This is a guest video produced by Adam Tranter, the Bicycle Mayor for Coventry, in the UK. You can find out more about Adam here: www.adamtranter.com or follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/adamtranter
Could you do a video about cycle lane colour? I grew up in the Netherlands and the UK, in the Netherlands all cycle lanes are the same "Dutch Red" colour so it is very easy for someone to tell what is safe to cycle on and what is not. When you are 5 years old and cycling to school alone this is VERY IMPORTANT, you can cope with that simple colour scheme but you have no idea what all the symbols and signs mean. By contrast in the rest of the world they are designed by activist committees and fragmented paths change colour every hundred metres as you can see decade after decade of tiny amounts of funds being spent as an after thought. They are red, green, blue, black, rainbow colours, people use them for political or ideological propaganda (painting rainbows) or get school kids / graffiti artists to use them as a canvas. This is a disaster, cycle paths are critical infrastructure used by unsupervised children in close proximity to high speed death machines, it has to be obvious and consistent what is and isn't a cycle path.
@@disposabull Especially for painted bike lanes, you need to really work the colour in the top layer of asphalt or concrete, because if not, it will fade very quickly. It's also not as visible in the dark or when it rains in my experience. The brighter colours on the other hand are much more visible, bright green or blue, even yellow is more distinctive to the black road surface. One of the main reasons why the Netherlands have gone with red is, it's cheap, it's probably the cheapest colouring you can find that is more or less durable, especially if it's not just a layer of paint on top, but you're using a lot to make a different tinted asphalt. But I do agree there needs to be standardisation, at least within one city, and preferably within one country.
Typical story. Make a mousetrap. Invent a better one. Sell the very profitable buisiness (Ideally to a rival.) then destroy it by selling a better one that you now have the capital to mass produce. It's always been that way because it works.
@@hansolo2121 They didn't invent cycling, no; but they did invent the safety bicycle upon which modern bicycles are still based. That was a hugely important invention and critical for widespread adoption of bicycles.
We did the same though. We were pretty much world leaders for wind energy before it became mainstream. We sold all our tech to the Chinese and now we are one of the worst in green energy in western Europe.
In the end you mention that it takes a lot of funding to get cycling infrastructure. However, once it's there, there is of course an enormous return on investment: 1. Bikes are cheaper than cars, and are cheaper to service, allowing people to spend more money on other things. 2. Bikes are good your own health, by increasing your fitness, and public health by decreasing polution. This will reduce healthcare costs as well as increase the number of quality of life years for people. 3. Biking itself is in between running and walking: where it is slightly more intensive than walking, it's less intensive than running. This means that you can get into a flow state, "the zone" for sports people, more easily, increasing mental health. This is also what the woman said in the interview. "Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance".🚲😜 4. Children aren't allowed to drive cars. So if they can use a bike alone, parents are free from having to be the family taxi. This gives parents a lot more free time. And it makes kids more independent.
Absolutely. In the UK the government research shows that there are £5.50 in benefits for every £1 spent on bike lanes! We just need some brave politicians now.
The problem isn't even that this logic is hard to grasp - it's calculating over too long a time span. Politicians care only for what bears fruit *before* the next election. *BUT* that "fruit" can be projected voter turnout. So if you get people to not vote for the dumb car-idiots, then the dumb car-idiots will stop being car-idiots....
also: maintaining bicycle infrastructure after it is built is much cheaper, the pavement does not get destroyed as much as with cars, buses and trucks, and lasts a quite while longer.
As we make our cities bicycle friendly, let's be deliberate about our language: We're not "getting people to ride," as in twisting their arms -- we're enabling a natural predisposition toward the best urban transport, the bike. Make it easy and safe, and most people will choose ride a bicycle, no arm twisting required.
@@smiter4458 agreed, but that hardly counts as arm twisting imo. You can still get to places by car in the Netherlands, a few rare exceptions where bikes are often prohibited as well (very crowded shopping streets, for instance). Yes, you may have to make a little detour, or have a hard time finding street parking, but you can get there.
@@smiter4458 In my experience such detours are often *faster*. Not necessarily than bikes, but than the equivalent non-Dutch-style infrastructure, that is.
Mind you that we, in the Netherlands, didn't get our bicycle infrastructure overnight. It has been developing for about 45 years now and still is developing as we speak. But it all started with one small step, like making specific bike lanes, and later bike paths and all.
@@hendrikdependrik1891 If I was 20 years younger I would go there with a bag full of paint bombs (balloons filled with paint) and bombard those assholes
Riding to the shops today, I was struck by the human scale of Copenhagen. The city is built for humans to live in. The motor traffic is rarely overwhelming. And it is so so pleasant to live in. Coming from car dominated cities in Australia as I do, I would now dread to go back to that.
@@willekevanderham5326 Yeah, the Netherlands looks amazing for cycling. (Just don't tell any Danes that I said so!) The infrastructure is great here but things like traffic lights, for instance, are 100 per cent for cars. The mentality seems to start and stop with keeping cars and bikes separate but prioritising cars.
As a Dutch person I must say I had the best cycling adventure of my life going from Sydney to Cairns on your ridiculously wide roads where there is plenty of room for everyone! Only time I felt threatened by the cars was in Sydney itself.
As a life time rider of bicycles from the Netherlands, what can I say: Thank you, Coventry, for this wonderful break-through in bicycle technology, that makes our towns and cities so much more livable, promotes our health and grants us all those wonderfull memories of a free, independent and adventurous childhood... Thank you, and please return to the family soon!
I feel like a lot of attention goes to big cities when it comes to cycling. The truth is cycling could play a much larger role in smaller cities that don't have their own rapid transit systems as we've seen in places like the Netherlands.
Exactly. It isn't just about cities. The Dutch bicycle infrastructure is nation-wide. No matter if it's a big motorway bridge, a dam, in the middle of nowhere of a random agrarian area, peripheral commercial/industrial zones and even some stack interchanges: There's bicycle infrastructure.
I do agree with you, but in the Netherlands the first pilots for cycling after the car were in cities (like Tilburg where I live). More people and more destinations, once they found out "built it and they come" the scheme went nation wide. But don't forget, the amazing and extended cycle network we have wasn't built over night, took 50 years. But I do agree that small communities can bennefit hugely from having good cycling infra and connect with other communities. And one often overlooked aspect is that our cycling infra is also used by people with a mobility scooter (elders and disabled), it gives them a lot of freedom (ruclips.net/video/xSGx3HSjKDo/видео.html)
This is very understated. The suburbs and small towns are deemed too quiet to deserve substantial cycle infrastructure, despite there often being more space for it to be implemented. In England, new housing estates are mandated to include cycling provision in their design, but only within the area being developed, so you end up with a lovely cycle network right until you leave and are guided onto a 60mph dual carriageway. I wish I was joking.
This type of path is ubiquitous in the Netherlands. images.app.goo.gl/zGqgQbZgYzJfQR6p8. Lovely trees were planted many years ago to provide a nice bike path.
I agree London has been the focus for improved cycle Infra but at least London actually has good public transport. Move up North where the public transport is poor and there’s no cycling infra then expect people to drive more
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Also in Europe it was more common to rebuild the past after the destruction of the war but in the UK we were unfortunately sat on a wave of modernisation and technological progress and it was used as chance for large scale experimentation without any research and planning. Abercrombie was one of the masterminds, some good ideas but mostly destruction and unloved results e.g. Plymouth.
so true for many many places (effective and efficient?!!) but Ill considered planning for the demise of people and planet and the embedding of old tech such as the heat engine aka petrol-diesel car and prop/jet engine.
Oh yes, this is so important. Back in 2018, I studied abroad in Coventry as part of a student exchange program. I convinced my parents to drive me all the way to the UK with my bike and me squashed in the backseat. As I was riding my bike every single day in Belgium (very similar to the Dutch), it would be the perfect mode of transport to keep things cheap. When I got there, I quickly realized there were no seperated bike lanes whatsoever, even trying to cross the road felt dangerous. The thing that struck me the most was the amount of taxis and how it was normal for people to pay for such short trips around the city, even prefering it over taking a walk. I mean, why would you when a bike is so much faster and cheaper? I ended up never using the bike because of how unsafe and out of place it felt. If anyone in Coventry sees a Gazelle bike lying around with a sticker of a Belgian flag, say hi from me! :-)
This basically applies to everything the UK does at this point: they should give up trying to be America and just embrace being a Netherlands or a Denmark: a small country with a rich history where life can be pretty good, thanks very much !
