Correction: At 2:15, we refer to the Dutch having painted bike lanes. However, while the white lines and symbols are paint, the red is dyed asphalt. It would be more accurate to describe these as "unprotected" or "unseparated" lanes. We regret the error. (Still had a great time in the country.)
We actually have two main varieties of these lanes. In both cases the colour of the lane is not prescribed by law. There are in fact some older strips that were once painted, but this is indeed rare. 1) ‘Fietsstrook’ or bike strip, are the lanes with a symbol of a bike. Only bikes are allowed here and cyclists are obligated to use these lanes. 2) ‘Fietssuggestiestrook’ or suggested bike strip: these lanes are just there to indicate that this part of the road is were a cyclist will ride. The strips are only narrow and have no bike symbols. There is no obligation to use these, and other traffic can use this part of the road. You can see why these fietssuggestiestroken are problematic. They are often used on narrow roads, offer no protection and cars will park here. Cars in fact pass cyclists closer driven by the lines on the other side of the road.
@@bramharms72 Well... no. Cycling paths are roads, not pavement. Separate bike lanes share the direction with the main road they are on, unless a sign specifically states that it is a two-way lane. If you don’t want to cross the road, you can always walk on the pavement... in both directions.😉
@@restraum Damn, you're totally right. I should have checked it. Like I did just now, which took me exactly 5 seconds. I must have learned that ages ago and we're not exactly at the cutting edge of infrastructure here in the Wieringermeer, so single cycling paths is the norm here anyway. If you don't mind I'll remove my original post. I don't mind acknowledging when I've said something stupid, which I did, but I do mind leaving the stupid thing out in the open. Thanks for correcting me.
i think it makes sense that the netherlands doesn't really have big bikeshare programs because most people there own bikes and some people even own multiple bikes. a bikeshare just isn't something you need if the entire country already has their own bikes
This, plus the biggest bike share platform is probably the OV fiets. A bike you can take from the train station and park anywhere you want during your stay as long as you return it back at the station when you take the train back. They cost around 4.5 euro (around dollars). For context, in Amsterdam in 2019: 900.000 bikes were privately owned 18.000 were leased (swapfiets) and just 11.000 were owned by other agencies (of which 2100 OV fiets).
They don't work here. You either have a bike, or you travel by public transport and use an OV-fiets which there are plenty of at any station. I don't see how their critique of having a commercialized bike share would make sense in the Netherlands. I see it as a positive thing that we don't have this.
“There’s no big mystery about how to make urban cycling safe” 👏 We don’t need pilot programs, consultations, or studies - we know what needs to be done. We have an entire country who’s homework we can copy. Leaders, just go and do it. Spend 6-12 months and cover the city in temporary but relatively cheap infrastructure, and then spend the next several years making it permanent as roads come up for their usual repair schedules.
The Netherlands generally has a plan. And every time a piece of road is changed, it is remodeled according to that plan. Sometimes th eimplementation is immediate, sometimes only preparation for the final change to be made later, waiting for other parts of the route.
@@pizzablenderOh, what I wouldn’t give to have a functional, intelligent government here in the U.S.! But instead, we have half the country who wants no government at all, and votes for any criminal who will destroy what the rest of us vote for and then pretend it’s because “government doesn’t work” or that it’s impossible for government not to be corrupt. Well of course it doesn’t work, or is impossible to have without corruption when you approach everything with that kind of attitude! I’m finding myself wishing more every day that I lived in The Netherlands. Imagine what the U.S. could be if our country were run like yours!
You should take a look at Hilton head South Carolina. I was there for a week recently and never used my car for the entire week. I shopped, dined, went to the beach and saw a movie all using my bicycle or walking. It was designed from the beginning to be a bicycle city.
That's a huge problem with the cities I've lived in (San Diego, Anchorage, Toronto, Calgary). They do these pilots that turn into massive political battles (and vandalism). The pilots are even messed with so much that they can't really even get any data from them. We know what to do, just do!
Dutchie here, have done a lot of biking in the Netherlands and acros Europe. One thing you did not mention, but really struck me: The (non)verbal communication of roadusers to make trafic safe, quick and convenient for everybody (even sometimes against priority-rules; especially in bad weather) is a thing I only experiencerd in the Netherlands. That culture of 'we'll figure out this trafic-situation together' is something that is often missed in bike-culture-videos.
Yeah true. Even in streets that have no bike lanes, it's usually not a problem, because drivers expect there to be cyclists anyway and act accordingly (with the exception of a few aholes ofcourse).
What sort of non verbal cues do you mean? Different issue, but I also wonder if the presence of e bikes in some circumstances makes cycling a bit more hazardous- being faster, silent,and that we all have it in us to be selfish and have no regard for the next guy.
Biking in central Amsterdam is bad because of all the tourists. The Dutch culture is based on people in the past having to work together building and maintaining the dykes. When biking or driving the Dutch work together. That culture may not translate well in other societies. There may be some busy paths in Toronto or other cities but in the Netherlands every street’s bike path is full of bikes every day.
@@delftfietser Eye-contact, or avoiding it, leaning into a corner before going around it, hand signals (like thanking-gesture to get right of way even before it is given), taking up more space to claim passage...or the opposite moving to the side to allow passage to the other. There are lots and lots of little signals that are given (conciously or unconsiouly) to let others know what you are up to....and yes indeed; that includes the selfish ones too.
@@henrimessinghausen5185 Thank you for those pointers, I will start looking for them. Here in Winnipeg Canada, the only priority rule in our developing cycling culture is speed. I have no idea how we will ever get used to the reality of close passes, whether it's a car, pedestrian, or bike. Wide space is much preferred, violation of that is furious hatred, like kicking a dog. Yay, everyday humanity....
Speaking of mopeds: a huge reason why my father in law is so excited about e bikes is because he feels that they bring all the advantages that mopeds promised without any of the downsides. The biggest and most obvious downside being the noise!
@@jjjjjjj6137 true. But they’re also a very new invention which didn’t exist 30 odd years ago when people first made a big push for mopeds. Although I will say that another reason he’s become a big fan of e bikes is the familiarity of it all. He feels that it’s much easier to convince someone like him to try out an e bike cause you just say, “hey, if you’re scared then just ride it like a normal bike and flip this switch any time you’re going up a big hill or something!”
As a Dutchie, I'm not against ebikes, but I do think they have a downside. Despite speed limits everywhere, they can go very fast and it causes many accidents or dangerous situations. I'm experiencing this on a regular basis. Ebikes often go faster than normal bikes. I use a normal bike myself, and many people with ebikes are passing me by without ringing a bell or giving a warning. Since you don't hear them unless they are very nearby, they often come out of nowhere quickly and fast, causing dangerous situations, especially on narrow bike lanes. I hope there will be solutions to this in the future.
The propensity for cheaper batteries catching fire is concerning. My pedal-powered bike won't make me desperate to leave an elevator in seconds if something goes wrong.
I feel like the real solution to all these problems. Comes down to speed limits and the lanes you create. I was watching a video of ho chi min city recently and instead of having two separated lanes they had 3. One for high speed travel one for medium and one for low. Obviously not every city has the room to build three separate lanes like this but I think it speaks to the main problem. Which is not actually e-bikes or mopeds but which lanes they are traveling in. Cities just need to do a better job creating rules around where they travel...
@@codex4048 : No. Don't understand why they wouldn't though. But I can understand that you can not compare about 50 nation-sized states to one small country.
@@janwensveen1406 I really don't see why you cannot compare these. It's not like we tore roads apart in order to create our bicycle infrastructure, we mainly just update roads to the latest guidelines whenever they need maintenance. It's a slow approach but it isn't limited by scale.
A few things that add to a great biking experience in the Netherlands are a) virtually every driver of a vehicle also bikes or has biked and defers to bikers, b) when drivers learn to drive a car in the Netherlands, they learn to open the car with their right arm... yes their right arm as this forces one to look backwards to see if there are any oncoming bicyclists, c) most traffic laws favor bicyclists in the Netherlands. It would be great if drivers in N. America would be instructed to open their car doors with their right arm as opposed to using their left arm. Suggest you include this in future clips. Thanks for a nice report on biking in the Netherlands.
As people often forget, the incredible growth of bike infrastructure also started primitive. Roads got pained bike gutters 40 years ago. It takes some time before those roads are redeveloped again, using modern standards Typically 20 to 40 years. Mostly, you have perfect alternative routes already nearby.
That's a very valid point! A municipality here in the northern part of The Netherlands has a very decent bike infrastructure, but they recently made new policies that require that bike lanes should be at least 2,30 cm or wider. Many lanes are around 1,80 cm or sometimes even narrower. They already admitted that they can't renew the complete bike network quickly, as it would require a lot of money and resources (which they don't always have). So it will be done in phases, based on priorities. Some paths were modernized quite recently and there are no plans to renew them before 2045 because of that. It will take decades to modernize all of these lanes, and by that time, there will probably be new policies again. But it's improving!
But every major road in the Netherlands had secondary roads for the milkman, greengrocer, potato farmer, baker and bicycles... Going back to 1880 when we started to extend our cities outside the city walls. First they came with dog carts, donkeys and horses, from door to door, later all replaced by freight bicycles or small motor vehicles. So separate lanes for slow transport are very old!
6:15 there is a reason for that, though: we don't need large scale bike rental infrastructure because everyone already has their own bike. The only places where you can require one is when you travel somewhere by public transport. The main problem there is if you come by train since trams and busses stop pretty much where you need to be. And for that, we have the OV fiets now.
A few Dutch people have given this as a reason but I'm not sure it really fits. We own two bikes each and we still prefer BIXI bike share for most shorter trips (e.g., commutes) because it's so convenient and cheap. All the frequent BIXI users we know that I can think of also own their own bikes too.
I agree, the only time I used the OV fiets is when visiting cities I cannot not bring my bike too. eg. when the local transit sector was striking in Utrecht I cycled from the station to the university campus instead of taking the tram
@@ddanenelSo you don't have to park it, if you want to bike downhill and take public transit or walk uphill, if you're going somewhere you think your bike might get stolen, if you're taking a multi modal trip or going through a loop of destinations that won't take you home anytime soon, if you think it might rain later in the day and you'll want to take transit back, if you have a regular bike but the bike shares have electric bikes or vice versa, having the choice without needing the space or funds to own multiple bikes.
@@ddanenel Because it eliminates any worry about theft and is also more flexible (for example, you can bike to work and take the metro home, or vice versa). Also, each trip is free (we pay the equivalent of 9 euros per month and get unlimited 45 minute rides).
As a Torontonian, I am even jealous of what you’ve shown from Montreal and Vancouver. Cycling in Toronto falls into two categories. You’re either enjoying yourself cycling through a park on a trail that doesn’t really go anywhere or you’re praying that someone in a car doesn’t run you over.
The coverage is a real killer feature for any mode, so I'm not surprised it makes your list! The extra work of finding the "safe route" is another inconvenience that I'm used to as a dedicated cyclist but would be *very* nice not to have to worry about. Getting to the point where people can just "go" like you describe is a huge step in making cycling make sense to more people. Network effects are important.
That's another important aspect: The routes for cars and the routes for cyclists are not the same - because cyclists can take a very direct route without noise or the need for a giant freeway. But you must give cyclists waysigns to find this routes - and at a later stage you also must make it possible to use the car routes to reach every possible destination.
As a Dutchie, I find it very interesting to hear perspectives from people from other countries. Everything shown in the video is right. Our bike infrastructure and facilities are quite good, but not perfect either. Some cities are better than others. Groningen is known as one of the bike capitals, but I've biked around there a few times lately and feel like they really could elevate it to a higher level. The bikelanes are not always clearly marked or wide enough. It's often too crowded and there are a lot of traffic lights where you will need to stop. My hometown is much smaller than Groningen, but the infrastructure is more modern and it's more quiet, which makes it much more pleasant to bike here than in a bigger, crowded city.
Not perfect? You have no idea how perfect your infrastructure is compared to whatever gets built here in Eastern Europe by our corrupt and incompotent politicians. OH AND DON'T EVEN LET ME GET STARTED ABOUT OUR SHIT PUBLIC TRANSPORT. AMSTERDAM HAS 800,000 PEOPLE AND HAS LIKE 4 OR SOMETHING METRO LINES. THE CITY IN WITCH I LIVE HAS 1,6 FUCKING MILION PEOPLE AND HAS EXACTLY ZERO. The worst thing of all is, basically nothing is being done to fix these problems. NOTHING! As you can tell I am very calm.
Oh how I wish that I had the problem of "crowded bike facilities" here in Sydney... I know what you mean, but with an 8% mode share it would be amazing to get to the point where we could complain about "all those (other) people on bicycles using *my* bike path"
Groningen is not very good in terms of bicycle infrastructure. It was one of the first cities to get the right idea, but now it's lagging behind other cities in the Netherlands.
@@mindstalkwell as a dutch person, 8% less cars on the road actually means drastically less traffic jams, it's just that tiny little amount of extra cars that makes everything crawl to a halt, and trust me I've ridden bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, cars, and not in the least trains and buses and trams
I totally agree. I made a bike trip through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark last year, and while all countries have good bicycle infrastructure at times, the Netherlands is the only country that has it everywhere. It's the only country where I almost never felt uncomfortable
Talking about coverage and consistency. I moved to the Netherlands 1 year ago and I've been cycling everywhere, like 1000kms per month and I've never felt in danger by cars, I actually don't even really look if I can go somewhere by bike, I just go knowing that there will be infrastructure.
Most important- Dutch bikes are very different, giving the rider necessary height needed in traffic so not only that you see better other users but we are more visible to cars which makes it safer.
