You forgot to mention one of the best parts about the bike parking garage: at the lowest level, you can directly access the tunnel to the train platforms. :)
Interesting score, I have just driven, cycled and walked Utrecht, I would say, despite being a fan of ebike and escooters, it didn't feel like it was lacking. I was blown away by the consistent and cooperative flow of people moving around. Everyone, if you get the chance to visit, hire a bike and experience it, go for it, even a few hours is enough. If you like cycling, and wish you could enjoy it more, you need to see what you're missing. But it may change your expectations forever!
Just imagine the mess if fast riding scooters would mingle in that crowded mess. Im dutch, I cycled there because at one point in life a had work about a 30 minutes bikeride from Utrecht central station. And I did not like how crowded it was. I don't even think he filmed during rush hour. Of course Im used to good cycle infrastructure, ao I tend to be very critical. I prefer villages over big cities when riding a bike. Good thing we have the same good bicycle infrastructure even in small villages.
Only small in geographical size, but isn't it true that the Netherlands is the most densely populated country in the EU? Anyway, it's my dream to move there some day after I graduate with my computer science degree.
Might be a bit biased, as local: (electric) scooters (like you see in other cities, as shared plans) are in Utrecht discouraged, up to a point where not allowed on some bike roads, (e-)steps are not allowed nationally by law (they are working on it, but already some time..) so only alternative for shared is (e)bikes. With the national plan (ov-fiets) you could get both, but the demand for e-bikes seemed not to outweigh the cost. Inside/round Utrecht there are take/drop points and although alternatives might be welcomed by tourists, they are less loved by locals because their pickup-points are on the street, taking up much-needed [public] space. The multiplicity is working on relieving that busiest bike street, making it more convenient to bike around the center. [like me, commuting between north and south: so I can bypass the center]
Edit: oh I was confusing e-bike with e-step. --- As a recent e-bike owner in the Seattle, WA area, I can say that I only chose to get an e-bike due to all the hills where I live. So, I not having access to an e-bike in the Netherlands wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, I think. But I don't know, I've never been there. I'd like to eventually move there sometime, or at the very least visit.
Pray the E-steps or scooters aren't ever allowed in the netherlands. They're a scurge here in flanders and brussels. They are ridiculously unsafe as they go way to fast for someone standing upright with a high center of gravity. Ever seen someone standing upright on an e-scooter going over 30km/h make an emergency stop or emergency manouver? Yeah it's not pretty. One swirve and those things get wobbely as hell really, really fast and go out of control in a heartbeat. And in Brussels they have these e-scooter/step sharing systems now, but in reality this means there's just e-scooters left lying around the city, on sidewalks, thrown about like trash. It's just horrible. They're everywhere and in everyone's way. And if you try and pick them up and drive them without paying, they emit a loud annoying siren, which is absolutely great when drunk teenagers start messing about with those scooters/steps at 3 or 4 in the night in your street or infront of your window...
@Johan Wittens I don't mind (e)bike-sharing systems, but agree that a system needs to be in place: not just on the street without any supervision or guidance. It's a too-easy target for bored/under influenced people. [prove: last friday, Rotterdam] With the e-step, not sure if should be allowed at all: standing up is definitely not a good position for an emergency brake
@@tom.jacobs oh yes e-bike sharing systems or just regular bike sharing is great. It's the silly scooters that are problematic. And let's be honest, they're just an alternative to bikes for lazy People, just like regular scooters. :) And when I talk about e-scooters, I mean the stand-up scooters. They are a menace and incredibly unsafe to boot.
This is not true anymore, "TIER" a german e-sharing company has deployed it first set of elecetric scooters (With a blue plate) across Utrecht since last month. So it seems like it is not discouraged anymore.
And when you need a bike, you tend to arrive at one of Utrecht's train stations which all tend to have OV fiets. However, I can understand that for tourists it is not the best option since you need to have an OV card I believe.
@@markovermeer1394 You have a very small minded view of tourists, I think. The nice things are not all in the center, or the center might be quite big.
@@markovermeer1394 Because they are in the Netherlands? You would kind of be missing out as a tourist if you don't get on a bike and ride to different places. So while the city might be great for locals, it does indeed lose a few points because of lack of options for tourist. If NS ever makes the OV fiets widely available for foreigners also, then that would be great.
I'd love to see an additional dimension to the human mobility score for accessibility. I feel like that's a major topic of city mobility that affects a huge proportion of people (young, old, temporarily and permantently disabled) that isn't given enough attention.