@se fi Funny thing is,is that you could do this as well. You were just like we were until the 1940s. Look at the towns and cities of New England but also at Savannah in Georgia, to see where you should be going.
indeed. the USA was the world leader from the 1940s till the 1970s.. it;s gone downhill ever since. Unless you are among the top richest people, it;s a shitty place to live
Yeah, I think we should all grow out of glamourizing USA. There're good things about the country but so there're good things about other countries. You shouldn't mindlessly copy from others. You should only take what will more likely work for you
I love that you got Brompton to sponsor this. I live in a city - Naples - where getting around on a normal bike would be next to impossible. There's nowhere to lock them up, and nowhere to store one at home. Having a Brompton has solved that and completely changed my life. I can even take it on the metro or the funicular railways whenever I want to go up to the really hilly parts of the city, then enjoy freewheeling back down again. It's also quicker - Google Maps says that the journey time from my home to my work is 23 minutes by car. I do it in 16/17 minutes by bike, as so many of the roads round here are closed or heavily restricted for cars and even scooters. I honestly think that small-wheeled folding bikes should be the future. No bike infrastructure? No problem...
That is actually a really good point. In NL most houses (but not all) indeed have a bicycle shed of basement box to store your bike more safely than outside on the street. Without proper bike storage, people still might not choose to ride
If there's one city naturally very suitable for bicycles it's Naples. Just place some bike staple racks and people are instantly start to use bicycles or e-bikes. Driving cars in such narrow streets is madness
Having moved from Romania to UK for 5 years (not much cycling infrastructure in either place) and now to The Netherlands, I would say bicycle lanes are a must for all cities of the world.. everyone should be able to use their bike as safely as possible..
In the UK, the non cyclists mindset has to change drastically. There is a very antibike headspace in an alarming amount of drivers, which probably stems from cyclists needing to be overly protective and defensive, which comes off as rude to the driver. (This is most definitely a product of poor bike infrastructure)
It is product of attitude . In UK there are Cyklists in Netherlands are people that are cykling ruclips.net/video/n4Kh3NqyXXg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/Py8gd9O45Qk/видео.html still better then Russia ruclips.net/video/VoCW5YHeSuw/видео.html
iI’s the same problem in the US. People are antibycle because there isn’t any infrastructure, but there isn’t any infrastructure because people are antibycle. The solution to this chicken and egg is to say there no infrastructure because you tore it down and fix the paradox i.e. the egg came first as fish lay eggs.
One of my top three activities of all time? Riding a bike in the Netherlands...absolutely the best exercise ever, plus being able to smell the flowers, watch people. It’s absolutely fantastic!
Fantastic video The Coventry ring road, whilst a blight on the skyline and choking the expansion of the city centre, means that journey times (by car) are incredibly short. In fact I think Coventry consistently ranks as one of the best cities for commute times in the UK. I can get from the North of the city to the city centre or train station in the south in 10 minutes. The ring road is the main way of getting around and wouldn't be suitable for bikes (at some junctions it's not even safe for cars), which probably explains the lack of bikes on the road. Great to see Coventry having a 'Bike Mayor' though, as I wasn't aware. In a city that celebrates its motoring heritage and where there is a massive focus on becoming a hub for electric cars, our proud cycling heritage and the role bicycles have to play in the city's future shouldn't be forgotten, particularly as the city centre undergoes massive regeneration.
Don't forget safe bicycle storage, Adam. Especially in various "hub" locations, such as train and bus depots, city centers, important buildings. Riding a bike somewhere is one thing, being able to leave it behind without the risk of not being there when you return another. Regular bike stands can easily be cut through with a pipe cutter, since they're usually hollow on the inside. LPT: Beware of "stickers" or tape around bike stands, they might be pre cut beneath that already.
Just add enough locks and chains to the bike. I have like 2 chains, 2 lock cables and 4 separated high safety locks above the build in lock. You need a professional cutting torch to get that thing open with out the keys. and even then I have a tracker in it so even if they steal it. they will be located with in a hour or two.
I feel your pain. My city, Braga in the North of Portugal, is also a car orientated city and very much anti-cycling, anti-pedestrian, anti-disabled people, anti-old people, anti-children...
There is a lot of emphasis on air quality and comfort, but I think one key benefit has been left out: From multiple researches it's been proven that Dutch kids are the most happy in the world. One of the main reasons provided is that children in The Netherlands have a great deal of freedom to experience and learn from the world around them. One big factor in this is it's because we have safe infrastructure. We can let our children play out of sight most of the time, because we can rely on the fact that traffic in general is safe and slow in residential areas. This gives our children a great sense of self-determination. I think that is the most important if you want to convince governments to make changes to their infrastructure as well.
This is a beautiful video, really good storytelling. I teared up watching you ride that historic bike. Thanks for this, will be sharing as much as I can.
humm kind of far. It would be better to focus cycling money on cyclepaths inisde cities/towns/villages but the provide public transit when it’s too fat to cycle
Imagine if the planners/architects/ builders of HS2 thought the same. A purpose built cycle route from London to Birmingham, running alongside the railway, with spurs off to connect to towns and villages along the way! We can but dream.......🚴
@@arnoldwardenaar127 i always cringe a bit when i hear about those cycle highways. to me it's just some modern term to use to lay some new bicycle paths. but maybe that's because where i'm from we don't really need any "high ways" to reach other towns around us faster, because we're already pretty well connected to most of those. i'm from Harderwijk (Gelderland) and if you start here you're able to bike to almost all other towns with ease. you're able to cycle to Amersfoort by 2 main paths (about 30 - 35km) riding either along the Randmeren (the waterway between Flevoland and Gelderland) or riding through farm areas and some smaller towns along the way. we're also able to reach Apeldoorn and Zwolle by riding pretty much in a straight line from start to finish. only way to make those trips really easier/faster, would be to lay a cycle way directly next to the highway (A28). but cycling from town to town in Flevoland is a bit more difficult, and could do with some good straight, interconnected cycle paths.
That was great! Thanks NJB & Adam Tranter. What a joy it just have been to ride that 1887 safety bike. Hope there will be an update in 2022 when that bike lane is ready, and crowded, and it has spawned offspring. Good luck, Bike Mayor Tranter! Your enthusiasm is infectious.
Love the idea of guest videos, really helps to put it all into context by comparing to other cities that have different approaches to cycling -- and inviting the people who live and work and move in that city every day to share their thoughts on it is a really excellent idea. This channel just gets better and better :+)
Awesome film Adam! Great campaign and so well done. I used to ride my bike everywhere in Cov (my hometown) to work & to friends houses and also for fun. Thank you for encouraging many more people to ride. So important. Claire
Thanks Adam, we also not there yet in the Netherlands. Goverments still invest in unleveld crossings, cycling highways, bike parking and many more to keep improving our infrastructure. Every (small) change is a step in the right direction
Wow, great to see Cov on this channel! I lived and studied there for 4 years. I went there to study car design, as it's the best place in the world to do it. For my first 2 years there, I didn't have a car and I walked and cycled around the city. Unfortunately the experience was horrible. I hated cycling there because the infrastructure was pretty terrible. For the 2nd 2 years I had a car, and it was much better. The traffic wasn't as bad as London, although parking was tricky. But what I didn't like was how dominated the city was by cars. Particularly the ring road (which is the scariest thing ever to drive on). The best bit of town was definitely the mostly pedestrian centre. The trouble was getting into and out of it safely and it's quite hilly, which made it less fun. Not to mention the cold weather. I sound like i'm against bikes, but i'm really not. I love how the Dutch are doing it and I had a great holiday riding bikes in Bruges (yes, I know that's Belgium), so I know that it can be pleasant if done right. I think that while Cov is a car city because it was the centre of the car industry, it's always been a place of re-invention and experimentation, not holding on to the past, so I'm hopeful that they will embrace finally making some big changes there to improve things for cyclists. Then maybe it would become a more attractive thing to do than drive.
You need to start with 1 and then over time you add more and more, the cycling infrastructure here in the Netherlands took decades to take the shape it has now. Hope more and more places will become like what we have though, bicycles are an amazing mode of transportation.
It's always so surreal seeing people talk about the place I live. It is so rarely talked about. hehe. thank you so much got talking about my lovely city. :))
Thanks for the history of the beginning of the modern bicycle, good luck on becoming a cycling city. Melbourne - Australia where I'm from have been slowly moving in that direction over the last couple of decades, only because Cycling has become HUGE and the State Government has had its hand forced. Remember when you are stuck in traffic, You are traffic!
