video's!! You learned a lot about for example the netherlands i actually learn more about the US also.
You guys keep up the good work! Love your video's!
Groetjes van Dylan uit Nederland (grtz from Dylan from The Netherlands) ;)
helemaal mee eens. completly agree
Glad to see that your channel is really gaining some traction
Thumbs up for those reaction suggestions you made. Would be fun to have a walking through town video and for your reactions on those other mentioned channels.
I grew up in Boston which is one of the most walkable cities in the entire U.S. When I got my car, I still found reasons to walk around to get somewhere if I felt like it. Now that I live in Houston, I miss having that amount of freedom. I like owning my car but I didn’t realize how much the forced over-reliance on cars in this city has contributed to my depression until after I watched the original video. I used to clown my brother back home for refusing to learn how to drive but now I see he doesn’t really need to learn so long as he continues to live in Boston, and I kinda envy that.
Especially in a lot of towns in tx (I live like 30 minutes from Hou) there's also just so much empty space between things, and if you're in a smaller town, not many places to go. If I wanted to go to a hobby store for example it would be a 4 hour walk to the nearest one, and it's ONLY ONE CITY OVER. It's a 20 minute drive to get ANYWHERE around here.
I have lived in Boston my whole life, it was very walkable city and convenient public transportation. I didn’t carry driver license because I thought i didn’t need it until we moved to Florida. Florida have public transportation but not the best and not reliable. Some parts of Florida do have walking sidewalks and bike lanes but not safe since everyone speed like crazy here. Heat is insane too. I was told many NYC residents don’t carry driver licenses as well because they have biggest public transportation and not so many parking spaces available. I also remember Texas and Florida don’t have state tax so it makes sense that they don’t provide enough sources for walkers and bikers. I hope they have better ways for walkers and bikers in the future, maybe not in my lifetime unfortunately
Charlie, just get on that plane bound for Amsterdam! You'll never look back!
Money is a problem for multiple reasons:
The flied
A home in Amsterdam
Furniture in the new home
He also has a great video about business parks! ✌🏼
Glad I live in the Netherlands when I see this! 🙈
I would really like to 'walk around' in your city/Village ...I'd love to see what it looks like there. 😃
By the way love you and amy's you- tube videos! ❤
Hopefully it will be possible to get this way in a while! 🍀⚘
Ok I love these even thought I've literally watched all the videos. I love hearing the perspective of someone who lives in a rural town in America.👏🏾I think its funny that I make in the top 10% of income earners but I dont own a car. LMAO! 🤦🏾♂ I moved back to NYC because it's the closest thing to what I would want in a city in the US. New Amsterdam needs to literally become a New and better version of Amsterdam.
19:56 this is why I say Houston has the easiest chance of actually building a vibrant dense pedestrian city. They have the easiest laws to lift. Zero percent of the city is zoned to single family but the deed restrictions are the biggest issue. There’s a reason why 90% if not more of any exciting new development occurs in the loop. It’s because that’s where the bones are. Even when they did the renewal, much of the urban bones was still there.
I'm interested in a video about you walking around your town. I only been in the USA over 15 years ago and I wonder how much it has changed there...
"Overnight" means that Houston laid out the proposed routes and one morning they started to run the new routes.
The intersection at 21 minutes crosses at an acute angle. Cars wouldn't be able to turn right without slip lanes. It's a bad design.
When bike lanes were proposed in Los Angeles, I heard the quote, "LA isn't Amsterdam."
The first thing I thought was, "Fifty years ago, neither was Amsterdam. Amsterdam was LA-lite.
It looks like that because they deliberately chose to build it like that."
America looks like it does because the single largest contributor to funding urban planning institutes was General Motors."
The largest city near me (in Denmark) was originally planned for cars, but then in the 70's they decided against it and actually made it really annoying to drive there... Almost all the people I know, with cars HATE driving though that city! They're always focusing on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport and I love it
What’s the name of the city you’re talking about?