Thank you for this video! You exactly summed up why I love Utrecht so much and why I happily chose to live here. You picked an excellent spot right next to the city centre (from 4:00 onwards), it is a very beautiful part of the city. The view starting at 4:00 is at N 52.089393, E 5.090672. Where I live (in the northern part of the city), I can get to this spot in about 15 minutes by bicycle, and if I travel the opposite way for 15 minutes, I am in the middle of the countryside. It is just so much easier to get from A to B with your own bike, than using bike sharing. I understand bike sharing, it loved using it in Helsinki. In the Netherlands, it doesn't seem to work for the locals, because every Dutchman owns more than 1 bike on average.
Most larger bike rental schemes have been a flop, and electric scooter sharing cause a major headache in many cities. Most Dutch people own more than one bike, and we have a culturally specific solution: 'stationsfiets' (translation: station bike, i.e. a low maintainence, low value bike you can park at a station). Often these bikes are literally marked with spraypaint and equipped with a lock exceeding the value of the bike. Utrechts is, as far as public transport goes, at least a 7 out of 5. At least 90% of all Dutch trainroutes will stop there. Not just bikes also has great insights into liveability and transport. He shows how typically car mobility doesn't really suffer. Except in the case of Utrecht. Don't even think about going through Utrecht with a car
Talking about wide bike paths, Dutch infrastructure separates roads and streets whenever it can. If this is next to a busy road, the street often becomes the bike path of said route. These days they also officially make them bike streets where cars are lower priority. The only people driving there are almost at or just left their location anyway. So very wide streets, as cars need to be able to pass one another, except there are almost no cars. Which basically makes it a VERY wide bike path.
Giving a city a walkability and transit score of 5/5 and then complaining there aren't enough rentals around is an odd combination, no? You don't need a rental bike/stepper when you can walk everywhere or take a bus when you need to be somewhere more remote. Rental bikes and steppers just clutter the streets and make them more dangerous because of inexperienced riders on the road.
Now is the time to move to Utrecht. Plenty of jobs, everybody speaks English, only housing prices have gone through the roof. I live in Utrecht for 6 years now, after living 45 years in the Amsterdam area and with great pleasure. You can reach any destination inside Utrecht by bike, I use my car only to get out of town. Nice people in Utrecht too, compared to Amsterdam.
@@mardiffv.8775 Now I'm kicking myself for not pushing myself to graduate at the beginning of the pandemic so that I can take advantage of the job opportunities now.
Super cool video George. Super cool city Utrecht! Love the camera work, editing, music, everything. Some (outside NL) say we need to make cycling sexy like the auto industry made cars sexy (matter of opinion). Hell, this video makes cycling super sexy.
Well, in my city, you can bring your own stolen shopping cart to turn over and use as a bench while you wait an hour for the bus. Or you can walk in the grass alongside the highway. The walking path is green, literally! (Except when muddy, then brown) If you want to bike, you can sign up for an expensive Peloton or drive to a gym! Ah, I’m so glad to be from the greatest nation!
In Dublin Ireland today I used my grandma bike to get from Hueston Railway Station to home on some improved cycle infrastructure. Sadly city center parts were full of debris, broken glass, garbage... Please visit Dublin to give it a score
Copenhagen has much less bike infrastructure than about any city in the Netherlands (and especially Utrecht), which may lead to higher pressure on the existing infrastructure.
I'm also curious about the bikeshare score. As a city where people typically already own 2 bikes per person, what is the purpose of a large bikeshare industry?
e-steps are illegal here because they are very dangerous. Also, I would like to see the amount of shared e-scooters decreased because when people are done riding them they just drop em somewhere in the middle of the park or walking path.
When I walked in that station in 2001 on a daily base they started the renovation. It was mentioned it would be finished by 2020, so glad I’m still alive to see what it turned out to be like🤣
If there were more bike share options in my city i would throw every sharebike in the river. expats just leave there rented bikes in the middle of the sidewalk. utrecht gets 20/20.
@@PendelSteven I'm aware :D I'm just suggesting he go as it is a cool place, you could probably take a train to Den Helder or somewhere by it and take the ferry to Texel.
Awesome video it's all so normal for us Dutchies / Utrechters, but this video will will give you a other perspective. I love the Dutch bicycle infrastructure gives you freedom and no need for a car in the city center.