Thanks for sharing this great video. I used to live in the Netherlands (Eindhoven) and totally agree with Orla Chennaoui that "cycling makes life so much easier". Now in Singapore, I'm glad that the government is investing a lot more in bicycle-friendly infrastructure. The number of bicycle commuters increased at least 3 folds over the last 5 years. There is still a long way to go and improving the infrastructure is the key. Built environment change people's behavior, which in turn shape the social norm and culture over time.
Kind of reminds me of the DBS bike we had in Norway. DBS stands for Den Beste Sykkel, translating into The Best Bicycle. And in many ways, DBS were the best bicycle. They were superior to any other brand in quality and the longevity of their bikes, they were affordable to everyone, and most importantly; they were built for comfort. At one point, the bicycle manufacturing was a big business here, and tens of thousands of DBS bikes found their way onto the road. In the 1950s, truly, everyone cycled. But than the cars exploded in numbers, and the bicycle quickly lost out in their fight for survival, and in 1978, they had been given the final, deadly blow; cyclists were given legal permission to use the pavement to cycle, effectively ending any and all efforts to separate the different groups on the road. By the 1990s, DBS had to outsource their manufacturing, and today they are only a shadow of their former glory. amazingly enough, their bicycles are still around; DBS bikes are a very common sight, and they are bikes that carries alot of prestige.
My home town. Grandmother built wheels for Rudge cycles (back in the day everything seemingly happened because of a something "at the back of the old Rudge") and Grandfather won the defence medal fighting fires on the night of the blitz (his ashes were scattered on the old Coventry Rugby pitch that's now the housing estate behind Adam in the penultimate segment). Now I'm a member of the Batch Diaspora (Coventrians call a bread roll a batch) living and biking in Brussels. But even though I ride the iconic cobbled roads in Belgium some of my most cherrished cycling memories come from my first rides out on the road - very close to Gloucester Street in the Moseley Avenue area of Coundon... plus my bike ride to school up Barker Butts lane looks like its got a bike lane! Hope Adam and other Coventrian Bicycle advocates get the success the city deserves - not only did it invent the bike, it pioneered the pedestrian shopping area too with the purpose built "shopping precinct". More power to you Adam!
They are currently building a huge cycle path completely separated from the road along hollyfast road to the dismay of many drivers due to it being near impossible to have two cars driving alongside eachother at the same time but hopefully this is going to help see a big change.
@@_megwaters The next time I'm over - after this pandemic has receded - it should be with my bike and I'll enjoy the "ride to school" on a bike path - it'll just be the forty odd years too late...
This is so nice for me to see because I live in Bedford, so seeing this is fairly local to me and I’ve always looked at Coventry and Milton Keynes as majorly impressive places.
Very interesting video, thank you.I live in Coventry and I'm a cyclist and I have a few comments specifically related to Coventry. 1, Coventry is a nice place to cycle actually. Ignoring the ring road and having to cross it (which is not much of a chore either), it's pretty easy to get around and motorists are generally very respectful of cyclists, I don't think infrastructure will make significant changes to bicycle adoption 2, My biggest issue with cycling anywhere is crime and the real concern that my bike won't be there when I come back to it (even when I've locked it). Carrying around my gold rated lock is heavy and inconvenient but not insurmountable but actually doesn't provide any defence against a half decent thief. I think this is true for most of the UK and is a bigger debate but I agree, this could be resolved through an infrastructure project for secure bike storage in the city and I would welcome this. See point 3 below though! 3, Not that many people who live in Coventry actually work there. My specific commute would benefit greatly from improved infrastructure but it's going out of Coventry to a business park near Birmingham airport and access is only possible along 2 dual carriageways. I do cycle this route periodically but it's terrifying. This could be resolved by improved planning laws and really should. I don't see it was at all acceptable for a major area of employment to be built without provision for access by foot or bike.
This is such a great video, mr Tranter! The quality of the content is amazing and it seems fit for traditional broadcasting. This was very informative. I'll share it with my fellow bicycle riding Dutch friends. 🚲🚲🚲
How lovely to see my home town of Coventry featured here. I grew up cycling, but like many I now mainly use a car. I would love to get cycling again, although I now live in Ireland. Most people have no idea that the bicycle as we know it was invented in Coventry, and that this led to motorcycles and cars also being built in the city. There is a most incredible Transport Museum in the city centre that is well worth a visit. I took my adult kids there on a visit to Coventry a few years ago, and they all loved it. There is so much information about how all of these industries started, and the displays take you from the first bicycles, through motor bikes and early cars right up to some very special modern vehicles. I really hope the city can make cycling safe and popular again, as it was when I was a teen.
Beautiful ode to the beginnings of the bicycle and its legacy. I ride a 'dutch' bike from the 1960's which still takes me all over the country for hundreds of Km's. And it is indeed spectacularly similar to the old beauty you showed. An engineering marvel.
Would love to see a video on how paris has transformed into a cycling friendly city during the coronavirus. I was there just before the lockdown and it seems like a lot has changed since then
7th of March here in Ottawa, and still plenty of ice and snow makes cycling this moment a bit iffy. At -8 C, I’m going out on my bike with studded tires. Wonderful project in Coventry, good for you all. The Dutch have succeeded in inventing a better future for human transportation. We here are trying to follow, fitfully, but still with some modest success. The Dutch pattern offers so many benefits, as others have noted below. Thanks for the video!
A very well made film, thanks guys. I think as Britain battles its way into this new era of protected cycle lanes it should go without saying that one absolutely cannot park vehicles on them. Unfortunately this just isn't the case, they are often treated as handy car parking. Maybe the kerbs need to be too high to get car wheels over, or maybe use enforcement?! Keep up the good work!
"The dutch bikes is originally from coventry." Yeah, we do that a lot. We see something really good in another country, start using it a lot, and then people start associating it with the netherlands. Tulips are Turkish and the first windmill was built in China.
@@kingofracism there absolutely is a thing such as Dutch culture. culture is defined as the "ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society." Dutch people have unique ideas, customs and social behaviours, thus there is a Dutch culture. there is no such thing as white culture. white people are very diverse. people have a very American view of what "white people" is. white people is a very diverse group of people, and to say otherwise is racist.
This is one the best recent videos I have seen on bicycle history from the UK. There is a documentary also called 'Bicycle' came out a few years ago which explains a really nice guide on the beginnings of the bicycle design and where it is now. Thank you again. 🚲🌞
How funny ! I live in the Netherlands love all things bike related, my university sweetheart studied in Coventry and all the times I visited her I never realized it’s the birthplace of the bike 🚲! Wow
Excellently done. I liked the first history part on the safety bike from 1885. Also the guy who told that biking only became massive in the UK the 1920's, he mentioned 1927 specifically. I suspect it was the same in the Netherlands. For my own observations over the last 50 years. When I was young I knew older family members born around 1895/1905, they were not keen bicyclists. For people born in 1920's, 30's and 40's it was second nature to use a bicycle. They learnt it when they were young.
The first 50 seconds of the video make their point even with the sound muted. EVERY SINGLE HOUSE he cycled past had 2 or even 3 cars parked outside of it. That's insane. You live in the middle of a city in the UK, you don't need 1 car, never mind 3 cars!
You are right Adam. Many lessons to be learned here for Coventry and other British Cities and Towns. Other countries too, but that's another story for another day. Haere pai, Aotearoa ex Manchester, Milano and....
Honestly despite it sometimes being very crowded when cycling through the larger cities in the Netherlands, I do love the fact (and usually take it for granted) that most cities are at least decently bicycle friendly. If I need to get across Utrecht I can usually beat someone if he decides to take the car. Sure if we're talking huge distances or far outside of busy hours then perhaps not, but still: cycling on a comfortable bike is a pretty healthy way to get around quickly. Just make sure to lock it up tightly whenever you're away from it for more than 5 minutes. Bicycles are considered ''common goods'' in the big cities here. Don't be surprised if the next hobo trying to sell you a bike for 20 bucks shows you your own!
Oh my, I love that bicycle so much! No seat tube on it, must make the frame pretty flexy, probably helps if you don't have air tyres. I'd find that interesting to revisit on a more modern bicycle though, to get the suspension already incorporated in to the frame. Great piece of content again! This channel is definitely in my top 5 of favorites to watch!
Sadly I fear that Coventry will fail to get the intersection details correct like the Dutch, with their two-way “protected” lanes that then throw cyclists into intersections where drivers do not expect them as 100+ years of traffic norms are then violated.
@@adamtranter234 Details! Details! Details! Simply giving cyclists priority is not enough. I'm a professional in the bike planning profession in the US but I also have 30 years of cycling experience and understand the dynamics of how bikes interact with moving motor traffic. Sadly most if not ALL of the two-way bike facilities I see installed in the US designed by the best consultants still place cyclist in locations where drivers don't expect them and/or see them. The Dutch understand the typical pitfalls and get these details right to mitigate these issues. I hope your consultant is better that most here in the USA.
