Can the Best US Bike Cities Compete with Europe?
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2022
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Cities in Europe, particularly the Netherlands, are known for their amazing bicycle infrastructure. Can a city in the top one percent of all bike cities in the United States compete with the best in Europe? And how much better are these top US bike cities when compared to the worst in the US?
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Most international videos on dutch bicycle infrastructure focus on Amsterdam, sometimes on Utrecht and Rotterdam. I think this undermines a big part of why the dutch design works; it is everywhere. Not just in Amsterdam (which most Dutch people think is actually one of the worst cities in the Netherlands regarding cycling), but in every city, town and in between. An excellent video, but I think telling not just about A'dam and showing the integrated, cross-country infrastructure shows a truer representation of reality.
Yes you can cycle everywhere in the Netherlands, but there are no real large areas of nothingness like in North America. Every few kilometers there is something or somewhere where you can go. A village, a train stop, a national park with lots of people cycling, you name it. There is always something within a 10 minute cycling distance. Meanwhile in North America you can cycle the same distance from Middelburg to Groningen and only find maybe find a few farms in between.
@@KevinKickChannel It doesn't have to fill in everywhere in the US, but it does show that even if it's not high density city center proper cycle infrastructure can still work fine, our country side is certainly lower density than US suburbs so if we can make it work in our country side then US suburbs should not be any problem
Came here to say this. When I lived in the Netherlands I used to look out the window of the train and marvel at cycle paths following the train from town to town. Even in most rural areas the cycle infrastructure you find in big cities exists but obviously scaled down. The bicycle parking at Den Helder station might not have been as big and fancy as at the station in The Hague, but it was just as functional.
Never ask a dutch person how they fund their infrastructure
@@phoneticalballsack the t-word
I really enjoy this type of video in the tone of "look how awesome it is that this place is improving!". There is a lot of justified criticism of terribly designed urban and suburban places, but it's nice to have a positive viewpoint once in a while.
That's true. My friends and family always say "you're so negative!" whenever I discuss urban design and suburbia, which I guess I am, on a broad level. But I also talk excitedly about the revitalization happening in the downtown and old neighborhoods (here in Tucson). I don't think I am off-base, in having a generally negative assessment of the outer suburbs of Tucson (which is most of Tucson) and a very positive assessment of the revitalizing core. I certainly don't sugar-coat things, I don't think.
Exactly. There are quite a few cities here that have recognized the problem and are trying to improve, and we should commend them for that (instead of getting mad that they haven’t had 50 years of support of bike projects to build out their network)
Yeah, I think Strong Towns overdoes the whole "Suburbia is doomed!" message. Infill development is the answer.
One of the reasons I don't enjoy Not Just Bikes as much as I would like. City Beautiful actually offers solutions and looks at the progress that has been made instead of just ragging on a place that doesn't look like the Netherlands.
@@Exquisite_Poupon NJB started out as a "look how cool the Netherlands is!" channel, showing how good city design looks like, so a very positive perspective. Concrete examples of how improvements can be made and how effective it is in areas where they have been implemented.
Yet over time, the channel shifted more towards complaining about how terrible US and Canadian cities are, which I don't blame him for because that attracts way more views.
As a Dutch person I have to say that I am jealous of the bycicle trail at 4:44 that looks super nice! It even has an awesome view on the huge natural round stoney dyke things in the background.
When Dutch person sees a hill 😅
you can go to Limburg and see something similar
@@GregVidua that is a mountain for us.
i live here and seeing this comment makes me so fucking proud that the dutch dig our infrastructure
that's a small mountain, 400 meters, haha
Growing up in San Luis Obispo in the 90's and 2000's didn't have all of that bike infrastructure. Now that I'm on a city council I find it nearly impossible to make any headway on improving bike infrastructure. It's very hard to convince the city to spend money on something that has little demand. It's like a chicken and an egg.
By the way, the story of Mission Plaza is pretty interesting. The citizens of SLO voted to get rid of a major section of street decades before the modern walkability movement.
✊️
You’re fighting the good fight, bless 🙏
Cycling encourages public health and tourism
We didn't have much in the way of dedicated cycling infrastructure in The Netherlands in the 1990s either.
But it was during that time that the big change took place.
I think simply limiting car traffic in the first place is the simplest and cheapest way to get more safety and less traffic deaths and injuries.
Cut the number of available roads in, say, half and turn those into cycling lanes.
How are people going to move around if you limit car traffic but increase cycling lanes?
Maybe by cycling?
Getting people out of cars and onto bikes or even on foot is also a know working cure for obesity.
So true; with public transit, there's lot of talk for supporting it, but not enough effort to actually get people to ride it.
Even with improvements in the Bay Area, ridership has been steadily decreasing for the past 20 years in California -- and with it, service.
This is great. Not Just Bikes often gives the impression that all US cities are hellholes, and I'm sure many are, but it's great to see things changing. Of course some cities have to be the first and set an example for others to follow. Let's hope Gary Indiana will someday also prioritise bike infrastructure like this.
Good bike infrastructure in Gary would be like adding racing stripes to a beat-up car, or taping a ribbon to a dumpster. The whole city would need to improve many other things before good bike infrastructure could become useful there.
Not Just Bikes is just being honest.
@@Wqddles I wouldn't say that is true. It would make sense in a lower income community to emphasize bike infrastructure because fewer people either can afford cars or would want to pay what it costs to have one, but they have no other choice.
It might also revitalize the area and bring in people who want to live in a cycle-centric community and business who want to be around people like that.
It's a fallacy to thikn a community can be "too poor" for biking. It's basically saying "poor people don't deserve safe biking".
To be fair, Jason rags on London Ontario Canada, his hometown, more than any US city.
Dutch as well....what I think is that it's a shame most people only look at Amsterdam. Which would be fine, but then maybe the outskirts. Just a handful of places have a large century old center where there are trams, many tourists not being accustomed on where to walk or where to look for when going into another direction and so on. Plus there are people from Amsterdam there :) The fast majority of cycle lanes aren't in the center of Amsterdam.
Montreal is amazing to bike in! So many protected lanes and they actually have handles with footrests that you can grab on to when at stop lights. It’s great
I only saw the footrests in the Boyer street bike lane, are they in other places too?