Again I love that you like NJB's content. I've been a fan since the beginning of his .. . Dude! try the plus 1 minus 2 video of his
In my hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan we had an outdoor walking mall which was amazing. But when the indoor malls started in the 80’s no one went to the outdoor mall and stores left and eventually it was opened up to cars. They destroyed the beautiful outdoor spaces. It is terrible.
Yes, please make that video about mobility where you live! I would love to watch it. Please note that you may need to learn some new tricks, but don't be afraid of that -- it will enrich you.
Yeah nah thanks, those multi lane highways look nuts!
8:43 about crossing the street. In New Jersey even at a two-lane road, you simply have to start walking when there is a gap in traffic and prey to god that the cars on the other side wait for you cause if you don't you can literally wait hours until there is a large enough gap for crossing or someone waits for you.
This is insane😱, never seen so much concrete! I will appreciate side walks now, holy cow! So i can survive Toronto without a car? Or walk and get shouted at hehe😂 Yeah a view outside in your area would be nice!!👏🏼 But be careful with those crazy roads, stay on the grass.
Just play some rounds of Cities: Skylines and you will start to appreciate urban mass transit, city walk/cycling routing and other car eliminating choices.
@3:40 "I didn't realize Tornoto was friendly to those without a car ..."
He's talking about the downtown - within the area served by the two subway lines
which is also the area criss-crossed by transit street cars.
Maybe 1/4 to 1/8 of Toronto is very walkable. The density and timing of streetcars peters
out, and out a bit further the buses and subways peter out. After that it's car dependence.
We dont have zoning in the UK. Basically everything is examined on it's merit, and has to go through a planning permission process (which can be lengthy- it is not perfect).
But you wont get smelly polluting industries in the middle of a residential area. But you do get shops and businesses like hairdressers, restuarants, pubs etc located in and near residental areas. Also we are near a small industrial park, 5 minutes away, which houses furniture and joinery companies, drycleaning, a brewery, an internet grocery delivery warehouse etc. where a lot of local people work. I hardly ever drive now. I just walked to a local restaurant for lunch, 10 minutes walk at most.
I have friends who live in the US, they live in one of those sprawling suburbs. There are no sidwalks and there is no public transport to speak of. You have to drive, you have no choice.
I like the idea of you guys show us how youre town or city looks like from youre perspective.
I have a car , a bicycle and public transportation is 300 mtrs from my house and hase a frequentie of every 15 minutes to Rotterdam , but I keep my car for long distanses because it takes less time . Greetings from the Netherlands .
Hi Charlie, When you are ready and able to travel to the Netherlands in the (near?) future) and need any tips or advice; feel free to ask (I live in Delft).
You know here in Indianapolis we have similar issues. Side walks just randomly end and restart much later. The bus is the same way, whole areas missing bus stops. I am sure it's not intentional.
The people who live there vote for the best party according to them. More AFFORDABLE HOMES. And look and think, no further than that. BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW BETTER!!? GREETINGS FROM SPAKENBURG, THE NETHERLANDS
Hi! Im new in the channel. Portuguese born in germany, travelled thrue Europe. Luv ur videos.
Houston, we have a problem!
hey vest in denmark its walking people first then, cykling people, then motorize people, also in lawsuit :), love you videos, i learn something about america in return, sub from denmark
AU 2010 i got a MB bike thought I'd miss driving a car now in my 60s shopping supermarket is close once a week
No parking outside here anyway and the cost of a car sitting on a street year after year used 1-2 times a week didnt add
a bus trip hometown $50 return 6hrs if i ever have to visit anyone which i rarely do nowadays
car $ + expenses i hate to add it all up that i saved & couldn't afford with no work .
The original video has 3.8 Million views, I wonder if anyone responsible from Houston ever reacted.
And yes - make that video if you haven't already. The more, the better. Subbing.
But they can also do a tunnel under the main street, right? For cyclists and walkers?
That's a joke, right?