@@andrewbesold3872 there are also fundamental cultural differences,e.g. Jaywalking is mostly not a thing in the uk, in Britain there's a stepping Shipton that over road has a priority over another road
I live in a town near Manchester, we've just had a junction upgraded to a "Cyclops junction". A big improvement, but a pointless reinventing of the wheel, when the Dutch have already perfected it.
There is an interesting relation often overlooked between bicycles and... ...gardening. In the opening shot of this video where we see all the front yards occupied with parked cars, we should realize half of those would have been gardens if people switch to bikes. It is also really another thing you see in the Netherlands; the absolutely amzing amount of extremely well tended and beautiful gardens.
Somewhat related - The UK Government did a consultation last year on reviewing the Highway Code to do more to protect Pedestrians and Cyclists (and Horse Riders and Motorcyclists) - it's a great step in the right direction towards making the most vulnerable road users to feel safer and to encourage motorists to be more considering when sharing public highways with the more vulnerable.
It would be good if we [UK] could come to a national agreement on cycle infrastructure colour - in the Netherlands, everybody knows that red=cycles. Here in the UK, it seems every city/town/council decides for itself; you see blue lanes in London - this video showed green lanes in Coventry - some lanes near me are red...or rather, _were_ red before the paint wore off.
Fantastic stuff, good job on your advocacy work Adam! I wish more cities had Bicycle Mayors, a great concept we could sure use in North America, considering most of our Mayors are by default Automobile Mayors.
After going to Copenhagen, Denmark for an internship I'm a changed man in terms of cycling. I live in Brighton for uni and now cycle for the groceries, and general city shopping stuff.
Wow! It's really interesting to learn about the history and to see the bike from a different perspective. It makes me very happy to live in the Netherlands. I really hope you will succeed in making Coventry more bike friendly :)
1:00 “24% of all journeys are under a mile.” Ha, not for me, I unfortunately live in the center of an almost exclusively residential city near Seattle, Washington and it takes at least 3 miles in any direction to escape suburban hell.
that's the hell of (north) American cities. those cites aren't build to live in but to drive in. one of the reasons cycling in The Netherlands is so easy and widespread is: most of the time going by bicycle to go grocery shopping or visit a bar, cinema etc, is just easier and faster than driving there by car.
But 3 miles is 5 km. On a leisurely Dutch bike that will take you only twenty minutes. Put on lycra and get your sports bike out and you'll get it done in less than 15 minutes.
@@XEinstein I also live at the top of a big hill that goes downwards in all directions for miles. Not very steep, but it really discourages cycling living in one of the most hilly areas of...at least the US.
really awesome 🤩 ! the guest in the guest-video had a guest-speaker in it 🤣 i really liked what she said too , it's like my motto: "cycling sets you FREE!!!" So maybe "guest-videos" can be the "New Thing", so that we can have more Not Just Bikes-videos more-often ? -that be cool ! There's a cycling revolution going on 😃!!! All around the world in cities everywhere 😃 !!! invite &or interview cycling-infrastructure-architects to show their city's story 😃 !!!
One of the major differences between Copenhagen, Holland and the UK is topology. Cities can be much hillier in the UK. Hopefully the e-bike will solve that issue.
Flat countries between the North Sea and the North German plain which extends eastward without mountains to Siberia are extremely windy so it's swings and roundabouts tbh.
Hills are mainly an issue for scotland. though the Pennine and Peak district mountains can also be that. Normally feels like further north the more hills there are type thing.
Thanks for the interesting exploration of history. Unfortunately, I think the civic planners in the USA had the same myopic views as they had in Coventry a hundred years ago. If there were more bike lanes, then more people might ride, and then it would feel less strange to bike places as an adult.
I cycled to coventry the other weekend, they had the weirdest cycle lane on Broad lane heading into the city. It was a proper separated cycle lane for 100m and then it just ends, very weird.
In my city many cyclists often don't use bikelines bc they crop up and disappear at random. In some cases I'm not even sure if it's a bikeline that people use as parking space or bikeline ending with parking space or maybe it was once a bikeline but now it's parking space. My city doesn't seem to know either
This is a guest video produced by Adam Tranter, the Bicycle Mayor for Coventry, in the UK.
You can find out more about Adam here: www.adamtranter.com or follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/adamtranter
poor guy being proud of his future painted gutter
Nice you guys are trying different approaches and content, love it!
Your show really makes me wanna run for mayor of my city I appreciate these videos
Could you do a video about cycle lane colour? I grew up in the Netherlands and the UK, in the Netherlands all cycle lanes are the same "Dutch Red" colour so it is very easy for someone to tell what is safe to cycle on and what is not. When you are 5 years old and cycling to school alone this is VERY IMPORTANT, you can cope with that simple colour scheme but you have no idea what all the symbols and signs mean.
By contrast in the rest of the world they are designed by activist committees and fragmented paths change colour every hundred metres as you can see decade after decade of tiny amounts of funds being spent as an after thought. They are red, green, blue, black, rainbow colours, people use them for political or ideological propaganda (painting rainbows) or get school kids / graffiti artists to use them as a canvas.
This is a disaster, cycle paths are critical infrastructure used by unsupervised children in close proximity to high speed death machines, it has to be obvious and consistent what is and isn't a cycle path.
@@disposabull Especially for painted bike lanes, you need to really work the colour in the top layer of asphalt or concrete, because if not, it will fade very quickly. It's also not as visible in the dark or when it rains in my experience. The brighter colours on the other hand are much more visible, bright green or blue, even yellow is more distinctive to the black road surface. One of the main reasons why the Netherlands have gone with red is, it's cheap, it's probably the cheapest colouring you can find that is more or less durable, especially if it's not just a layer of paint on top, but you're using a lot to make a different tinted asphalt. But I do agree there needs to be standardisation, at least within one city, and preferably within one country.
to quote Jay Foreman: "Isn't that just typically British: we got there first and now we're the worst"
Exactly!
Also, Japan crushed Britain's Crown Jewel of the East, Singapore, using bicycles.
Typical story. Make a mousetrap. Invent a better one. Sell the very profitable buisiness (Ideally to a rival.) then destroy it by selling a better one that you now have the capital to mass produce.
It's always been that way because it works.
@@hansolo2121 They didn't invent cycling, no; but they did invent the safety bicycle upon which modern bicycles are still based. That was a hugely important invention and critical for widespread adoption of bicycles.
We did the same though. We were pretty much world leaders for wind energy before it became mainstream. We sold all our tech to the Chinese and now we are one of the worst in green energy in western Europe.
In the end you mention that it takes a lot of funding to get cycling infrastructure. However, once it's there, there is of course an enormous return on investment:
1. Bikes are cheaper than cars, and are cheaper to service, allowing people to spend more money on other things.
2. Bikes are good your own health, by increasing your fitness, and public health by decreasing polution. This will reduce healthcare costs as well as increase the number of quality of life years for people.
3. Biking itself is in between running and walking: where it is slightly more intensive than walking, it's less intensive than running. This means that you can get into a flow state, "the zone" for sports people, more easily, increasing mental health. This is also what the woman said in the interview. "Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance".🚲😜
4. Children aren't allowed to drive cars. So if they can use a bike alone, parents are free from having to be the family taxi. This gives parents a lot more free time. And it makes kids more independent.
Absolutely. In the UK the government research shows that there are £5.50 in benefits for every £1 spent on bike lanes! We just need some brave politicians now.
That is logic, don't confuse those poor car-addicts with logic they can't handel that sort of reality
The problem isn't even that this logic is hard to grasp - it's calculating over too long a time span. Politicians care only for what bears fruit *before* the next election.
*BUT* that "fruit" can be projected voter turnout. So if you get people to not vote for the dumb car-idiots, then the dumb car-idiots will stop being car-idiots....
Great comment...
also: maintaining bicycle infrastructure after it is built is much cheaper, the pavement does not get destroyed as much as with cars, buses and trucks, and lasts a quite while longer.
As we make our cities bicycle friendly, let's be deliberate about our language: We're not "getting people to ride," as in twisting their arms -- we're enabling a natural predisposition toward the best urban transport, the bike. Make it easy and safe, and most people will choose ride a bicycle, no arm twisting required.