@@maxencefenoll9823 yeah, there are some on Bellechasse, Chateaubriand, and other streets.
I'd like to see more paths that are raised to be even with the sidewalk. I've seen it in a couple of spots but it disappears into just a painted path where there are driveway/parking access ramps. I'd like to see them persist & have the extended access ramp.
I suppose having the regular sidewalk, a drop down to the bike lane & then a raised curb separating it from the car lane could be safer since the pedestrians & cyclists are grade separated from each other. The elevated bike lane looks tidier though, and might make snow clearing easier.
Le génie québécois à l'oeuvre!
@@WhiskyCanuck it does look cooler but they did this when renovating peel street and people often walk on the bike path
As a dutch dude, I'm proud of you guys. The change in thinking is awesome and the solutions for installing actual bike infrastructure in a cheap and sustainable manner are very cool to see and something that probably every US city could learn from. If they have the resources to spare and the will to build bike infrastructure then a large part of thinking about the 'how' has already been done, lowering the bar to actually do it.
Thanks Dutch dude. We look to the Netherlands for inspiration.
I live in DC and the expansion of protected bike lanes over the last few years has really reminded me of some stuff I saw in the Netherlands. Worth checking out.
Let me geuss, you went to Amsterdam?
I think one of the other issue is planning of the cities in general due to American urban sprawl it's much harder to create good 10 - 15 minute neighbourhood. Espcially when you think of how all roads are designed for cars, no nice small picturesque streets with nice architecture. It's just bland and it must feel exhausting that you have to cycle so much just to get to the next shop rather than in a Dutch or any European city or town where there would be 10 shops in that distance, with varied interesting architecture.
Yes, good point! Though I think bikes are a pretty good way to retrofit suburban areas. They can make it easier to go a couple of miles in 15 minutes and hopefully get somewhere more urban.
@@CityBeautiful oh 100% I was just meaning in a straight comparison with European places, that were designed around walking and, horses and carts. There overall city planning will make cycling a better experience, all cycling infrastructure being equal
Totally! Here in North Carolina they’ll put up ‘share the road’ signs on a two-lane road and it’s only for the bravest cyclists. It’s like the Not Just Bikes host says, suburbs have the room to add bike infrastructure. Why don’t we! There may not be dynamic urban scenery, but if it felt safe to bike I’d enjoy biking past some trees :)
That’s because most people who live in suburban sprawls don’t want to live near the big city in the first place. That’s why they’re miles away. I live in one and it’s a whole lot more safer than being in the major city with all the crime.
@@Labyrinth6000 That's not necessarily true. Cities can have good neighborhoods as safe as any other place.
Of the best biking cities, one really stands out: Montreal. Most of the others are small college towns or affluent suburbs. Montreal is a city of 1.8 million (4x larger than all the other American cities on that list combined) with the wider area having 4.3 million ppl.
Aside from the bikes, Montreal has a well developed public transport network, a huge amount of public parks, and it's a fairly dense city with a lot of walkable neighborhoods.
Dave, you should really visit.
One thing I'll add is I think pedestrians need to be considered as more important than cycling. While bikes are definitely something that should take priority over cars, I've seen on countless occasions that pedestrians suffer when bikes are allowed to share their space. Biker mentality is often that everyone must yield to them and they don't have to follow any rules. In my city, for example, they added bike lanes, and now I have to make sure to look both ways before crossing one-way streets (even when I have the walk light) because cyclists ignore red lights and go whichever direction they please down one-way bike lanes.
Why should pedestrians be prioritized? Their energy use is the effectively the same. The bike route has more throughput and lower latency. In a collision the injuries are symmetric. The network built around cycling is faster and more efficient given the same resources.
Of course cyclists should have to follow traffic law. The reason many don't is that they're used to being in the extreme minority in a system that tries to screw them. They just need a culture change.
@@appa609 Right. I guess all I'm saying is that there needs to be consideration for the pedestrians, who IMO are the most valuable asset to the community. Bikes and cars usually just pass through. I'm all for replacing as many car lanes as possible with bike lanes, but I'm also 100% for ticketing and enforcing road rules for bikers.
I've also noticed bikers tend to ignore stop signs & red lights. It's annoying.
Yes shared spaces don't work everywhere, and a cycling path that pedestrians also have to use only works if it's wide enough and there is not a lot of pedestrian traffic.
@@Allaiya. because stop lights and stop signs are inefficient and to be avoided if possible. But in the US, theyre standard.
So nice of him to shout out such a small, little known channel like not just bikes
Growing up in Tucson Arizona, I’m lucky to be able to bike to school using the loop every day, it’s so nice seeing the mountains and the nature every early morning before school and every afternoon before going home. Sure, it might not be as world class as Europe, but it’s still very much appreciated that my city can provide at least some bike infrastructure!
Europe bicyle infrastructure is not that great either. First place is the Netherlands, than comes Denmark, + Flanders and some parts of Germany and that's mainly it. Yes you have some cities which are okay for cycling, but nothing compared to the Netherlands.
Tucson is a nightmare for cycling or running. There are hardly any bike paths. You have the Loop... but that is essentially it. Most streets don't have sidewalks and given how wide, high speed, and frontage laden the streets are, it sure doesn't feel safe going on the roads.
just checked the ratings from the resource you used and WOW - the city i just left had a rating of 15 and is a super wealthy place (have money and ridership to justify investing in good biking infrastructure but don’t), meanwhile the place i live now is rated a 40. it’s a NOTICEABLE difference! so happy to live somewhere bike-able!
I've lived in SLO county for decades, and when I first found and subscribed to this channel, I had no idea that you also live in SLO, and it still trips me out sometimes when I see local footage and hear the local area being talked about on such a big and successful RUclips channel. The weather here is indeed perfect most of the time. I don't think I ever want to live anywhere else.
Honestly, I’m surprised that anywhere in California made the top 10. The state is famous for the kind of car-oriented suburban sprawl that defines places like Los Angeles and Sacramento. Even along the cycle track you showed, it looked more like a typical stroad (fast food joints, parking lots, curb cuts, low density) than something that would naturally be friendly to cyclists.
