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Do a video on how to make bike lanes in American grid ciries. You have these blocks... just make about one in 10 streets, a top layer of red asphalt and make it into a bike-street with a bikes first, cars second policy. Also for Speed pedelecs (fast e bikes) golf carts, segwas, E-steps... In some american cities they made some bike lanes close to road traffic... but that is the wrong solution. You better separate cars and bikes a bit.. In these grids: just do on in 5 or ten blocks a special lane.. I think that classic bikes would not really work in the USa but i can really imagine having a lot of (faster) Stromer E-bikes and golf carts in San fransisco.. Make a nice drawing and go to the local government to present it. Also explain the many benefits: 1) MONEY! a car is 1000 a month, 12K a year, 480K (half a million) in 40 years.. LOT of MONEY! Put that money to work at the stock exchange and it's a million in 40 years. It fixes a lot of financial problems in the entire USA if you put bike lanes in every grid city. 2) Health... Less overweight people, lower health insurance costs.. 3) Better socio economic spread.. Good for poor people/against poverty.. If you live on a tight budget, a car makes a lot of difference in the household budget. The entire society benefits with less poverty. 4) Energy security.. If the oil/fuel prices go through the roof, the USA is screwed.. In Holland we then go by bike, train and we have more boats that also are energy efficient.. We feel high energy prices, but not like they did in Detroit in the 1980's. Right now oil also is at 80$ And the USA will go broke on that course.. You need 30$ to feel relaxed.. 5) When kids grow up, it gives a lot of freedom. You can go where you want at 8 years old.. With your friends.. 6) Less noise, a bicycle town has less noise of cars. that gives a "relaxed" feel in town.. It looks cheap but it works very well..
I live in Groningen and I have seen this video a long time ago, one of my neighbors back then is actually in it and today i have been cycling around town in almost all of the places shown. Some things changed, the bridge over the van Starkenborgh canal has been knocked out by a ship, it took some time to repair, big pain in the *ss and we are going to have a new section of the city car free, only the outside ring accessible for cars. The center has been increasingly bike and walking friendly, the big center market square has had some trees planted, communal lounging area with fountains. The city is really interacting with what the people want to see, their ideas and tries to implement them.
"The city is really interacting with what the people want to see" en in welke koop wijk woon jij dat jij zo geïsoleerde opvatting hebt ? 180 miljoen voor Forum, meeste Groningers behalve de hogere middenstand in de stad vonden dat geen leuk grapje. Meeste mensen die daadwerkelijk moeten werken in de binnenstad ? vinden geen bussen meer op de grote markt niet echt fijn. Echt alles wat je noemt zijn ook van die aanziens dingen die ten koste gaat van directe nood zoals ik al aangaf met OV. Gaan eens wat niet GL vriendjes zoeken joh.
@@davidhaaijema4521 Niet dat deze reactie een antwoord verdient, maar ik kan het gewoon niet laten : sociale huurwoning in een achterbuurt, en ik fiets naar de binnenstad weer en wind! en stem niet op GL mag ik jou nou raden? een vet disciminerende partij zoals Partij van de Vrijheid, die het woord vrijheid beschaamd of zelfs Forum (lol) voor Democratie met alleen maar haat tegenover minderheden omdat zij de schuld van jou ongelukkige leven zijn? Alle gekheid op een stokje, het is voor jezelf beter als je opgekropte woede, afgunst en jaloezie laat gaan. Ik denk dat ik al wat ouder ben dan jou en ik zeg je gezondheid gaat er op reageren, en dan kom je tot de ontdekking wat belangrijk is.
@@bramvanduijn8086 🤣 Sorry Adolf Baudet wil ook gewoon min rechten schenden en noem ik een Tiran en zou ik ter dood veroordelen. Sorry ik heb klassiek Liberale opvattingen, dat wordt niet meer vertegenwoordigd in de Nederlandse politiek, vandaar dat je het ook niet snapt. Dus hier is een tip, google eens "Plakaat van verlatinghe tekst", leer je eens wat geschiedenis van je land en waar ik vandaan kom.
In NY they saw the light, and are seriously making it happen, so people can safely use a bikelane. With us in the Netherlands it did take decades to perfect it. But if every city or town will promote it and facilitate it, I'm pretty sure you guys will use bikes a lot more as well
@@Eind_hovenBad news but not surprised. I live in Paris, France and 15 years ago, bike lanes were nearly inexistent. Today, it’s completely different, bike lanes are everywhere, cars are forbidden in hundreds of streets and there are 10 times less cars. Our quality of life greatly improved: no more noise, less pollution and less of that disgusting sticky black dirt, streets feel so much safer. Paris also built “schools’ streets” where cars aren’t allowed, the surface is soft and they installed lots of plants. It made me realize how dangerous it was to allow pupils to get out from the school and immediately have to be close to the cars. It seems incredible to me now that we allowed kids to be in such dangerous situations.
What I missed in the documentary is the adaptation of few of the intersections where bikes and cars both need to travel. The traffic lights have rain sensors; when it rains the timing of the lights is adjusted in order to grant more time for bicycles to cross in order to minimise the time they have to wait in the rain. Car drivers have to wait a little longer, but they are sitting in a dry, heated car so they don't "suffer" that much. Besides, every car driver is almost always a cyclist him/herself, so they understand the reason and accept it.
