I just got back from a ten day tour of the Netherlands with my wife and two friends. We saw two days of le Tour de France in Utrecht and then spent the rest of the holiday touring all around. We spent time in Otterlo, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and of course Utrecht. It was your videos that made me want to go see the Netherlands for myself and I am so grateful to you. It ranks as one of the best holidays I have ever had. We used the AirBNB app to find places to stay and met some amazing people. In Utrecht, whilst watching the time trial, we met two Dutchmen a Spaniard and a Frenchman who insisted on getting my wife and I drunk! They even cheered all the team SKY riders with us! Of course we reciprocated every time a Dutch rider went by. :-) The cycling is simply amazing and how the whole world should be. Your videos are brilliant but it can't even come close to showing how good it is. You have to see it for yourself. I can guarantee we will be back for many trips. Thank you.
To a foreign eye like myself your country is bicycle heaven. I really envy your country's bicycle infrastructure. While we do have some decent bike lanes from where I'm from, the question I always ask "would you let your kids ride on them" my answer "absolutely not". Thank you again for another great video.
Attention Lazy Americans and blind Politicians,please build(where possible) your bicycle infrastructure copying the Netherlands bike structure!! Thanks Mark for the continuing videos! Tim
***** i don't want to start a dicusion, but supporting with what?? War?? Good job. Instead of driving your automated shifters, enviroment unfriendly pick up trucks. You could invest some money that normaly goes to a war, in to the infrastructure of the bikesafety. So that you don't see any 40 year old scootmobile ladies in the wallmarkt
***** I would love to go wild on this one, but I respect BiclycleDutch and keep this comment section about bicycles only. Aaahhh, can't do it.......... it's that sentence "you've attacked me and my country and you need to be corrected." , thats exactly what gives Americans a bad name in Europe, alright that Scootoverman and Laurens could said it a bit less rude, but filter out what they try to say to you and think about that.......
***** Shouldn't feed the trolls but you know that in absolute terms it's only about five times as much as The Netherlands. We're the size of Indiana. Also, the European Union as a whole gives out much more foreign aid than the US.
***** yeah, google... The dutch economy is fine for now. The greece economy is fucked. But you can compare to the crisis with the cops and the black people.
I really enjoy your videos like this with commentary. What may seem normal and not worth commenting about to dutch eyes are the sort of things that make or break good infrastructure, and even well-meaning designers (specially in north america) seem to miss. Are all these solutions basically laid out in the CROW manual or is a lot just a matter of local/national tradition and experience?
Jarren Butterworth Thanks for your positive comment. The CROW manual is a recommendation, but it is followed by most road managers. So that does have its influence. There are still local differences, but overall the design is similar in all of the country and on a high level of quality. And yes, all the basics are in the manual.
Jarren Butterworth, most of the bike infrastructure used in The NLs can actually be found in the NACTO guide or other American publications. Although they really fail at intersections still, the real issue is that most Americans are just completely clueless. I am confident that most Dutch engineers could create a better bikeway with a NACTO guide than an American could with a CROW manual. That is is due to the lack of experience with a bikeway network designed for usefulness. Things get lost as the pictures cross the Atlantic. It's really imperative that those designing the bikeways take a trip to see how it looks and feels in person.
Very nice video, you live in a very good country for cycling, I just wish that some of our politicians here in the UK would wake up and start planning some decent cycleways across the UK
It looks like also in the Nederlands people don't understand that, in order to get on the train, they have to allow people to get out. Like in all other countries but Japan, people use to put themselves in front of the door, forcing you to find your way through them to get out. Nice video and nice country, thanks
that used to be different about 15 years ago some things changed and as i go by bike everywhere i just can't get used to it. Something that was normal and expected folks would even comment if u stood in their way going out as its was something that would not help them get in sooner and everyone just knew it, though there was that one person being rebellious going against the grain xD standing in the middle of the split river of people being Mozes of annoyance that on occasion got pulled aside by some friend. Today's "normal" seems something opposite, it was in the culture it was normaal en gewoon, at least it's how i remember it, perhaps other dutchies in other cities have a different experience or viewpoint of the past not so long ago.