American capitalism is pretty ugly
At least CA is doing a lot of ambitious stuff to solve this like high speed rail and elimination of parking requirements
@@misha.michael it's not doing nearly enough, and high speed rail has been delayed by decades due to the Hyperloop scam. I can only pray that something opens within my lifetime, which is beyond pathetic
@@misha.michael elimination of parking requirements is ambitious? What Paris is doing is ambitious, LA can't even use paint to put one cohesive set of bike lanes for commuters
@@carbrained It's a step in the right direction though. Minimal parking requirements are one of the worst things you can implement in a city, so we have to applaud any place that gets rid of them.
To be honest, as a German, I can only dream of the infrastructure you showed the best cities have. Here, planers still think a narrow bike lane at the side of a 4 lane road inside the dooring zone is a good idea. And as a cyclist, you are forced to use them. And if there are "protected" bike lanes installed, then also only inside the dooring zone. We also have an idiotic thing called Radschutzstreifen (can be translated as bike protecting lane) which is just a doted lane marking on the side of the road and makes everything even more dangerous because they are even thinner than bike lanes, driving there means you are in the dooring zone and most drivers think it allows them to overtake you with 1cm clearance and that you have to cylce there what is not the case. By the way, if you are caught in a dooring accident as a cyclist, the fault is seen to be partially yours. Two years ago, I read an article in a local newspaper where a member of the local city council bragged about making the situation for cyclists better by declaring some of the side streets bicycle boulevards and paint them purple, so everyone is confused. These idiots really thought this way it would be safer because everyone would pay more attention.
Also Radschutzstreifen are the favourite parking spot for anybody that just has to do something "for three minutes only".
Cycling in Germany is dreadful. I live in the Netherlands and have crossed the border by bike several times, and while Germany has the good sense to continue the cycling paths we've built to the border onto the next town inside Germany, things usually go downhill from there, and the general feeling you're left with when cycling in Germany is that you are treated as a glorified pedestrian who nobody really wants on their streets.
We're just as bad in general in the UK.
We recently changed our Highway Code (Road law) to state that when passing a cyclist you must give them a 1.2m gap and that you're not allowed to enter a roundabout at all when a cyclist is in one. (The idea of these laws was a hierarchy system - Trucks give way to cars, cars to bikes, bikes to pedestrians)
In reality... Just about everyone close-passes cyclists still and just about no one will give-way to a cyclist who's on a roundabout. They basically tried to write laws to 'fix' our bicylcle issues instead of creating better infrastructure.
(In fairness... Like Germany, we have a lot less wide roads compared to the US. The US can easily ditch an entire lane of a 3 lane road to make it a protected 2-way bike lane!)
I'm English and I've never felt more affinity for a German description of something. I can just imagine the council doing something stupid like purple paint here too.
@Ulu Zulu What? Where do you get the idea car infrastructure in the Netherlands has been dismantled in any way? Yes, it's changed design to be in line with sustainable safety, but overall drivers have good experiences too, even better than in North America.
I saw oak park on the list of the bottom 5. Contrary to Gary, it's actually the exact opposite problem there - it's a rich suburb.
I live in oak park. It definitely is a wealthy town but there’s a ton of affordable housing and apartment complexes. Super strange to see oak park so low, when they are prioritizing higher density construction. I know of 4 new apartment buildings under construction off the top of my head, and this is in a city that already has tons of dense housing. I was shocked to see it on the list, but also, oak parks “bike network” is so barebones I really shouldn’t be. 0 north south separated bike lanes, only a handful of semi separated lanes East west, the safest routes involve going on side streets. It’s a car centric nightmare. Can’t believe they simultaneously build high density housing and 0 bike infrastructure
@@thomasnewton8223 i think the methodology of the rating is very flawed. As someone who used to bike every day in oak park, it’s a very pleasant and safe place to bike and has a very high bike ridership rate compared to other suburbs (probably even higher than Chicago itself). Was shocked to see it so low on the list.
@@charlesroeger7228 Yeah I grew up in Oak Park and biked basically everywhere for years! It's dense so every destination is close by and almost all the streets are very stress-free residential streets. There aren't too many actual bike lanes but you can get basically everywhere on low-traffic streets. Genuinely it's a good place to bike and I'm startled to see it on this list!
I saw this too and was so confused I bike their all the time and find it a very easy ride they even have bike lanes on Madison
@@thomasnewton8223 agreed would be nice if they gave Harlem or oak park Ave a bike lane but there’s plenty of side streets to avoid car traffic too
I took a look at Ashland Wisconsin. It's a pretty typical 8000 person town with standard car centric design. It seems to be included in the list because there are some bike trails that connect it to nearby towns. Very weird list.
Yeah, Ashland is a tiny North Wisconsin town
It is a weird list. Oak Park IL being at the lowest end? How? Oak Park is a dense village of 54k residents packed into less than 5 square miles. There are fantastic separated bike lanes on Madison St, relatively descent lanes on Oak Park Ave, and the streets are safe.
Surprised Madison, WI isn’t a top 5 biking city. I have biked in Madison and there’s numerous trails and there’s an abundance of bike lanes in Madison
I looked up towns that I actually biked in and concluded their ranking system is pretty bad. Putting Ashland over Madison or even Milwaukee is pretty bad.
@@Zylork0122 Exactly! Meanwhile the 70k+ population towns in Illinois had better ratings even though they're the epitome of sprawled suburbs that only value cars... With maybe a handful of "bike lanes" that are white lines drawn next to the curb.
Great video! Keep biking!
You don't need dutch style bike extremism for a city to be pedestrian friendly, you literally just need more sidewalks and shops inside suburbs instead of being only outside them. All of east Europe is far poorer than Netherlands and can't afford such large bicycle paths, but there are sidewalks everywhere and bike paths on at least large streets, there are shops everywhere, buses go around suburbs and you aren't in any disadvantage if you don't have a car, or the opposite, if you have a car you also don't have to deal with a million cyclists. USA and Netherlands are just the extremes of each side, the sweet spot is in the middle.