I'm surprised he didn't go in depth about 19:15, the brick road. We call those bricks 'klinkers' whichs roughly translates to 'sounders'. This is because they produce a noise when a heavy car rides over it. The better part of the noise is, this is the most loud inside your own car especially at a higher speed. To make it less pleasant to use a road like that by car, people subconsciously will not drive there and go around it which might be exactly what you want. On a bicycle, you won't notice this at all. PS it was fun to watch this. I hadn't seen the original video :)
I used to live on a house boat in Groningen up until around 1990, it was the best time of my life. I could do almost everything walking in the city center and if needed I took the bicycle. When visiting friends in Amsterdam I took the train, didn't even have a driver's license. I lived in several big cities in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, but Groningen will always be my favorite.
you should check out Maastricht as well then, also very nice city (also Hanzestad). I'm planning on visiting all Hanze-cities (former crucial inland trade route) and I still have lots to go
My city! Such a great place for cycling and the city keeps moving and keeps improving its infrastructure constantly. I don't own a car and use my bike all the time. Come for a visit in the spring, it's lovely!
The Netherlands has thousands of years of history and livable cities have always been here, apart for the 30 years that we let the cars dominate, never again!
What are you rambling on about, mafkees? The Netherlands dates back to 1568. You can push back to the second half to the 14th century (Burgundian Netherlands), but "thousands of years" is utterly nonsense 😂
I live in Rotterdam behind central station. At the front an underground bike parking was built for 8,000 bikes. At the back, where I live, there was made space for 3,000 bikes. Not enough. At the front an extra space was created for a couple of thousand bikes and scooters. At the back the space was doubled. Still not enough.... My late father biked till he couldn't, because of his heart problems. He quite biking when he was 83 years old. He loved to bike to a farmers' market in a neighboring quarter.
Definitely watch not just bikes video on why the Netherlands is the best place to drive for a more balanced point of view on this. Our car infrastructure might just even be more insanely well done, absolutely top quality.
When we went to Groningen there was a festival in the park. Wow you have never seen so many bikes parked up by their owners. It’s also a university town.
people think I am crazy not owning a car and bicycle commuting fulltime in Alabama eveything is within a 10mile radius nothing a gravel bike and a e bike can't do
I am dutch, I cycle to my work, 4 days a week, like 6 hours a week. If I need to grab public transport, I first need to go to my city center and then go to a neighbouring town, which cost me probly an hour, while with the bike it cost me 40 minutes. Its not like our network is bad (in fact, besides Japan its probly the best), but the bike just gives you all the freedom. No stressfull waiting for your taxi or bus, you can just go (also a lifehack: no boss is going to blame you for a flat tire, while they will assume that you missed a bus and thats on you). Also, when you are intoxicated you arent allowed to participate in traffic, but when it comes to the students that drive their bikes around its fine, and the police never fine someone for being drunk on a bike unless you go crazy. So its like a great way to reduce drunk drive accidents aswell. Great video! Also dont worry about how to say stuff, your not from around here but you put in the effort clearly, so thank you.
Public transportation and bicycles actually complement each other in most of our country. People will ride their bike to the nearest train station or bus stop (especially in rural areas) and travel longer distances from there. When going from one end of the country to another, sometimes public transport is faster than going by car...
In cities we use bikes too. Often grocery stores are small and common so we make small trips often. You can carry a lot with bags on the bike or a bakfiets.
I live in a small town in the Province Zeeland (south west where the Delta Works are). Even here we cycle everywhere. Kids cycle to school for 1hr 4 towns away. That's just normal here. Paralel to the main roads between cities we have bike lanes.
Hey you. Nicely done. We here in Austria are a lot behind the Netherlands in bike stuff, but it's coming. Thanks for for your contribution to our change. Cheers from rainy Vienna, Scott
I used to live in the city center of Groningen for about 15 years, I now live in the border area between the province of Groningen and Germany. When I visit Groningen - yes IKEA - I ride 5 miles from Germany to the trainstation in Bad Nieuweschans, take the bike into the train, where they have reserved spaces for bikes and after 45 minutes I am in the city center of Groningen. How convenient. I save a ton of money for not having a car.
Same here. I live in the Netherlands in a historic city called Dordrecht. I live like 10 minutes or less from the city centre and i ALWAYSSS go to the center by bike. I despise driving a car in the old historic city center. With the bike you can literally go anywhere without having to stop for alleyways because you can go through it by bike. And it doesn’t cost a thing. You can basically park it everywhere without searching for a parking garage.
have you seen any obese people. See the elderly people are perfectly able to participate in normal life because they have a life of training their body every day which provides a much higher quality of life as being 60 years old and have to go shopping in a truck because another smaller car doesn´t fit anymore. In Holland the elder generation has another quality of life because bycicle means freedom of movement, maintain social contacts, being independent until higher age and preserves their health. I think this way of living is worth it.
The Dutch G sound is as if something is stuck in your throat lol! The r is a sharp roll of the tongue against the palate. Gr is obviously a combo of those sounds. Ning is like 'sting' and just add un with the u like uhm with a silent 'g' in the ngen part. Lived in Groningen city for over 40 years, fun to see the familiar places I cycled all my life. Never needed a car until I moved outside the city. There are industrial zones in Groningen and other cities that are less accessible for cyclists and pedestrians though but even these are transforming and improving over time. If you're so inclined you can take your bike into the train (you have to pay extra though). There's limited space for that and only outside rush hours but it's possible. Most of the public transportation is electric too, which also adds to the silence in the city. A new development that you don't see in this video is electric bikes and fatbikes. They're a menace going too fast on bike lanes causing many accidents. Elderly skidding through bends landing in the bushes. And as you've noticed, hardly anyone wears helmets or other protection. Most of the accidents aren't serious but if you're unfortunate and hit your head on the tarmac, it can cause serious injuries, even permanent.
It is a good thing to see people who get the chance to see other possibilities to make life easier, pleasant and better. No obligations, no force to do the same just plain what other countries achieved. FOREIGN is one of the few who is in a position who can see all of what can be achieve. As a subscriber of FOREIGN I wish you ALL the best outside the States of America and realise your plans/dreams to become true. Thanks reading my comment. Thumbs up to you.
The secret weapon of the dutch on the bicycle front is that our coutry is very flat. So a bike is a convenient mode of transportation also for longer trips.