Thank you for a great video that not only showed the wonderful and far-sighted bicycle infrastructure of the Netherlands, but also some of the trains and bicycle parking and rental. Please include more of the public transportation in future videos, it is quite informative and inspiring to a citizen of the U.S.
At 5:43 it is important to note that this is a one-way cycle track. There is another one at the other side of the main road. The dashed line indicates the edge of the sidewalk, not the other half of a dual cycle track. Cycle tracks would never be constructed so close to the exits of gardens. That would be like waiting for accidents to happen.The signpost is on the edge of the sidewalk. This is not how things are normally arranged. Usually there's a small height difference between the two, to indicate where cyclists and pedestrians should go (see 8:17).
丁鹏 priority is usually indicated by small yield signs (inverted triangles) painted on the ground. And yes, when the cycle path is continuous you usually have priority as well
It can be seen by signs, though they are not everywhere and there are always 'shark teeth' or upside-down triangles pointed to the side that must wait. You can also see these from the priority road on the road you have priority to, so you can easily see if you have to wait or the others. Though you should never 'take priority' and always watch if you will be given it anyways.
Great videos, a question I have is how are garbage containers/bins dealt with in the Netherlands? They always seem to end up on a sidewalk or blocking a bike lane in my country which is terrible. What is the solution?
thatshowtoroll In busy streets our bins have their own designated spots reserved for them in the street. Never on bikepaths. As you can see in this video actually, there's green bins at the left side of the bikepath along the road starting at 5:17 . But nowadays bins are dissapearing, especially in more populated areas. Underground garbage containers are starting to take their place.
In my country (Belgium) it is illegal to put out your bags/bins/containers if it's not collection day. You can get a fine of up to 50 Euro for putting garbage bags/containers out before the allowed time. Leaving containers or bags on the street is simply not done. I think they have a similar system in The Netherlands. And even on collection day, you have to make sure the bags/bins/containers are placed on a spot where they don't block the pedestrians, bikes or other traffic. If you do block something, the bincollectors are allowed to call the police. It's considered illegal garbage dumping and they will go through your trash to identify you and fine you. If it happens once and nobody complains, you're probably fine, but if someone keeps consistently putting out their garbage on a bike lane for example, eventually someone will complain, and the council will take action and fine you. No one wants to pay 50 euro just for their garbage so, they learn quickly not to do that. For restaurants and businesses that use bigger containers, the fines are even larger so...
Polish Cyclist No, if a pedestrian has to go across a cycle path that pedestrian has to let all bicycles go first. It is the same as crossing a road, where you let all motor traffic pass first. Unless there is a zebra crossing. This town of Bussum has chosen to have zebra crossings on the cycle path. So if a pedestrian crosses the cycle path on a zebra crossing that pedestrian does have priority. Again, exactly the same as crossing a road on a zebra crossing.
sagancmbp yes, the first instance the card isn't readable. The second and third time you could read everything clearly. That's why those two have a cover.
That approximately 5:45 in the video I was surprised to see an unpainted metal post right in the middle of the pathway. This looks like it would be a hazard at night or other times when the visibility is poor. Any ideas on why that has not been marked more clearly?
midtoad It's on the sidewalk. The street is lit at night and we don't go and put hi-viz on every obstacle in the public space just because there might be fog once or twice a year. It's a case of using common sense.