The basic omission of this video is the fact that all ( nearly all?) dutch cardrivers also drive a bike. As a cardriver, you know what it is to drive a bike, what dangers are, and what the advantages are
I just came back from riding 4 weeks in the Netherlands with my wife. Can't disagree with your assessment. We live east of Toronto where hit and miss (unsafe) cycling infrastructure is the norm. I have cycled in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, etc, but nothing comes close to riding "anywhere" in the Netherlands. We are planning another month of riding in 2024. PS, I've also cycled, France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, US, etc.... But I never felt as safe as cycling in the Netherlands. Love your videos.❤
1:48 I get why the OV-fiets system seems like an odd bike share system, but that's because OV-fiets is not actually a bike share system, but rather a rental system where you can rent a bike from a train station, i.e. right after getting off the train, so you can quickly make the journey to your final destination. That's also why the rental price is per 24 hours, as most OV-fiets users tend to be commuters that get off the train, get an OV-fiets at that station, cycle to their final destination, then at the end of the day cycle back to the station. It's a rental system rather than a bike share system because you actually have to return these bicycles to the train station in order to end the rental period. Any of these bikes out on the street are actively rented by someone, you cannot get on these bikes in the street, cycle down a few streets and then just leave the bike behind. You actually need to go to a train station to rent a bicycle, and return them to the same train station at the end of your trip, or return them to a different train station for a €10 surcharge.
A 24-hour bike rental is just a strange solution for its intended use. According to one study, a typical OV-Fiets weekday user is biking 3 kilometres or 10 minutes from the train station to work and then back in the evening. Paying almost 5 euros to keep a bike all day just to use it for 20 to maybe 30 minutes total just feels like overkill! Study: essay.utwente.nl/93399/1/Pluister%20B.%201718150%20_openbaar.pdf
I get that it may feel like overkill, but compared to public transit travel time and pricing, I think the OV-fiets is actually pretty attractive. I'm an OV-fiets user myself, and my options are paying €4,45 for an OV-Fiets and then cycling 15 minutes down to the Vondelpark area, or taking a tram which takes 35 to 40 minutes due to indirect routing, which costs €1.95 per trip or €3.9 round trip. meaning the bike costs me €0.55 more while also giving me extra flexibility. That alone makes the bike worth it for me. An OV-Fiets also gives me some extra flexibility, I regularly make a stop at a supermarket to get some groceries, or go dining with some friends someplace else in the city. But even if I didn't do that, that €0.55 difference for an OV-Fiets is worth it to me, and that's also pretty much how NS priced those bikes. We did actually have trials for bike share programs for short trips too, and there are still two such trial programs in Amsterdam on a limited scale, but they generally fail because most dutch people own or two bikes they use already, or combine multiple destinations with one OV-Fiets trip, or even just buy a foldable bike they can take with them on the train. In addition to that Amsterdam doesn't really have space for bikeshare stations, and public sharing bikes being dumped in the middle of the pavement was becoming a real eyesore for both people and the city council, which is why the trials ended with no renewal of required permits.
"Snorfietsen" wew... I haven't heard that word in decades.The types depicted in the video are most definitely called Scooters in the Netherlands. Snorfietsen were the predecessors of "Brommers", think things like a Solex, which was a bike with an engine mounted above the front wheel. You push the engine on the wheel with a lever when you want powered drive, you lift it up if you want to safe fuel. Also small "brommers" (translated: hummers, as in humming... the sound) have been called snorfiets for a while. for brommers think vehicles like a Puch Maxi, a Honda MT and MB series, Kreidler, Zundapp. OV Fiets: We have tried free bike share programs since the 60's, they never caught on. It seems the last few years commercial variants like the OV Fiets or Tier seemto gain in popularity though so maybe it is time to dust off the old "Witte Fietsen Plan" (White bike plan, one of the first attempts for free bike sharing in 1965)
We (the Dutch) have bike lanes (fietstroken) and bike paths (fietspaden). A bike lane is a small lane that is directly attached to the car lane in that the car could use it when it's free to stop when people need to get out for instance. a bike path is physically separate from the can lanes and cars don't go on them (well, there are rare exceptions but they are 99.9% dedicated for bikes).
There is hardly 'painted' infrastucture in The Netherlands. What you filmed is red asphalt. Paint would desintegrate very soon due to the weather conditions and heavy use of the paths. As costs of red asphalt is higher than the regular black, red is often not used where the situation is clear, that the (seperated) path is cycling only. This is usual the case in rural areas next to provincial roads for example.
@@OhTheUrbanity For sure. And remember that many (if not most) car drivers here are also cyclists themselves. So they are aware of the infrastructure and people biking.
As a European who has never been to (and certainly never biked in) North America, I was always a bit bewildered about how much emphasis pro biking channels put on feeling unsafe near car traffic. I always thought, "Sure, it's preferable not to bike next to a road with no real separation in between, but it's not like every driver is up to outright murder you." Now I'm not so sure anymore; maybe they are up to murder in North America.
@@lonestarr1490 I once was touched by a car that ran over a bicycle gutter line, but I somehow was lucky to stay on my bike and not crash. It is a while ago, and nowadays drivers are moreoften distracted by for instance looking on their mobile phones. A lot of them drive a pickup truck, which became bigger and more dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians. When you don't have separated bike lanes and protected crossings, drivers can easily make a stupid mistake that may cost your life. That's unacceptable. Street design has to improve to keep people happy and alive.
As a Dutchman, I too absolutely hate these snorfietsen on the bike lanes, so much noise and smell for only one person to pass with sometimes a much higher speed than the bikes.. great video (didn't expect to see my work building in The Hague haha)
3:23 Having routes that feel natural and intuitive is key. There are some bike routes I take that feel this way and others where I sit and wonder “Should I be on the road? Is there a path…? Is there a bike lane somewhere?”
Yes, yes, yes! To this whole video! I totally relate to your bike experience when I visited the Netherlands for two weeks! 😊 True, watch videos online is one thing but experiencing has really helped me envision the environment we can build in Canada. I was recently elected to my local cycling advocacy board and I look forward to helping my region in Ontario to make better decisions when thinking about cycling and land use. 😊
Years ago I was biking to a park in Eindhoven (I was visiting a friend), I ended up on a road. No pike lane, simple road. As road was simple two lane two way, a car could not pass over. He slowed down and waited behind us till there was a place he can take over. It says a lot about biking in NL.
Wait, are you telling me that slowing down to pass when there's room for overtaking is special and not the simply the norm? I wouldn't even know what the alternative would be. Honking until the biker makes space?
This was my exact experience visiting a ton of cities in the Netherlands on my honeymoon last year! It's made me simultaneously grateful that my city has decent bike infrastructure, but also KEENLY aware of how terrible even my "progressive" city is compared to Europe, and especially the Netherlands.
I always find it interesting how foreigners see our dutch bicycle infrastructure. But it is not that we decided to add bike lanes to streets but (especially in urban areas) we wanted the streets to be safe for ALL users. Cars, public transport, bikes and pedestrians. So back in the 70's and 80's is when that mentality is implemented by reorganizing the streets when the street is do for maintenance. That is why there are still parts in older cities that seem to have not the high standers of the famous bike lanes, that street probable will eventually be updated when the maintenance needs to be done. Don't just fight for bike lanes but fight for streets and roads to be used for ALL users and really understand that specific street is really for, living? shopping? going fast from A to B?
Another big point that often gets missed: priority for bikes. In built-up areas in the Netherlands, it's typical for bikes to have priority over intersecting roads _by default._ This means that you can often bike long distances without ever having to stop for a car, because they have to stop for you instead.
Hearing this perspective on Dutch cycling infrastructure gives me hope for the future where I live. Our issue in Canada isn't that we can't make good bike lanes, just that we need to expand coverage and keep going the right direction in more places
It took 50 years to get to this spot in the design here in The Netherlands. But everybody that takes a bike or a tram or train or bus instead of a car is about one car less to congest the roads and slow down traffic for all the car users. In The Netherlands, we have the Freedom to choose between different modes of transportation.
Canada has the best chance to succeed though. You still seem to have common sense and social values. USA in general is so politicized, divided and brainwashed that half of the population considers cycling a "woke" activity...😁
Bike sharing being more expensive in the Netherlands makes sense when you consider that next every Dutch citizen owns one or even multiple bikes, meaning the sharing service is only ever used by tourists really.
That's the funny thing - 24 hour rentals are *perfect* for tourists, but OV-fiets isn't available to people without a Dutch bank account. Meanwhile, traditional bike share systems (where you keep the bike for 30 or 45 minutes) are perfect for the last-mile problem for train commuters, but they're not available in the Dutch OV-fiets rental system. (Also, I don't think bike share is really about not owning a bike. We own two bikes each and still use BIXI most of the time because it's so flexible and convenient.)
I agree that it's weird - in a country so dedicated to cycling - here I can literally pay $2 and grab an ebike from around the corner for a 1 way trip across town. The thing we are missing is that we have city bike share and car share but no cargo bike share. That would be amazing. There is no way I'm adding (and storing) a cargo bike next to the other bikes I already own.
I am so happy to live in the Netherlands! 🇳🇱Cycling is a joy rather than the battle for survival that it is in England. And the city centres are so much nicer without cars.
The conclusion is the most important part. As you exit the city center of Montreal, things are not so great. You can do it, but you needs to follow that one specific path path sometimes. You can bike to Laval, but not so much to Carefour Laval as THE path won’t take you there. Same for Ikea, the airport, etc.
Yeah the south shore has a pretty good network, but transitioning between bike paths means navigating intersections which can be scary especially with drivers who are looking for cars instead of bikers and SUVs and trucks with shitty sight lines and grills that could plow into you like a moving brick wall.
Don't know when was the last time that you went to le Carrefour, but there actually is a very nice path now, separated from traffic. If you are coming from the Perry island bridge or the Viau bridge, you can get there by only using secured bike paths.
1. The near-side traffic signals in Europe keep motorists from nudging past the stop line, keep them from nudging into the pedestrian crosswalks, and nudging into cross traffic. 2. Roundabouts are a safer alternative to traffic signals and stop signs. The tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down, and the most severe types of intersection crashes - right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions - are unlikely. Unfortunately, in North America, they want to go FAST, and dislike having to slow down for safety.
On the second point, people are slowly realizing that roundabouts keep you moving faster, although there are still some bad drivers who inexplicably fail to understand how they work and want to treat them like a four way stop- either waiting interminably or darting out into them without the right-of-way.
That first point was something I had never considered. I always thought that far-side traffic lights were one of the things that the Americans actually did better than us, because they are so much more visible. This makes a surprising amount of sense.
@@CaptainJellyBS - Because motorists are still able to see the traffic signals on the far-side of intersections in North America, they end up blocking the pedestrian crossings, blocking passage of pedestrians. For those turning right, motorists end to switch their gaze at the far-side traffic lights and the cross traffic coming from the left. They ignore pedestrians trying to cross from the right. If there were only near-side traffic signals, having to look at the traffic signals they would also be able see the pedestrians crossing in front of them.
The Dutch have a design norm where all roads have to comply to. This Norm is being updated constantly over decades. And whenever a road needs to be repaved, about every 30 years max, it is made according to the latest Norm. And Bikelanes and such have been incorporated in that Design for over 50 years now.
I'm very surprised that you did not touch on the difference in bike culture too. Being from Toronto visiting Amsterdam, I noticed two major things. First, very few people wear helmets! Second, cyclists and drivers are more respectful to each other. As both a cyclist and driver, I noticed Toronto cyclists have a much more entitled/road-rage disposition/attitude. Acting like a pedestrian or vehicle whenever it's convenient and/or raging (often violently) at cars for not being able to see them due to poor design. In Amsterdam, it was the polar opposite with both drivers and cyclist, looking out for each other, and not being super strict with rules all the time. Everyone was so chill and courteous.
That's because everybody in the Netherlands is a cyclist for 10 to 14 years, before they become a car driver. And still then, everybody is both a cyclist and a driver.
@@Bramfly same in toronto! The streets are very poorly designed making it much harder for cars to see the cyclists, but many cyclists don't care to think about it. It seems to make the cyclists feel more entitled to make dangerous manoeuvres without looking. I worked as a bike Courier for a while then drove a van downtown for another job.
The Dutch government already banned the use of (40 km/hr) mopeds on most bikepaths (only the 25 km/hr are still alowed to use them) Unfortunately a ban on the sale of combustion engine mopeds was blocked by EU regulations.
I don't live in the Netherlands, but I would also like to see a ban on all motorcycles with combustion engine in the EU (and cars without a proper muffler, like the Ford Mustang). I live near a stroad and the noise of these vehicles is crazy. Much worse than trucks.
@@Nhkg17 if you don't like it then live somewhere else. ICE mopeds are really economic now. It takes like 3 weeks for my scooter to get it's tank depleted and they are fun to drive. Electric mopeds are plain terrible and worse than a ICE scooter when on the production line. Also, it's a Mustang! It is supposed to be loud. I can't stand clueless people like you.
We, as dutch persons, are also confused about the red colours of bike paths (and sometimes the lack of or sometimes the fact that sidewalks are red). Especially in the city centre of Utrecht were they redeveloped the roads near Vredenburg. Lots of tourists walking on the cycling paths.
The red colour on our bike lanes actually has a pretty interesting origin. Tilburg officials wanted to have a bit more contrast in 1980 and they found that road constructors didn't charge much more for this red stain. Of course, other cities copied the cheaper option and it became the norm. It's not an official requirement though, that's done with traffic signs. Blue would be even more noticeable, but people are used to "red = bicycle lane or pedestrian area", so they won't change that. Though blue lines are used for areas where you can only park for a limited time, usually 2 or 3 hours. I believe the red bricks for city centers is pretty much coincidental, but for similar reasons. Iron-rich bricks become red when baked, and those were the most common (read: cheap) option to tile the streets. There COULD be a culturally significant reason for it, but I couldn't find one.
Hi, great video! On the matter of shared bike systems you are correct in the sense tat there aren’t really any widespread systems in Dutch cities. I think this is because most people in the country have their own bikes that they always use. When Dutch people go by public transport to another city for work they often have a second bike parked at the train station, eliminating the need for a shared system again. But there is a shared bike system there as you mentioned, the OV-fietsen. You’re right that they aren’t as flexible and relatively expensive. You have to remember that they are owned by the train company and not intended as a city shared system but more from train station to destination and back to the train. And not really for daily commute but for occasional use in a city you’re only visiting for a day or two. That is also the only purpose I’ve ever used them for and I feel makes sense when you look at who’s providing the system (and from what location). So if the OV seems not as flexible as you’d like, you might have the wrong assumption about it’s intended purpose.
5:30 The reason that you see so many kids and teenagers is linked to the roots of bike protection in the Netherlands. The movement began as a result of increasing numbers of children dying in traffic accidents with cars.