You cannot see many people cycling in the north of Finland, because there are not many people... In the tows of the Saimaa region they cycle in the summer at least (though not after the pub)
Groningen is not the only city like this of course, though it definitely is more bicycle friendly then most other cities. U'll find that in the Netherlands u can bike like this everywhere.
In Tilburg you even have handicap stickers for tricicals. Bicycles which are parked wrong are towed. The ones with a handicapped sticker are exempt. And can't be touched by the parking enforcement.
This is in the summer, short sleeves, skirts and trousers. Summer lasts about 1 month. Rain-covers to stay dry, cycling against headwinds and the cold hands … about 10 to 12 months. Still great to have the exercise.
we pay for water in restaurants and we pay for toilet use ( there is a free option always ) but we safe on gasoline , parking fee and time ! best deal ever !!
@@buddy1155 They don't have any class at all, and by the way FZ said some wise words back in the day " there are 3 things that smell like fish, and one of them is fish, the other 2 are growing on you". ;-)
Funny for me to see this as I'm frong Groningen, but I'm half finnish and have a lot of family and friends in Helsinki. A funny thing about bike prices btw (that is a slight problem): Bikes do get stolen quite a lot, often by homeless people that sell them afterwards. Because of the abundance of bikes, they usually ask between 5 and 20 euros for a bike. Once i went by bike to a club after having a few too many shots, and I ended up blacking out and not remembering where I left my bike. At 5 am some homeless person saw me walking around confused and sold me a bike for 5 euros. Only the next day, my friends told me where we left our bikes. (and yes, students ride their bikes drunk all the time. While not recommended (and probably illegal..? it's never fined though), it's surprisingly doable if you bike often. I've seen completely hammered people barely be able to walk after going out and biking away better than they walked)
The incentives and facilities companies have to make people use the bike (or not the car) are very nice. I don't live in Groningen but my company gives me 9 cents a kilometer if I go by car, while I get 23 if I go by bike. And they fully pay for public transport. I usually go by bike, 14 km in total, so each day gives me just over 3 euros extra. They also give you 500 euro once every few years to help buy a bicycle. And you can use your holiday allowance, where you pay less tax if you use if for a bicycle than if you let them just pay it out.
I like the emphasis on "left-wing ideologists" with their crazy plan 🤣 How nice must it be to live in one of those neighbourhoods. No one in this video is obese, there's kids and elderly folk all exercising as a way of life and everyone speaks excellent English.
What does biking do for ya! A better health, no pollution, you need less space in general, buildings don t suffer from vibrations, infrastructure is cheaper( to maintain) and much more. 👍☀️
Your reaction at 5:50 is fantastic and I completely agree. Heck, if I learned one thing from UX (user experience), it's both "humans are predictable, they'll find a way" and "humans are unpredictable, they won't do what you ask them to." What wouldn't have worked is to ask people "please don't drive here". What did work is "this and this place is now closed. So whatever is left are your options, figure it out" and people figured it out. When it suddenly becomes easier to take a bike opposed to a car, people will bike instead.
To me the strangest about America is…. People from all over the world settled in America. How can you not harvest pointers from the whole planet? The communication possibility’s are incredible today how can you stay behind on such basic life improvements?
@@truebluewonderful1139 I know! But that's the good thing about the Netherlands, the police don't really care. You only get fined if you're causing trouble
@@kimsalabim0304 Maybe they don't fine you. When they see someone biking in an uncertain way they'll talk to him and when drunk take him to the station until he can function again. Then he gets to bike home or someone has to come and pick him up. Police doesn't want us to bike into water or be killed by a car.
@@truebluewonderful1139 in theory, yes, they will probably do that because it's their job to keep us safe. But I've never actually heard of this happening 😂 I think they've probably got something better to do. Or maybe you are speaking from experience?
When you see videos like this it almost makes you want to move their. It certainly a good tourist advert for them. So maybe it's just me but why don't we go to our Politicians and ask them please can you make our city's more pedestrian and cycle Friendly. I know you get people saying it's Hilly around here or it rains a lot but I'm told the Dutch say theirs no bad weather just the right clothes for the wright weather. Or words to that affect in North Wales we are pretty lucky with pavements/sidewalks and the UK in general but their is room for improvement their needs to be a balance. Between cars bikes and pedestrians. Not Just bikes is a good channel to watch if you like channels like this.
One reason why humans are thriving as a species, isn’t because of our strength, speed or even intelligence. It’s because of our ability to adapt to our environment.
I live in Brussels and it's a dream for me that all cities go toward a goal of having the least cars possible, one that unfortunately many do not share at all... Another thing that the video doesn't seem to mention is that the Netherlands or Pays-Bas as we call them (low lands) are a very flat country, which means you won't have many insanely dangerous down slopes or the struggle of your life to go up a hill, which is a very positive thing when biking lol.
Try Volunteers fire fighters Lunteren ! It’s in the Netherlands .
8 месяцев назад+1
america and his citizens are discovering the world and realising that the world dont evolve around usa and with respect we can live the way we want and be happy all
its funny they call groningen 'the most bicycle friendly city in europe' when i live in the most bicycle friendly city in the netherlands (same country) and it it's groningen, its houten (bicycle city of the netherlands since 2015)
Great video. But it is not Groningen alone, that is bike-friendly. It may vary slightly between them, but all cities, and the routes connecting them, are bike-friendly.