MrAronymous Of course, posts on a sidewalk are not usually a problem, and no one expects them to be painted brightly. But this particular post is in the middle of a bicycle pathway, where it could easily be struck by someone riding a bicycle at higher speed. It's really no different from a bollard, which is always brightly painted.
midtoad You seem to have misunderstood. The pathway is actually divided by the dashed white line. Right of the line are grey/blue concrete pavers, which is where the sidewalk is. On the left side are pink concrete pavers*; the bike path. But you can barely see the colors in this recording. This configuration is not uncommon at all. What is uncommon is the lack of "physical" division, like a small curb and hight difference seperating the two modes. So this is a one-way path for bicycles, and the same configuration can be found on the other side of the street for traffic going the other way. So the pole is in fact on the sidewalk, not on the bike path. *Edit: Actually, looking up the road on Google Street View it seems like there's no pink tiles after all. Which is very very unusual and not standard practise. The rest of my post is still valid.
MrAronymous I also looked at it on streetview, and that post holds a sign telling the cyclist (coming from that left steet ) to only go left, because of the one-way bike path. But indeed it is not the best place to put a pole/post sign......
MrAronymous thanks for the clarification; that considerably reduces my concern. I thought this was a two-way bicycle path, in which case it would be likely that a cyclist in one direction could hit the pole. However, since there will not be anyone coming in the other direction, the cyclist should always be on the left and the pedestrian on the right, in which case there should be no problem.
While driving on the main road, the driver should have noticed there are cycle tracks alongside the road. Once he or she is about to turn, this bendout leaves space to stop and double-check if there are no cyclists, before crossing. Added to that, the car has now turned to such a position (almost 90 degrees relative to the cyclepath) that the driver can look cyclists straight into their eyes, by just looking left and right, instead of needing to crane over the shoulder. Thirdly, the driver does not have to worry about obstructing any traffic from behind, because he or she can wait in between the road and the cycle path before making a decision. This way, each situation can be dealt with in separate steps, lowering the stress in making decisions. Cyclists tend to be overlooked more often if the choices to turn off and cross the path are made in one go. So this is more relaxed for drivers too. This has proven to be much safer for decades.
Now that I think of it, it would be very interesting to have a video of crossing such a cycle path from a driver's point of view, both with and without bendout.
". . . , this bendout leaves space to stop and double-check if there are no cyclists, . . ." At this moment the cardriver can look at the first time to cyclists, because before the junction the cycletrack is not near the street, cyclists are at traffic lights faster than cars (traffic jam) and then the cardriver must drive the courve. "Added to that, the car has now turned to such a position (almost 90 degrees relative to the cyclepath) that the driver can look cyclists straight into their eyes, . . ." When the cardriver is on this position (the first opportunity to see cyclists) he or she (-: must able to brake directly, because there is directly the cycle way. The car must be also very slow. The main point is, that the cardriver must look. That's goes not automatic, he must think in this special moment that he must look at 90 degrees right or on the mirror or over shoulder, by cyclelanejunctions. Yes, a video from cardriver was interesting.
Well, it sure works great over here. And I should know, because I cycle AND drive daily across these kind of junctions. Crossings with cycle paths nearer to the road exist here too, but just don't work as good as these.
At which point you are looking at the cyclists? (I don't drive much car in the city.) Between junctions with and without traffic lights and seperated green phases are differences.
It's certainly not useless, it is very safe, many kids can even travel alone, I'm not sure from which age, but at ten I believe I rode alone to school. We don't really think about how much the costs are, it is simply part of the infrastructure. We would look up weird (is that an expression or can I use it? Oh well...) We would think it is weird if there aren't any bicycle paths next to a busy road.