Hope to see you make a video of my city Zwolle. The 3th larges train station of the Netherlands. And one of the most important cities too. With lots of history and nature.
I think it depends how you count the size. Total number of tracks Zwolle is pretty big and I imagine it’s indeed the third. More tracks than Rotterdam or The Hague for example, but if you’d look at total passengers going on or leaving the train at Zwolle it isn’t that significant. It’s crucial for the connections to the north though.
0:54... Except for Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog, Tholen, Schouwen-Duiveland and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Incidently Terneuzen, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen has a railconnection to Ghent, just not for public (since bridges and whatnot). Yeah, the islands are another thing and this is part of why Zeeuws-Vlaanderen geographicly is a peninsula, but transportwise an island. Next time, a simple word inserted would help: nearly. Nearly everywhere :)
And all the places not directly connected to the rail system. So you could argue that: "Nearly everywhere (or anywhere)" is wrong as well. I think we all knew what he meant by "anywhere".
@@UrbanCyclingInstitute Tier indeed just started renting e-mopeds. Living in Utrecht, I am not happy about them. I have seen the terrible mess that e-mopeds and especially e-scooters make in Oslo, Norway, I don't like my city being spoiled by randomly parked mopeds too. As many people already said, e-scooters are not allowed on public roads, and you need to drive on the road (not the cycle lane) and wear a helmet when driving an e-moped in town. That is quite something to overcome, so bikes are easier. Locals don't like rental bikes, so there aren't many around. Amsterdam is litered by rental bikes everywhere, noone likes that as well.
You should lower the blurring in the video, especially when you use the selfie angle, the way the video blurs the background so heavily it makes those scene very claustrophobic, it makes it feel like you are getting in my face to talk to me which is uncomfortable, instead of just standing next to me and talking with me.
Imagen what it would mean for a beautiful old city in a highly populated country if all the bikers you see in the video would drive a car and would need a parking lot!
In the US, the best mobility score would equal a sad 2 :( FAR too much focus on individual car use. Little to no bike infrastructure, same with busing, trains and trams are worse off. Almost nothing is close enough to walk.
They now are trying to find reason to remove cycle paths in the London. Blaming cycle lanes, cyclist for causing traffic congestion. You could not make this up. They think because cars are moving, that they do not create the same amounts of exhaust fumes. Its backwards logic! Cars are the issue. Cars are an issue. Thanks as always for another decent video, showcasing why the rest of the world need to pay attention to the pro cycling movement in the Netherlands.
The thing is, we're not huge fans of all these rental bikes and scooters. Most people find them annoying because the are usualy parked haphazardly on sidewalks. And let's face it, most Dutch people own at least one bike.
On average, yes. There are, however, neighborhoods where more than 10% of households doesn't own a bike. Though I believe it is due to bad urban design (no bike lanes or paths), not due to a lack of rental options...
@@i.k.8868 I think the influence of urban design is overrated! People in the Netherlands have always been biking. Actually in the '60 of last century the Dutch general and local governments wanted to get rid of the bikes (they thought that the age of the car had arrived....) Only later, and because people simply kept biking in large numbers, and they realized that biking is actually cleaner, healthier and safer, the governments at different levels changed tack and made biking a priority. So it is the biking which came before the infrastructure, not the other way round! This is what you see in Kopenhagen too: People just want to bike, and if there is too little infrastructure to accomodate that, the pressure on that infrastructure gets high... Here too you see that behavior goes before planning!! And about those neighbourhoods with fewer bikes. I don't know this for sure, but I think that on close inspection you will find that these neighbourhoods with lower percentages of bikes are also the neighbourhouds with high percentages of migrant workers (mainly from Turkey and Marocco, also from Easter Europe and Afrika), who do not have a biking tradition.
@@rientsdijkstra4266 I'm sorry but that just doesn't make sense. I know all about the history of biking in the Netherlands (I'm Dutch and studied Urbanism in Delft). The percentage of Dutch people cycling in the 60s was much lower than the percentage of people cycling in places like Overvecht now, also among people with a migrant background. Have you visited Overvecht? I wouldn't let my children cycle there... 'Build it and they will come'.