Exactly! Build and they will come, it's like noahs ark! (not the theme park BTW :p)
@@smiter4458 agreed, but that hardly counts as arm twisting imo. You can still get to places by car in the Netherlands, a few rare exceptions where bikes are often prohibited as well (very crowded shopping streets, for instance). Yes, you may have to make a little detour, or have a hard time finding street parking, but you can get there.
@@malloott i just saw Thunderf00t's vid on that 🤣
@@smiter4458 In my experience such detours are often *faster*. Not necessarily than bikes, but than the equivalent non-Dutch-style infrastructure, that is.
"Giving people the choice" is always a popular form of argument (politics wise).
Mind you that we, in the Netherlands, didn't get our bicycle infrastructure overnight. It has been developing for about 45 years now and still is developing as we speak. But it all started with one small step, like making specific bike lanes, and later bike paths and all.
The best time for Coventry to start was 45 years ago, the second best time is now! :)
Totally agree! Just building bike paths is not enough to create safe cycle infrastructure
@@Svennoow123 Exactly. Especially in Paris they need to learn this lesson! www.dumpert.nl/item/8081221_c2f29c1f/latest
@@hendrikdependrik1891 that video is hilarious but also infuriating, the cars just took over the bike lanes!!
@@hendrikdependrik1891 If I was 20 years younger I would go there with a bag full of paint bombs (balloons filled with paint) and bombard those assholes
Riding to the shops today, I was struck by the human scale of Copenhagen. The city is built for humans to live in. The motor traffic is rarely overwhelming. And it is so so pleasant to live in. Coming from car dominated cities in Australia as I do, I would now dread to go back to that.
Copenhagen is great but it is not the Netherlands, if you like cycling in Copenhagen, you will love it in most of the Netherlands.
@@willekevanderham5326 Yeah, the Netherlands looks amazing for cycling. (Just don't tell any Danes that I said so!) The infrastructure is great here but things like traffic lights, for instance, are 100 per cent for cars. The mentality seems to start and stop with keeping cars and bikes separate but prioritising cars.
Copenhagen is great (which is why I live here), but it doesn't translate to the rest of the country in the same way it does in the Netherlands
As a Dutch person I must say I had the best cycling adventure of my life going from Sydney to Cairns on your ridiculously wide roads where there is plenty of room for everyone! Only time I felt threatened by the cars was in Sydney itself.
You can add Auckland and New Zealand to that dread
I'm a Coventrian who has helped to campaign for more cycle lanes. This video is absolutely spot on.
Thanks Robyn!
As a life time rider of bicycles from the Netherlands, what can I say:
Thank you, Coventry, for this wonderful break-through in bicycle technology, that makes our towns and cities so much more livable, promotes our health and grants us all those wonderfull memories of a free, independent and adventurous childhood...
Thank you, and please return to the family soon!
❤️
@@adamtranter234 👍 Your well made and passionate short movie just somehow got me right in the heart, Adam. Well done.
@@mourlyvold7655 That means a lot, thank you!
@@adamtranter234 👍
Please return to the family soon…..as a Brit if only
I feel like a lot of attention goes to big cities when it comes to cycling. The truth is cycling could play a much larger role in smaller cities that don't have their own rapid transit systems as we've seen in places like the Netherlands.
Exactly. It isn't just about cities. The Dutch bicycle infrastructure is nation-wide. No matter if it's a big motorway bridge, a dam, in the middle of nowhere of a random agrarian area, peripheral commercial/industrial zones and even some stack interchanges: There's bicycle infrastructure.
I do agree with you, but in the Netherlands the first pilots for cycling after the car were in cities (like Tilburg where I live). More people and more destinations, once they found out "built it and they come" the scheme went nation wide. But don't forget, the amazing and extended cycle network we have wasn't built over night, took 50 years. But I do agree that small communities can bennefit hugely from having good cycling infra and connect with other communities. And one often overlooked aspect is that our cycling infra is also used by people with a mobility scooter (elders and disabled), it gives them a lot of freedom (ruclips.net/video/xSGx3HSjKDo/видео.html)
This is very understated. The suburbs and small towns are deemed too quiet to deserve substantial cycle infrastructure, despite there often being more space for it to be implemented.
In England, new housing estates are mandated to include cycling provision in their design, but only within the area being developed, so you end up with a lovely cycle network right until you leave and are guided onto a 60mph dual carriageway. I wish I was joking.
This type of path is ubiquitous in the Netherlands. images.app.goo.gl/zGqgQbZgYzJfQR6p8. Lovely trees were planted many years ago to provide a nice bike path.
I agree London has been the focus for improved cycle Infra but at least London actually has good public transport. Move up North where the public transport is poor and there’s no cycling infra then expect people to drive more
Orange: Essays
Blue: No commentary
Red: About the channel
Green: Shorts
Black: Other
White: Patreon
Yellow: Guest Videos
I love them all :)
*ALL VIDEOS ARE GREAT*
He should pin this.
Technically Red is "Meta / about the channel", but close enough. 😉
we need a whole wickipedia page about not just bikes lore (cannon and legends)
@@NotJustBikes 👍
Hotel: Trivago
Nice to see reference to the planners destroying more of Coventry than the bombs.
Not a lot of people, even in Coventry, realise this!
When I was there between '08 and '10 (my ex is from there), I was shocked by the state of the city tbh.
Also in Europe it was more common to rebuild the past after the destruction of the war but in the UK we were unfortunately sat on a wave of modernisation and technological progress and it was used as chance for large scale experimentation without any research and planning. Abercrombie was one of the masterminds, some good ideas but mostly destruction and unloved results e.g. Plymouth.
so true for many many places (effective and efficient?!!) but Ill considered planning for the demise of people and planet and the embedding of old tech such as the heat engine aka petrol-diesel car and prop/jet engine.
@@suburbia2050 Rotterdam was also rebuilt as a car city, However we now understand that cars do not support a city with high population density.
Oh yes, this is so important. Back in 2018, I studied abroad in Coventry as part of a student exchange program. I convinced my parents to drive me all the way to the UK with my bike and me squashed in the backseat. As I was riding my bike every single day in Belgium (very similar to the Dutch), it would be the perfect mode of transport to keep things cheap. When I got there, I quickly realized there were no seperated bike lanes whatsoever, even trying to cross the road felt dangerous.
The thing that struck me the most was the amount of taxis and how it was normal for people to pay for such short trips around the city, even prefering it over taking a walk. I mean, why would you when a bike is so much faster and cheaper? I ended up never using the bike because of how unsafe and out of place it felt.
If anyone in Coventry sees a Gazelle bike lying around with a sticker of a Belgian flag, say hi from me! :-)
You left it there?!
This basically applies to everything the UK does at this point: they should give up trying to be America and just embrace being a Netherlands or a Denmark: a small country with a rich history where life can be pretty good, thanks very much !
Agree!
@se fi Funny thing is,is that you could do this as well. You were just like we were until the 1940s. Look at the towns and cities of New England but also at Savannah in Georgia, to see where you should be going.
indeed. the USA was the world leader from the 1940s till the 1970s.. it;s gone downhill ever since. Unless you are among the top richest people, it;s a shitty place to live
Yeah, I think we should all grow out of glamourizing USA. There're good things about the country but so there're good things about other countries. You shouldn't mindlessly copy from others. You should only take what will more likely work for you
Completely agree. The UK doesn’t have space for 10 lanes like the US, we don’t have space for all these cars either. The Dutch method only make sense
I love that you got Brompton to sponsor this. I live in a city - Naples - where getting around on a normal bike would be next to impossible. There's nowhere to lock them up, and nowhere to store one at home. Having a Brompton has solved that and completely changed my life. I can even take it on the metro or the funicular railways whenever I want to go up to the really hilly parts of the city, then enjoy freewheeling back down again.
It's also quicker - Google Maps says that the journey time from my home to my work is 23 minutes by car. I do it in 16/17 minutes by bike, as so many of the roads round here are closed or heavily restricted for cars and even scooters.
I honestly think that small-wheeled folding bikes should be the future. No bike infrastructure? No problem...
Thanks Adam. Brompton are really supportive of changing cities for the better in the UK - I love mine.
That is actually a really good point. In NL most houses (but not all) indeed have a bicycle shed of basement box to store your bike more safely than outside on the street. Without proper bike storage, people still might not choose to ride
If there's one city naturally very suitable for bicycles it's Naples. Just place some bike staple racks and people are instantly start to use bicycles or e-bikes. Driving cars in such narrow streets is madness
Having moved from Romania to UK for 5 years (not much cycling infrastructure in either place) and now to The Netherlands, I would say bicycle lanes are a must for all cities of the world.. everyone should be able to use their bike as safely as possible..