This was interesting. How noticeable was the lack of obese individuals, stuffing their faces whilst walking. Incredible 😊 What was also great to see was that this infrastructure works perfectly for disabled people too! Love this so much ❤️
there was this small village and the supermarket closed so now a ton of people where mad because they had to bike far to get groceries then the mayor stepped in and called it a human right to have a store in a 10 minute bike ride away from you
in America most people live 30 miles from anything because of the single family home zoning laws I am lucky to live in a small city in Alabama where everything is within a 10 mile radius even a big popular lake most everyday places I go is within 3.5mile radius Walmart is 2.5 miles from home so I bicycle commute everywhere why waist $60 on a car just to go a few miles
the dutch see a bisicle not as an execise, or leasure activity but just a way of transportation. also dutch are not cyclist, just as drivers are no carists, just regular people who go from one place to another by a mode of transportation, that often happens to be a bisicle. most people who have a bisicle also have a car. it gives you a choise what means of transportation you use for a certrain trip. as a matter afact, the car dencity per square km is higher than most other western countries. so we are not bisicle people, but have more choises for effective and safe ways of transportation.
Use Google Translate, write the name of the city in the English part and translate it. The name will appear in the Dutch side and there is an image of a loudspeaker, click on it, and you hear the correct pronunciation.
When it takes 15 minutes to go to your destination by car, then you're also 15 minutes, or even less, on your bike. Because, with bikes you can take shortcuts. As explained in the video you're reacting to.
hi its also The Netherlands don't have a car industry ! so its not a business to get you in to a car as quickly and urly age as possible with low restrictions and if you make your city's car dependent also then it will never change and the oil industry has also a big depended on the car industry ! so its not the will ,its about the money ! sure you need cars in a big county but far less in city's . And keeping up with the joneses is also thing !
that is the whole point I don't travel outside my city but once or twice a year everything in my small city in Alabama is within a 10 mile radius of my home why spend $60 just to go a few miles
To just get around town you don't need a $250 bike. A $50 - $100 bike will do just fine and it's less likely to get stolen. Just have a frame lock and a chain/cable lock on it. Perhaps you've seen 'Not Just Bikes' promotion of the old, reliable 'omafiets' already.
I love your realization how cities are better without cars, but you are still a bit carbrained about grocery shopping: We do that often by bike or foot. Why? Because all supermarkets are close by and can be easily reached so it is not a chore that will take 2 to 3 hours. Therefore we do multiple trips per week (often combined with another trip), can buy most of the things fresh and can portion our meals accordingly.
We are the bike nation, look up places in the rest of ourcountry and Please understand we learn to ride a bike when we are Three years old, and don’t have a driverslicense😂
You still making a mistake about time and traveling. 15 Min in a car is not 30 Min on a bisicle, the bisicle can make a more direct route through little streets and alleyways, as car is far often stuck in traffic or waiting for traffic lights. In Anny Dutch city centre your travel will be faster by bike then by car. Of course in the country side this changes as distances are bigger.
bikes are making a comeback man, especially with all these electric bike/electric conversion kits... cars are too expensive nowadays, ya gotta pay for a license, insurance, gas, general upkeep, parking spots bruuuuuuuh all that and ya cant even go over 30mph/48kmh lmfao
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Use Google Translate and let it speak. Gro ningen
Do a video on how to make bike lanes in American grid ciries. You have these blocks... just make about one in 10 streets, a top layer of red asphalt and make it into a bike-street with a bikes first, cars second policy. Also for Speed pedelecs (fast e bikes) golf carts, segwas, E-steps... In some american cities they made some bike lanes close to road traffic... but that is the wrong solution. You better separate cars and bikes a bit.. In these grids: just do on in 5 or ten blocks a special lane.. I think that classic bikes would not really work in the USa but i can really imagine having a lot of (faster) Stromer E-bikes and golf carts in San fransisco..
Make a nice drawing and go to the local government to present it.
Also explain the many benefits:
1) MONEY! a car is 1000 a month, 12K a year, 480K (half a million) in 40 years.. LOT of MONEY! Put that money to work at the stock exchange and it's a million in 40 years.
It fixes a lot of financial problems in the entire USA if you put bike lanes in every grid city.
2) Health... Less overweight people, lower health insurance costs..
3) Better socio economic spread.. Good for poor people/against poverty.. If you live on a tight budget, a car makes a lot of difference in the household budget. The entire society benefits with less poverty.
4) Energy security.. If the oil/fuel prices go through the roof, the USA is screwed.. In Holland we then go by bike, train and we have more boats that also are energy efficient..
We feel high energy prices, but not like they did in Detroit in the 1980's. Right now oil also is at 80$ And the USA will go broke on that course.. You need 30$ to feel relaxed..
5) When kids grow up, it gives a lot of freedom. You can go where you want at 8 years old.. With your friends..
6) Less noise, a bicycle town has less noise of cars. that gives a "relaxed" feel in town..
It looks cheap but it works very well..
I live in Groningen and I have seen this video a long time ago, one of my neighbors back then is actually in it and today i have been cycling around town in almost all of the places shown. Some things changed, the bridge over the van Starkenborgh canal has been knocked out by a ship, it took some time to repair, big pain in the *ss and we are going to have a new section of the city car free, only the outside ring accessible for cars. The center has been increasingly bike and walking friendly, the big center market square has had some trees planted, communal lounging area with fountains. The city is really interacting with what the people want to see, their ideas and tries to implement them.
Don't forget, busses don't go through the city center anymore either.
"The city is really interacting with what the people want to see" en in welke koop wijk woon jij dat jij zo geïsoleerde opvatting hebt ? 180 miljoen voor Forum, meeste Groningers behalve de hogere middenstand in de stad vonden dat geen leuk grapje. Meeste mensen die daadwerkelijk moeten werken in de binnenstad ? vinden geen bussen meer op de grote markt niet echt fijn.
Echt alles wat je noemt zijn ook van die aanziens dingen die ten koste gaat van directe nood zoals ik al aangaf met OV. Gaan eens wat niet GL vriendjes zoeken joh.