@@i.k.8868 you are right that there is a positive reënforcement the other way round too -> from better infrastructure to more use of bikes. But the problem with decisions on infrastructure is that they are never made without pressure from society. Governments and policymakers have to justify their expenditures to the tax-paying public... In this respect it is important to realize that even 50% or 60%R of people biking is actually A LOT... And it was because many people kept biking even without all those elaborate bicycle paths and when governments were only building highways for cars, that the governments changed tack and said: OK, then we will spend money on the bicycle infrastructure (principle of "If you can't beat them, join them...". Thus we have a double cutting sword (I don't know the appropriate expression in English), and a positive feedback loop: More people biking => more pressure on governments to provide infrastructure More available infrastructure => more people biking.. (BTW: I grew up in the 60's and we were biking a lot as children on streets without dedicated biking infrastructure (and I am still alive to tell the tale...)
@@rientsdijkstra4266 Yes. You are still alive. One of the boys who lived next to my mother when she grew up in the 60s was run over right in front of her eyes. And my taxi driver hit and ran over a 4 year old boy who was crossing the street from the playground to his home just 10 meters away... He didn't make it either. This still happens, and I intend to keep fighting for safer streets in postwar high-rise suburbs around the country, which were built for cars and still lack basic cycling infra.
Electric mobility only introduces danger. The human condition is not aided by external energy sources. The human condition is human only, for millions of years to come. Therefore the last one should also be 5/5.
Seems like they could use some better landscapers. Not a fan of all the weeds everywhere. Doesn't have to be grass; but there are more sustainable and beautiful green plants they could use.
I find some of the pan and zoom effects to be too much and motion-sickness inducing. Just wanted to let you know. I like the content, but struggled to watch it.
"There wasn't enough space to build ramps, so you're going to have to dismount... and climb down." This is where you're wrong sir. Sure going up the stairs on my bike is quite tricky, but down the stairs is super easy.
@@Roman500 how are electric bikes less safe? Especially how are skateboards less safe they are by and large the most safe form of non motorized transport I can even imagine
At least Utrecht understands that you have to be able to cycle into the underground bicycle garage to make it usefull. That bridge over the station is quite a fail though, but my town will be building a useless 30 million bridge across the station where you won't even be allowed to cycle on. The Netherlands is treating bicycles more and more like cars which will eventually hurt cycling numbers because it gets increasingly more annoying to cycle to places and park your bike easily where you need to be.
@@bastiaan4129 yes, well. That was not how it was designed, it is just how the plans had to be altered at a very late breaking moment because of the contracts with the owner of Hoog Catharijne, which apparently nobody realized had implications for this. No doubt when those contracts expire the access stairs directly to the platforms will appear. In like 2050.
@@JasperJanssen Not knowing your contracts and having to make detrimental decissions during the latest stages of a project could still be considered a failure right?
@@bastiaan4129 The bridge is already an important alternative from the west side of railroads to the east. And with the upcoming 'Beurskwartier' on the East side the importance of the bridge will only rise in the years to come (and it's beautiful).
Too bad you didn't visit the impoverished neighborhoods of Overvecht and Kanaleneiland, where over 15% of the population lives, but where there are barely any bike paths or lanes. There are many 50km/h roads where you have to cycle on the road in between parked cars and city busses. You made Utrecht look like some heaven, but for some residents it is not safe at all to bike to school! You also forgot to mention the relatively high number of cyclists that get killed in Utrecht by city busses and lorries.
Where do you get that from? You can safely cycle in both Overvecht and Kanaleneiland. Most main roads do have separate bike paths and where there aren't, the maximum speed is 30 km/h (or exist better alternatives).
@@FelixalPorto Ok, take for example the Orinocodreef. That is a 50km/h road without cycle lane. Or the Amazonedreef, a wide 50km/h road in terrible condition, with bus traffic but without cycle lane... The same goes for (parts of) the Nijldreef. And there are a few more hideous roads in Overvecht. Kanaleneiland is slightly better, but still the municipality keeps making terrible decisions in these neighborhoods when they resurface major streets by not including bike lanes at least. Take for example the reconstructed northern part of the Marco Pololaan... In my opinion a huge omission if you want to stimulate the local youths to take up and keep up cycling! And yes, sure, like every place in the Netherlands there are a few quality cycle routes in the area. Actually there are only five bike paths in Overvecht (on a population of nearly 40.000 people), and most do not cross the neighborhood itself; one lies on the southern border along the Vecht river, one on the eastern border along the train track, one on the northern border along the city edge, and two cross the neighborhood from north to south. Within the neighborhood itself cyclists are forced to use the same space as cars in over 90% of cases.