In the UK, the non cyclists mindset has to change drastically. There is a very antibike headspace in an alarming amount of drivers, which probably stems from cyclists needing to be overly protective and defensive, which comes off as rude to the driver. (This is most definitely a product of poor bike infrastructure)
It is product of attitude . In UK there are Cyklists in Netherlands are people that are cykling
ruclips.net/video/n4Kh3NqyXXg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/Py8gd9O45Qk/видео.html
still better then Russia
ruclips.net/video/VoCW5YHeSuw/видео.html
I don't think that motorists who have never cycled, have any idea how vulnerable cyclists can feel.
@@Marvhead Sadly, I don't think that's the problem...I think it's that they couldn't care less.
It's also about unfit, unhealthy ugly people hating fit healthy attractive people.
iI’s the same problem in the US. People are antibycle because there isn’t any infrastructure, but there isn’t any infrastructure because people are antibycle. The solution to this chicken and egg is to say there no infrastructure because you tore it down and fix the paradox i.e. the egg came first as fish lay eggs.
One of my top three activities of all time? Riding a bike in the Netherlands...absolutely the best exercise ever, plus being able to smell the flowers, watch people. It’s absolutely fantastic!
Fantastic video
The Coventry ring road, whilst a blight on the skyline and choking the expansion of the city centre, means that journey times (by car) are incredibly short. In fact I think Coventry consistently ranks as one of the best cities for commute times in the UK. I can get from the North of the city to the city centre or train station in the south in 10 minutes. The ring road is the main way of getting around and wouldn't be suitable for bikes (at some junctions it's not even safe for cars), which probably explains the lack of bikes on the road.
Great to see Coventry having a 'Bike Mayor' though, as I wasn't aware. In a city that celebrates its motoring heritage and where there is a massive focus on becoming a hub for electric cars, our proud cycling heritage and the role bicycles have to play in the city's future shouldn't be forgotten, particularly as the city centre undergoes massive regeneration.
Wow, this isn't just a guest spot, this is a cri de coeur! Excellent bit of guest curation, this man is amazing.
Thank you Bill!
Don't forget safe bicycle storage, Adam. Especially in various "hub" locations, such as train and bus depots, city centers, important buildings.
Riding a bike somewhere is one thing, being able to leave it behind without the risk of not being there when you return another. Regular bike stands can easily be cut through with a pipe cutter, since they're usually hollow on the inside. LPT: Beware of "stickers" or tape around bike stands, they might be pre cut beneath that already.
Just add enough locks and chains to the bike. I have like 2 chains, 2 lock cables and 4 separated high safety locks above the build in lock.
You need a professional cutting torch to get that thing open with out the keys.
and even then I have a tracker in it so even if they steal it. they will be located with in a hour or two.
@@sirBrouwer You want me to carry 6 locks and 2 cables around? About 20 Kg of locks? Are you out of your mind?
@@Dark__Thoughts yes i am. The idea is that people will be motivated to steal your locks not the bike.
just make sure your bike is so shit no one bothers to steal it.
@@aronhuinink9500 you do have the risk that the city will remove it thinking its just trash.
Orla is a Legend! Great point, the social mobility through cycling just makes life much better.
Orla was so great to interview. Really positive and I'm jealous of her lifestyle in NL.
I feel your pain. My city, Braga in the North of Portugal, is also a car orientated city and very much anti-cycling, anti-pedestrian, anti-disabled people, anti-old people, anti-children...
Keep fighting!
That's basically all of Portugal, unfortunately. Lisbon seems to be trying at least - they have some new cycle path (which no one respects)
All journeys starts with a first step. Keep the course Coventry, for your future.
Thank you!
There is a lot of emphasis on air quality and comfort, but I think one key benefit has been left out:
From multiple researches it's been proven that Dutch kids are the most happy in the world. One of the main reasons provided is that children in The Netherlands have a great deal of freedom to experience and learn from the world around them. One big factor in this is it's because we have safe infrastructure. We can let our children play out of sight most of the time, because we can rely on the fact that traffic in general is safe and slow in residential areas. This gives our children a great sense of self-determination. I think that is the most important if you want to convince governments to make changes to their infrastructure as well.
Thank you for this well made documentary and i hope Coventry gets its cycling infrastructure sorted out.
Thanks Arnold. Me too!
Wow, I absolutely loved this! Such passion for proper bicycle infrastructure :)
Thank you!
Great video, loved the history of Coventry and the aim to make it more livable for it's people.
Thank you!
This is a beautiful video, really good storytelling. I teared up watching you ride that historic bike. Thanks for this, will be sharing as much as I can.
Thanks Rahul!
I wish there could be a solid cycle lane from London to Brighton or even to Dover...maybe Scotland, but I'm just dreaming now.
I've been having exactly the same dream since I was a child, crikey that was a very long time ago 😁
humm kind of far. It would be better to focus cycling money on cyclepaths inisde cities/towns/villages but the provide public transit when it’s too fat to cycle
Imagine if the planners/architects/ builders of HS2 thought the same.
A purpose built cycle route from London to Birmingham, running alongside the railway, with spurs off to connect to towns and villages along the way!
We can but dream.......🚴
@@dorsettyke that sounds like a bicycle highway... we're just starting to develope them in the Netherlands
@@arnoldwardenaar127 i always cringe a bit when i hear about those cycle highways. to me it's just some modern term to use to lay some new bicycle paths.
but maybe that's because where i'm from we don't really need any "high ways" to reach other towns around us faster, because we're already pretty well connected to most of those.
i'm from Harderwijk (Gelderland) and if you start here you're able to bike to almost all other towns with ease.
you're able to cycle to Amersfoort by 2 main paths (about 30 - 35km) riding either along the Randmeren (the waterway between Flevoland and Gelderland) or riding through farm areas and some smaller towns along the way.
we're also able to reach Apeldoorn and Zwolle by riding pretty much in a straight line from start to finish.
only way to make those trips really easier/faster, would be to lay a cycle way directly next to the highway (A28).
but cycling from town to town in Flevoland is a bit more difficult, and could do with some good straight, interconnected cycle paths.
That was great! Thanks NJB & Adam Tranter. What a joy it just have been to ride that 1887 safety bike. Hope there will be an update in 2022 when that bike lane is ready, and crowded, and it has spawned offspring. Good luck, Bike Mayor Tranter! Your enthusiasm is infectious.
Thank you!
Great video. Well edited, clever camera angles, great script, and dang...is anyone else in love with this bike mayor's voice?
Love the idea of guest videos, really helps to put it all into context by comparing to other cities that have different approaches to cycling -- and inviting the people who live and work and move in that city every day to share their thoughts on it is a really excellent idea. This channel just gets better and better :+)
Awesome film Adam! Great campaign and so well done. I used to ride my bike everywhere in Cov (my hometown) to work & to friends houses and also for fun. Thank you for encouraging many more people to ride. So important. Claire
I really like how he colours his sorts of videos
Thanks Adam, we also not there yet in the Netherlands. Goverments still invest in unleveld crossings, cycling highways, bike parking and many more to keep improving our infrastructure. Every (small) change is a step in the right direction
Wow, great to see Cov on this channel! I lived and studied there for 4 years. I went there to study car design, as it's the best place in the world to do it. For my first 2 years there, I didn't have a car and I walked and cycled around the city. Unfortunately the experience was horrible. I hated cycling there because the infrastructure was pretty terrible. For the 2nd 2 years I had a car, and it was much better. The traffic wasn't as bad as London, although parking was tricky. But what I didn't like was how dominated the city was by cars. Particularly the ring road (which is the scariest thing ever to drive on). The best bit of town was definitely the mostly pedestrian centre. The trouble was getting into and out of it safely and it's quite hilly, which made it less fun. Not to mention the cold weather. I sound like i'm against bikes, but i'm really not. I love how the Dutch are doing it and I had a great holiday riding bikes in Bruges (yes, I know that's Belgium), so I know that it can be pleasant if done right. I think that while Cov is a car city because it was the centre of the car industry, it's always been a place of re-invention and experimentation, not holding on to the past, so I'm hopeful that they will embrace finally making some big changes there to improve things for cyclists. Then maybe it would become a more attractive thing to do than drive.
Thanks Mark. I hope so too!
You need to start with 1 and then over time you add more and more, the cycling infrastructure here in the Netherlands took decades to take the shape it has now.
Hope more and more places will become like what we have though, bicycles are an amazing mode of transportation.
It's always so surreal seeing people talk about the place I live. It is so rarely talked about. hehe. thank you so much got talking about my lovely city. :))
Thanks for the history of the beginning of the modern bicycle, good luck on becoming a cycling city.