This one surprised me, it's nice to hear your observations. And this might be a low bar, but it's very welcome to actually see more than just Amsterdam being evaluated and visited. If there are ever future visits I would like to suggest going outside the Randstad as well if possible (basically the denser populated area with largest cities you've been to). A bit of time spent in other locations would probably be insightful and enjoyable too, some suggestions: - the North (Fryslân, Groningen), it's possible to cycle on some parts of the sea wall and parts of the afsluitdijk (and actually cross it completely again after the maintenance is done). - Flevoland, the polders that were reclaimed from the back then sea later turned into a big lake by the Afsluitdijk completion. It's a very different landscape. - Southern provinces where we've actually got some mild hills one of which according to the name is a mountain in our language (Vaalserberg). Regarding the first big criticism of snorfietsen (mopeds), I fully agree with that sentiment if I hear one coming I often take a deep breath so I can last on it until they and their lingering stink are well past me. New ones meeting current emission norms actually aren't all that bad other than still being noisy, but sadly many old ones will remain in circulation and to boost the performance a lot of owners tinker with them which almost certainly ends up with non-compliant emission snorfietsen. Fortunately electric ones do seem to be around more that are arguably too quiet and unexpected at times, but I'll take that over the stink and noise. I'm seeing those and 3 wheeled ones with cargo boxes being used a lot especially for postal and smaller package deliveries, they make a lot of sense with frequent stop and start while also being able to get closer to homes than a typical van. As for the disappointment with our OV-fiets system, I can understand it but I suspect there's not a big market for large scale commercial bicycle share systems since most families living here will have 1 or more bicycles per person at home. All places I've lived at had enough storage for this, convenience of access would vary but no madness like having to haul it up stairs and keep it inside living space. During my student years I had a special old trashy "stationsfiets", many people have such a thing or a "kroegfiets" (pub bicycle). Essentially a cheap not in the best state second bicycle that one wouldn't mourn if it gets stolen/damaged/lost (while drunk), I would typically park it at the train station if I left to my parents or elsewhere to be more flexible than the bus. I knew some people back then that even had 2 additional stationsfietsen, one to park at the station in their study city and the other at the station near their parental home. With that abundance of bicycles residents likely aren't all that interested in a bike share system and during my student days if I visited another city wherever I'd stay would have 1-2 extra sometimes crappy bicycles we could borrow for the time. I would suspect this is still mostly applicable today but maybe others in the comments can contribute to that conversation. The OV fiets fills a remaining niche by having decent bicycles available after getting to another city by public transport and since you're likely to leave again by train picking it up at a train station for the whole day and returning it there hasn't been inconvenient for me. The few times I've stayed at hotels for IT related training days and such they usually have a small fleet of bicycles their guests can use too, sometimes "free" in the nicer already expensive ones or for a small fee. The city Leeuwarden near the town I live in actually had a bike share system for a while, the "GO" provider had both electric scooters and normal pedal bicycles. The electric scooters got used a lot but I honestly didn't see the regular bicycles being used or parked much, the company seems to have gone away in the past year not sure what led to its demise/departure. One other company with "check" branding on theirs still does operate its shared electric scooters, they seem to get used plenty. 5:30 amused me as well, "It's really cool to happen across a school at the right time and see a large group of students arrive by bike" those are the times/places I actually deliberately try to avoid if I can help it. If I'm in a hurry to get somewhere I usually prefer a faster speed than them and on a relaxing ride without time pressure they'd probably want to pass me unless I speed up. It's not a big problem or even a major annoyance, it's just one of those "avoid if its not inconvenient" type things by taking another route or departing a few minutes earlier/later. Looking forward to watching more videos produced based on the videos and observations during this trip. And like I stated earlier, if there are any followup trips in the future please consider locations outside the Randstad as well.
The OV fiets "share bicycle" seems more expensive and less available aside from the station because most dutch people already have a bike (or a secondary cheap one too at the commuting destination). This results in it being less profitable to start a bicycle share system and hence less bigger market as most dutch people have a (multiple) bikes anyway as a 2nd hand bike becomes cheaper than sharing after a month or 2 of use.
Years ago, I worked in the Netherlands, A co-worker taught me a nifty trick about cycling in the winter! We dis-mounted both my bike tyres and then ran small screws from the inside to the outside in both tyres, you need a good plastic shield inside when you re-mount the tyres, Worked great with a little ice or snow, the screws do wear out, how some ever !!!!
About the OV-fiets: it's not really a bike-sharing system. I think the reason there's not more flexible bike-sharing is that pretty much everyone already has a bike. OV-fietsen are more an extension of the public transport network (OV = public transport). They're meant to help you make the last part of your journey from the station and back, so that you don't have to take your own bike with you on the train.
I grew up in MTL in the sixties & seventies as a child, nobody rode their bikes to school. Now, schools in my neighborhood are filled with overflowing bike racks. It seems teens nowadays are more clear about the "action-reaction" concept. Good on you, guys!!
I'm on a trip to the Netherlands at the moment, and have similar feelings - optimistic that it can be done in the UK, but slightly disillusioned at how far we have to go and so many projects so far just seem to lack the overall vision the Dutch have
The vision didn't appear over night. In the seventies the Dutch still had car centric infrastructure. Painted gutters were still the norm within the build environment in the '80s. Busy roads in between towns and villages, with 80 km/h traffic were the first to get separate bicycle paths, some only a meter wide with concrete tiles that became horrible to drive on once tree roots messed them up. The main advantage you have, might be that you do not have to experiment as much with the physical design. If you copy modern Dutch standards, you'll be able improve at a much faster pace at a cheaper budget.
Its takes time you know, the reason why our country is this far with cycling infrastructure is a generational effort to induce people into cycling. The UK can do the same, but it takes time.
Political will is the biggest barrier for the UK - I've emailed many MPs and councillors about sustainable transport and cycling but none of them care, they just copy and paste generic responses or tell me that current government policy is excellent and that they're doing a great job even though outdated infrastructure is being built as I type this.
We did a fairly similar day trip last summer from The Hague to Rotterdam, through Delft. Like you mentioned, it was so nice not to have to worry about finding a safe "bike" route to follow!
Great video, what's nice the know is that our red bicycle lanes aren't painted like you see in a lot of other countries. Rather they use red asphalt. Because of that we colour doesn't degrade and becomes more sustainable. It's also mostly (partly) recycled asphalt.
How much fun to see you cycled many bike routes in and around Delft I take about weekly, including the “Zoefroute” (Swoosh Route) from Delft (technical uni campus) through the tunnel under the A13 highway past my home in Delfgauw (and from there left to The Hague or straight to Zoetermeer)!
I think there are more differences than just the bike infrastructure. I mean, it was not like The Netherlands put in all these bike paths and then the country started cycling. No, it was the other way around. Everyone was cycling, and when cars seemed to take over, lots of deadly accidents happened, and only thenthey built dedicated bike lanes. Another difference, which is kind of similar ot the first one, is that Dutchies bike from a very early age. And not just for fun. Most kids go to school by bike. First on their parent's bike, but from the age of 6 or so often on their own bike, and not long after that, they bike to school by themselves. They get traffic lessons at school and they learn from their parents how to behave in traffic. Many kids bike long hours to high school, and later college. Most don't get their first car before they have a serious job. That means that every Dutch person basically is a cyclist. They only become motorists(?) after, if at all. So every motorist knows what it's like to be a cyclist, and the treat them respectfully. They know what children in traffic can be like, because they've all been one. That makes it much more safe for cyclists in The Netherlands. And another thing is the law, which kind of builds on to the last point. Because as a motorist, you are potentially driving a deadly vehicle, and a cyclist or pedestrian is not, the law is not on your side. When something happens between a car and a 'weaker' road user as it is called, the car is always responsible, by default. That makes cars even more careful when they're dealing with cyclists, pedestrians, or even scooters. It's the cars responsibility that the situation ends well. All I'd like to say is that it's not just infrastructure. You need a whole culture of cycling to make it work. Everyone has to be 'in'. And I don't think you can force that culture on a city or even a country. It needs to develop over decades. First get people to cycle, then have hunderds of children killed each year like we used to have in The Netherlands, then your governments will be ready to make laws and make safe bike paths. I'm afraid you can't do it the other way around.
thanks for your visit and positive view on our bike infra, and infra in general. One comment on your perception of some regions where infrastructure was not up to snuff: There's an additional factor that is invisible from looking just at the infra structure design, and that is the dynamic between road users. any one in a car, grew up on a bike, and the allowance from car drivers towards bike riders is enormous. The law is also very clearly towards bike riders: they are the weaker traffic, and any judge will lean towards the bike user. This is how i always experienced it, and how i was educated by my parents and school.. as a bike rider, but also as a pedestrian, you have an equal, and often preffered spot in traffic.
Being dutch, there's two things I'd want to add to this. Firstly, we started building all this infrastructure 50 years ago. Where we are now is the result of a long process of continuously improving. You might do it faster if you steal some ideas, but it will still take decades. Secondly, it's not about cycling at all, it's about safe and efficient transport. I prefer driving a car in the Netherlands to driving in north america. If this type of infrastructure is done well cars are not losing out.
As with all infrastructure projects (and the Netherlands is no exception) they are always a work in progress. I understand their key document that sets the tone for what they are trying to achieve was written in the 1990s and as roads get their periodic upgrades they try to improve them to the standards originally set and since improved on. Bicycle rental is a low priority in the Netherlands I suspect as they have a large (HUGE) bicycle ownership so renting a bicycle is what tourists likely do. Plus it is likely an old system - hence its inflexibility and newer systems with use smartphones etc. haven't been introduced as they are not seen as a priority.
The OV-fiets system is often misunderstood. It is not a bike-share or bike-rental system as such but a service a train company gives to card-holding customers to solve the last-mile problem. It is not really aimed at tourists or people that want to make large bike trips but at train passengers to get from the station to their destination and back.
@@OhTheUrbanity almost everyone i've seen using an OV-fiets was one of the following categories: - a student renting the bike to go to school (often in the morning) and returning the bike at the end of the school day. - someone who arrives at the train station (often by train but by bus is possible to) and needs something to get those last Km's to his work, and when the work day is over he will have to return either way to go home. -someone who visits for some festival or a going out for a night. and those people will often return home the next day. and if you need the bike more than 24 hours that's possible to. so you don't have to return him the next day. you could go to some kind of festival that takes more than 1 day and between the time you wake up and the next set of shows will start you're able to take that handy bike and visit the town you're in/next to. or just cycle to a beach or forest nearby. that's the beauty of The Netherlands, you're always a bike ride away from a town and some nature/park. and we have the safe cycle roads to get there (even if you're drunk)
The street shown at 7:11 doesn't have dedicated bike lanes. The striping is put further inwards just to give it a narrow look and feel. This is done to keep the speed down of cars. It is not intended as a bikelane. There is also not a bike painted on the ground like a dedicated bikelane has. This type of road has a speedlimit of 60 km/h. Is usually found outside citylimits.
There's not much of an equivalent for bike share parking in The NLs because there's not much bike share in the model used in most other places in The NLs. Instead of bike share, many Dutch people just have a second (or third, etc.) bike parked at the stations where they go frequently and stick to walking/transit to destinations in other places.
It's funny how some North Americans seem to think that OV-fiets is a shared bike program. It's not; it's part of a comprehensive, door-to-door public transit concept (hence the name Openbaar Vervoer-fiets - Public Transit Bike), removing the need to take your bicycle on the train. Shared bike programmes have never really taken off in The Netherlands. There are 23 milion bicycles on a population of 18 milion people. Everyone already has their own bike.
It's not really about owning bikes. We own two bikes each and still use BIXI bike share much of the time because it's so cheap, flexible, and convenient.
@@OhTheUrbanity You keep posting this so I am curious - what *do* you use those 2 bikes each for, if not small trips? The Dutch use their main bikes pretty much to "GSD". Shopping trips, visit friends, cinema, go for a drink, commute... the bikes come with big integrated locks to prevent theft, most Dutch will have insurance on their main bike, and literally everywhere has bike racks, making it still faster than even the most dense bike share to go point to point.
@OhTheUrbanity But why? Is it because you can not comfortably ride your bike from your home to the city centre? Aren't you just trying to transplant a North American mindset to a Dutch context?
@@quinob We have excellent bike infrastructure to get us to the city centre and we'd be taking the same route regardless of whether it's our own bikes or BIXI. We often take BIXI to avoid worrying about bike theft and because it's more flexible (we can leave the bike there and complete our trip by walking or transit if we want). To your last point, that's exactly what people say (in reverse) to argue against installing Dutch-style bike infrastructure in North America.
Here's an actual Montreal thing we did when I was visiting. Grab a Bixi, ride from Little Italy to Mile End to meet friends and dock the bike somewhere, we grab a drink and then decided to go for a walk past a wine store they like and then walk and talk for a while further to their favorite Thai restaurant. Then we part ways and they walked home and we went a bit further downtown for another drink and where are the bikes we used now? 30-40 blocks away. If it was our own bikes or borrowed bikes we'd have to go fetch them but instead we can just jump on the Metro to head back. No problem.
Having a practical network is the most important thing for improving bikeability in cities. Id rather have a connected network of plastic cone separated lanes all over the city than a street with 2, 2 way concrete seperated bike lanes on both sides... that only go for a single block then dump you onto the street again. Great video!
You seemed to miss a huge difference right in front of your eyes: Compare 5:17 to 5:21. See anything different? In the 5:17 one everyone is wearing an annoying helmet. It messes up hair, the makes you sweaty, it needs to be carried off the bike. In the 5:21 one, no one is wearing a helmet. This makes biking way more casual and convenient. I'm sure there will be angry comments below and I get the Netherlands is way safer than the city in 5:17 but IMO it should be a goal to be more like the Netherlands here. Their statistics back it up. To put it a another way, in 5:17 we see a bunch of cyclists. In 5:21 we see everyday people riding bikes. We'll never get to Netherlands level of bike infrastructure and usage if you have to become a cyclist to use a bike. We need to make using a bike something you can do without having to plan ahead.