You forgot to mention one of the best parts about the bike parking garage: at the lowest level, you can directly access the tunnel to the train platforms. :)
Interesting score, I have just driven, cycled and walked Utrecht, I would say, despite being a fan of ebike and escooters, it didn't feel like it was lacking. I was blown away by the consistent and cooperative flow of people moving around. Everyone, if you get the chance to visit, hire a bike and experience it, go for it, even a few hours is enough. If you like cycling, and wish you could enjoy it more, you need to see what you're missing. But it may change your expectations forever!
Just imagine the mess if fast riding scooters would mingle in that crowded mess.
Im dutch, I cycled there because at one point in life a had work about a 30 minutes bikeride from Utrecht central station. And I did not like how crowded it was. I don't even think he filmed during rush hour.
Of course Im used to good cycle infrastructure, ao I tend to be very critical. I prefer villages over big cities when riding a bike. Good thing we have the same good bicycle infrastructure even in small villages.
These Dutch urbanism videos make me feel proud for my small country 😍
Only small in geographical size, but isn't it true that the Netherlands is the most densely populated country in the EU?
Anyway, it's my dream to move there some day after I graduate with my computer science degree.
@@ex0stasis72 If you exclude micro states like Monaco or Liechtenstein, it is indeed the most densely populated.
Might be a bit biased, as local: (electric) scooters (like you see in other cities, as shared plans) are in Utrecht discouraged, up to a point where not allowed on some bike roads, (e-)steps are not allowed nationally by law (they are working on it, but already some time..) so only alternative for shared is (e)bikes. With the national plan (ov-fiets) you could get both, but the demand for e-bikes seemed not to outweigh the cost. Inside/round Utrecht there are take/drop points and although alternatives might be welcomed by tourists, they are less loved by locals because their pickup-points are on the street, taking up much-needed [public] space.
The multiplicity is working on relieving that busiest bike street, making it more convenient to bike around the center. [like me, commuting between north and south: so I can bypass the center]
Edit: oh I was confusing e-bike with e-step.
---
As a recent e-bike owner in the Seattle, WA area, I can say that I only chose to get an e-bike due to all the hills where I live. So, I not having access to an e-bike in the Netherlands wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, I think. But I don't know, I've never been there. I'd like to eventually move there sometime, or at the very least visit.
Pray the E-steps or scooters aren't ever allowed in the netherlands. They're a scurge here in flanders and brussels.
They are ridiculously unsafe as they go way to fast for someone standing upright with a high center of gravity. Ever seen someone standing upright on an e-scooter going over 30km/h make an emergency stop or emergency manouver? Yeah it's not pretty. One swirve and those things get wobbely as hell really, really fast and go out of control in a heartbeat.
And in Brussels they have these e-scooter/step sharing systems now, but in reality this means there's just e-scooters left lying around the city, on sidewalks, thrown about like trash. It's just horrible. They're everywhere and in everyone's way. And if you try and pick them up and drive them without paying, they emit a loud annoying siren, which is absolutely great when drunk teenagers start messing about with those scooters/steps at 3 or 4 in the night in your street or infront of your window...
@Johan Wittens I don't mind (e)bike-sharing systems, but agree that a system needs to be in place: not just on the street without any supervision or guidance. It's a too-easy target for bored/under influenced people. [prove: last friday, Rotterdam] With the e-step, not sure if should be allowed at all: standing up is definitely not a good position for an emergency brake
@@tom.jacobs oh yes e-bike sharing systems or just regular bike sharing is great. It's the silly scooters that are problematic. And let's be honest, they're just an alternative to bikes for lazy People, just like regular scooters. :)
And when I talk about e-scooters, I mean the stand-up scooters. They are a menace and incredibly unsafe to boot.
This is not true anymore, "TIER" a german e-sharing company has deployed it first set of elecetric scooters (With a blue plate) across Utrecht since last month. So it seems like it is not discouraged anymore.
You do not need much bike-share options, because everyone brings their own into town.
And when you need a bike, you tend to arrive at one of Utrecht's train stations which all tend to have OV fiets. However, I can understand that for tourists it is not the best option since you need to have an OV card I believe.
@@astonmartin4326 Tourists rarely need to go outside the centre. Why would they need a bike anyway?
@@markovermeer1394 Some people are cycle touring or they may want to visit other places in town.
@@markovermeer1394 You have a very small minded view of tourists, I think. The nice things are not all in the center, or the center might be quite big.