I’m entering my senior year here at Cal Poly and it’s incredible to see the progress that’s been made in the 4 years I’ve been here. There’s still a lot to be done, notably Foothill Blvd which is one of the busiest thoroughfares to campus without any protected bike infrastructure, which is right near where I live. But still amazing to see a city willing to do stuff like that, and I’m hoping the new apartment complex that just opened will spur some new bike infrastructure too
Chicago has a pretty good biking environment, considering how massive and car filled it is. Was cool to see the 606/Bloomingdale trail on here, used to ride on that all the time, they need to connect it to the lakefront path (another good bike path but crowded)
I was very surprised Oak Park was in the bottom 5
Compare Western Europe (Amsterdam, Paris, what not.)
With Eastern Europe.
(Moscow, Sarajevo, Kyiv, Vilnius, Warsaw, Budapest, and what not.)
With Each other.
I just recently moved to the town of mammoth lakes, it’s interesting how they have made an effort to make the town more bike friendly than it was, but it seems the implementation lacks bike prominence and still focuses on the movement of cars. For the amount of bikers and businesses that rent bikes, the town should do more to support the infrastructure that pays the towns taxes.
Would love to see you do a video on mammoth lakes and towns in transition.
I took up biking 7 years ago as my main form of transportation. I'm never going back.
I almost moved to San Luis Obispo. Great city!
I grew up in Scottsdale AZ, a city infamous for being extremely suburban. It however, has an incredible bike path network spanning most of the city called the Greenbelt
Ah, Scottsdale and Gilbert, the suburbs notorious for blocking new light rail and housing developments. I don't get the opposition against these though.
@@ianhomerpura8937 I can tell you. They are wealthy NIMBY suburbs. Though I believe Scottsdale will crack within the next decade.
I think your downtown example is really important. It goes to show that bike infrastructure doesn't have to be an all in major project. It can be little relatively inexpensive cheap projects that incrementally improve over time.
don't get me wrong, it's great to see smaller cities do their share. I wish places like Gary find themselves some local politicians to start rethinking their city, not just for cyclists, but for everyone
Well they keep on voting for the same people, that’s their own fault and I don’t pity them.
Gary's problems run very deep, to the point cops tell you to just leave and don't stop at the stopsigns until you reach a less economically depressed area. Its already become a "positive" feed back loop meaning the problems reinforce themselves.
All things considered yeah... bicycle paths is the least of Gary's problems.
small cities and towns are compact and are especially suited for more active transportation infrastructure. However, it seems that a lot of small town residents will just drive to the next town with a walmart for shopping.
These lists are not foolproof. San Luis Obispo is not a top tier example for biking. I used it live near SLO. I now live in San Antonio. San Antonio has over a hundred miles of grade separated bike paths crossing the city and continuing to grow. San Antonio has done way more for bikes than SLO has and ever will but it will never be mentioned on a bike list. San Luis Obispo is a small town which makes it easy to claim bike nirvana when your town is only 1-2 miles wide.
My city of Tucson Arizona prides itself on its biking culture, but we are also 95% stroads and suburbs here, so, we have a ton of ridiculous bike lanes alongside car traffic moving at 45 mph. I see a lot of "bike infrastructure" shoehorned into an environment that is simply hostile to widespread biking, let alone walking.
We wish they were only going 45mph.
@@johnhodge5871 I think I read that 27 mph or less is ideal for a relatively safe environment for bikes and pedestrians on non-highway, urban streets. I'd say 20 mph or less is better. But now things are so spread out, I guess at 20 mph it would take forever to get anywhere, so...😏🙄
@@seanbeckett4019 "20 is plenty". Taking forever to get anywhere by car is a necessary thing, so most people would take what's faster (walking, cycling, bus), leaving car space for those who really want/need will drive.
@@idromano Oh I agree. But people are now obsessed with driving the sprawling distances at speed and will surely fight any reductions. And also, most American roads and streets have been designed for higher speeds, so high speeds are unfortunately kind of baked into the DNA of our modern street system. Sucks.
@@idromano but wouldn't the bus also have to go 20?
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney is promising 25 years of bike infrastructure during their first term if elected. I'm very excited for this - I've commenting this in all this kind of videos because I'd love to live in a town that folks make RUclips videos describing it as a top biking town.
Gatineau, Quebec is actually a sister city to Ottawa with many people commuting to work between the two cities. I did not know it was so bike friendly.
Wow super interesting to see what's happened to SLO since I went to college there about a decade ago! And imagine my surprise to find out youre a professor there!
This is unrelated to the video, but it's something urbanist youtubers should cover: Branson, Missouri is surprisingly walkable and that's part of why it's such a great vacation town.
Just wait til you look at the 76 strip there, which takes up the majority of the city. And this is someone who's been going there for years and years.
@@DanielChannel57 maybe my wife and I just missed that, but the tourist area we were in was quite walkable.
@@anneonymous4884 If you're talking about the Historic Downtown or the Landing, then yeah, it is. But beyond that, Branson is like most other US cities: sprawled out, unwalkable, heavily car-centric and with traffic to match. Trust me, I've been going to Branson ever since I was a little kid.
@@DanielChannel57 fair enough, I've only been there once.
As someone with 3 degrees from Cal Poly and biked all over the city while acquiring them, it is incredible to see this transformation take place!
I think one other critical piece of the pie that is unfortunately harder to engineer, is general driver behavior towards vulnerable roadway users. When I was living and biking around SLO (before most of this infrastructure), drivers generally gave me space, were okay waiting behind me rather than aggressively passing, and yielded at crossings or to let me through. I think this probably also harkens back to the "college town" culture as this generally holds true for other college towns like Davis or Berkeley that have higher percentages of cyclists so drivers are expecting them and have learned to coexist. In other places, drivers see cyclists as an existential threat and try to run them off the road, "roll coal" them, or otherwise act more aggressively.
Well as a driver, I’m not comfortable driving near cyclists. I heard many cases where some malicious cyclists would intentionally turn in front of peoples cars with the purpose of getting hurt and suing for damages, aka insurance fraud.
@@Labyrinth6000 seems unlikely
@@Labyrinth6000 wow, you've clearly never ridden a bike on a stroad. Riding in front of a car is near certain death
@@Labyrinth6000 You've heard an urban myth. That's suicidal. Nonetheless, loss of control happens with both cars and bikes and you SHOULD be cautious driving around bikes. The best solution for cars and bikes and pedestrians is separate protected infrastructure, so everyone can transit in the safest possible fashion.