Actually every bit of research done on cycling shows that investing in biking infrastructure is the best thing to do for any city/municipality. Every euro invested in biking infrastructure has an 8 euro return for society/the government. And there are quite a few obvious reasons why this is true: - Bike paths require far les maintenance then roads, and are far cheaper to build. - More biking means less motor traffic, so less wear and tear on roads too, wich reduces maintenance costs of regular roads too. Plus roads can be narrower and can have less lanes due do less traffic, so again this leads to smaller maintenance costs for roads. - More biking increases health of people who bike, reduces the risk of many diseases like heart disease, diabetes,... all caused by obesity or lack of excersise. The daily excersise of biking reduces many health risks simply by commuting. Excersise and biking have also been proven to reduce stress so this again leads to health benefits. Healthier people reduces health care costs for society as a whole. - More biking means less motor traffic, which in turn means less air pollution. Less air pollution means again healthier people, again reducing the risk of many diseases and agian reducing health care costs for society. - Less motor traffic also means less noise, which can lead to less stress. Less stress = health benefits. - Less motor traffic leads to safer roads for other road users, again increasing health and reducing traffic deaths. - Less motor traffic leads to increased quality of life, especially in residential areas and cities. - Walkeable cities designed for walking and biking, tend to mix different functions and tends to lead to more vibrant and lively cities. But that is a different topic all together. Lots of research, and practical experience in countries and/or cities that have really good biking infrastructure has shown many times over that investing in biking infrastructure has much higher returns for society than investing in roads and car infrastructure. This is especially true in urban areas and cities. So no, not expensive or useless at all...
![FendiDa Rappa - Clock Dat ft. Shamar Marco [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3NBU8KHdxYY/mqdefault.jpg)
I just got back from a ten day tour of the Netherlands with my wife and two friends. We saw two days of le Tour de France in Utrecht and then spent the rest of the holiday touring all around. We spent time in Otterlo, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and of course Utrecht. It was your videos that made me want to go see the Netherlands for myself and I am so grateful to you. It ranks as one of the best holidays I have ever had. We used the AirBNB app to find places to stay and met some amazing people. In Utrecht, whilst watching the time trial, we met two Dutchmen a Spaniard and a Frenchman who insisted on getting my wife and I drunk! They even cheered all the team SKY riders with us! Of course we reciprocated every time a Dutch rider went by. :-)
The cycling is simply amazing and how the whole world should be. Your videos are brilliant but it can't even come close to showing how good it is. You have to see it for yourself. I can guarantee we will be back for many trips. Thank you.
Bartholo Clumpdink great to hear! thanks for posting!
To a foreign eye like myself your country is bicycle heaven. I really envy your country's bicycle infrastructure. While we do have some decent bike lanes from where I'm from, the question I always ask "would you let your kids ride on them" my answer "absolutely not".
Thank you again for another great video.
Attention Lazy Americans and blind Politicians,please build(where possible) your bicycle infrastructure copying the Netherlands bike structure!!
Thanks Mark for the continuing videos!
Tim
***** i don't want to start a dicusion, but supporting with what?? War??
Good job. Instead of driving your automated shifters, enviroment unfriendly pick up trucks. You could invest some money that normaly goes to a war, in to the infrastructure of the bikesafety. So that you don't see any 40 year old scootmobile ladies in the wallmarkt
***** I would love to go wild on this one, but I respect BiclycleDutch and keep this comment section about bicycles only.
Aaahhh, can't do it.......... it's that sentence "you've attacked me and my country and you need to be corrected." , thats exactly what gives Americans a bad name in Europe, alright that Scootoverman and Laurens could said it a bit less rude, but filter out what they try to say to you and think about that.......
***** Shouldn't feed the trolls but you know that in absolute terms it's only about five times as much as The Netherlands. We're the size of Indiana. Also, the European Union as a whole gives out much more foreign aid than the US.
***** yeah, google...
The dutch economy is fine for now. The greece economy is fucked. But you can compare to the crisis with the cops and the black people.
***** fuck usa then
I live in Hilversum, which is quite close by where you started your cycle tour. You picked a nice day to cycle in a nice environment. Good video!
Martijn Vv Small world! :-)
I really enjoy your videos like this with commentary. What may seem normal and not worth commenting about to dutch eyes are the sort of things that make or break good infrastructure, and even well-meaning designers (specially in north america) seem to miss. Are all these solutions basically laid out in the CROW manual or is a lot just a matter of local/national tradition and experience?