@@markovermeer1394 Because they are in the Netherlands? You would kind of be missing out as a tourist if you don't get on a bike and ride to different places. So while the city might be great for locals, it does indeed lose a few points because of lack of options for tourist. If NS ever makes the OV fiets widely available for foreigners also, then that would be great.
2:36 he's thinking "God dammit, not another Dutch Urbanism vlogger". But in all seriousness, great video!
"Doe normaal" or "act normal" as the famous Dutch phrase goes.
Well. This was the equivalent of lying down to prove how wide an exit of the A2 highway between Utrecht and Amsterdam is.
But then it’s only bicycles.
More sense to pace across the whole cycle lane. Where he lay down wasn't fully on camera anyway!
I'd love to see an additional dimension to the human mobility score for accessibility. I feel like that's a major topic of city mobility that affects a huge proportion of people (young, old, temporarily and permantently disabled) that isn't given enough attention.
Thank you for this video! You exactly summed up why I love Utrecht so much and why I happily chose to live here. You picked an excellent spot right next to the city centre (from 4:00 onwards), it is a very beautiful part of the city. The view starting at 4:00 is at N 52.089393, E 5.090672.
Where I live (in the northern part of the city), I can get to this spot in about 15 minutes by bicycle, and if I travel the opposite way for 15 minutes, I am in the middle of the countryside. It is just so much easier to get from A to B with your own bike, than using bike sharing. I understand bike sharing, it loved using it in Helsinki. In the Netherlands, it doesn't seem to work for the locals, because every Dutchman owns more than 1 bike on average.
Most larger bike rental schemes have been a flop, and electric scooter sharing cause a major headache in many cities. Most Dutch people own more than one bike, and we have a culturally specific solution: 'stationsfiets' (translation: station bike, i.e. a low maintainence, low value bike you can park at a station). Often these bikes are literally marked with spraypaint and equipped with a lock exceeding the value of the bike.
Utrechts is, as far as public transport goes, at least a 7 out of 5. At least 90% of all Dutch trainroutes will stop there.
Not just bikes also has great insights into liveability and transport. He shows how typically car mobility doesn't really suffer. Except in the case of Utrecht. Don't even think about going through Utrecht with a car
Talking about wide bike paths, Dutch infrastructure separates roads and streets whenever it can. If this is next to a busy road, the street often becomes the bike path of said route. These days they also officially make them bike streets where cars are lower priority. The only people driving there are almost at or just left their location anyway.
So very wide streets, as cars need to be able to pass one another, except there are almost no cars.
Which basically makes it a VERY wide bike path.
I was shocked that the traffic lights changed making the cars stop for me on a bicycle, it was profoundly wonderful! 😂
Giving a city a walkability and transit score of 5/5 and then complaining there aren't enough rentals around is an odd combination, no?
You don't need a rental bike/stepper when you can walk everywhere or take a bus when you need to be somewhere more remote. Rental bikes and steppers just clutter the streets and make them more dangerous because of inexperienced riders on the road.
Utrecht is my dream city to move to, and I was born, raised and have always lived in the Seattle, Washington area.
Now is the time to move to Utrecht. Plenty of jobs, everybody speaks English, only housing prices have gone through the roof.
I live in Utrecht for 6 years now, after living 45 years in the Amsterdam area and with great pleasure. You can reach any destination inside Utrecht by bike, I use my car only to get out of town. Nice people in Utrecht too, compared to Amsterdam.
@@mardiffv.8775 Now I'm kicking myself for not pushing myself to graduate at the beginning of the pandemic so that I can take advantage of the job opportunities now.
@@ex0stasis72 That is too bad. But truck driver are in high demand overhere.
Do you own a house in Seattle? If so, I may be willing to trade my house in Utrecht. :)
@@i.k.8868 Nah, I'm a college student.
The world's largest bike path is an abandoned runway near Soest, Nederland
Impresionante realmente. El paraíso para todo ciclista. Ojalá mi Argentina fuera así.
I will be arriving tomorrow for the first with my bike to Utrecht, I am "kaking" myself. Very anxious.
Film it for RUclips!
Have fun!
Have fun my friend, I'm sure you'll be fine!
@@ZeNN-Music Hi Zenn I did film it but it's on my qubagrumpy channel on RUclips. It was scary but I did it.