So weird to see a random small Missouri town at #3 on the list. I'm only an hour away from it. Now I have to bike there. The funny part is my small town, Sedalia, MO, has to be the worst town for bikes, even though the Katy Trail goes through it.
Also grew up an hour away from there. Just looking at google maps, there’s no way this is correct.
It's not just cycle paths, it's also no endless suburbs, but multiple smaller ones with shops, schools and other facilities in between.
Bigger variety in buildings, and building multi layer. Parking garage underground, supermarket above, offices on top of supermarket, apartments on top of the offices. Multi use of parking, during the day for shops/offices during the evening inhabitants/theater, at night inhabitants.
U.S Politicians are lawyers they couldn't care less about stuff like this. U.S spends $800B every two years on political ads, that is nearly $1Trillion dollars.
So U.S politicians spend 3/4 of their time jockeying for re-election.
I was recently in Montreal, which rates highly on that list. The great thing about the cycling infrastructure is they took some back roads to no car traffic. It was no problem for me to drive around, but I would have loved to have had a bike. The best designs aren't either or, but the best for both.
yet montreal is not at the top of the list.
Got here bc of a recommendation from not just bikes. He recommends this channel a lot. Lovethe fact that one of the first things I saw herewas a recommendation for his channel ;-)
You should come check out Telegraph Ave in Oakland CA. The city, in very stark contrast to SF, is stroad kingdom per usual but they're using cheap methods to dramatically change Telegraph and make it bikeable from downtown Oakland to UC Berkeley. Worthy effort.
It would be interesting to see a comparison among different world regions, not just North America vs Europe, but also how bike lanes work in South America and Asia.
You can compare to specific countries, not to a continent.
Even in Europe there are massive differences between The Netherlands and Romania for example.
@@udishomer5852 You're right, however he could compare the U.S Bicycle Route System with Eurovelo. As you said, there are huge differences among European countries as well as the among the US states. Still, IT would be a fun video to watch.
I think its horrible there
Very surprised that Mt. Vernon and Pelham (which are right next to each other and border the Bronx) were on the bottom. They're both fairly dense and have good access to Metro North. As a New Yorker, I've spent some time in both and wouldn't consider either of them to be particularly bad for biking. While the complete lack of bike infrastructure is bad, most streets in Pelham are quiet residential streets that are fairly narrow and have lots of tree cover and Mt. Vernon has tons of sidewalks. I've been to many places, including in the NYC area, that I'd consider to be far worse.
My family is in North Pelham and I agree with this - Pelham Manor is fine, and I have no idea how it's the worst bike city in North America. If anything, I'd say it's better for cyclists than North Pelham, just because the latter is a little hillier. Wondering what methodology they used?
I live in the north Bronx and we have a pretty good cycling network and they seem to cut off when heading into Westchester county with the exception of the south county trail in Yonkers. But I agree that seems kinda harsh on Mount Vernon and Pelham Manor
Had no idea you taught at Cal Poly, I love the Central Coast and I love your videos. Definitely makes me want to move to The Netherlands tho 😂 Go Mustangs!
don't go there's no places anymore in The Netherlands, completely crowded with more than 17 million people. its full
Interesting video again! Berlin is very chaotic for biking, tbh. The bikelane always changes and can be confusing.
Great video. When looking from the US to Dutch examples, maybe Rotterdam is more suited, as it is moving from post-war car-centric to a more bike friendly place. US viewers will recognize a city center with sky scrapers instead of the canals of Amsterdam. And from a planning perspective, I guess the most important would be to include cycling infrastructure in local engineering guidelines. This way, through scheduled maintenance and replacements, you will end up with decent cycling infrastructure after 30 years. This is pretty much what happened in the Netherlands after the introduction of Sustainibly Safe guidelines in the nineties. And of course, change the zoning laws to allow for more mixed use. Both have been covered extensively by YT channels like this, Not Just Bikes, City Nerd and Bicycle Dutch. Moreover, college towns should be the low hanging fruit for getting people out of their trucks and cars and onto bikes.
You made a quick mention there of too many (driveway) crossings, this is definitely an artefact of car-centric city design, particularly the "stroads" you love so much.
We definitely have the same problem (amongst others) here in (Melbourne) Australia. Even when good money is spent on infrastructure, it is brought down by heavily used car crossings with no barriers and often no line of sight for drivers or cyclists.
Might also be worth mentioning the various biking organizations that are in the city, specifically Bike SLO! They put hard work into their bike advocacy programs
It's so nice to be able to ride a bike or walk to nearby places.
Laughs in Groningen.
I know it's a little further from the main international airport than Amsterdam or Utrecht, but it's been very bike and pedestrian oriented since 1977.
But some of your examples look like what we did a couple of decades ago. I have visited the USA many, many times and I understand the challenge. I think the election system is to blame.
I mean even Groningen is too notch
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I live in Arnhem (which, incidentally, is a city that instantly debunks the idea that Dutch bike infrastructure only works because "the Netherlands is flat"), and while I occassionally see cycling infrastructure in older neighbourhoods that is equivalent to what's in this video, most of it is much better. It is indeed countries like the US catching up to where we were a few decades ago. I guess they can thank us for the R&D later. 😄
I hate to say it that Davis just continues to rest on its laurels, probably why it is ranked 2 rather than 1. While they have done a few high profile projects, honestly almost all the infrastructure is about the same as I remember from the early 00s. Heck, some of it doesn't feel like its been repaved since the 90s.
Just learned so much about you!! I knew you lived in California but not that close to me!! I also didn't know you were an educator at Calpoly. I very nearly went there for school. Love from Bakersfield!
I made a point of stopping by SLO last fall when I drove down Big Sur from Monterey. It's a great city and I wish we could see some of this progress also happening in Monterey!
As a Missourian that has never heard of Fayette until now, looking on Street View I cannot see how it is even in the top 10... It is a regular town with a lot of areas without sidewalks even... the safest looking area to bike I see is on the CMU campus away from any roads to begin with, as well as the Town Square. If PeopleForBikes is going to rep MO, at least put a town or city that has a decent cohesive set of wide sidewalks, as well as an economy that gives people a place to actually bike to with purpose... Maybe look at around the nicer areas of the four major cities we have here, STL, KC, Columbia and Springfield. Oh! Check out the Katy Trail and connected towns while you're at it, for all you long distance cyclists out there
I think you need to add some population qualifications here…It’s a lot easier to build infrastructure for 30,000, especially in a young town, than it is for a population for 1,000,000 in a city that’s centuries old.