@@davidhaaijema4521 Niet dat deze reactie een antwoord verdient, maar ik kan het gewoon niet laten : sociale huurwoning in een achterbuurt, en ik fiets naar de binnenstad weer en wind! en stem niet op GL mag ik jou nou raden? een vet disciminerende partij zoals Partij van de Vrijheid, die het woord vrijheid beschaamd of zelfs Forum (lol) voor Democratie met alleen maar haat tegenover minderheden omdat zij de schuld van jou ongelukkige leven zijn? Alle gekheid op een stokje, het is voor jezelf beter als je opgekropte woede, afgunst en jaloezie laat gaan. Ik denk dat ik al wat ouder ben dan jou en ik zeg je gezondheid gaat er op reageren, en dan kom je tot de ontdekking wat belangrijk is.
@@davidhaaijema4521 Aggressief, confrontationeel, ruzie zoekend, en nul besef van hoe je mensen kan overtuigen. Yep, FvD stemmer.
@@bramvanduijn8086 🤣 Sorry Adolf Baudet wil ook gewoon min rechten schenden en noem ik een Tiran en zou ik ter dood veroordelen.
Sorry ik heb klassiek Liberale opvattingen, dat wordt niet meer vertegenwoordigd in de Nederlandse politiek, vandaar dat je het ook niet snapt.
Dus hier is een tip, google eens "Plakaat van verlatinghe tekst", leer je eens wat geschiedenis van je land en waar ik vandaan kom.
In NY they saw the light, and are seriously making it happen, so people can safely use a bikelane. With us in the Netherlands it did take decades to perfect it. But if every city or town will promote it and facilitate it, I'm pretty sure you guys will use bikes a lot more as well
You do know cars drove on the bike lane in newyork, it is not save at all.
It's still not perfect in the Netherlands, we keep improving it as much as we can.
@@Daniel-o7s1f But since the streets of NY are 6x wider, there's plenty of space to make it save.
Sadly the city of New York had a chance of heart: plans were cancelled 4 months ago...
@@Eind_hovenBad news but not surprised. I live in Paris, France and 15 years ago, bike lanes were nearly inexistent. Today, it’s completely different, bike lanes are everywhere, cars are forbidden in hundreds of streets and there are 10 times less cars. Our quality of life greatly improved: no more noise, less pollution and less of that disgusting sticky black dirt, streets feel so much safer.
Paris also built “schools’ streets” where cars aren’t allowed, the surface is soft and they installed lots of plants. It made me realize how dangerous it was to allow pupils to get out from the school and immediately have to be close to the cars. It seems incredible to me now that we allowed kids to be in such dangerous situations.
What I missed in the documentary is the adaptation of few of the intersections where bikes and cars both need to travel. The traffic lights have rain sensors; when it rains the timing of the lights is adjusted in order to grant more time for bicycles to cross in order to minimise the time they have to wait in the rain. Car drivers have to wait a little longer, but they are sitting in a dry, heated car so they don't "suffer" that much. Besides, every car driver is almost always a cyclist him/herself, so they understand the reason and accept it.
I'm surprised he didn't go in depth about 19:15, the brick road. We call those bricks 'klinkers' whichs roughly translates to 'sounders'. This is because they produce a noise when a heavy car rides over it. The better part of the noise is, this is the most loud inside your own car especially at a higher speed. To make it less pleasant to use a road like that by car, people subconsciously will not drive there and go around it which might be exactly what you want. On a bicycle, you won't notice this at all.
PS it was fun to watch this. I hadn't seen the original video :)
Foreign, may I suggest the channel Not Just Bikes. Binging it will keep you busy for a while. 😅
About good examples how traffic in NL has improved livabilty.
Also, one on Oulu, Finland and Canada in winter...
If you want to know more about winter cycling, check out the channels of Shifter or Oh the urbanity! etc.
I used to live on a house boat in Groningen up until around 1990, it was the best time of my life. I could do almost everything walking in the city center and if needed I took the bicycle. When visiting friends in Amsterdam I took the train, didn't even have a driver's license. I lived in several big cities in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, but Groningen will always be my favorite.
you should check out Maastricht as well then, also very nice city (also Hanzestad). I'm planning on visiting all Hanze-cities (former crucial inland trade route) and I still have lots to go
My city! Such a great place for cycling and the city keeps moving and keeps improving its infrastructure constantly. I don't own a car and use my bike all the time. Come for a visit in the spring, it's lovely!
I have not owned a car since 2020 owning a car is not freedom and I live in Alabama
The Netherlands has thousands of years of history and livable cities have always been here, apart for the 30 years that we let the cars dominate, never again!
30? More like 50/60 years
Right we got astray and found ourselves again.
What are you rambling on about, mafkees? The Netherlands dates back to 1568.
You can push back to the second half to the 14th century (Burgundian Netherlands), but "thousands of years" is utterly nonsense 😂
I live in Rotterdam behind central station. At the front an underground bike parking was built for 8,000 bikes. At the back, where I live, there was made space for 3,000 bikes. Not enough. At the front an extra space was created for a couple of thousand bikes and scooters. At the back the space was doubled.
Still not enough....
My late father biked till he couldn't, because of his heart problems. He quite biking when he was 83 years old. He loved to bike to a farmers' market in a neighboring quarter.
Definitely watch not just bikes video on why the Netherlands is the best place to drive for a more balanced point of view on this. Our car infrastructure might just even be more insanely well done, absolutely top quality.
9:10 fun fact, we even got the biggest bicycle parking lot in the world in Utrecht which houses over 10.000 bikes
Watching this while visiting a friend in Groningen for the weekend.
That’s insane
Enjoy
@@foreignreacts thanks, I definitely will.
When we went to Groningen there was a festival in the park. Wow you have never seen so many bikes parked up by their owners. It’s also a university town.
people think I am crazy not owning a car and bicycle commuting fulltime in Alabama eveything is within a 10mile radius nothing a gravel bike and a e bike can't do
Stadspark? 😁
@@scruf153 If you'd ask the Dutch they are the crazy ones. Keep doing what you are doing!