I don't really understand your criticism. Montreal does not have mandatory helmet laws (except on eBikes), and it doesn't really even have social pressure either. Lots of people choose not to wear helmets here (including, frequently, us). If these people choose to wear them, what's the problem? The way we get more people onto bikes is by continuing to build infrastructure, not by turning judgemental and actively stigmatizing helmets as if you're really concerned about someone else's choice regarding their hair.
@@kjh23gk We did not wear helmets in the Netherlands, and we frequently don't back home in Montreal either. It depends on the length of the trip and whether we're using familiar/good routes (also on whether we're using BIXI, because we're not going to carry a helmet around for that).
You called some other channels, but didn't mention Not Just Bikes, one of the best, by a Canadian who left Canada for Amsterdam and explains many of the hidden infrastructures. Also, why we have a much weaker bike sharing system: because everyone has one at home.
It doesn't need to be name dropped. Everyone in the universe has heard of that channel. Aliens on their way to earth picked up tranmissions, and then turned around because humans seemed too annoying.
Canadian cities need to stop slowly going through all the phases like just having "lake lanes" where they put a strip of multi-use path that goes from nowhere to nowhere next to some water, and then painting some arrows, and then painting some gutters, and then building some "RUclips lanes" where there is a wide, separated bike lane in 1 direction that lasts about 3 blocks - or just long enough to get a 5-10 second video clip of how amazing the bike infrastructure is before the lane dumps you in a gutter or directly into some parked cars. Make a plan, draw some routes out, immediately reprogram your traffic lights on the route to give bikes and pedestrians a head start across the intersection. Move the bike lane next to the sidewalk and let the cars park next to the traffic lanes. Sharpen the corners and add proper bike traffic routing when 2 bikeways cross. Some of this will be costly but some of this is super cheap, ticking a box on a computer program or re-painting a line in a different place.
I get what you are saying, but building a new infrastructure on top of an old one as if everywhere is like pandemic Paris under Hidalgo isn't always going to work. That's just a kind of cultural imperialism, or cycling "christians" who think they need to save the driving "aboriginals" from their ways of wrong living. Paris' cycling infra was built on bus infra that became little used during the pandemic. One was quuckly sacrificed for the other. To build cycling infra in spread out Canadian cities cannot happen the same way. It will have to happen slowly over time, with cultural change, and with both sides having to give up a bit of what they have or want. Otherwise you will have a society that is divided because each side claims rights over the other, a split society with no common culture.
Makkers, kom op. Mensen, forenzen, die van en naar hun werk gaan kopen gewoon een eigen fiets, dan heb je al dat gedoe met een abonnement niet nodig. Just buy your own bike. You two seem rather adamant about these sharing programmes, yet rest assured that the standard here is to own your own bike; and in case you need to commute in a different city regularly, e.g. for work, you put a spare bike on the train station you will use regularly, facilitated by infrastructure. I see, truly, no benefit to some commercialised programme, having to spend money consistently to have access to a viable mode of transport. There is no market for extensive bike sharing programmes; laten we dat maar zo houden, zonder commercieel gedoe.
0:46 People living in Dutch streets were actually asked what they wanted on the roads the live at and the overwhelming response is more bikes and fewer cars. Would you rather live in near the quiet traffic of bikes, or the noisy and unhealthy one of cars??
Nice video to watch as someone from The Netherlands. When you consider that The Netherlands has more bikes than residents, it kind of makes sense we don't have that many bike share programs when almost every Dutch person has at least one bike. When you entered a street without a designated bike path I understand you getting flashbacks of non European city's, we don't think like that though. We know the right side of the road is the bicycle area and almost all cars will drive slowly or think about us when passing. Happy to hear you liked our bicycle paths!
I would suggest that the following arguments would be quite convincing to many voters in North America: - health benefits of cycling to fight obesity - reducing traffic jams, as bikes take up way less space - having safe roads for children - allowing children to be more independent, which has psychological benefits and saves parents time - freedom of choice between walking, biking and driving
About the moped/scooter thing: a distinction is made between bromfietsen en snorfietsen. A bromfiets is the version you'll encounter the most. They go up to 45 km/h (30ish mph), or much, much faster if they're illegally modified, which is pretty popular and apparently quite easy. The police set up stops to hunt for these specifically. Until around the year 2000 or so bromfietsen used to go on the bycicle lane, but now the rule is that they use the bycicle lane outside of city limits (some particularly touristy forest paths are off limits to them, but by far most of the infrastructure is shared), but go in the car line within city limits. Bromfietsen are popular with teenagers because you can get a license for them at a younger age than for a car. The license also used to be given out after only a theoretical exam about traffic rules and such, only since a few years has it started requiring an actual riding test. A snorfiets is the less common little brother of the bromfiets that only goes 25 km/h (15ish mph), and for many intents and purposes they're treated the same as bycicles. Although things are changing a bit. Since this year, 2023, you even need to wear a helmet on them. The most confusing thing is that electric bicycles are legally split up into two categories as well. Speedpedelecs can go up to 45 km/h, while regular e-bikes can go up to 25. Yet the rules for speedpedelecs are much less strict than for bromfietsen. So if something was made illegal for bromfietsen years ago because their prescence was endangering cyclists, grandpa on his speedpedelec can often just go straight in and restart the endangerment. I'm blaming grandpa here because electric bicycles have proven to be particularly popular among older people. Where a bromfiets is a young person's step up to a car, leading to accidents caused by overconfidence and a lack of experience, speedpedelecs are getting used as a step down from a regular bicycle, leading to accidents caused by a lack of reflexes (in relation to the speed). The reasoning for the difference in legal status between bromfietsen en speedpedelecs seems to be that bromfietsen are often much heavier than speedpedelecs and thus more dangerous. Statistics however do show an increasing number of accidents involving bicycles. Electric bicycles are not tracked separately, but I feel it's a safe bet that the rise of electric riders and speedpedelecs in particular are to blame for at least some of that increase.
We also like biking in Denmark. Above all: the possibility to bike safely. So even the royals and politicians do it too. The last American ambassador (appointed by Trump) went back to the USA and told that the Danes are poor because they bike to work in Copenhagen :) My kids grew up in Hamburg, Dublin and Denmark. The most significant change was, that my kids could move freely on their bikes and on foot in Denmark. No need for others to transport them and waiting for a drivers licence before they could move independantly.
The OV fiets is a replacement for the station bike, a lot of people who commute by train would ride their nicer bike to a local train station, grab a train and once at the destination station would grab their older cheaper station bike to get to work (The Station bike). Seeing the places you work at can be rather spread out, but also dense having a bike you own or one you rent for 24 hours means you can just park in at your workplace bike parking (most will have facilities for it on their own grounds). If you wanted to do that with bike sharing you suddenly need to take up a lot of public space to make it happen and be really finely spread, because the whole idea is that you do not need to walk anywhere (efficiency, we do not like to waste time). Many of our cities are very limited in public space as it is and considering the solution would not be as convenient as your own station bike or the OV fiets it would be a really hard sell to investors here, not to mention it would be next to impossible to convince the local government and people it is a good idea. The cost of the OV fiets can be offset by your employer as well, so it might not be as costly as it seems, but still most people that commute multiple times a week tend to favour their own bike, just because it is always there and suited to your size and needs. A smart station bike looks like shit, but runs like a dream. Also nowadays a lot of people lease a swapfiets for this purpose for like 15 EUR a month, that is still going to be cheaper than any no subsidized bike share program and you will not get anyone to subsidize one here. We had some companies offering shared electric mopets here, but they where swiftly hated by a lot of people and I am not seeing many of them anymore either. For tourists there are many bike rental options from the local bike store (many offer rentals) to larger chains focused on exactly that with easily recognizable bikes or even your hotel or perhaps your apartment comes with bikes. That last part is quite a handy feature as it means the locals can ID the tourist and hence anticipate they will behave differently in traffic. Bike traffic in rush hour in cities like Amsterdam can be quite the shocking experience to people and hence often I see tourist being overwhelmed and not entirely sure what to do. So yeah for the Dutch a bike share system has to few benefits and to many obstacles to likely become a thing, now never say never of course, but it would be one hell of a battle to make it happen and also be profitable.
I lived in Amsterdam for a year. I used to ride my bike from Amsterdam to Haarlem to a small coastal town called Zandvoort. All bike lanes no cars! Even along the beach (north-south) there is a bike lane! I loved it since I've been using a bike as transport since 2005. You can ride from city to city on a bike in the Netherlands.
In 2019 we took a barge and bike trip from Amsterdam to mastricht on a tandem . When our group of 15 cyclists snaked thru Utrecht it seemed like the whole city turned out on bicycle and on foot for some holiday. Somehow we made it thru. It was nice to cycle in a country where there less need to constantly check over your left shoulder for passing cars
For me, a key factor is having a good public transport infrastructure. This goes hand in hand with good bike infrastructure. It provides people with the ability to choose the best form of transport for each journey. Anything that reduces the number of cars and lorries is fantastic. Keep them for when they are actually needed, than being the default.
One reason why we have fewer bike shares here is that everyone has at least one bike, so you only need one when you take a train or bus on longer trips. I cycle on my own bike to the train station for work, take the train, and then take an OV fiets from the station to my job and back. This allows me to travel during rush hour when you're not allowed to take bikes in the train.
As there are more bikes than people in the Netherlands everybody has their 2-wheeled transportation covered mostly. When taking a train they take their own bike to the station, then in the destination city take an OV-fiets, effectively extending the range of their own bike when combined with public transport. So whenever Dutch people want to rent a bicycle the OV-fiets. There is 'Swapfiets' as well covering longer time bike rental like when studying in another city etc.
@@OhTheUrbanity True for the incidental user but the bulk of the use is for frequent train travelers who get a discount, have a subcription or it is free (included in their train subscription) and they use the national public transport card for it so no hassle or apps needed. For incidental/one off users like tourists you are better of renting a regular bike rental place. There are lots of those around in Amsterdam etc.
Cool video; really love the insights! Though I am feeling profoundly jealous of your visit :-) I agree that the effect of a complete network is so important (and something we generally lack in North America)
I would recommend the 64km non-stop Bike highway route F35 in the east of the netherlands, it's a really neet design that connects Nijverdal to the German border. It also branches out to Hengelo-Enschede, Currently they are extending this route by adding 2 new cycling bridges in Enschede. I would recommend the part between Enschede and Hengelo.
One thing that surprised me in The Netherlands is the amount of elderly people riding bicycles. The Omafiets is one of the most popular bikes, which translates to Grandmother bicycle. Then comes the way some people ride them, I have seen people riding with bags of cement as well as a plethora of other items one would not expect on a bike such as brooms, rakes and other large items that makes it difficult to ride.
Yup, Dutch bikeshare programs are expensive because on average, every 1 Dutch person owns 1.4 bikes. So you only use a shared bike in case you are traveling to a new city, or if yours broke. Since the usage is low, the price is high to cover to the costs. Also, the shared bikes you have shown (OV-fiets) are actually bikes owned by the Dutch Railways (NS). Initially it wasn't a separate service.
I think in the end one of the most important things is having a population that sees the bike as a utility vehicle and not just a (kids) toy or sports item. When you have that is easier to get government to make changes for bike safety. Also, getting more people to bike also makes space for bikes, as the need for car lanes reduces space can be made available to improve bike lanes (and other things).
We were in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, and had similar thoughts! We're back in Calgary now, and now I can't stop seeing the poor bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (as well as all the opportunity). We have such wide arterials and connectors here, with huge swaths of land on either side. We could easily do a lot of this.
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Correction: At 2:15, we refer to the Dutch having painted bike lanes. However, while the white lines and symbols are paint, the red is dyed asphalt. It would be more accurate to describe these as "unprotected" or "unseparated" lanes. We regret the error. (Still had a great time in the country.)
We actually have two main varieties of these lanes. In both cases the colour of the lane is not prescribed by law. There are in fact some older strips that were once painted, but this is indeed rare. 1) ‘Fietsstrook’ or bike strip, are the lanes with a symbol of a bike. Only bikes are allowed here and cyclists are obligated to use these lanes. 2) ‘Fietssuggestiestrook’ or suggested bike strip: these lanes are just there to indicate that this part of the road is were a cyclist will ride. The strips are only narrow and have no bike symbols. There is no obligation to use these, and other traffic can use this part of the road. You can see why these fietssuggestiestroken are problematic. They are often used on narrow roads, offer no protection and cars will park here. Cars in fact pass cyclists closer driven by the lines on the other side of the road.
Horrendous, unwatchable.....😘Good to see you want to be correct👍
I said a dumb thing here and @howtheyride was kind enough to point that out with soft, friendly words. 😀
@@bramharms72 Well... no. Cycling paths are roads, not pavement. Separate bike lanes share the direction with the main road they are on, unless a sign specifically states that it is a two-way lane. If you don’t want to cross the road, you can always walk on the pavement... in both directions.😉
@@restraum Damn, you're totally right. I should have checked it. Like I did just now, which took me exactly 5 seconds.
I must have learned that ages ago and we're not exactly at the cutting edge of infrastructure here in the Wieringermeer, so single cycling paths is the norm here anyway.
If you don't mind I'll remove my original post. I don't mind acknowledging when I've said something stupid, which I did, but I do mind leaving the stupid thing out in the open.
Thanks for correcting me.
i think it makes sense that the netherlands doesn't really have big bikeshare programs because most people there own bikes and some people even own multiple bikes. a bikeshare just isn't something you need if the entire country already has their own bikes
And if you don't already own a bike, there's plenty of them in the canals, waiting to be fished out...
@@InventorZahran Or just buy one for 10 Euros from a crackhead.
Plenty of Dutch own more than 1 bicycle....
This, plus the biggest bike share platform is probably the OV fiets. A bike you can take from the train station and park anywhere you want during your stay as long as you return it back at the station when you take the train back. They cost around 4.5 euro (around dollars). For context, in Amsterdam in 2019: 900.000 bikes were privately owned 18.000 were leased (swapfiets) and just 11.000 were owned by other agencies (of which 2100 OV fiets).
They don't work here. You either have a bike, or you travel by public transport and use an OV-fiets which there are plenty of at any station. I don't see how their critique of having a commercialized bike share would make sense in the Netherlands. I see it as a positive thing that we don't have this.
“There’s no big mystery about how to make urban cycling safe” 👏
We don’t need pilot programs, consultations, or studies - we know what needs to be done. We have an entire country who’s homework we can copy. Leaders, just go and do it.