Nee, in Nederland hebben we ze overal. Tunnels, onder wegen door. We hebben zelfs viaducten voor dieren, om een 2x2 baans wegen. Over te steken!!!
Van Spakenburg naar Amersfoort,Center. 9km. Al 2, die onder de wegen door gaan..En alleen, voor de fietsen.
@@JacobBax No it’s not 😉 We’ve got loads of those in the Netherlands.
@@gerbentvandeveen O, bedoel je dat. Ik dacht dat je een tunnel bedoelde onder die hele weg, in de lengte richting.
My neighborhood is pretty bad about this too. They didn’t even think to put in sidewalks until much later on. There’s currently A side in the part where I live, but it’s not on the side I live on
19:50 important to get this misconception out of the way: pretty much every European country has some form of zoning laws. The Netherlands actually has some of the most extensive zoning I've seen. Difference is there are just much more options in zoning other than the SIM city- like simplistic combinations often used in the USA like residential-commercial-industrial and single family low density and high density.
Where I live in Belgium we have general classes of zoning like residential only, combination of residential and commercial, service industrial, heavy industrial, etc. But each zone has further subclasses with tons of stipulations of what can and cannot be built. This includes things like maximum building height, type of materials that can be used, types of small businesses allowed in certain residential areas, and so on, but also things like no garage doors allowed at all on the street side (to keep the street lively) or no garage doors allowed unless building width is more than 6m, and so on.
It's actually an architect's job to get up to speed with all these stipulations before they even start designing... And even then, you can try and get an exception to certain rules if you can make a good argument to the local planning authority, even though 99% of the time they'll simply say no.
But just as a final example, the last neighbourhood I owned a house in was right in the local city center (historical city of 250 000 people), and that house was 125 years old and located in a zone designated for residential use, with local small businesses allowed as long as they're not impacting the street. This means that you can start a small business in your house and put a small modest sign on your house, but you can't convert your facade into for example a storefront. It also had regulations like a maximum height of 3 floors, obligatory start of the building right on the curb side as a rowhouse, etc. And then in the same neighborhood certain (mostly corner) lots DID have allowances for small businesses on the ground floor only, so that small business like a local bakery, butchers, grocery, restaurant etc still were possible right in the neighborhood. So even though the house was in a residential zone, stipulations allowed for small local businesses, albeit with strict restrictions, and certain parts of the residential zones had different stipulations allowing for a bit more possibilities for local business.
And this approach is the standard in the entire country. And as far as I know the approach in the Netherlands and most of western Europe is pretty similar...
Love your tshirt!! My favourite movie growing up as a kid.
2:26 its also bc of economics and some shared cultural stuff too
those impact urban planning too, and the urban planning is built around certain features and a feature of culture itself- ofcourse he means in a specific way
Just a note, no not all Europeans generally believe Americans are fat and lazy taking the car. They totally recognize the problem and are like 'if I lived there, I would too.'
I would like to see how walkable cities are vs suburbs. Ever heard of a 15 or 20 minute walk?
I've lived in Fernandina Beach Fl. and even for an old town like that it was impossible to escape suburbia without a car.
I sure like to see how you live.
17:45
I feel a lot of that is leftovers from racism. While racism itself has decreased significantly many of the attitudes that came with racism have not. Those at the bottom of society as still treated as subhuman.
7:06 that is a great idea I would watch that
Long time ago we stayed in Los angeles, Anaheim to visit Disneyland, so we took a motel there (Super 8 i think) and the next day we moved, WALKING, to Disneyland.
We never drew somuch attention just walking there next to the roads and sometimes on the grass LOL
I'd be screwed in the US as I don't drive, I find it hard enough here in western Sydney. I am in a new residential area...but the powers that be in there infinite wisdom have decided that we don't need busses here! 4 years I've struggled and payed near $100p/w to just get My Daughters to school. Due to the rental crisis and a medical condition moving isn't on the cards either.