I am dutch, I cycle to my work, 4 days a week, like 6 hours a week. If I need to grab public transport, I first need to go to my city center and then go to a neighbouring town, which cost me probly an hour, while with the bike it cost me 40 minutes.
Its not like our network is bad (in fact, besides Japan its probly the best), but the bike just gives you all the freedom. No stressfull waiting for your taxi or bus, you can just go (also a lifehack: no boss is going to blame you for a flat tire, while they will assume that you missed a bus and thats on you).
Also, when you are intoxicated you arent allowed to participate in traffic, but when it comes to the students that drive their bikes around its fine, and the police never fine someone for being drunk on a bike unless you go crazy. So its like a great way to reduce drunk drive accidents aswell.
Great video! Also dont worry about how to say stuff, your not from around here but you put in the effort clearly, so thank you.
Cheers from Groningen🇳🇱👋
Public transportation and bicycles actually complement each other in most of our country. People will ride their bike to the nearest train station or bus stop (especially in rural areas) and travel longer distances from there. When going from one end of the country to another, sometimes public transport is faster than going by car...
17:21 This bridge has been broken for a few years now, Only the Bicycle bridges are currently open, cars have to take a detour
In cities we use bikes too. Often grocery stores are small and common so we make small trips often. You can carry a lot with bags on the bike or a bakfiets.
Every Dutch person is an expert at hanging shopping bags off the steering bar. I've managed 4 :D
Watch a video about Utrecht. There is at the central train station a bike parking garage with a capacity of 12,500 bikes
I live in a small town in the Province Zeeland (south west where the Delta Works are). Even here we cycle everywhere. Kids cycle to school for 1hr 4 towns away. That's just normal here. Paralel to the main roads between cities we have bike lanes.
Hey you. Nicely done. We here in Austria are a lot behind the Netherlands in bike stuff, but it's coming.
Thanks for for your contribution to our change. Cheers from rainy Vienna, Scott
I used to live in the city center of Groningen for about 15 years, I now live in the border area between the province of Groningen and Germany. When I visit Groningen - yes IKEA - I ride 5 miles from Germany to the trainstation in Bad Nieuweschans, take the bike into the train, where they have reserved spaces for bikes and after 45 minutes I am in the city center of Groningen. How convenient. I save a ton of money for not having a car.
Same here.
I live in the Netherlands in a historic city called Dordrecht.
I live like 10 minutes or less from the city centre and i ALWAYSSS go to the center by bike. I despise driving a car in the old historic city center. With the bike you can literally go anywhere without having to stop for alleyways because you can go through it by bike. And it doesn’t cost a thing.
You can basically park it everywhere without searching for a parking garage.
have you seen any obese people. See the elderly people are perfectly able to participate in normal life because they have a life of training their body every day which provides a much higher quality of life as being 60 years old and have to go shopping in a truck because another smaller car doesn´t fit anymore. In Holland the elder generation has another quality of life because bycicle means freedom of movement, maintain social contacts, being independent until higher age and preserves their health. I think this way of living is worth it.
walking and cycling keeps your legs from cramping up and getting stiff I am on my feet all day 2 minutes into my trip home my legs feel great
And if you get too old for cycling they can use the electric 3 wheel scooters on the bike paths
The Dutch G sound is as if something is stuck in your throat lol! The r is a sharp roll of the tongue against the palate. Gr is obviously a combo of those sounds. Ning is like 'sting' and just add un with the u like uhm with a silent 'g' in the ngen part.
Lived in Groningen city for over 40 years, fun to see the familiar places I cycled all my life. Never needed a car until I moved outside the city.
There are industrial zones in Groningen and other cities that are less accessible for cyclists and pedestrians though but even these are transforming and improving over time.
If you're so inclined you can take your bike into the train (you have to pay extra though). There's limited space for that and only outside rush hours but it's possible.
Most of the public transportation is electric too, which also adds to the silence in the city.
A new development that you don't see in this video is electric bikes and fatbikes. They're a menace going too fast on bike lanes causing many accidents. Elderly skidding through bends landing in the bushes. And as you've noticed, hardly anyone wears helmets or other protection. Most of the accidents aren't serious but if you're unfortunate and hit your head on the tarmac, it can cause serious injuries, even permanent.
European cities are for people to live and work in while american cities seem mainly for working alone.
SUVs and passenger vans with only one person in them the driver
0:25 "ng" sounds same as you would pronounce Woyming :)
The channel 'Not just bikes' has a very interesting video about how people cycle through the snow in Finland.
it snows once in a blue moon in Alabama I want it to so bad so I try out my e bike in it
It is a good thing to see people who get the chance to see other possibilities to make life easier, pleasant and better. No obligations, no force to do the same just plain what other countries achieved. FOREIGN is one of the few who is in a position who can see all of what can be achieve. As a subscriber of FOREIGN I wish you ALL the best outside the States of America and realise your plans/dreams to become true. Thanks reading my comment. Thumbs up to you.
The secret weapon of the dutch on the bicycle front is that our coutry is very flat. So a bike is a convenient mode of transportation also for longer trips.
Groningen is presented here as a showcase, but this it how the whole of the Netherlands looks like ...
You cannot see many people cycling in the north of Finland, because there are not many people...
In the tows of the Saimaa region they cycle in the summer at least (though not after the pub)
Groningen is not the only city like this of course, though it definitely is more bicycle friendly then most other cities.
U'll find that in the Netherlands u can bike like this everywhere.
In Tilburg you even have handicap stickers for tricicals. Bicycles which are parked wrong are towed. The ones with a handicapped sticker are exempt. And can't be touched by the parking enforcement.