Melbourne - Australia where I'm from have been slowly moving in that direction over the last couple of decades, only because Cycling has become HUGE and the State Government has had its hand forced. Remember when you are stuck in traffic, You are traffic!
Thanks for watching!
could/would you do a(nother) "guest-video" on it ?
Thanks for sharing this great video. I used to live in the Netherlands (Eindhoven) and totally agree with Orla Chennaoui that "cycling makes life so much easier". Now in Singapore, I'm glad that the government is investing a lot more in bicycle-friendly infrastructure. The number of bicycle commuters increased at least 3 folds over the last 5 years. There is still a long way to go and improving the infrastructure is the key.
Built environment change people's behavior, which in turn shape the social norm and culture over time.
Kind of reminds me of the DBS bike we had in Norway. DBS stands for Den Beste Sykkel, translating into The Best Bicycle. And in many ways, DBS were the best bicycle. They were superior to any other brand in quality and the longevity of their bikes, they were affordable to everyone, and most importantly; they were built for comfort. At one point, the bicycle manufacturing was a big business here, and tens of thousands of DBS bikes found their way onto the road. In the 1950s, truly, everyone cycled. But than the cars exploded in numbers, and the bicycle quickly lost out in their fight for survival, and in 1978, they had been given the final, deadly blow; cyclists were given legal permission to use the pavement to cycle, effectively ending any and all efforts to separate the different groups on the road. By the 1990s, DBS had to outsource their manufacturing, and today they are only a shadow of their former glory. amazingly enough, their bicycles are still around; DBS bikes are a very common sight, and they are bikes that carries alot of prestige.
Jeg bor i Norge :))
My home town. Grandmother built wheels for Rudge cycles (back in the day everything seemingly happened because of a something "at the back of the old Rudge") and Grandfather won the defence medal fighting fires on the night of the blitz (his ashes were scattered on the old Coventry Rugby pitch that's now the housing estate behind Adam in the penultimate segment). Now I'm a member of the Batch Diaspora (Coventrians call a bread roll a batch) living and biking in Brussels. But even though I ride the iconic cobbled roads in Belgium some of my most cherrished cycling memories come from my first rides out on the road - very close to Gloucester Street in the Moseley Avenue area of Coundon... plus my bike ride to school up Barker Butts lane looks like its got a bike lane! Hope Adam and other Coventrian Bicycle advocates get the success the city deserves - not only did it invent the bike, it pioneered the pedestrian shopping area too with the purpose built "shopping precinct". More power to you Adam!
They are currently building a huge cycle path completely separated from the road along hollyfast road to the dismay of many drivers due to it being near impossible to have two cars driving alongside eachother at the same time but hopefully this is going to help see a big change.
@@_megwaters The next time I'm over - after this pandemic has receded - it should be with my bike and I'll enjoy the "ride to school" on a bike path - it'll just be the forty odd years too late...
What a fantastic bit of Journalism. Required watching for everyone involved in transport and town planning.
Thank you Neil.
This is so nice for me to see because I live in Bedford, so seeing this is fairly local to me and I’ve always looked at Coventry and Milton Keynes as majorly impressive places.
Very interesting video, thank you.I live in Coventry and I'm a cyclist and I have a few comments specifically related to Coventry.
1, Coventry is a nice place to cycle actually. Ignoring the ring road and having to cross it (which is not much of a chore either), it's pretty easy to get around and motorists are generally very respectful of cyclists, I don't think infrastructure will make significant changes to bicycle adoption
2, My biggest issue with cycling anywhere is crime and the real concern that my bike won't be there when I come back to it (even when I've locked it). Carrying around my gold rated lock is heavy and inconvenient but not insurmountable but actually doesn't provide any defence against a half decent thief. I think this is true for most of the UK and is a bigger debate but I agree, this could be resolved through an infrastructure project for secure bike storage in the city and I would welcome this. See point 3 below though!
3, Not that many people who live in Coventry actually work there. My specific commute would benefit greatly from improved infrastructure but it's going out of Coventry to a business park near Birmingham airport and access is only possible along 2 dual carriageways. I do cycle this route periodically but it's terrifying. This could be resolved by improved planning laws and really should. I don't see it was at all acceptable for a major area of employment to be built without provision for access by foot or bike.
This is such a great video, mr Tranter! The quality of the content is amazing and it seems fit for traditional broadcasting. This was very informative. I'll share it with my fellow bicycle riding Dutch friends. 🚲🚲🚲
Thank you so much!
Excellent video! Going from zero to one bikes lane is difficult but each new bike lane becomes easier to approve and build.
How lovely to see my home town of Coventry featured here. I grew up cycling, but like many I now mainly use a car. I would love to get cycling again, although I now live in Ireland. Most people have no idea that the bicycle as we know it was invented in Coventry, and that this led to motorcycles and cars also being built in the city. There is a most incredible Transport Museum in the city centre that is well worth a visit. I took my adult kids there on a visit to Coventry a few years ago, and they all loved it. There is so much information about how all of these industries started, and the displays take you from the first bicycles, through motor bikes and early cars right up to some very special modern vehicles. I really hope the city can make cycling safe and popular again, as it was when I was a teen.
Beautiful ode to the beginnings of the bicycle and its legacy. I ride a 'dutch' bike from the 1960's which still takes me all over the country for hundreds of Km's. And it is indeed spectacularly similar to the old beauty you showed. An engineering marvel.
It’s very depressing to hear The humm of cars throughout many of the shots
Yes, we had to move several times because of the noise of idling engines! Ironic, at least.
Even for a long-time driver!
Would love to see a video on how paris has transformed into a cycling friendly city during the coronavirus. I was there just before the lockdown and it seems like a lot has changed since then
yeah 🤩! great idea ! There's a Cycling Revolution going on in cities all over the world, it's frickin' amazing 🤩
7th of March here in Ottawa, and still plenty of ice and snow makes cycling this moment a bit iffy. At -8 C, I’m going out on my bike with studded tires. Wonderful project in Coventry, good for you all. The Dutch have succeeded in inventing a better future for human transportation. We here are trying to follow, fitfully, but still with some modest success. The Dutch pattern offers so many benefits, as others have noted below. Thanks for the video!
My name is Kemp, I'm a Coventry man, and I love my bike.
A very well made film, thanks guys. I think as Britain battles its way into this new era of protected cycle lanes it should go without saying that one absolutely cannot park vehicles on them. Unfortunately this just isn't the case, they are often treated as handy car parking. Maybe the kerbs need to be too high to get car wheels over, or maybe use enforcement?!
Keep up the good work!
"The dutch bikes is originally from coventry." Yeah, we do that a lot. We see something really good in another country, start using it a lot, and then people start associating it with the netherlands. Tulips are Turkish and the first windmill was built in China.
They are still part of your culture though. Goedendag!
@@deputyVH no such thing as Dutch culture lmao they're White
@@kingofracism there absolutely is a thing such as Dutch culture. culture is defined as the "ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society." Dutch people have unique ideas, customs and social behaviours, thus there is a Dutch culture. there is no such thing as white culture. white people are very diverse. people have a very American view of what "white people" is. white people is a very diverse group of people, and to say otherwise is racist.
@@kingofracism and this is part of the reason why I want to move out of the us. So much racial animosity. White people have culture
Wasn't expecting Orla on this channel, lovely surprise. Great video Adam.
Thanks Jelle. Orla was great to interview.
Love it! Do more guest videos from around the world. We all need to learn from each other, compare, develop :) ... share research etc. Would be great
This is one the best recent videos I have seen on bicycle history from the UK. There is a documentary also called 'Bicycle' came out a few years ago which explains a really nice guide on the beginnings of the bicycle design and where it is now. Thank you again. 🚲🌞
Watched this several times. Such a great video! Love this channel and the perspective. Love from a car prioritized hellscape❤️
Nice bit of history, thanks!
Thanks Matthew. Glad you enjoyed it!
How funny ! I live in the Netherlands love all things bike related, my university sweetheart studied in Coventry and all the times I visited her I never realized it’s the birthplace of the bike 🚲! Wow
It's not, look up Karl von Drais de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Drais
Very Interesting , best wishes to Coventry from Exeter 👍
Cycling has kept me sane during lockdown. More people should try it.
Excellently done. I liked the first history part on the safety bike from 1885. Also the guy who told that biking only became massive in the UK the 1920's, he mentioned 1927 specifically. I suspect it was the same in the Netherlands. For my own observations over the last 50 years. When I was young I knew older family members born around 1895/1905, they were not keen bicyclists. For people born in 1920's, 30's and 40's it was second nature to use a bicycle. They learnt it when they were young.