Same here, i don't drive either, i live in Brisbane, public transport is bad here, lucky my husband drives, i would be screwed otherwise having to rely on busses and trains, or expensive taxis, in that regard Australia is very much the same as the US and Canada, nearly everything is designed for cars, we have some bikepaths, but they are few and far between...
Crazy! 😱
@@Lilygirl283 I hope things improve there, and for a city that will be hosting the Olympics in a decade, having good public transportation to travel to and from the venues is paramount.
I'm from Germany owning a car is true freedom , you are not dependent on a time table , you can just hop into your car and drive to a lake or and have a swim. It's great! But it's a luxury, that even if you don't take in account the costs to buy a car still cost about 400€ per month if you drive a "girls" car that is cheap in ensurance and taxes(=low hp motor). So if you are single these are basically two times 13 nights of party vacation at the beach in Spain(Palma, Lloret de Mar), Portugal(Albufeira) or Italy(Rimini) including flights...
It's an ungodly amount of money, if you think about it, that you can also not have a car and live a perfectly fine live as every place is walkable/bikeable and we have well enough public transport even in small cities and the state incentivices to move towards your place of work with taxbreaks for the relocation costs...yet it also subventions job mobility with taxbreaks...so you will lose these...but you win free time everyday.
It would be great if we could combine having a car (for flexibility at the weakend), but mostly using public transport. The thing is that if you have the car and don't use it, tax and ensurance costs are spend for nothing...so it would be pretty expensive owning and not using a car. I think this should be possible. For example it would be cool if I could reduce car tax and car ensurance costs by providing proof of having bought and used public transport tickets. This would also increase the popularity of park&ride stations at the city outskirts to allow the countrysite population keep their cars out of the cities.
I don't think this is the right direction, making it cheaper to have a car but not using it. One problem today is the space occupied by parked cars in the streets. It's lost space that could be used better. One utopia could be that you order a self-driving personal transit service that arrives within a few minutes. You can still have your own car but you only can park it in underground parking or in Parkhäusern. That's in the city where space is precious.
Btw. why isn't Underground parking and multilevel overground parking (Parkhaus) a thing in the US, instead of huge sprawled out parking lot deserts? I know some places have it like NYC as seen in movies, but apparently that's not the case in Houston and most of the US cities. Must be a cost thing. But sprawling out is inefficient, it will cost more maintenance over time and probably is not sustainable.
I lived in Toronto downtown and don't drive a car. I was fine there. But only for downtown or midtown. Outside Toronto is hard without a car
Oh and Greetings from.the 🇳🇱
They say that Toronto is like New York designed by the Swiss.
That's far too kind. It's chicago designed by the deaf and dumb, but without the bulldozers.
you can maybe look for jobs here where they pay for you to come here and move. itll be hard in the beginning but only a tiny bit more then it would be either way to move to another country haha
i moved countries once when I was too young and there's so much u dont think about 😅
Last winder the sidewalks were completely covered by snow and house owners are supposed to clean them instead od the city even though the sidewalks are owned by the city so i had to walk in the bike lane to get groceries god i hate it soo much
Not just wasted space, space you need to maintain which costs lots of money
3:50. This is a very important point of why , fiet n, (read cycling ) will be difficult even from the point of view of duchies. Indeed , see the big space the parking places acupi. If you only have to cycle over one or two parking spaces, you will be discouraged to cycle or walk. If all the places are close to each other you would go by bike, and everything is within walking distance. Becouse over here it's the same.. when you reach you destination by bike,you park your bike and go verder by foot. Whether you went for work of yust shopping.. just that simple 😊
13:46 or close to as good as many of them
some new cities were like that from the start i think
I used to go Toronto for weekends and could easily get around with no car.
you should react to barcelona "superblocks"
Hey Charlie, when you're ready to do so, follow Jason (NJB) and come to the Netherlands. You're welcome here, man! I'm not the greatest fan of Amsterdam, but it sure beats getting killed on a 20 lane road, or getting covered in trash thrown by thugs driving murder cubes.