Proud of this City. 10 km from my home
Moi Eem
This is in the summer, short sleeves, skirts and trousers. Summer lasts about 1 month. Rain-covers to stay dry, cycling against headwinds and the cold hands … about 10 to 12 months. Still great to have the exercise.
we pay for water in restaurants and we pay for toilet use ( there is a free option always ) but we safe on gasoline , parking fee and time ! best deal ever !!
Why drink water? fish pee and poop in it.
@@buddy1155 They even fuck in it.
@@markschattefor6997 Fish are really disgusting.
@@buddy1155 They don't have any class at all, and by the way FZ said some wise words back in the day " there are 3 things that smell like fish, and one of them is fish, the other 2 are growing on you". ;-)
@@buddy1155 And what is your point exactly ?
It's probably pronounced Yuryen
And about the city name is ro - ning - uhn or sometimes ro-ning'n, where you don't pronounce the last e.
No, it's pronounced groôhng, or grunning 🙂
@@marcovonkeman9449 In 't Grunings, yes. But in Dutch, I think my approximation was quite close.
Funny for me to see this as I'm frong Groningen, but I'm half finnish and have a lot of family and friends in Helsinki.
A funny thing about bike prices btw (that is a slight problem): Bikes do get stolen quite a lot, often by homeless people that sell them afterwards. Because of the abundance of bikes, they usually ask between 5 and 20 euros for a bike.
Once i went by bike to a club after having a few too many shots, and I ended up blacking out and not remembering where I left my bike.
At 5 am some homeless person saw me walking around confused and sold me a bike for 5 euros.
Only the next day, my friends told me where we left our bikes.
(and yes, students ride their bikes drunk all the time. While not recommended (and probably illegal..? it's never fined though), it's surprisingly doable if you bike often. I've seen completely hammered people barely be able to walk after going out and biking away better than they walked)
The incentives and facilities companies have to make people use the bike (or not the car) are very nice. I don't live in Groningen but my company gives me 9 cents a kilometer if I go by car, while I get 23 if I go by bike. And they fully pay for public transport.
I usually go by bike, 14 km in total, so each day gives me just over 3 euros extra. They also give you 500 euro once every few years to help buy a bicycle. And you can use your holiday allowance, where you pay less tax if you use if for a bicycle than if you let them just pay it out.
And now a few shots in the rain 🤢. (it is raining almost all the time in the Netherlands)
Hi, I'm Dutch and live in Groningen. Don't be hard on yourself, because Dutch is a difficult language for foreigners. greetz!
Groningen is een prachtige kleine stad.
Largest bike parking in the world is under Central Station in Utrecht with 12.500 places.
That's till the new parking is ready on the south side of Groningen Hoofdstation.........
I like the emphasis on "left-wing ideologists" with their crazy plan 🤣
How nice must it be to live in one of those neighbourhoods. No one in this video is obese, there's kids and elderly folk all exercising as a way of life and everyone speaks excellent English.
At the time it was genuinely crazy,
Now it's just the norm.
What does biking do for ya! A better health, no pollution, you need less space in general, buildings don t suffer from vibrations, infrastructure is cheaper( to maintain) and much more. 👍☀️
Your reaction at 5:50 is fantastic and I completely agree. Heck, if I learned one thing from UX (user experience), it's both "humans are predictable, they'll find a way" and "humans are unpredictable, they won't do what you ask them to." What wouldn't have worked is to ask people "please don't drive here". What did work is "this and this place is now closed. So whatever is left are your options, figure it out" and people figured it out. When it suddenly becomes easier to take a bike opposed to a car, people will bike instead.
nobody forces you to cicle. The infrastructure just doesn't force you to drive a car.
You sound so sweet when you pronounce Groningen ❤
Maybe Groningen will be the next biking vacation destination for my grandmother, mother and I. 🥳
To me the strangest about America is….
People from all over the world settled in America.
How can you not harvest pointers from the whole planet?
The communication possibility’s are incredible today how can you stay behind on such basic life improvements?
The best thing about biking is that I can drink as much as I want and still get home safe. Except for biking into some bushes maybe....
But it isn't allowed to bike drunk and police can fine you 😂
@@truebluewonderful1139 I know! But that's the good thing about the Netherlands, the police don't really care. You only get fined if you're causing trouble
@@kimsalabim0304 Maybe they don't fine you. When they see someone biking in an uncertain way they'll talk to him and when drunk take him to the station until he can function again. Then he gets to bike home or someone has to come and pick him up. Police doesn't want us to bike into water or be killed by a car.
@@truebluewonderful1139 in theory, yes, they will probably do that because it's their job to keep us safe. But I've never actually heard of this happening 😂 I think they've probably got something better to do. Or maybe you are speaking from experience?
When you see videos like this it almost makes you want to move their. It certainly a good tourist advert for them. So maybe it's just me but why don't we go to our Politicians and ask them please can you make our city's more pedestrian and cycle Friendly. I know you get people saying it's Hilly around here or it rains a lot but I'm told the Dutch say theirs no bad weather just the right clothes for the wright weather. Or words to that affect in North Wales we are pretty lucky with pavements/sidewalks and the UK in general but their is room for improvement their needs to be a balance. Between cars bikes and pedestrians. Not Just bikes is a good channel to watch if you like channels like this.
One reason why humans are thriving as a species, isn’t because of our strength, speed or even intelligence. It’s because of our ability to adapt to our environment.
I live in Brussels and it's a dream for me that all cities go toward a goal of having the least cars possible, one that unfortunately many do not share at all...