Bicycles are simply, poetry in motion !!!!
It's a great video, we will watch it with our kids =) Thank you for a high-quality content! 👍💎👍💎👍💎
The first 50 seconds of the video make their point even with the sound muted. EVERY SINGLE HOUSE he cycled past had 2 or even 3 cars parked outside of it. That's insane. You live in the middle of a city in the UK, you don't need 1 car, never mind 3 cars!
So now this channel is not just Not Just Bikes.
🤔
I'm from Coventry, CT USA,
You are right Adam. Many lessons to be learned here for Coventry and other British Cities and Towns. Other countries too, but that's another story for another day. Haere pai, Aotearoa ex Manchester, Milano and....
Honestly despite it sometimes being very crowded when cycling through the larger cities in the Netherlands, I do love the fact (and usually take it for granted) that most cities are at least decently bicycle friendly. If I need to get across Utrecht I can usually beat someone if he decides to take the car. Sure if we're talking huge distances or far outside of busy hours then perhaps not, but still: cycling on a comfortable bike is a pretty healthy way to get around quickly. Just make sure to lock it up tightly whenever you're away from it for more than 5 minutes. Bicycles are considered ''common goods'' in the big cities here. Don't be surprised if the next hobo trying to sell you a bike for 20 bucks shows you your own!
This is wonderful! We need some collaborations like this with some Canadian enthusiasts as well ;)
I'm not far from Coventry so this video is so pleasing to see. 😊
Lovely video 💖🥺 I love biking everywhere but my city isn't made for it. Seeing videos like these make me so happy. Thank you. 🥰
Oh my, I love that bicycle so much! No seat tube on it, must make the frame pretty flexy, probably helps if you don't have air tyres. I'd find that interesting to revisit on a more modern bicycle though, to get the suspension already incorporated in to the frame. Great piece of content again! This channel is definitely in my top 5 of favorites to watch!
I loved this video!
Thanks Doug!
Sadly I fear that Coventry will fail to get the intersection details correct like the Dutch, with their two-way “protected” lanes that then throw cyclists into intersections where drivers do not expect them as 100+ years of traffic norms are then violated.
The new lanes that are being created have priority over junctions and are well thought out. But there's a lot of retro-fitting to do! Decades' worth.
@@adamtranter234 Details! Details! Details! Simply giving cyclists priority is not enough. I'm a professional in the bike planning profession in the US but I also have 30 years of cycling experience and understand the dynamics of how bikes interact with moving motor traffic. Sadly most if not ALL of the two-way bike facilities I see installed in the US designed by the best consultants still place cyclist in locations where drivers don't expect them and/or see them. The Dutch understand the typical pitfalls and get these details right to mitigate these issues. I hope your consultant is better that most here in the USA.
@@andrewbesold3872 there are also fundamental cultural differences,e.g. Jaywalking is mostly not a thing in the uk, in Britain there's a stepping Shipton that over road has a priority over another road
I live in a town near Manchester, we've just had a junction upgraded to a "Cyclops junction". A big improvement, but a pointless reinventing of the wheel, when the Dutch have already perfected it.
This was a wonderful video
There is an interesting relation often overlooked between bicycles and... ...gardening. In the opening shot of this video where we see all the front yards occupied with parked cars, we should realize half of those would have been gardens if people switch to bikes. It is also really another thing you see in the Netherlands; the absolutely amzing amount of extremely well tended and beautiful gardens.
Somewhat related - The UK Government did a consultation last year on reviewing the Highway Code to do more to protect Pedestrians and Cyclists (and Horse Riders and Motorcyclists) - it's a great step in the right direction towards making the most vulnerable road users to feel safer and to encourage motorists to be more considering when sharing public highways with the more vulnerable.
Though there is well of course controversy around it with most drivers not really realising it's existance.
Awesome video, thank you. Keep chipping away at this until every city has bike infrastructure!
Thanks Bruce!
Awesome to see a video on here that featured Coventry a city very local to me!
It would be good if we [UK] could come to a national agreement on cycle infrastructure colour - in the Netherlands, everybody knows that red=cycles.
Here in the UK, it seems every city/town/council decides for itself; you see blue lanes in London - this video showed green lanes in Coventry - some lanes near me are red...or rather, _were_ red before the paint wore off.
To make it more confusing - I think the cycle Lane colours will remain black on that particular cycleway!
I think the London cycle lanes are blue (if the paint has not gone by now) because a bank or company sponsort it
Agreed. In my city it’s green. There’s no unanimous colour.
Yeah UK is really odd.
i know in my town they are red and tend to be mixed in with footpaths.
And even those are hit or miss.
I realy....realy like your vídeos and point of view. Tks
Fantastic video
Thanks Edward.
Fantastic stuff, good job on your advocacy work Adam! I wish more cities had Bicycle Mayors, a great concept we could sure use in North America, considering most of our Mayors are by default Automobile Mayors.
Thanks Roy!
As a Dutchman, thank you John Kemp Starley!
After going to Copenhagen, Denmark for an internship I'm a changed man in terms of cycling. I live in Brighton for uni and now cycle for the groceries, and general city shopping stuff.
Wow! It's really interesting to learn about the history and to see the bike from a different perspective. It makes me very happy to live in the Netherlands. I really hope you will succeed in making Coventry more bike friendly :)
Amazing!!
Wow, that old safety bicycle looks so graceful compared to modern bikes!
1:00 “24% of all journeys are under a mile.”
Ha, not for me, I unfortunately live in the center of an almost exclusively residential city near Seattle, Washington and it takes at least 3 miles in any direction to escape suburban hell.
that's the hell of (north) American cities. those cites aren't build to live in but to drive in.
one of the reasons cycling in The Netherlands is so easy and widespread is: most of the time going by bicycle to go grocery shopping or visit a bar, cinema etc, is just easier and faster than driving there by car.
But 3 miles is 5 km. On a leisurely Dutch bike that will take you only twenty minutes. Put on lycra and get your sports bike out and you'll get it done in less than 15 minutes.
@@XEinstein I also live at the top of a big hill that goes downwards in all directions for miles. Not very steep, but it really discourages cycling living in one of the most hilly areas of...at least the US.
@@ex0stasis72 on the bright side: that hill does make every ride away from your house a breeze!
@@XEinstein I cycle 5km to work each day, takes me 10 minutes door to door on a road bike
I feel like I'm watching an old episode of gadget show - great video
really awesome 🤩 ! the guest in the guest-video had a guest-speaker in it 🤣
i really liked what she said too , it's like my motto: "cycling sets you FREE!!!"
So maybe "guest-videos" can be the "New Thing", so that we can have more Not Just Bikes-videos more-often ? -that be cool !
There's a cycling revolution going on 😃!!! All around the world in cities everywhere 😃 !!! invite &or interview cycling-infrastructure-architects to show their city's story 😃 !!!
One of the major differences between Copenhagen, Holland and the UK is topology. Cities can be much hillier in the UK. Hopefully the e-bike will solve that issue.
Flat countries between the North Sea and the North German plain which extends eastward without mountains to Siberia are extremely windy so it's swings and roundabouts tbh.
Hills are mainly an issue for scotland.
though the Pennine and Peak district mountains can also be that.
Normally feels like further north the more hills there are type thing.
Thanks for the interesting exploration of history. Unfortunately, I think the civic planners in the USA had the same myopic views as they had in Coventry a hundred years ago. If there were more bike lanes, then more people might ride, and then it would feel less strange to bike places as an adult.
The car industry made a lot more money. The US is about money.
This was great
Ah, thanks Jan. Glad you liked it.
@@adamtranter234 the production was really great, truly a mini documentary.
I cycled to coventry the other weekend, they had the weirdest cycle lane on Broad lane heading into the city. It was a proper separated cycle lane for 100m and then it just ends, very weird.
Yes, that's representative of a lot of our cycle lanes. The new ones in the plan are very good though!
@@adamtranter234 Best of luck on this endeavour Adam! Build it and they will come. Greetings from Haarlem.
In my city many cyclists often don't use bikelines bc they crop up and disappear at random. In some cases I'm not even sure if it's a bikeline that people use as parking space or bikeline ending with parking space or maybe it was once a bikeline but now it's parking space. My city doesn't seem to know either
Love the idea of guest contributors.
Yeah I'm not sure how often I'll do it, but when Adam offered I thought it was a really good fit. I'm happy with how the video turned out!
@@NotJustBikes Thanks for having me :)
Great stuff
Thanks for watching Oswald!