Spend 6-12 months and cover the city in temporary but relatively cheap infrastructure, and then spend the next several years making it permanent as roads come up for their usual repair schedules.
You can create something entirely new! Please do! But do not copy the mistakes we first made, that's waste of money and effort.
The Netherlands generally has a plan. And every time a piece of road is changed, it is remodeled according to that plan. Sometimes th eimplementation is immediate, sometimes only preparation for the final change to be made later, waiting for other parts of the route.
@@pizzablenderOh, what I wouldn’t give to have a functional, intelligent government here in the U.S.! But instead, we have half the country who wants no government at all, and votes for any criminal who will destroy what the rest of us vote for and then pretend it’s because “government doesn’t work” or that it’s impossible for government not to be corrupt. Well of course it doesn’t work, or is impossible to have without corruption when you approach everything with that kind of attitude!
I’m finding myself wishing more every day that I lived in The Netherlands. Imagine what the U.S. could be if our country were run like yours!
You should take a look at Hilton head South Carolina. I was there for a week recently and never used my car for the entire week. I shopped, dined, went to the beach and saw a movie all using my bicycle or walking. It was designed from the beginning to be a bicycle city.
That's a huge problem with the cities I've lived in (San Diego, Anchorage, Toronto, Calgary). They do these pilots that turn into massive political battles (and vandalism). The pilots are even messed with so much that they can't really even get any data from them. We know what to do, just do!
Dutchie here, have done a lot of biking in the Netherlands and acros Europe. One thing you did not mention, but really struck me: The (non)verbal communication of roadusers to make trafic safe, quick and convenient for everybody (even sometimes against priority-rules; especially in bad weather) is a thing I only experiencerd in the Netherlands. That culture of 'we'll figure out this trafic-situation together' is something that is often missed in bike-culture-videos.
Yeah true. Even in streets that have no bike lanes, it's usually not a problem, because drivers expect there to be cyclists anyway and act accordingly (with the exception of a few aholes ofcourse).
What sort of non verbal cues do you mean? Different issue, but I also wonder if the presence of e bikes in some circumstances makes cycling a bit more hazardous- being faster, silent,and that we all have it in us to be selfish and have no regard for the next guy.
Biking in central Amsterdam
is bad because of all the tourists. The Dutch culture is based on people in the past having to work together building and maintaining the dykes. When biking or driving the Dutch work together. That culture may not translate well in other societies. There may be some busy paths in Toronto or other cities but in the Netherlands every street’s bike path is full of bikes every day.
@@delftfietser Eye-contact, or avoiding it, leaning into a corner before going around it, hand signals (like thanking-gesture to get right of way even before it is given), taking up more space to claim passage...or the opposite moving to the side to allow passage to the other.
There are lots and lots of little signals that are given (conciously or unconsiouly) to let others know what you are up to....and yes indeed; that includes the selfish ones too.
@@henrimessinghausen5185 Thank you for those pointers, I will start looking for them. Here in Winnipeg Canada, the only priority rule in our developing cycling culture is speed. I have no idea how we will ever get used to the reality of close passes, whether it's a car, pedestrian, or bike. Wide space is much preferred, violation of that is furious hatred, like kicking a dog. Yay, everyday humanity....
Speaking of mopeds: a huge reason why my father in law is so excited about e bikes is because he feels that they bring all the advantages that mopeds promised without any of the downsides.
The biggest and most obvious downside being the noise!
Electric mopeds dont have the noise...
@@jjjjjjj6137 true. But they’re also a very new invention which didn’t exist 30 odd years ago when people first made a big push for mopeds.
Although I will say that another reason he’s become a big fan of e bikes is the familiarity of it all. He feels that it’s much easier to convince someone like him to try out an e bike cause you just say, “hey, if you’re scared then just ride it like a normal bike and flip this switch any time you’re going up a big hill or something!”
As a Dutchie, I'm not against ebikes, but I do think they have a downside. Despite speed limits everywhere, they can go very fast and it causes many accidents or dangerous situations. I'm experiencing this on a regular basis. Ebikes often go faster than normal bikes. I use a normal bike myself, and many people with ebikes are passing me by without ringing a bell or giving a warning. Since you don't hear them unless they are very nearby, they often come out of nowhere quickly and fast, causing dangerous situations, especially on narrow bike lanes. I hope there will be solutions to this in the future.
The propensity for cheaper batteries catching fire is concerning. My pedal-powered bike won't make me desperate to leave an elevator in seconds if something goes wrong.
I feel like the real solution to all these problems. Comes down to speed limits and the lanes you create. I was watching a video of ho chi min city recently and instead of having two separated lanes they had 3. One for high speed travel one for medium and one for low. Obviously not every city has the room to build three separate lanes like this but I think it speaks to the main problem. Which is not actually e-bikes or mopeds but which lanes they are traveling in. Cities just need to do a better job creating rules around where they travel...
It’s not just the cities in the Netherlands that have bike lanes - they are ALL OVER THE WHOLE COUNTRY!!! Bike lanes are everywhere.
Exactly!
But then again, the country is the same size as the Greater Houston Area.
@@janwensveen1406 So? Does the whole Greater Houston Area have a network like this?
@@codex4048 : No. Don't understand why they wouldn't though. But I can understand that you can not compare about 50 nation-sized states to one small country.
@@janwensveen1406 I really don't see why you cannot compare these. It's not like we tore roads apart in order to create our bicycle infrastructure, we mainly just update roads to the latest guidelines whenever they need maintenance. It's a slow approach but it isn't limited by scale.
A few things that add to a great biking experience in the Netherlands are a) virtually every driver of a vehicle also bikes or has biked and defers to bikers, b) when drivers learn to drive a car in the Netherlands, they learn to open the car with their right arm... yes their right arm as this forces one to look backwards to see if there are any oncoming bicyclists, c) most traffic laws favor bicyclists in the Netherlands. It would be great if drivers in N. America would be instructed to open their car doors with their right arm as opposed to using their left arm. Suggest you include this in future clips. Thanks for a nice report on biking in the Netherlands.
As people often forget, the incredible growth of bike infrastructure also started primitive. Roads got pained bike gutters 40 years ago. It takes some time before those roads are redeveloped again, using modern standards Typically 20 to 40 years. Mostly, you have perfect alternative routes already nearby.
That's a very valid point! A municipality here in the northern part of The Netherlands has a very decent bike infrastructure, but they recently made new policies that require that bike lanes should be at least 2,30 cm or wider. Many lanes are around 1,80 cm or sometimes even narrower. They already admitted that they can't renew the complete bike network quickly, as it would require a lot of money and resources (which they don't always have). So it will be done in phases, based on priorities. Some paths were modernized quite recently and there are no plans to renew them before 2045 because of that. It will take decades to modernize all of these lanes, and by that time, there will probably be new policies again. But it's improving!
But every major road in the Netherlands had secondary roads for the milkman, greengrocer, potato farmer, baker and bicycles... Going back to 1880 when we started to extend our cities outside the city walls. First they came with dog carts, donkeys and horses, from door to door, later all replaced by freight bicycles or small motor vehicles. So separate lanes for slow transport are very old!
@@dutchman7623 They are called "ventwegen" which is literally "roads to sell on".
@@pizzablender I know... Bloke roads! 😀
My first trip to NL was 30 yrs ago. Amsterdam had some dedicated bike paths already and I almost got run over by a bike. Lol
What drivers don’t seem to understand is, the more people on bikes the less cars. That makes driving more enjoyable.
6:15 there is a reason for that, though: we don't need large scale bike rental infrastructure because everyone already has their own bike. The only places where you can require one is when you travel somewhere by public transport. The main problem there is if you come by train since trams and busses stop pretty much where you need to be. And for that, we have the OV fiets now.
A few Dutch people have given this as a reason but I'm not sure it really fits. We own two bikes each and we still prefer BIXI bike share for most shorter trips (e.g., commutes) because it's so convenient and cheap. All the frequent BIXI users we know that I can think of also own their own bikes too.
I agree, the only time I used the OV fiets is when visiting cities I cannot not bring my bike too. eg. when the local transit sector was striking in Utrecht I cycled from the station to the university campus instead of taking the tram
@@OhTheUrbanitywhy rent a bike for your commute when you (i assume) have your bike at home anyways?
@@ddanenelSo you don't have to park it, if you want to bike downhill and take public transit or walk uphill, if you're going somewhere you think your bike might get stolen, if you're taking a multi modal trip or going through a loop of destinations that won't take you home anytime soon, if you think it might rain later in the day and you'll want to take transit back, if you have a regular bike but the bike shares have electric bikes or vice versa, having the choice without needing the space or funds to own multiple bikes.
@@ddanenel Because it eliminates any worry about theft and is also more flexible (for example, you can bike to work and take the metro home, or vice versa). Also, each trip is free (we pay the equivalent of 9 euros per month and get unlimited 45 minute rides).
As a Torontonian, I am even jealous of what you’ve shown from Montreal and Vancouver. Cycling in Toronto falls into two categories. You’re either enjoying yourself cycling through a park on a trail that doesn’t really go anywhere or you’re praying that someone in a car doesn’t run you over.
I feel you and completely understand you... But I laughed out loud living in Delft.
Make sure to vote for a pro-cycling mayoral candidate on or before the 26th.
The coverage is a real killer feature for any mode, so I'm not surprised it makes your list! The extra work of finding the "safe route" is another inconvenience that I'm used to as a dedicated cyclist but would be *very* nice not to have to worry about. Getting to the point where people can just "go" like you describe is a huge step in making cycling make sense to more people. Network effects are important.
That's another important aspect: The routes for cars and the routes for cyclists are not the same - because cyclists can take a very direct route without noise or the need for a giant freeway. But you must give cyclists waysigns to find this routes - and at a later stage you also must make it possible to use the car routes to reach every possible destination.
As a Dutchie, I find it very interesting to hear perspectives from people from other countries. Everything shown in the video is right. Our bike infrastructure and facilities are quite good, but not perfect either. Some cities are better than others. Groningen is known as one of the bike capitals, but I've biked around there a few times lately and feel like they really could elevate it to a higher level. The bikelanes are not always clearly marked or wide enough. It's often too crowded and there are a lot of traffic lights where you will need to stop. My hometown is much smaller than Groningen, but the infrastructure is more modern and it's more quiet, which makes it much more pleasant to bike here than in a bigger, crowded city.
Not perfect? You have no idea how perfect your infrastructure is compared to whatever gets built here in Eastern Europe by our corrupt and incompotent politicians. OH AND DON'T EVEN LET ME GET STARTED ABOUT OUR SHIT PUBLIC TRANSPORT. AMSTERDAM HAS 800,000 PEOPLE AND HAS LIKE 4 OR SOMETHING METRO LINES. THE CITY IN WITCH I LIVE HAS 1,6 FUCKING MILION PEOPLE AND HAS EXACTLY ZERO. The worst thing of all is, basically nothing is being done to fix these problems. NOTHING! As you can tell I am very calm.
Oh how I wish that I had the problem of "crowded bike facilities" here in Sydney... I know what you mean, but with an 8% mode share it would be amazing to get to the point where we could complain about "all those (other) people on bicycles using *my* bike path"
Groningen is not very good in terms of bicycle infrastructure. It was one of the first cities to get the right idea, but now it's lagging behind other cities in the Netherlands.
@@mozismobile "8%? Wow, that's so high!" -- American
@@mindstalkwell as a dutch person, 8% less cars on the road actually means drastically less traffic jams, it's just that tiny little amount of extra cars that makes everything crawl to a halt, and trust me I've ridden bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, cars, and not in the least trains and buses and trams
I totally agree. I made a bike trip through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark last year, and while all countries have good bicycle infrastructure at times, the Netherlands is the only country that has it everywhere. It's the only country where I almost never felt uncomfortable
Yeahh and that is not only because of the bikepaths😘
‘Reminding us of home’, funniest troll. Thanks for the continued content and advocacy for people first, (bike) safe communities
Talking about coverage and consistency. I moved to the Netherlands 1 year ago and I've been cycling everywhere, like 1000kms per month and I've never felt in danger by cars, I actually don't even really look if I can go somewhere by bike, I just go knowing that there will be infrastructure.
Most important- Dutch bikes are very different, giving the rider necessary height needed in traffic so not only that you see better other users but we are more visible to cars which makes it safer.
The basic omission of this video is the fact that all ( nearly all?) dutch cardrivers also drive a bike. As a cardriver, you know what it is to drive a bike, what dangers are, and what the advantages are
I just came back from riding 4 weeks in the Netherlands with my wife. Can't disagree with your assessment. We live east of Toronto where hit and miss (unsafe) cycling infrastructure is the norm. I have cycled in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, etc, but nothing comes close to riding "anywhere" in the Netherlands. We are planning another month of riding in 2024. PS, I've also cycled, France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, US, etc.... But I never felt as safe as cycling in the Netherlands. Love your videos.❤
as a Canadian who recently did a trip very similar to yours, I miss the Netherlands so much!
1:48 I get why the OV-fiets system seems like an odd bike share system, but that's because OV-fiets is not actually a bike share system, but rather a rental system where you can rent a bike from a train station, i.e. right after getting off the train, so you can quickly make the journey to your final destination. That's also why the rental price is per 24 hours, as most OV-fiets users tend to be commuters that get off the train, get an OV-fiets at that station, cycle to their final destination, then at the end of the day cycle back to the station. It's a rental system rather than a bike share system because you actually have to return these bicycles to the train station in order to end the rental period. Any of these bikes out on the street are actively rented by someone, you cannot get on these bikes in the street, cycle down a few streets and then just leave the bike behind. You actually need to go to a train station to rent a bicycle, and return them to the same train station at the end of your trip, or return them to a different train station for a €10 surcharge.
A 24-hour bike rental is just a strange solution for its intended use. According to one study, a typical OV-Fiets weekday user is biking 3 kilometres or 10 minutes from the train station to work and then back in the evening. Paying almost 5 euros to keep a bike all day just to use it for 20 to maybe 30 minutes total just feels like overkill!