It looks like a strategy. Who walks oder rides a bike aside doesn't drive a car. Who doesn't drive a car, safe money in gas and car parts. Who could this want? A pedestrian only costs and brings nothing, excepting happiness and they could safe money.
Honestly, don't ask us if you should make video's about your walk. Ask yourself if you want video's about your walk to look back on. As for uploading them, I would recommend limiting how many you upload. I and I suspect most people will probably check out 1 or 2 video's but after that I'm pretty sure it will start hurting your channel. You could make a second vlog style channel if you want to but that is up to you.
edit: Btw, you should probably check out his video on business parks. I honestly consider it his opus magnum at the moment. Pretty much everything he has addressed in regards to city planning comes together in that video, ending of on one of the greatest and most well deserved rants he has given so far. If you need to vent some anger, consider reacting to that video.
And, ask yourself. Why are there so many FOREST FIRES! are in the summer? With so much concrete and asphalt, and no trees and so on to hold water? And too much to dispose of? Are you making the problem yourself bigger!! Greetings from Spakenburg, the Netherlands
That abomination @ 21:45 is more than 20 lanes (wide); Count them! And those lanes are so wide, two of them take up the space for three , maybe even four lanes of what we have over here.. Considering that, plus the extra wasted space of all the emergency lanes/shoulders, i see AT LEAST FOURTY lanes of highway by our standards... For maybe a more American perspective: that.. thing.. is so wide that your average Major League Baseball player wouldn't even be able to hit a baseball across it, even with his best hit and a tailwind. It's insane!
I would be interested in small trips in your neighborhood :)
Houstonians hate it when you say: "Houston, we have a problem!".
yeah ... Toronto kept it's streetcar network. TTC is huge, Go trains, subway, Airport shuttle. Yeah Toronto is amazing transit-wise compared to almost any US city... almost as good as a European city ;)
Yeah do a usa city walkabout plz :)
Fun fact I am fat and lazy, I have a car, I live in the Eastern Europe (Greece, in the rural town in Kastoria) and I walk, crazy ???
In the 1920's Los Angelles had the best streetcar network in the world. Better than any in Europe.
if you read this you should know you are awesome too
I have a cargo bike (Danmark) and I go anywhere I want. Then there is public transport if I need to. I don't have to have a car. I find it sad that having a car is not a choice.
More lanes = more traffic
induced demand in a nutshell
The RUclipsr Adam Something actually counted all the cars on the Katy Freeway and found that all the people in the cars could all be transported in a single train.
I'm puzzled that you just keep expanding the freeway and don't consider a single train line.
No, Toronto is not really bike or pedestrian friendly yet. It is currently a large spralling city that has gobbled up many small towns, other cities and suberbs. The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) includes Toronto and other cities and regions that are located 'shoulder to shoulder' so to speak. The orginal Toronto (referred to as 'Downtown') and a few other older neighbourhoods are generally more people oriented with a mixture of homes and businesses blended together and are pedestrian friendly, as well as a subway and streetcar system that works fairly well. This is the area of Toronto that 'Not Just Bikes' is referring to. They are trying to make this area more bike friendly as well. But, sadly, just as we saw in the video of Houston, much of 'Toronto' was also demolished to accommodate the car livestyle. Most drivers resist the very idea of losing their driving priviledges as they can't imagine how they will be able to get around the city. My commute to work was by walking, bus and subway from north Toronto to downtown Toronto and it took 1.5 me hours each way on a good day. The city is starting to put in more bike / pedestrian trails in the suburbs, following rivers and green spaces, but you can only go so far then you need to merge with unfriendly traffic in many locations.
Anything they spend on roads to get me the hell away from Houston is money well spent.
Yes you should record your neighborhood. Show the world why it feels hostile to walk. Good Idea!!
Can I put 2 channels to you that you may like, they cover transit in North America, one is bikes and the other is public transit.