Another thing that the video doesn't seem to mention is that the Netherlands or Pays-Bas as we call them (low lands) are a very flat country, which means you won't have many insanely dangerous down slopes or the struggle of your life to go up a hill, which is a very positive thing when biking lol.
there is NO k at the start of Groningen [CHrow-ning-en] ch as in loCHness, and as in Af GH anistan, Me X ico. No H sound, or K sound, not even close.
great place can't wait to go home :/ that guy in the beginning with the sunglasses on the left i know him haha
Try Volunteers fire fighters Lunteren ! It’s in the Netherlands .
america and his citizens are discovering the world and realising that the world dont evolve around usa and with respect we can live the way we want and be happy all
its funny they call groningen 'the most bicycle friendly city in europe' when i live in the most bicycle friendly city in the netherlands (same country) and it it's groningen, its houten (bicycle city of the netherlands since 2015)
Unfortunately the weather can be harsh here. Rain and wind can make cycling rough
My hometown! :)
11:08 "You do not burn anything!" Well... apart from calories, but that's a good thing xD
Notice most people in Holland ride a comfortable practical bike not a sports bike be that maintain or rcer etc .
Not only in 'holland', also in the rest of The Netherlands.
Great video. But it is not Groningen alone, that is bike-friendly. It may vary slightly between them, but all cities, and the routes connecting them, are bike-friendly.
You should also see Münster in Germany
I am from Groningen and I am very happy everybody used the bicycle so I.... I can use my car or motorcycle... 🤣😇
This was interesting. How noticeable was the lack of obese individuals, stuffing their faces whilst walking. Incredible 😊
What was also great to see was that this infrastructure works perfectly for disabled people too! Love this so much ❤️
there was this small village and the supermarket closed so now a ton of people where mad because they had to bike far to get groceries then the mayor stepped in and called it a human right to have a store in a 10 minute bike ride away from you
in America most people live 30 miles from anything because of the single family home zoning laws I am lucky to live in a small city in Alabama where everything is within a 10 mile radius even a big popular lake most everyday places I go is within 3.5mile radius Walmart is 2.5 miles from home so I bicycle commute everywhere why waist $60 on a car just to go a few miles
To help you with the pronounciation : ut starts with "Grow", then "ning" with... Oh, that guy just said it 😂😂 I'm actually born there 😊
Off course this place is as flat as my wallet as the moment. 🤣
the dutch see a bisicle not as an execise, or leasure activity but just a way of transportation.
also dutch are not cyclist, just as drivers are no carists, just regular people who go from one place to another by a mode of transportation, that often happens to be a bisicle.
most people who have a bisicle also have a car.
it gives you a choise what means of transportation you use for a certrain trip.
as a matter afact, the car dencity per square km is higher than most other western countries.
so we are not bisicle people, but have more choises for effective and safe ways of transportation.
Glad to hear you say "cycle" instead of bicycling.
If I ever do I’m sorry
@@foreignreacts Did you ever visit Oulu, Finnland? They cycle even in winter...😂
Very nice video and comment ❤️👍👍
In groningen the municipality sells used bikes from 50 euros
How did you find out. Try Almere or Pijnacker .
Use Google Translate, write the name of the city in the English part and translate it. The name will appear in the Dutch side and there is an image of a loudspeaker, click on it, and you hear the correct pronunciation.
And people find it still weird that we don't use helmets. Not necessary. I live in Groningen. Great city
This guy loves cars and the word LIKE! How sad. 😎
Use translate google to hear the pronunciation of Groningen (in Dutch or English)
Groningen yeah baby my city😂😂😂😂😂
I live in this city✌️🇳🇱
I am Groninger , your pronounciation is prettig good
Thanks. 😮
When it takes 15 minutes to go to your destination by car, then you're also 15 minutes, or even less, on your bike. Because, with bikes you can take shortcuts. As explained in the video you're reacting to.
Grow-nin-un comes closest to the American pronunciation I think. Of course the G is sharp and our ING sounds like your INK without the K
hi its also The Netherlands don't have a car industry ! so its not a business to get you in to a car as quickly and urly age as possible with low restrictions and if you make your city's car dependent also then it will never change and the oil industry has also a big depended on the car industry ! so its not the will ,its about the money ! sure you need cars in a big county but far less in city's . And keeping up with the joneses is also
thing !
that is the whole point I don't travel outside my city but once or twice a year everything in my small city in Alabama is within a 10 mile radius of my home why spend $60 just to go a few miles
To just get around town you don't need a $250 bike. A $50 - $100 bike will do just fine and it's less likely to get stolen. Just have a frame lock and a chain/cable lock on it. Perhaps you've seen 'Not Just Bikes' promotion of the old, reliable 'omafiets' already.
And how many biking helmets did you see in this video? Right! Zero!
I love your realization how cities are better without cars, but you are still a bit carbrained about grocery shopping: We do that often by bike or foot. Why? Because all supermarkets are close by and can be easily reached so it is not a chore that will take 2 to 3 hours. Therefore we do multiple trips per week (often combined with another trip), can buy most of the things fresh and can portion our meals accordingly.
grnnnnnn i live near gronigen haha lol er gaat niks boven groningen they say
11:10 Well, actually, you do burn something. Calories 🙂
We are the bike nation, look up places in the rest of ourcountry and Please understand we learn to ride a bike when we are Three years old, and don’t have a driverslicense😂
I live there. Normally there are way more cyclists.
My hometown 😂
You still making a mistake about time and traveling. 15 Min in a car is not 30 Min on a bisicle, the bisicle can make a more direct route through little streets and alleyways, as car is far often stuck in traffic or waiting for traffic lights.
In Anny Dutch city centre your travel will be faster by bike then by car.
Of course in the country side this changes as distances are bigger.
Please use predictive algorithm when typing an answer: Your English is atrocious.
bikes are making a comeback man, especially with all these electric bike/electric conversion kits... cars are too expensive nowadays, ya gotta pay for a license, insurance, gas, general upkeep, parking spots bruuuuuuuh all that and ya cant even go over 30mph/48kmh lmfao
His name would be like Yur-Yen in English.
I know!Thats why i made this Grrrr.You can do it,it isnt so hard to do..