Amsterdam literally used to be a city for the car in the 1960s, with a large population and has existed for centuries . This pissed off the Dutch who wanted to cycle safely, so the country has been redesigning all their cities to be cycle friendly. The trick is to redesign the most dangerous areas, and as infrastructure needs to be replaced rebuild with new designs. Over a few decades you get the Netherlands.
Cool video. San Luis Obispo looks so futuristic and different from when I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2005.
This is a really wonderful video! I really appreciate the realistic but optimistic view of US and international cities. In Portland I'm feeling quite burnt out by how big the city is and how lacking the safe bike infrastructure there is unless you want to go somewhere very specific. I'm still moving to Europe anyways, but it's good to see other US cities actually putting money where their mouth is.
Go mustangs! I graduated from Cal Poly 2 years ago and now live just down the coast in Santa Barbara because of how much I loved SLO. Hopefully Santa Barbara follows suit before long!
One of the things that European cities have that American ones don't is density. American metros are so spread out that for most cities, cycling is not a reasonable means of getting to work. How many people have to travel 30-40 miles or more to work? No number of cycle projects can fix that.
I'd like to mention Madison, Wisconsin's southwest commuter path. There are several intersections with bicycle priority in mind. It goes relatively close to downtown and the university, and connects many suburbs. Wisconsin in general has a rails-to-trails network with unlimited potential if handled correctly. For example, the previously mentioned path is built on an old rail corridor. In fact, Wisconsin has the most rails-to-trails miles in the nation. Combine that with being the home of TAPCO, a prominent manufacturer of RRFBs, and you have collabs just waiting to happen.
I’m an environmental sustainability major at the University of Oklahoma, I find your videos very useful and insightful in my studies haha. I was wondering if you have heard about the book Sustainability in Transition by Travis Gliedt? He’s a sustainability professor here and his book kinda goes in hand with planning things like these.
Maybe the worst countries in Europe could compete with the best cities in America for cycling
You have too high an opinion of europe.
@@excitableboy7031 Yeah, I know *Looks at England*
*Prague joins the chat*
Hungary?
@@peskypigeonx The Balkans have joined the chat
As a Dutch person, that first bike lane along the big road would still frighten me, especially if the cars are driving fast. You’re so close to the cars! If you fall off your bike for some reason, you end up on the road. In the Netherlands, there would be a strip of grassland with trees between the bike lane and the road, preventing you from falling into the road (or cars driving into the bike lane).
All true, but considering its obviously along a stroad its doing pretty good. The concrete is as wide as is typical along any Mainstreet so all it is missing is on street parking for a wall of steel protection. (But you can clearly see its empty so its not being used as much as we would hope, principly because of the reasons you stated of being better but not good enough to be family friendly since it still feels very exposed.)
@@jasonreed7522 yeah it’s the fact that it’s along a stroad that’s making me feel uncomfortable. 😅 I mean it’s better than no bike infrastructure at all of course, but I’d like to see more separation.
@@annakeet It looks more like a wide sidewalk than something intended for cycling. In the Netherlands, I like that many of the sidewalks and cycle paths run parallel to each other. If the sidewalk abruptly ends, it's pretty easy and safe for a wheelchair/scooter user to transition to the cycle path and vice versa.
Another great episode, Dave. I am encouraged by the bike infrastructure in San Luis Obispo.
In my country we have this intersection/junction we have designated lanes for bikes and it has turns and its own traffic light.
It's great to know many US cities are making improvements in bike infrastructure. Every step helps.
From western Massachusetts. seeing P town at #1 is just. right. Its not even infrastructure that makes it right. It just is.
Would like to see a video.
@@N0Xa880iUL If you EVER get a chance to visit, do. It is unlike anywhere else on earth.
i appreciate your point on the weather. i enjoy outdoors activities but dog days in some places could be a major hold back
Great video.
2:50 Actually the point of sustainable safety is actually the opposite. The protected intersections, traffic calming etc. is installed automaticaly, so the accident doesn't happen.
Yes, but I've also heard of cases (rare cases) where a crash has occurred and the intersection is redesigned almost immediately.
@@CityBeautiful yeah, that makes sense
Europe? There is the Netherlands which is number 1 in terms of bicycle infrastructure, with Denmark at a distant 2nd place. Copenhagen is good, but it's not as good as most Dutch cities, and outside of the major cities bicycle infrastructure in Denmark is not very great. Cycling is also prevalent in Flanders and somewhat in Germany and that's it. Yes you have a few cities with some okay bicycle infrastructure in some parts, but it's literally that and not connecting.
Then a bit further up north, once winter and snow comes, there are only few places like Oulu in finland, where cycling in winter is easy and pleasant.
Great video Dave but I'm still waiting for the collab with NJB, not just a quick reference.
I used to live in Davis, California and never thought of it as a very bicycle friendly town outside of the campus. I felt like I still needed to own a car for convenience. While Davis can be biked because it's small, there isn't much within the town and it isn't very walkable either. I have yet to see a US city that is both bike and pedestrian friendly. Big cities like San Francisco and New York are pedestrian friendly, but lack good bike paths in the cities. Rural college towns can be biked, but lack a lot of things for living and are not very walkable.
In China, I can live very well without owning a car firstly because most cities are high density with plenty of wide bicycle lanes, complemented by other forms of public transit, and most necessities are located near my commie block. In fact, owning a car would be an inconvenience without the parking space. I ride bicycle almost every day.
Yeah goes to show how bad our bike infra is that Davis can just self-proclaim themselves as the best bike city. I can comfortably live in a bike-friendly rural college town, but I don't want to be forced into small/college town living just to easily get groceries w/o a car.