Study: essay.utwente.nl/93399/1/Pluister%20B.%201718150%20_openbaar.pdf
I get that it may feel like overkill, but compared to public transit travel time and pricing, I think the OV-fiets is actually pretty attractive. I'm an OV-fiets user myself, and my options are paying €4,45 for an OV-Fiets and then cycling 15 minutes down to the Vondelpark area, or taking a tram which takes 35 to 40 minutes due to indirect routing, which costs €1.95 per trip or €3.9 round trip. meaning the bike costs me €0.55 more while also giving me extra flexibility. That alone makes the bike worth it for me.
An OV-Fiets also gives me some extra flexibility, I regularly make a stop at a supermarket to get some groceries, or go dining with some friends someplace else in the city. But even if I didn't do that, that €0.55 difference for an OV-Fiets is worth it to me, and that's also pretty much how NS priced those bikes.
We did actually have trials for bike share programs for short trips too, and there are still two such trial programs in Amsterdam on a limited scale, but they generally fail because most dutch people own or two bikes they use already, or combine multiple destinations with one OV-Fiets trip, or even just buy a foldable bike they can take with them on the train. In addition to that Amsterdam doesn't really have space for bikeshare stations, and public sharing bikes being dumped in the middle of the pavement was becoming a real eyesore for both people and the city council, which is why the trials ended with no renewal of required permits.
"Snorfietsen" wew... I haven't heard that word in decades.The types depicted in the video are most definitely called Scooters in the Netherlands. Snorfietsen were the predecessors of "Brommers", think things like a Solex, which was a bike with an engine mounted above the front wheel. You push the engine on the wheel with a lever when you want powered drive, you lift it up if you want to safe fuel. Also small "brommers" (translated: hummers, as in humming... the sound) have been called snorfiets for a while. for brommers think vehicles like a Puch Maxi, a Honda MT and MB series, Kreidler, Zundapp.
OV Fiets: We have tried free bike share programs since the 60's, they never caught on. It seems the last few years commercial variants like the OV Fiets or Tier seemto gain in popularity though so maybe it is time to dust off the old "Witte Fietsen Plan" (White bike plan, one of the first attempts for free bike sharing in 1965)
Nice comparison and observations. I visited Netherlands last year and this video revived my memories. Thanks for sharing.
Not being honked at or threatened because you're on a bike is a good bonus.
We (the Dutch) have bike lanes (fietstroken) and bike paths (fietspaden). A bike lane is a small lane that is directly attached to the car lane in that the car could use it when it's free to stop when people need to get out for instance. a bike path is physically separate from the can lanes and cars don't go on them (well, there are rare exceptions but they are 99.9% dedicated for bikes).
There is hardly 'painted' infrastucture in The Netherlands. What you filmed is red asphalt. Paint would desintegrate very soon due to the weather conditions and heavy use of the paths. As costs of red asphalt is higher than the regular black, red is often not used where the situation is clear, that the (seperated) path is cycling only. This is usual the case in rural areas next to provincial roads for example.
Having biked in Europe a fair bit lately, one thing I noticed is that there are simply fewer cars on the road to contend with.
The fact that drivers are used to cyclists (and typically are cyclists themselves) seems to have a very real effect too
@@OhTheUrbanity For sure. And remember that many (if not most) car drivers here are also cyclists themselves. So they are aware of the infrastructure and people biking.
As a European who has never been to (and certainly never biked in) North America, I was always a bit bewildered about how much emphasis pro biking channels put on feeling unsafe near car traffic. I always thought, "Sure, it's preferable not to bike next to a road with no real separation in between, but it's not like every driver is up to outright murder you." Now I'm not so sure anymore; maybe they are up to murder in North America.
People walk or use other public transit. Not so car dependent.
@@lonestarr1490 I once was touched by a car that ran over a bicycle gutter line, but I somehow was lucky to stay on my bike and not crash. It is a while ago, and nowadays drivers are moreoften distracted by for instance looking on their mobile phones. A lot of them drive a pickup truck, which became bigger and more dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians. When you don't have separated bike lanes and protected crossings, drivers can easily make a stupid mistake that may cost your life. That's unacceptable. Street design has to improve to keep people happy and alive.
As a Dutchman, I too absolutely hate these snorfietsen on the bike lanes, so much noise and smell for only one person to pass with sometimes a much higher speed than the bikes.. great video (didn't expect to see my work building in The Hague haha)
3:23 Having routes that feel natural and intuitive is key. There are some bike routes I take that feel this way and others where I sit and wonder “Should I be on the road? Is there a path…? Is there a bike lane somewhere?”
Yes, yes, yes! To this whole video! I totally relate to your bike experience when I visited the Netherlands for two weeks! 😊
True, watch videos online is one thing but experiencing has really helped me envision the environment we can build in Canada.
I was recently elected to my local cycling advocacy board and I look forward to helping my region in Ontario to make better decisions when thinking about cycling and land use. 😊
Years ago I was biking to a park in Eindhoven (I was visiting a friend), I ended up on a road. No pike lane, simple road. As road was simple two lane two way, a car could not pass over. He slowed down and waited behind us till there was a place he can take over. It says a lot about biking in NL.
Wait, are you telling me that slowing down to pass when there's room for overtaking is special and not the simply the norm? I wouldn't even know what the alternative would be. Honking until the biker makes space?
@@ThatDutchKaj that's what they do in Canada. And/or yell at you to get off the road.
This was my exact experience visiting a ton of cities in the Netherlands on my honeymoon last year! It's made me simultaneously grateful that my city has decent bike infrastructure, but also KEENLY aware of how terrible even my "progressive" city is compared to Europe, and especially the Netherlands.
I always find it interesting how foreigners see our dutch bicycle infrastructure. But it is not that we decided to add bike lanes to streets but (especially in urban areas) we wanted the streets to be safe for ALL users. Cars, public transport, bikes and pedestrians. So back in the 70's and 80's is when that mentality is implemented by reorganizing the streets when the street is do for maintenance. That is why there are still parts in older cities that seem to have not the high standers of the famous bike lanes, that street probable will eventually be updated when the maintenance needs to be done. Don't just fight for bike lanes but fight for streets and roads to be used for ALL users and really understand that specific street is really for, living? shopping? going fast from A to B?
Another big point that often gets missed: priority for bikes. In built-up areas in the Netherlands, it's typical for bikes to have priority over intersecting roads _by default._ This means that you can often bike long distances without ever having to stop for a car, because they have to stop for you instead.
Hearing this perspective on Dutch cycling infrastructure gives me hope for the future where I live. Our issue in Canada isn't that we can't make good bike lanes, just that we need to expand coverage and keep going the right direction in more places
It took 50 years to get to this spot in the design here in The Netherlands. But everybody that takes a bike or a tram or train or bus instead of a car is about one car less to congest the roads and slow down traffic for all the car users. In The Netherlands, we have the Freedom to choose between different modes of transportation.
And the subject is less politicized in holland.
Canada has the best chance to succeed though. You still seem to have common sense and social values.
USA in general is so politicized, divided and brainwashed that half of the population considers cycling a "woke" activity...😁
Bike sharing being more expensive in the Netherlands makes sense when you consider that next every Dutch citizen owns one or even multiple bikes, meaning the sharing service is only ever used by tourists really.
That's the funny thing - 24 hour rentals are *perfect* for tourists, but OV-fiets isn't available to people without a Dutch bank account. Meanwhile, traditional bike share systems (where you keep the bike for 30 or 45 minutes) are perfect for the last-mile problem for train commuters, but they're not available in the Dutch OV-fiets rental system.
(Also, I don't think bike share is really about not owning a bike. We own two bikes each and still use BIXI most of the time because it's so flexible and convenient.)
@@OhTheUrbanity there are about 7 bike sharing providers in Rotterdam for example. Don't need to use the OV fiets.
@@FreedomOfSport But those are privately-run and much more expensive, no? We pay the equivalent of 9 euros for unlimited 45 minute trips.
I agree that it's weird - in a country so dedicated to cycling - here I can literally pay $2 and grab an ebike from around the corner for a 1 way trip across town. The thing we are missing is that we have city bike share and car share but no cargo bike share. That would be amazing. There is no way I'm adding (and storing) a cargo bike next to the other bikes I already own.
I think that the OV-fiets project makes it almost impossible for other suppliers to roll out a competitive network.
Our cycling infrastructure is one of the main reasons I'm proud of my country
I am so happy to live in the Netherlands! 🇳🇱Cycling is a joy rather than the battle for survival that it is in England.
And the city centres are so much nicer without cars.
You say it so right, bro ! 😮😅
The conclusion is the most important part. As you exit the city center of Montreal, things are not so great. You can do it, but you needs to follow that one specific path path sometimes. You can bike to Laval, but not so much to Carefour Laval as THE path won’t take you there. Same for Ikea, the airport, etc.
Yeah the south shore has a pretty good network, but transitioning between bike paths means navigating intersections which can be scary especially with drivers who are looking for cars instead of bikers and SUVs and trucks with shitty sight lines and grills that could plow into you like a moving brick wall.
Don't know when was the last time that you went to le Carrefour, but there actually is a very nice path now, separated from traffic. If you are coming from the Perry island bridge or the Viau bridge, you can get there by only using secured bike paths.
Thank you for visiting my beautifull country! I even recognised some locations I have visited myself.
1. The near-side traffic signals in Europe keep motorists from nudging past the stop line, keep them from nudging into the pedestrian crosswalks, and nudging into cross traffic.
2. Roundabouts are a safer alternative to traffic signals and stop signs. The tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down, and the most severe types of intersection crashes - right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions - are unlikely. Unfortunately, in North America, they want to go FAST, and dislike having to slow down for safety.
On the second point, people are slowly realizing that roundabouts keep you moving faster, although there are still some bad drivers who inexplicably fail to understand how they work and want to treat them like a four way stop- either waiting interminably or darting out into them without the right-of-way.
That first point was something I had never considered. I always thought that far-side traffic lights were one of the things that the Americans actually did better than us, because they are so much more visible. This makes a surprising amount of sense.
@@CaptainJellyBS - Because motorists are still able to see the traffic signals on the far-side of intersections in North America, they end up blocking the pedestrian crossings, blocking passage of pedestrians. For those turning right, motorists end to switch their gaze at the far-side traffic lights and the cross traffic coming from the left. They ignore pedestrians trying to cross from the right. If there were only near-side traffic signals, having to look at the traffic signals they would also be able see the pedestrians crossing in front of them.
Woah woah, how is "not just bikes" not on your channels list at 8 minutes. Worth a watch!
The Dutch have a design norm where all roads have to comply to. This Norm is being updated constantly over decades. And whenever a road needs to be repaved, about every 30 years max, it is made according to the latest Norm. And Bikelanes and such have been incorporated in that Design for over 50 years now.
I always take it for granted, but it is nice to see it from another perspective to appreciate our bike lanes. Nice video.
Thank you for not only going to Amsterdam! Much of the coverage of Dutch bicycle infrastructure doesn't go outside of Amsterdam
Well, the most bikes can be found in Amsterdam. 😂 Over one million, so stop wining silly boy 🎉
i liked that they came to the same conclusion as so many Dutch people:
Amsterdam is (maybe) the worst place to cycle in The Netherlands.
I'm very surprised that you did not touch on the difference in bike culture too. Being from Toronto visiting Amsterdam, I noticed two major things. First, very few people wear helmets! Second, cyclists and drivers are more respectful to each other. As both a cyclist and driver, I noticed Toronto cyclists have a much more entitled/road-rage disposition/attitude. Acting like a pedestrian or vehicle whenever it's convenient and/or raging (often violently) at cars for not being able to see them due to poor design. In Amsterdam, it was the polar opposite with both drivers and cyclist, looking out for each other, and not being super strict with rules all the time. Everyone was so chill and courteous.
That's because everybody in the Netherlands is a cyclist for 10 to 14 years, before they become a car driver. And still then, everybody is both a cyclist and a driver.
Anglo-Saxon culture has much more of a “me first” element than many others.
Only tourists wear helmets 😂😂
When an accident happens between a car and a pedestrian or cyclist the car is at fault automatically, that forces behavioral changes too
@@Bramfly same in toronto! The streets are very poorly designed making it much harder for cars to see the cyclists, but many cyclists don't care to think about it. It seems to make the cyclists feel more entitled to make dangerous manoeuvres without looking. I worked as a bike Courier for a while then drove a van downtown for another job.
The Dutch government already banned the use of (40 km/hr) mopeds on most bikepaths (only the 25 km/hr are still alowed to use them) Unfortunately a ban on the sale of combustion engine mopeds was blocked by EU regulations.
I don't live in the Netherlands, but I would also like to see a ban on all motorcycles with combustion engine in the EU (and cars without a proper muffler, like the Ford Mustang). I live near a stroad and the noise of these vehicles is crazy. Much worse than trucks.
We can thank the Germans for that..
@@Siranoxz not this case. It was an EU law blocking this.
@@Nhkg17 if you don't like it then live somewhere else. ICE mopeds are really economic now. It takes like 3 weeks for my scooter to get it's tank depleted and they are fun to drive. Electric mopeds are plain terrible and worse than a ICE scooter when on the production line. Also, it's a Mustang! It is supposed to be loud. I can't stand clueless people like you.
@@Nhkg17 You will never see that. Bicycles and motorcycles and cars have both been around together for over a century.
We, as dutch persons, are also confused about the red colours of bike paths (and sometimes the lack of or sometimes the fact that sidewalks are red). Especially in the city centre of Utrecht were they redeveloped the roads near Vredenburg. Lots of tourists walking on the cycling paths.
The red colour on our bike lanes actually has a pretty interesting origin. Tilburg officials wanted to have a bit more contrast in 1980 and they found that road constructors didn't charge much more for this red stain. Of course, other cities copied the cheaper option and it became the norm. It's not an official requirement though, that's done with traffic signs.
Blue would be even more noticeable, but people are used to "red = bicycle lane or pedestrian area", so they won't change that.
Though blue lines are used for areas where you can only park for a limited time, usually 2 or 3 hours.
I believe the red bricks for city centers is pretty much coincidental, but for similar reasons. Iron-rich bricks become red when baked, and those were the most common (read: cheap) option to tile the streets. There COULD be a culturally significant reason for it, but I couldn't find one.