Jarren Butterworth Thanks for your positive comment. The CROW manual is a recommendation, but it is followed by most road managers. So that does have its influence. There are still local differences, but overall the design is similar in all of the country and on a high level of quality. And yes, all the basics are in the manual.
Jarren Butterworth, most of the bike infrastructure used in The NLs can actually be found in the NACTO guide or other American publications. Although they really fail at intersections still, the real issue is that most Americans are just completely clueless. I am confident that most Dutch engineers could create a better bikeway with a NACTO guide than an American could with a CROW manual. That is is due to the lack of experience with a bikeway network designed for usefulness. Things get lost as the pictures cross the Atlantic. It's really imperative that those designing the bikeways take a trip to see how it looks and feels in person.
Very nice video, you live in a very good country for cycling, I just wish that some of our politicians here in the UK would wake up and start planning some decent cycleways across the UK
As a voter you should have some influence on them.
It looks like also in the Nederlands people don't understand that, in order to get on the train, they have to allow people to get out. Like in all other countries but Japan, people use to put themselves in front of the door, forcing you to find your way through them to get out. Nice video and nice country, thanks
that used to be different about 15 years ago some things changed and as i go by bike everywhere i just can't get used to it.
Something that was normal and expected folks would even comment if u stood in their way going out as its was something that would not help them get in sooner and everyone just knew it, though there was that one person being rebellious going against the grain xD standing in the middle of the split river of people being Mozes of annoyance that on occasion got pulled aside by some friend. Today's "normal" seems something opposite, it was in the culture it was normaal en gewoon, at least it's how i remember it, perhaps other dutchies in other cities have a different experience or viewpoint of the past not so long ago.
Thank you for a great video that not only showed the wonderful and far-sighted bicycle infrastructure of the Netherlands, but also some of the trains and bicycle parking and rental. Please include more of the public transportation in future videos, it is quite informative and inspiring to a citizen of the U.S.
I am in Bussum now(and in Amsterdam off course) . I really like this city. I will missing it when I have to go back to Budapest.
At 5:43 it is important to note that this is a one-way cycle track. There is another one at the other side of the main road. The dashed line indicates the edge of the sidewalk, not the other half of a dual cycle track. Cycle tracks would never be constructed so close to the exits of gardens. That would be like waiting for accidents to happen.The signpost is on the edge of the sidewalk. This is not how things are normally arranged. Usually there's a small height difference between the two, to indicate where cyclists and pedestrians should go (see 8:17).
I live in Bussum since 1977. For me this is nice to see. I know every road and place you showed me. Nice video.
7:55 is my bus stop !. Thanks for being here in Bussum.
Question: how do you know which crossing road you have the priority ? thank you very much for your video. I am looking forward to your reply.
丁鹏 I am carrying on the video. Like you mentioned, every crossing which has the red route is all priority to cyclists, isn't it ?
丁鹏 priority is usually indicated by small yield signs (inverted triangles) painted on the ground. And yes, when the cycle path is continuous you usually have priority as well
It can be seen by signs, though they are not everywhere and there are always 'shark teeth' or upside-down triangles pointed to the side that must wait. You can also see these from the priority road on the road you have priority to, so you can easily see if you have to wait or the others. Though you should never 'take priority' and always watch if you will be given it anyways.
Great videos, a question I have is how are garbage containers/bins dealt with in the Netherlands? They always seem to end up on a sidewalk or blocking a bike lane in my country which is terrible. What is the solution?
thatshowtoroll In busy streets our bins have their own designated spots reserved for them in the street. Never on bikepaths. As you can see in this video actually, there's green bins at the left side of the bikepath along the road starting at 5:17 . But nowadays bins are dissapearing, especially in more populated areas. Underground garbage containers are starting to take their place.