Propel is a channel about biking. Try this one "This American Mayor is Creating the Ultimate Biking City" ruclips.net/video/FlVWv9O0qQ4/видео.html
RM Transit, is a bit more of a geek channel, he lives in Toronto, he covers a lot of transit systems around the world and talks about how it could be better in his home city, or across all North America. Not really a channel to react to, but imformitive. "I Live Without a Car" ruclips.net/video/CcIo1adnurY/видео.html
I lived in Houston, really Spring but worked in downtown Houston. I hated it.
Another thing to think about is that Houston is the petroleum capital of the U.S. They have a huge art car festival. Their football team used to be called the Houston Oilers. Maybe a little greenwashing to change the name. Houston is also the largest U.S.city with no zoning laws so of course all building will spread out to where land is cheaper. And then there's the culture of Texas which seems to hate any form of government regulation. A bunch of cowboys trapped in a time warp, with monster pickup trucks and guns. Think I'll pass.
I go too, every morning. To work by car. 3.7 km / 2 miles. I've had other jobs too. Which were much further away. 23 km and 11 km. And every day by bike. And then what we already knew? Only, the doctors in the hospital weren't yet! Is that my wife has a rare muscle disease. Around the world there are now, something like 1000/1100 known. Greetings from Spakenburg, the Netherlands
On the walking topic some nice 2 min about german on vacation in the us trying to walk: ruclips.net/video/ZNQgqQiNauY/видео.html
100% truth. People can get really ugly when they get behind the wheel. If there's water on the side of the road, they'll swerve to go through it and soak you. And women walking get a double whammy - we're not only assumed to be bums, we're assumed to be prostitutes. Creepers will drive beside us and try to get us in the car. I've even had this happen when I was pushing my kids in one of those double strollers. Walking not only means trying to keep from being splattered all over the pavement, it means having to constantly be prepared to cut, tase or pepper spray someone. There is nothing about walking in the US that isn't treacherous. I'm in Texas in a fairly small town, but it's just like trying to walk in Houston. And when I lived in Massachusetts, the plows would push the snowdrifts onto the sidewalks and force pedestrians to walk in traffic. What a frigging nightmare that was. Paralyzing fear. I know the snow has to go somewhere, but they could at least make a little space to walk. Walking is basically a nonstop barrage of "F*** yous."
I firmly believe that a number of US wars are about oil. And through this urban architecture, at some point, the next conflict will be conjured up
America doesn't have sidewalks, it just has unpaved desire paths, if you can pave 7 lanes for cars, why can't you put in a foot path? Make it 6 lanes and it can be nice and wide.
I think this also caused people to leave the cities to the suburbs. If it was easy to walk and bike in the cities, then maybe families would have stayed.
damn, even GTA is more pedestrianfriendly.
perhaps many become fat and lazy because of this situation?
yes, make a video on a walk, that's interesting
Canada pedestrians have the right of way.however we agree most neighbourhoods in Canada are the same as stateside. It's changing nowadays . example Edmonton, Alberta has a lot of greenspace now and bike lanes ( many ppl were killed by car doors ) cause there were no space for bikes. Most places we bus or walk which makes getting from your house to a doctor difficult BTW we have special needs kids and the doctor is across town and your poor you have to walk with kids. 2-3 hrs both way dodging traffic trying to find bathrooms and the like. Wife had a stroke walking in July heat didn't know she had one got home( she was just getting groceries ) and collapsed. She's o.k. ( relatively ) but with our combined med. issues we are being forced to finally get our drivers licence and we can't afford a car . We're in our 50's.
I am sorry to read about your situation. It's sad that you are restricted by the infrastructure. And I can only imagine how hard you have struggle to cope with this. But I do wish you both all the best.
the one who made Not Just Bikes is actually from London, Ontario.
I agree the Netherlands are much better to live in than the USA and that they have much better cycling infrastructure than the place where I live (1 'county' south of the Netherlands). I just want to warn you to not get overexcited because then some places will disappoint you
Yeah, make a film how you make your way walking truh your town
Houston le famous amongst Geographer for being the most spread city in the world.