I heard from a former Chinese student of mine that her 60,000 person city just had one major 4-story shopping complex where everyone could do their shopping. Everyone could just take the bus or walk to get there from practically anywhere in town. Sounds like an actual livable city to me
@@AssBlasster Yeah, a lot of smaller districts are like that. In my rural hometown, most of the people own small motorbikes to get around in addition to bicycles. There's a few concentrations of dense high-rise housing in key transit and commercial areas even though it's rural. It's an eyesore but is rather efficient compared to beautiful American suburbs. Asia has a lot of development like this
Of course, Europe combines the efficiency with nice aesthetic in a whole different way. In Asian countries, there's a lot of back and forth between planners who want to emulated EU vs US (in addition to each other).
I second this. Davis bike infrastructure used to be revolutionary since the majority of the bike paths are old (like, from the 80s or 90s) but the city hasn't been able to keep it up and contemporary efforts have been limited to adding glittering green paint on the street shoulder bike lanes. Actually, IMO things have gotten worse since there are have been more and more people living in Davis and the humble small town car infrastructure hasn't been able to handle it. When not even the cars can fit comfortably on the streets, it makes bike infrastructure that's part of the street even more dangerous. There were whispers of changing some 4-way stops to traffic circles but naturally nothing actually came of it.
The bike infrastructure (mostly in the parks or the path parallel to Russel going past UCDavis and into the countryside) is fun for recreational use and maybe some student use but NOT for everyday use. It was designed to mostly connect parks and you have to bike in the street in order to go anywhere else. Likewise, the Unitrans student-run bus system seems pretty good for students but is NOT designed for everyday residents; a 5 min drive takes well over an hour by bus. Downtown Davis is filled with entitled and impatient people (in general, but also in cars) and your butt is going to be in the middle of it if you're cycling. Today's Davis is an excellent example of wealthy and snobby "progressives" figuring out how to lazily tick off boxes for brownie points without having to do anything of real substance.
If Davis is the 2nd best the US has to offer, well... we're not gonna catch up with Europe (on many counts) anytime soon unless something very, very drastic happens here.
I’m surprised Montreal is only 8th, also I think the only problem with the Montreal area is just distance (I live in Candiac and I daily a bike).
Yes, Davis of course! I'm glad to know SLO is on the list too! I love the Central Coast and might want to live there. Maybe we'll be neighbors! Hey, Prof. Can you hook a fellow educator up with a high school teaching job? =) Yay, Madonna Inn! I thought that looked familiar. I finally got to stay there a couple years ago! Awesome to know about SLO. Thank you for the video!
Within seconds I recognized San Luis Obispo. When I lived there biking was my main form of transportation next to walking. Was even closed enough to bike to the beach on occasions
Terrain is a make or break issue for me when it comes to commuting on a bike. In a flat town, I love to ride my bike to work. But where there are hills to climb, commuting is out. I can't arrive at work looking like I've just run a marathon. I still ride for recreation on all terrain though. But this is what strikes me most when comparing the Netherlands to the U.S. You see them riding heavy bikes in street clothes but here you see high performance bikes wearing Tour de France gear. Call it sweat vs no sweat.
o there are enough people here in the Netherlands that cycle larger distances to work in cycle gear.
Long distance as in up to a hour one way
Arrive early enough if possible shower and redress to office or other work wear. and reverse that when they go home.
Or like I drive a moped to my work and back every day. (about 40 minute ride one way.)
I actually miss it when I have to take the bus. (really bad weather)
It can be a nice in-between the two. You are still out and about but are way less tired when you get at your destination.
But it's still way less comber sum and much cheaper then a car.
@@sirBrouwer What time do folks in the Netherlands start work as a general rule? In the USA, work begins normally at 8:00 in the morning. Just curious.
@@laurie7689 for people in production/construction it's generally 6:30 for more service/office jobs between 7:45 and 8:15
Answer to that problem is an ebike
e-bikes exist
Very surprised to see Ankeny, IA on the list. I used to live there and can say that the trails are good but the city is a suburb of Des Moines. Most of the trials themselves are for recreation rather than bike commuting.
I agree. I used to work there. It’s the most suburban town in Iowa. Ames and Iowa city are way more bikeable as are much smaller towns like pella
The 'bike trails are for recreation' issue dominates in Grand Junction, Colorado, where I live. There's an impressively extensive multi-modal path system, but it's located, designed, and maintained for recreation use, it's not convenient for most utility cycling. Very little thought has been given in the past to getting across town by bicycle. I think this reflects the deep seated notion among planners that 'bikes are toys'.
Full agree. Ankeny is a suburban hellscape. I would rather bike west of Des Moines on the Greenbelt. You are correct, it is looked at as recreation in the suburbs. Des Moines is paving some nice cycle paths all over town and I would argue their approach is the most friendly to cyclists in the area.
This gets into the question of how they are computing the rankings. Is somebody actually visiting all 1100 cities on the ground, actually attempting to bike to real places? Or, are they doing it the lazy way and simply feeding map data into automated algorithms that award points based on the number of bike-path miles, percentage of street-miles with bike lanes, etc.? If it's the latter, a huge network of bike trails that goes nowhere except the trails' own parking lots will lead to a much higher ranking than the city deserves.
I live in Boulder Colorado which shares a lot of similar characteristics to SLO and is #7 on that list. I can get most places in central Boulder in a similar time or quicker than in my car living 1.5 miles from central downtown. I can also do the majority of riding without even crossing a major road just taking bike paths that cut under roads and through neighborhoods.
Same here in Fort Collins. I think it helps a lot that they’re both college towns
@bicycledutch is a youtuber from the Netherlands and shows videos over small towns as well as the big citys.
Bellissimo posto🌄
♥♥
The worst cities in Central Europe have at least a few pedestrianized streets, are working on increasing cycling infrastructure, and don't shy away from diminishing car priorities. The American public wants Amsterdam, but doesn't seem to want what it takes to aachieve that level of success in the interim.
I feel that at this point in the USA, it is going to take a pretty thorough collapse/impairment of the economy to really change the overall development pattern and mentality. The excesses of 1950 to 2020 will end not because they are reformed or legislated away, but because we just can't afford to build that way anymore. So, in a nutshell: collapse, and then possible renaissance.