In my country (Belgium) it is illegal to put out your bags/bins/containers if it's not collection day. You can get a fine of up to 50 Euro for putting garbage bags/containers out before the allowed time. Leaving containers or bags on the street is simply not done. I think they have a similar system in The Netherlands.
And even on collection day, you have to make sure the bags/bins/containers are placed on a spot where they don't block the pedestrians, bikes or other traffic. If you do block something, the bincollectors are allowed to call the police. It's considered illegal garbage dumping and they will go through your trash to identify you and fine you. If it happens once and nobody complains, you're probably fine, but if someone keeps consistently putting out their garbage on a bike lane for example, eventually someone will complain, and the council will take action and fine you. No one wants to pay 50 euro just for their garbage so, they learn quickly not to do that. For restaurants and businesses that use bigger containers, the fines are even larger so...
2:17 About in line with my Oma & Opa's grave is there any upload of the cemetery?
you went to the ugly part of bussum if you went more to the north there are beautiful houses and places
Once again a lovely documentation of our bicycle infrastructure.
Does the pedestrian have a priority on a bike bath? For example at a bus stop, where the shelter is separated by bike bath from a sidewalk?
Polish Cyclist No, if a pedestrian has to go across a cycle path that pedestrian has to let all bicycles go first. It is the same as crossing a road, where you let all motor traffic pass first. Unless there is a zebra crossing. This town of Bussum has chosen to have zebra crossings on the cycle path. So if a pedestrian crosses the cycle path on a zebra crossing that pedestrian does have priority. Again, exactly the same as crossing a road on a zebra crossing.
At the busstop when there is a bus you need to wait until everybody is on and off the bus. Although we Dutch hardly obey that rule :-)
oconboio ai é xike em amigão
You cover your card twice, but one is missing at 0:20.
sagancmbp yes, the first instance the card isn't readable. The second and third time you could read everything clearly. That's why those two have a cover.
BicycleDutch It's OK then. I mentioned for safety sake.
That approximately 5:45 in the video I was surprised to see an unpainted metal post right in the middle of the pathway. This looks like it would be a hazard at night or other times when the visibility is poor. Any ideas on why that has not been marked more clearly?
midtoad It's on the sidewalk. The street is lit at night and we don't go and put hi-viz on every obstacle in the public space just because there might be fog once or twice a year. It's a case of using common sense.
MrAronymous Of course, posts on a sidewalk are not usually a problem, and no one expects them to be painted brightly. But this particular post is in the middle of a bicycle pathway, where it could easily be struck by someone riding a bicycle at higher speed. It's really no different from a bollard, which is always brightly painted.
midtoad You seem to have misunderstood. The pathway is actually divided by the dashed white line. Right of the line are grey/blue concrete pavers, which is where the sidewalk is. On the left side are pink concrete pavers*; the bike path. But you can barely see the colors in this recording. This configuration is not uncommon at all. What is uncommon is the lack of "physical" division, like a small curb and hight difference seperating the two modes. So this is a one-way path for bicycles, and the same configuration can be found on the other side of the street for traffic going the other way. So the pole is in fact on the sidewalk, not on the bike path.
*Edit: Actually, looking up the road on Google Street View it seems like there's no pink tiles after all. Which is very very unusual and not standard practise. The rest of my post is still valid.
MrAronymous I also looked at it on streetview, and that post holds a sign telling the cyclist (coming from that left steet ) to only go left, because of the one-way bike path.
But indeed it is not the best place to put a pole/post sign......
MrAronymous thanks for the clarification; that considerably reduces my concern. I thought this was a two-way bicycle path, in which case it would be likely that a cyclist in one direction could hit the pole. However, since there will not be anyone coming in the other direction, the cyclist should always be on the left and the pedestrian on the right, in which case there should be no problem.
Why are the sight-lines become better, when the cyclepath bends away from the roadway?