Hi, great video! On the matter of shared bike systems you are correct in the sense tat there aren’t really any widespread systems in Dutch cities. I think this is because most people in the country have their own bikes that they always use. When Dutch people go by public transport to another city for work they often have a second bike parked at the train station, eliminating the need for a shared system again. But there is a shared bike system there as you mentioned, the OV-fietsen. You’re right that they aren’t as flexible and relatively expensive. You have to remember that they are owned by the train company and not intended as a city shared system but more from train station to destination and back to the train. And not really for daily commute but for occasional use in a city you’re only visiting for a day or two. That is also the only purpose I’ve ever used them for and I feel makes sense when you look at who’s providing the system (and from what location). So if the OV seems not as flexible as you’d like, you might have the wrong assumption about it’s intended purpose.
5:30 The reason that you see so many kids and teenagers is linked to the roots of bike protection in the Netherlands. The movement began as a result of increasing numbers of children dying in traffic accidents with cars.
This one surprised me, it's nice to hear your observations. And this might be a low bar, but it's very welcome to actually see more than just Amsterdam being evaluated and visited.
If there are ever future visits I would like to suggest going outside the Randstad as well if possible (basically the denser populated area with largest cities you've been to). A bit of time spent in other locations would probably be insightful and enjoyable too, some suggestions:
- the North (Fryslân, Groningen), it's possible to cycle on some parts of the sea wall and parts of the afsluitdijk (and actually cross it completely again after the maintenance is done).
- Flevoland, the polders that were reclaimed from the back then sea later turned into a big lake by the Afsluitdijk completion. It's a very different landscape.
- Southern provinces where we've actually got some mild hills one of which according to the name is a mountain in our language (Vaalserberg).
Regarding the first big criticism of snorfietsen (mopeds), I fully agree with that sentiment if I hear one coming I often take a deep breath so I can last on it until they and their lingering stink are well past me. New ones meeting current emission norms actually aren't all that bad other than still being noisy, but sadly many old ones will remain in circulation and to boost the performance a lot of owners tinker with them which almost certainly ends up with non-compliant emission snorfietsen. Fortunately electric ones do seem to be around more that are arguably too quiet and unexpected at times, but I'll take that over the stink and noise. I'm seeing those and 3 wheeled ones with cargo boxes being used a lot especially for postal and smaller package deliveries, they make a lot of sense with frequent stop and start while also being able to get closer to homes than a typical van.
As for the disappointment with our OV-fiets system, I can understand it but I suspect there's not a big market for large scale commercial bicycle share systems since most families living here will have 1 or more bicycles per person at home. All places I've lived at had enough storage for this, convenience of access would vary but no madness like having to haul it up stairs and keep it inside living space. During my student years I had a special old trashy "stationsfiets", many people have such a thing or a "kroegfiets" (pub bicycle). Essentially a cheap not in the best state second bicycle that one wouldn't mourn if it gets stolen/damaged/lost (while drunk), I would typically park it at the train station if I left to my parents or elsewhere to be more flexible than the bus. I knew some people back then that even had 2 additional stationsfietsen, one to park at the station in their study city and the other at the station near their parental home.
With that abundance of bicycles residents likely aren't all that interested in a bike share system and during my student days if I visited another city wherever I'd stay would have 1-2 extra sometimes crappy bicycles we could borrow for the time. I would suspect this is still mostly applicable today but maybe others in the comments can contribute to that conversation. The OV fiets fills a remaining niche by having decent bicycles available after getting to another city by public transport and since you're likely to leave again by train picking it up at a train station for the whole day and returning it there hasn't been inconvenient for me. The few times I've stayed at hotels for IT related training days and such they usually have a small fleet of bicycles their guests can use too, sometimes "free" in the nicer already expensive ones or for a small fee.
The city Leeuwarden near the town I live in actually had a bike share system for a while, the "GO" provider had both electric scooters and normal pedal bicycles. The electric scooters got used a lot but I honestly didn't see the regular bicycles being used or parked much, the company seems to have gone away in the past year not sure what led to its demise/departure. One other company with "check" branding on theirs still does operate its shared electric scooters, they seem to get used plenty.
5:30 amused me as well, "It's really cool to happen across a school at the right time and see a large group of students arrive by bike" those are the times/places I actually deliberately try to avoid if I can help it. If I'm in a hurry to get somewhere I usually prefer a faster speed than them and on a relaxing ride without time pressure they'd probably want to pass me unless I speed up. It's not a big problem or even a major annoyance, it's just one of those "avoid if its not inconvenient" type things by taking another route or departing a few minutes earlier/later.
Looking forward to watching more videos produced based on the videos and observations during this trip. And like I stated earlier, if there are any followup trips in the future please consider locations outside the Randstad as well.
The OV fiets "share bicycle" seems more expensive and less available aside from the station because most dutch people already have a bike (or a secondary cheap one too at the commuting destination). This results in it being less profitable to start a bicycle share system and hence less bigger market as most dutch people have a (multiple) bikes anyway as a 2nd hand bike becomes cheaper than sharing after a month or 2 of use.
Years ago, I worked in the Netherlands, A co-worker taught me a nifty trick about cycling in the winter! We dis-mounted both my bike tyres and then ran small screws from the inside to the outside in both tyres, you need a good plastic shield inside when you re-mount the tyres, Worked great with a little ice or snow, the screws do wear out, how some ever !!!!
About the OV-fiets: it's not really a bike-sharing system. I think the reason there's not more flexible bike-sharing is that pretty much everyone already has a bike. OV-fietsen are more an extension of the public transport network (OV = public transport). They're meant to help you make the last part of your journey from the station and back, so that you don't have to take your own bike with you on the train.
I grew up in MTL in the sixties & seventies as a child, nobody rode their bikes to school. Now, schools in my neighborhood are filled with overflowing bike racks. It seems teens nowadays are more clear about the "action-reaction" concept. Good on you, guys!!
I'm on a trip to the Netherlands at the moment, and have similar feelings - optimistic that it can be done in the UK, but slightly disillusioned at how far we have to go and so many projects so far just seem to lack the overall vision the Dutch have
The vision didn't appear over night. In the seventies the Dutch still had car centric infrastructure. Painted gutters were still the norm within the build environment in the '80s. Busy roads in between towns and villages, with 80 km/h traffic were the first to get separate bicycle paths, some only a meter wide with concrete tiles that became horrible to drive on once tree roots messed them up. The main advantage you have, might be that you do not have to experiment as much with the physical design. If you copy modern Dutch standards, you'll be able improve at a much faster pace at a cheaper budget.
Its takes time you know, the reason why our country is this far with cycling infrastructure is a generational effort to induce people into cycling.
The UK can do the same, but it takes time.
Changes can be implemented reasonably fast though, if there is the political will to do so. Just take a look at Paris. 😏
Political will is the biggest barrier for the UK - I've emailed many MPs and councillors about sustainable transport and cycling but none of them care, they just copy and paste generic responses or tell me that current government policy is excellent and that they're doing a great job even though outdated infrastructure is being built as I type this.
We did a fairly similar day trip last summer from The Hague to Rotterdam, through Delft. Like you mentioned, it was so nice not to have to worry about finding a safe "bike" route to follow!
Great video, what's nice the know is that our red bicycle lanes aren't painted like you see in a lot of other countries. Rather they use red asphalt. Because of that we colour doesn't degrade and becomes more sustainable. It's also mostly (partly) recycled asphalt.
I miss the cycling road in the Netherlands. Feels really safe and the cool weather makes you cycle with ease.
Another subtle thing I discovered in the Netherlands was the existance of the 'cafe lock' on the back wheel on just about every boike I saw.
That’s the standard lock on all bikes, you use a chain or separate lock for extra security.
How much fun to see you cycled many bike routes in and around Delft I take about weekly, including the “Zoefroute” (Swoosh Route) from Delft (technical uni campus) through the tunnel under the A13 highway past my home in Delfgauw (and from there left to The Hague or straight to Zoetermeer)!
I think there are more differences than just the bike infrastructure. I mean, it was not like The Netherlands put in all these bike paths and then the country started cycling. No, it was the other way around. Everyone was cycling, and when cars seemed to take over, lots of deadly accidents happened, and only thenthey built dedicated bike lanes.
Another difference, which is kind of similar ot the first one, is that Dutchies bike from a very early age. And not just for fun. Most kids go to school by bike. First on their parent's bike, but from the age of 6 or so often on their own bike, and not long after that, they bike to school by themselves. They get traffic lessons at school and they learn from their parents how to behave in traffic. Many kids bike long hours to high school, and later college. Most don't get their first car before they have a serious job. That means that every Dutch person basically is a cyclist. They only become motorists(?) after, if at all. So every motorist knows what it's like to be a cyclist, and the treat them respectfully. They know what children in traffic can be like, because they've all been one. That makes it much more safe for cyclists in The Netherlands.
And another thing is the law, which kind of builds on to the last point. Because as a motorist, you are potentially driving a deadly vehicle, and a cyclist or pedestrian is not, the law is not on your side. When something happens between a car and a 'weaker' road user as it is called, the car is always responsible, by default. That makes cars even more careful when they're dealing with cyclists, pedestrians, or even scooters. It's the cars responsibility that the situation ends well.
All I'd like to say is that it's not just infrastructure. You need a whole culture of cycling to make it work. Everyone has to be 'in'. And I don't think you can force that culture on a city or even a country. It needs to develop over decades. First get people to cycle, then have hunderds of children killed each year like we used to have in The Netherlands, then your governments will be ready to make laws and make safe bike paths. I'm afraid you can't do it the other way around.
I think it may happen in North America, but not until the 2060s or 2070s.
thanks for your visit and positive view on our bike infra, and infra in general. One comment on your perception of some regions where infrastructure was not up to snuff: There's an additional factor that is invisible from looking just at the infra structure design, and that is the dynamic between road users. any one in a car, grew up on a bike, and the allowance from car drivers towards bike riders is enormous. The law is also very clearly towards bike riders: they are the weaker traffic, and any judge will lean towards the bike user. This is how i always experienced it, and how i was educated by my parents and school.. as a bike rider, but also as a pedestrian, you have an equal, and often preffered spot in traffic.
2:44 Yes! intersections. In North America bike paths often abrupty end at a conflict point.
Where you need them most!
Being dutch, there's two things I'd want to add to this. Firstly, we started building all this infrastructure 50 years ago. Where we are now is the result of a long process of continuously improving. You might do it faster if you steal some ideas, but it will still take decades.
Secondly, it's not about cycling at all, it's about safe and efficient transport. I prefer driving a car in the Netherlands to driving in north america. If this type of infrastructure is done well cars are not losing out.
Bicycles make life and cities better. Support protected bike lanes in your community.
As with all infrastructure projects
(and the Netherlands is no exception)
they are always a work in progress.
I understand their key document that sets
the tone for what they are trying to achieve
was written in the 1990s
and as roads get their periodic upgrades
they try to improve them to the standards
originally set and since improved on.
Bicycle rental is a low priority in the Netherlands
I suspect
as they have a large (HUGE) bicycle ownership
so renting a bicycle is what tourists likely do.
Plus it is likely an old system - hence its inflexibility
and newer systems with use smartphones etc.
haven't been introduced as they are not seen as a priority.
The OV-fiets system is often misunderstood. It is not a bike-share or bike-rental system as such but a service a train company gives to card-holding customers to solve the last-mile problem.
It is not really aimed at tourists or people that want to make large bike trips but at train passengers to get from the station to their destination and back.
Isn’t a 24 hour bike rental a strange way to solve the last mile problem?
@@OhTheUrbanitynot really, as you might want to have a sleepover and return by train next day.
@@OhTheUrbanity ???? No? You arrive at an NS station and rent a bike there for The Last Mile....
@@OhTheUrbanity almost everyone i've seen using an OV-fiets was one of the following categories:
- a student renting the bike to go to school (often in the morning) and returning the bike at the end of the school day.
- someone who arrives at the train station (often by train but by bus is possible to) and needs something to get those last Km's to his work, and when the work day is over he will have to return either way to go home.
-someone who visits for some festival or a going out for a night. and those people will often return home the next day.
and if you need the bike more than 24 hours that's possible to. so you don't have to return him the next day.
you could go to some kind of festival that takes more than 1 day and between the time you wake up and the next set of shows will start you're able to take that handy bike and visit the town you're in/next to. or just cycle to a beach or forest nearby.
that's the beauty of The Netherlands, you're always a bike ride away from a town and some nature/park. and we have the safe cycle roads to get there (even if you're drunk)
@@DutchLabrat But you rent a bike for 24 hours just to use it for what, 30 minutes? And you leave it parked the rest of the time?
The street shown at 7:11 doesn't have dedicated bike lanes. The striping is put further inwards just to give it a narrow look and feel. This is done to keep the speed down of cars. It is not intended as a bikelane. There is also not a bike painted on the ground like a dedicated bikelane has. This type of road has a speedlimit of 60 km/h. Is usually found outside citylimits.
There's not much of an equivalent for bike share parking in The NLs because there's not much bike share in the model used in most other places in The NLs. Instead of bike share, many Dutch people just have a second (or third, etc.) bike parked at the stations where they go frequently and stick to walking/transit to destinations in other places.
And OV Fiets.
Recently took a trip to amsterdam and delft. What a breath of fresh air even for novice riders.
It's funny how some North Americans seem to think that OV-fiets is a shared bike program. It's not; it's part of a comprehensive, door-to-door public transit concept (hence the name Openbaar Vervoer-fiets - Public Transit Bike), removing the need to take your bicycle on the train. Shared bike programmes have never really taken off in The Netherlands. There are 23 milion bicycles on a population of 18 milion people. Everyone already has their own bike.
It's not really about owning bikes. We own two bikes each and still use BIXI bike share much of the time because it's so cheap, flexible, and convenient.
@@OhTheUrbanity You keep posting this so I am curious - what *do* you use those 2 bikes each for, if not small trips? The Dutch use their main bikes pretty much to "GSD". Shopping trips, visit friends, cinema, go for a drink, commute... the bikes come with big integrated locks to prevent theft, most Dutch will have insurance on their main bike, and literally everywhere has bike racks, making it still faster than even the most dense bike share to go point to point.
@OhTheUrbanity But why? Is it because you can not comfortably ride your bike from your home to the city centre? Aren't you just trying to transplant a North American mindset to a Dutch context?