The American public does not want Amsterdam lol. If all you watch is these anti-car liberal urban planning channels then you’d think they do, but I can assure you that the vast vast majority of Americans prefer the suburb, open space, car-driving lifestyle as opposed to the super dense European city lifestyle
@@theendurance In the end, it doesn't really matter what people want or wish for, it's what economics and finances can support. I'm a libertarian, therefore I'm concerned about the effects of over-suburbanization on the economy, the cost/liability of over-built infrastructure to service the sprawl. I see this as something that should absolutely be an issue of concern for conservatives/libertarians.
@@theendurance I'm definitely seeing a lot more interest in improving public transit/walkability among young millennials and gen Z. With climate change being such a hot topic, anti-car and anti-suburb attitudes will probably permeate the mainstream sooner than later.
It's possible for me to cycle all the way from Eagle, Colorado to Aspen mostly on a separate bike path, crossing the highway a couple of times at traffic light intersections. The worst is the elevated path section that sits next to a 35mph street that serves houses and a school, a semi-stroad if you will
>Calls a channel "little and niche"
>That channel has more subscribers
LOL This is why I love this channel. The humor is just so well put.
It is also important to keep pedestrians and cyclists separate. 3:45 looks great, but moving the bike lane onto the sidewalk has made it more dangerous for pedestrians.
A dedicated raised path for cyclists, as well as a sidewalk, is the way to go.
oldest parts of Tokyo simply don't have a sidewalk. pedestrians, cars, and bikes all share the street. in newer , wider sidewalks they just have bike lanes. the concept of "bikes should go in the street" is weird. just think: a mom and her toddler in its bike seat, sharing a lane with cars.
In suburban areas, a wide multi-use path for pedestrians and bikes works just fine. There are so few pedestrians in suburbia that they aren’t an obstacle. When I lived in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, I enjoyed riding on the wide combined pedestrian/bike “sidewalks”.
Yeah that one was so bad! It's just a wider sidewalk
0:31 Provincetown is such a wonderful place to frolic and be gay, I say with nothing but love. Cars are dawdling through at about 5 MPH, allowing for a vibrant, wonderful town where pedestrians and bikes can coexist and everyone can enjoy the shops and beachfront. Bikes ring their bells, people move, and everyone goes where they need to and enjoys themselves. It's really a wonderful place.
At 9:00 the funding sources for a bike/ped bridge over a railroad are mentioned. Just to add to the list, as the western Colorado city where I live is looking for funding to build a bike/ped bridge over a major (but, sadly, smaller than it used to be) river, they are going to be talking to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), of all unexpected sources.
The city public works director mentioned that FEMA might be interested in helping to fund the bike/ped bridge if the bridge can be built to accommodate emergency vehicles. Motorized vehicle bridges over this river are very limited in number and in the event of an emergency may be impassable, so having an 'emergency bridge' has a lot of appeal. There is another local example of an 'emergency bike/ped bridge' over a different river, so the concept has had support in the past.
One advantage of San Luis Obispo that you didn't mention is that it looks pretty much like it's a completely self contained town, so it doesn't rely on neighbouring communities to provide a comprehensive bike network. I've seen a similar video about Emeryville CA, I looked at google maps and thought that a lot of the destinations I'd want to drive my bike to if I lived there would be in Oakland or Berkeley, but frustratingly, they didn't talk at all about how cooperation with the neighbours worked out...
But how can I enjoy my adrenaline rush without taking my life in my hands when I bike? /s
Wait wait wait--I'm barely into the video and I know this is not the point of it, but Oak Park, IL is ranked right at the bottom below Gary and Hammond for bikeability? The Oak Park that was named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists in 2015?
I looked at some of the other rankings, and that group ranks Nashville higher than Chicago for bicycling--which, as someone who's lived in both places, is absolutely living-in-an-actual-alternate-universe levels of inaccurate.
Anyway, I don't know how to tell you this, but I *think* the People for Bikes ranking system might not be using the most robust methodology.
(This is a great video otherwise, though!)
Thanks for the great video City Beautiful. Love videos about the Central Coast. Any interest in covering the water/sewer issues of Los Osos over the past three decades? I think this is going to be a greater trend in California and the West and water security vs. property rights is a fight that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Alright you got me, I've signed up for curiosity/nebula. I still wish you had better conclusions before the transition to the ad.
@City Beautiful: funny that you mention 1) community wealth and 2) nice climate as having something to do with bike-friendliness, cuz in the EU those two factors are mostly decoupled from it. these are actually two of the three main cheap and ridiculous excuses in the US for not caring about bikes. the third would be "unfavorable topography".
you could show them a clip of the Dutch sport of NK Tegenwindfietsen ( Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships)
The Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships (in Dutch: NK Tegenwindfietsen, pronounced [ˈteːxə(ɱ)ʋɪntˌfitsə(n)]) are an annual Dutch cycling time trial championships that takes place during storms (wind force 7 or higher). They are not regulated by the Royal Dutch Cycling Union.[1][2]
The Championships take place on the Oosterscheldekering storm barrier, which faces the North Sea, and have been held in fall or winter since 2013. Competitors must ride the 8.5 km course against the wind on upright single-speed bicycles, which are provided by the organization. The championships are announced three days before a storm is expected. Since 2014 there is also a team time trial. A total of 200 individual cyclists (300 cyclists in 2020) can participate, plus 25 teams of four cyclists. Participants start 30 seconds apart from each other and the one with the fastest time wins.[3]
In 2020 both the male and female reigning champions (from 2018) successfully defended their titles.
Why is SF and NYC not on the list?
Great video! I didn't know there were some cities in the US that were aiming for European-style physical infrastructure rather than simple paint. BTW, _route_ is pronounced identically to "root"; it is similar to how words like _routine,_ _boutique,_ _bourgeuoisie_ ("bougie"), and even _you_ are pronounced. You're pronouncing it as _rout,_ which is a totally different word that means "a disorderly retreat of defeated troops".
I am Dutch and I must say your city looks absolutely amazing! I think the cycling infrastructure is just as good as ours. Well done 😊
I would put Montreal on par with most European cities outside of Denmark and the NL
Nope. Have to change the culture
Have you heard of Tunnel Hill in Southern Illinois? It is a great bike pathway
0:36 Ashland, Wisconsin has a population around 8,000. It is a tiny grid town with little traffic so biking on the roads is easy. It is great for biking, but there isn’t a whole lot to bike to.