While driving on the main road, the driver should have noticed there are cycle tracks alongside the road. Once he or she is about to turn, this bendout leaves space to stop and double-check if there are no cyclists, before crossing. Added to that, the car has now turned to such a position (almost 90 degrees relative to the cyclepath) that the driver can look cyclists straight into their eyes, by just looking left and right, instead of needing to crane over the shoulder. Thirdly, the driver does not have to worry about obstructing any traffic from behind, because he or she can wait in between the road and the cycle path before making a decision. This way, each situation can be dealt with in separate steps, lowering the stress in making decisions. Cyclists tend to be overlooked more often if the choices to turn off and cross the path are made in one go. So this is more relaxed for drivers too. This has proven to be much safer for decades.
Now that I think of it, it would be very interesting to have a video of crossing such a cycle path from a driver's point of view, both with and without bendout.
". . . , this bendout leaves space to stop and double-check if there are no cyclists, . . ."
At this moment the cardriver can look at the first time to cyclists, because before the junction the cycletrack is not near the street, cyclists are at traffic lights faster than cars (traffic jam) and then the cardriver must drive the courve.
"Added to that, the car has now turned to such a position (almost 90 degrees relative to the cyclepath) that the driver can look cyclists straight into their eyes, . . ."
When the cardriver is on this position (the first opportunity to see cyclists) he or she (-: must able to brake directly, because there is directly the cycle way. The car must be also very slow. The main point is, that the cardriver must look. That's goes not automatic, he must think in this special moment that he must look at 90 degrees right or on the mirror or over shoulder, by cyclelanejunctions.
Yes, a video from cardriver was interesting.
Well, it sure works great over here. And I should know, because I cycle AND drive daily across these kind of junctions. Crossings with cycle paths nearer to the road exist here too, but just don't work as good as these.
At which point you are looking at the cyclists? (I don't drive much car in the city.) Between junctions with and without traffic lights and seperated green phases are differences.
not one for adrenaline junkies
you forgot to check the tyres before removing the bike from the rack.
Looks so expensive and useless
Useless? Why?
It's certainly not useless, it is very safe, many kids can even travel alone, I'm not sure from which age, but at ten I believe I rode alone to school. We don't really think about how much the costs are, it is simply part of the infrastructure. We would look up weird (is that an expression or can I use it? Oh well...) We would think it is weird if there aren't any bicycle paths next to a busy road.
Actually every bit of research done on cycling shows that investing in biking infrastructure is the best thing to do for any city/municipality. Every euro invested in biking infrastructure has an 8 euro return for society/the government.
And there are quite a few obvious reasons why this is true:
- Bike paths require far les maintenance then roads, and are far cheaper to build.
- More biking means less motor traffic, so less wear and tear on roads too, wich reduces maintenance costs of regular roads too. Plus roads can be narrower and can have less lanes due do less traffic, so again this leads to smaller maintenance costs for roads.
- More biking increases health of people who bike, reduces the risk of many diseases like heart disease, diabetes,... all caused by obesity or lack of excersise. The daily excersise of biking reduces many health risks simply by commuting. Excersise and biking have also been proven to reduce stress so this again leads to health benefits. Healthier people reduces health care costs for society as a whole.
- More biking means less motor traffic, which in turn means less air pollution. Less air pollution means again healthier people, again reducing the risk of many diseases and agian reducing health care costs for society.
- Less motor traffic also means less noise, which can lead to less stress. Less stress = health benefits.
- Less motor traffic leads to safer roads for other road users, again increasing health and reducing traffic deaths.
- Less motor traffic leads to increased quality of life, especially in residential areas and cities.
- Walkeable cities designed for walking and biking, tend to mix different functions and tends to lead to more vibrant and lively cities. But that is a different topic all together.
Lots of research, and practical experience in countries and/or cities that have really good biking infrastructure has shown many times over that investing in biking infrastructure has much higher returns for society than investing in roads and car infrastructure. This is especially true in urban areas and cities. So no, not expensive or useless at all...