@@quinob We have excellent bike infrastructure to get us to the city centre and we'd be taking the same route regardless of whether it's our own bikes or BIXI. We often take BIXI to avoid worrying about bike theft and because it's more flexible (we can leave the bike there and complete our trip by walking or transit if we want). To your last point, that's exactly what people say (in reverse) to argue against installing Dutch-style bike infrastructure in North America.
Here's an actual Montreal thing we did when I was visiting. Grab a Bixi, ride from Little Italy to Mile End to meet friends and dock the bike somewhere, we grab a drink and then decided to go for a walk past a wine store they like and then walk and talk for a while further to their favorite Thai restaurant. Then we part ways and they walked home and we went a bit further downtown for another drink and where are the bikes we used now? 30-40 blocks away. If it was our own bikes or borrowed bikes we'd have to go fetch them but instead we can just jump on the Metro to head back. No problem.
Having a practical network is the most important thing for improving bikeability in cities. Id rather have a connected network of plastic cone separated lanes all over the city than a street with 2, 2 way concrete seperated bike lanes on both sides... that only go for a single block then dump you onto the street again. Great video!
You seemed to miss a huge difference right in front of your eyes: Compare 5:17 to 5:21. See anything different? In the 5:17 one everyone is wearing an annoying helmet. It messes up hair, the makes you sweaty, it needs to be carried off the bike. In the 5:21 one, no one is wearing a helmet. This makes biking way more casual and convenient. I'm sure there will be angry comments below and I get the Netherlands is way safer than the city in 5:17 but IMO it should be a goal to be more like the Netherlands here. Their statistics back it up.
To put it a another way, in 5:17 we see a bunch of cyclists. In 5:21 we see everyday people riding bikes. We'll never get to Netherlands level of bike infrastructure and usage if you have to become a cyclist to use a bike. We need to make using a bike something you can do without having to plan ahead.
It would be interesting to know if Jasmine & Patrick wore helmets when cycling in The Netherlands.
I don't really understand your criticism. Montreal does not have mandatory helmet laws (except on eBikes), and it doesn't really even have social pressure either. Lots of people choose not to wear helmets here (including, frequently, us). If these people choose to wear them, what's the problem? The way we get more people onto bikes is by continuing to build infrastructure, not by turning judgemental and actively stigmatizing helmets as if you're really concerned about someone else's choice regarding their hair.
@@kjh23gk We did not wear helmets in the Netherlands, and we frequently don't back home in Montreal either. It depends on the length of the trip and whether we're using familiar/good routes (also on whether we're using BIXI, because we're not going to carry a helmet around for that).
@@kjh23gk I hope not or people would think they are German tourists.
7:49 Thanks for mentioning the need to fill gaps in bicycle infrastructure. Identifying crucial gaps is so important.
You called some other channels, but didn't mention Not Just Bikes, one of the best, by a Canadian who left Canada for Amsterdam and explains many of the hidden infrastructures.
Also, why we have a much weaker bike sharing system: because everyone has one at home.
It doesn't need to be name dropped. Everyone in the universe has heard of that channel. Aliens on their way to earth picked up tranmissions, and then turned around because humans seemed too annoying.
@@PaigeMTL hahahaha. Sorry. I'm half alien.
One of my favorite memories as a kid was biking/skateboarding with my friends. It makes me sad that I don't see that anymore when I visit my old town.
Canadian cities need to stop slowly going through all the phases like just having "lake lanes" where they put a strip of multi-use path that goes from nowhere to nowhere next to some water, and then painting some arrows, and then painting some gutters, and then building some "RUclips lanes" where there is a wide, separated bike lane in 1 direction that lasts about 3 blocks - or just long enough to get a 5-10 second video clip of how amazing the bike infrastructure is before the lane dumps you in a gutter or directly into some parked cars. Make a plan, draw some routes out, immediately reprogram your traffic lights on the route to give bikes and pedestrians a head start across the intersection. Move the bike lane next to the sidewalk and let the cars park next to the traffic lanes. Sharpen the corners and add proper bike traffic routing when 2 bikeways cross. Some of this will be costly but some of this is super cheap, ticking a box on a computer program or re-painting a line in a different place.
I get what you are saying, but building a new infrastructure on top of an old one as if everywhere is like pandemic Paris under Hidalgo isn't always going to work. That's just a kind of cultural imperialism, or cycling "christians" who think they need to save the driving "aboriginals" from their ways of wrong living. Paris' cycling infra was built on bus infra that became little used during the pandemic. One was quuckly sacrificed for the other. To build cycling infra in spread out Canadian cities cannot happen the same way. It will have to happen slowly over time, with cultural change, and with both sides having to give up a bit of what they have or want. Otherwise you will have a society that is divided because each side claims rights over the other, a split society with no common culture.
Glad you made the trip, Amsterstam is in my top travel list
Makkers, kom op. Mensen, forenzen, die van en naar hun werk gaan kopen gewoon een eigen fiets, dan heb je al dat gedoe met een abonnement niet nodig.
Just buy your own bike. You two seem rather adamant about these sharing programmes, yet rest assured that the standard here is to own your own bike; and in case you need to commute in a different city regularly, e.g. for work, you put a spare bike on the train station you will use regularly, facilitated by infrastructure. I see, truly, no benefit to some commercialised programme, having to spend money consistently to have access to a viable mode of transport. There is no market for extensive bike sharing programmes; laten we dat maar zo houden, zonder commercieel gedoe.
0:46 People living in Dutch streets were actually asked what they wanted on the roads the live at and the overwhelming response is more bikes and fewer cars. Would you rather live in near the quiet traffic of bikes, or the noisy and unhealthy one of cars??
Nice video to watch as someone from The Netherlands.
When you consider that The Netherlands has more bikes than residents, it kind of makes sense we don't have that many bike share programs when almost every Dutch person has at least one bike.
When you entered a street without a designated bike path I understand you getting flashbacks of non European city's, we don't think like that though. We know the right side of the road is the bicycle area and almost all cars will drive slowly or think about us when passing.
Happy to hear you liked our bicycle paths!
I would suggest that the following arguments would be quite convincing to many voters in North America:
- health benefits of cycling to fight obesity
- reducing traffic jams, as bikes take up way less space
- having safe roads for children
- allowing children to be more independent, which has psychological benefits and saves parents time
- freedom of choice between walking, biking and driving
About the moped/scooter thing: a distinction is made between bromfietsen en snorfietsen.
A bromfiets is the version you'll encounter the most. They go up to 45 km/h (30ish mph), or much, much faster if they're illegally modified, which is pretty popular and apparently quite easy. The police set up stops to hunt for these specifically. Until around the year 2000 or so bromfietsen used to go on the bycicle lane, but now the rule is that they use the bycicle lane outside of city limits (some particularly touristy forest paths are off limits to them, but by far most of the infrastructure is shared), but go in the car line within city limits. Bromfietsen are popular with teenagers because you can get a license for them at a younger age than for a car. The license also used to be given out after only a theoretical exam about traffic rules and such, only since a few years has it started requiring an actual riding test.
A snorfiets is the less common little brother of the bromfiets that only goes 25 km/h (15ish mph), and for many intents and purposes they're treated the same as bycicles. Although things are changing a bit. Since this year, 2023, you even need to wear a helmet on them.
The most confusing thing is that electric bicycles are legally split up into two categories as well. Speedpedelecs can go up to 45 km/h, while regular e-bikes can go up to 25. Yet the rules for speedpedelecs are much less strict than for bromfietsen. So if something was made illegal for bromfietsen years ago because their prescence was endangering cyclists, grandpa on his speedpedelec can often just go straight in and restart the endangerment. I'm blaming grandpa here because electric bicycles have proven to be particularly popular among older people. Where a bromfiets is a young person's step up to a car, leading to accidents caused by overconfidence and a lack of experience, speedpedelecs are getting used as a step down from a regular bicycle, leading to accidents caused by a lack of reflexes (in relation to the speed). The reasoning for the difference in legal status between bromfietsen en speedpedelecs seems to be that bromfietsen are often much heavier than speedpedelecs and thus more dangerous. Statistics however do show an increasing number of accidents involving bicycles. Electric bicycles are not tracked separately, but I feel it's a safe bet that the rise of electric riders and speedpedelecs in particular are to blame for at least some of that increase.
We also like biking in Denmark. Above all: the possibility to bike safely. So even the royals and politicians do it too. The last American ambassador (appointed by Trump) went back to the USA and told that the Danes are poor because they bike to work in Copenhagen :) My kids grew up in Hamburg, Dublin and Denmark. The most significant change was, that my kids could move freely on their bikes and on foot in Denmark. No need for others to transport them and waiting for a drivers licence before they could move independantly.
The OV fiets is a replacement for the station bike, a lot of people who commute by train would ride their nicer bike to a local train station, grab a train and once at the destination station would grab their older cheaper station bike to get to work (The Station bike). Seeing the places you work at can be rather spread out, but also dense having a bike you own or one you rent for 24 hours means you can just park in at your workplace bike parking (most will have facilities for it on their own grounds). If you wanted to do that with bike sharing you suddenly need to take up a lot of public space to make it happen and be really finely spread, because the whole idea is that you do not need to walk anywhere (efficiency, we do not like to waste time). Many of our cities are very limited in public space as it is and considering the solution would not be as convenient as your own station bike or the OV fiets it would be a really hard sell to investors here, not to mention it would be next to impossible to convince the local government and people it is a good idea. The cost of the OV fiets can be offset by your employer as well, so it might not be as costly as it seems, but still most people that commute multiple times a week tend to favour their own bike, just because it is always there and suited to your size and needs. A smart station bike looks like shit, but runs like a dream. Also nowadays a lot of people lease a swapfiets for this purpose for like 15 EUR a month, that is still going to be cheaper than any no subsidized bike share program and you will not get anyone to subsidize one here. We had some companies offering shared electric mopets here, but they where swiftly hated by a lot of people and I am not seeing many of them anymore either.
For tourists there are many bike rental options from the local bike store (many offer rentals) to larger chains focused on exactly that with easily recognizable bikes or even your hotel or perhaps your apartment comes with bikes. That last part is quite a handy feature as it means the locals can ID the tourist and hence anticipate they will behave differently in traffic. Bike traffic in rush hour in cities like Amsterdam can be quite the shocking experience to people and hence often I see tourist being overwhelmed and not entirely sure what to do.
So yeah for the Dutch a bike share system has to few benefits and to many obstacles to likely become a thing, now never say never of course, but it would be one hell of a battle to make it happen and also be profitable.
I lived in Amsterdam for a year. I used to ride my bike from Amsterdam to Haarlem to a small coastal town called Zandvoort. All bike lanes no cars! Even along the beach (north-south) there is a bike lane! I loved it since I've been using a bike as transport since 2005. You can ride from city to city on a bike in the Netherlands.
Never seen it this way! Great video 👏🏻
In 2019 we took a barge and bike trip from Amsterdam to mastricht on a tandem . When our group of 15 cyclists snaked thru Utrecht it seemed like the whole city turned out on bicycle and on foot for some holiday. Somehow we made it thru. It was nice to cycle in a country where there less need to constantly check over your left shoulder for passing cars
For me, a key factor is having a good public transport infrastructure. This goes hand in hand with good bike infrastructure. It provides people with the ability to choose the best form of transport for each journey. Anything that reduces the number of cars and lorries is fantastic. Keep them for when they are actually needed, than being the default.
One reason why we have fewer bike shares here is that everyone has at least one bike, so you only need one when you take a train or bus on longer trips.
I cycle on my own bike to the train station for work, take the train, and then take an OV fiets from the station to my job and back.
This allows me to travel during rush hour when you're not allowed to take bikes in the train.
As there are more bikes than people in the Netherlands everybody has their 2-wheeled transportation covered mostly. When taking a train they take their own bike to the station, then in the destination city take an OV-fiets, effectively extending the range of their own bike when combined with public transport. So whenever Dutch people want to rent a bicycle the OV-fiets. There is 'Swapfiets' as well covering longer time bike rental like when studying in another city etc.
But OV-Fiets is very expensive for a last-mile solution (from the train station to work, etc.), at almost 5 euros per day.
@@OhTheUrbanity True for the incidental user but the bulk of the use is for frequent train travelers who get a discount, have a subcription or it is free (included in their train subscription) and they use the national public transport card for it so no hassle or apps needed.
For incidental/one off users like tourists you are better of renting a regular bike rental place. There are lots of those around in Amsterdam etc.
Cool video; really love the insights! Though I am feeling profoundly jealous of your visit :-)
I agree that the effect of a complete network is so important (and something we generally lack in North America)
I would recommend the 64km non-stop Bike highway route F35 in the east of the netherlands, it's a really neet design that connects Nijverdal to the German border. It also branches out to Hengelo-Enschede, Currently they are extending this route by adding 2 new cycling bridges in Enschede. I would recommend the part between Enschede and Hengelo.
One thing that surprised me in The Netherlands is the amount of elderly people riding bicycles. The Omafiets is one of the most popular bikes, which translates to Grandmother bicycle. Then comes the way some people ride them, I have seen people riding with bags of cement as well as a plethora of other items one would not expect on a bike such as brooms, rakes and other large items that makes it difficult to ride.
Yup, Dutch bikeshare programs are expensive because on average, every 1 Dutch person owns 1.4 bikes. So you only use a shared bike in case you are traveling to a new city, or if yours broke. Since the usage is low, the price is high to cover to the costs.
Also, the shared bikes you have shown (OV-fiets) are actually bikes owned by the Dutch Railways (NS). Initially it wasn't a separate service.
Its so good that it gets you thinking about how we can implement bike infrastructure worthy of the Dutch in your city
I think in the end one of the most important things is having a population that sees the bike as a utility vehicle and not just a (kids) toy or sports item. When you have that is easier to get government to make changes for bike safety.
Also, getting more people to bike also makes space for bikes, as the need for car lanes reduces space can be made available to improve bike lanes (and other things).
We were in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, and had similar thoughts! We're back in Calgary now, and now I can't stop seeing the poor bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (as well as all the opportunity). We have such wide arterials and connectors here, with huge swaths of land on either side. We could easily do a lot of this.