Lack of e-scooters? they're not allowed on public roads in the Netherlands.
the train station actually has 15 tracks the platforms are just numbered weirdly, but I love hearing someone promote Utrecht
Super cool video George. Super cool city Utrecht! Love the camera work, editing, music, everything. Some (outside NL) say we need to make cycling sexy like the auto industry made cars sexy (matter of opinion). Hell, this video makes cycling super sexy.
Well, in my city, you can bring your own stolen shopping cart to turn over and use as a bench while you wait an hour for the bus. Or you can walk in the grass alongside the highway. The walking path is green, literally! (Except when muddy, then brown) If you want to bike, you can sign up for an expensive Peloton or drive to a gym! Ah, I’m so glad to be from the greatest nation!
In Dublin Ireland today I used my grandma bike to get from Hueston Railway Station to home on some improved cycle infrastructure.
Sadly city center parts were full of debris, broken glass, garbage...
Please visit Dublin to give it a score
Copenhagen has much less bike infrastructure than about any city in the Netherlands (and especially Utrecht), which may lead to higher pressure on the existing infrastructure.
I'm also curious about the bikeshare score. As a city where people typically already own 2 bikes per person, what is the purpose of a large bikeshare industry?
e-steps are illegal here because they are very dangerous. Also, I would like to see the amount of shared e-scooters decreased because when people are done riding them they just drop em somewhere in the middle of the park or walking path.
Or in the canals hahaha...
Major upgrades to Utrecht, where I lived for a year and a half. Great, after seeing this I think have to visit the city soon 😀
Used to live in Utrecht... I think I want to move back, it seems lovely. I'm afraid of the housing prices though...
LOL a lack of bike share. Now why would that be? EVERYBODY HAS AT LEAST ONE BIKE OF THEIR OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
2:36 He’s just like “What the fuck man?” Great video though
Oh my gosh I love Utrecht I hope you liked it!
who needs a bikeshare if the average owned bike per person in the netherlands is 1.5.........
When I walked in that station in 2001 on a daily base they started the renovation. It was mentioned it would be finished by 2020, so glad I’m still alive to see what it turned out to be like🤣
I'd love to see a human mobility review of Houston, probably among the worst large cities in the world for cycling, walking, and transit.
If there were more bike share options in my city i would throw every sharebike in the river. expats just leave there rented bikes in the middle of the sidewalk. utrecht gets 20/20.
This is exactly what happened in Amsterdam lmao, people threw all the bikes into the canals.
Can you do an episode on Texel? Great work by the way!
Part of the nearly in that you can take a train to nearly everywhere from Utrecht CS.
@@PendelSteven What do you mean?
@@hankleupen2775 That Texel is a part of the country which you cannot take a train to.
@@PendelSteven I'm aware :D I'm just suggesting he go as it is a cool place, you could probably take a train to Den Helder or somewhere by it and take the ferry to Texel.
How to calculate the Human Mobility Score for Groningen or Maastricht or .... Could this be calculated and visualised with Open Data?
sa serais intéressant d'avoir un sous-titres en français svp dans les vidéos
Awesome video it's all so normal for us Dutchies / Utrechters, but this video will will give you a other perspective.
I love the Dutch bicycle infrastructure gives you freedom and no need for a car in the city center.
Only in Utopia you get a perfect score!
Hope to see you make a video of my city Zwolle. The 3th larges train station of the Netherlands. And one of the most important cities too. With lots of history and nature.
Rotterdam is the 3th largest. Zwolle is number 16 on the list 😂
@@schagerbaantje it was maybe years ago now a days its got bigger and better.
@@AL3XQUEST I travel past Zwolle frequently and it's still no where near the top 3
Import idioot..
I think it depends how you count the size. Total number of tracks Zwolle is pretty big and I imagine it’s indeed the third. More tracks than Rotterdam or The Hague for example, but if you’d look at total passengers going on or leaving the train at Zwolle it isn’t that significant. It’s crucial for the connections to the north though.
0:54... Except for Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog, Tholen, Schouwen-Duiveland and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Incidently Terneuzen, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen has a railconnection to Ghent, just not for public (since bridges and whatnot). Yeah, the islands are another thing and this is part of why Zeeuws-Vlaanderen geographicly is a peninsula, but transportwise an island.
Next time, a simple word inserted would help: nearly. Nearly everywhere :)
And all the places not directly connected to the rail system. So you could argue that: "Nearly everywhere (or anywhere)" is wrong as well. I think we all knew what he meant by "anywhere".
Pffffff bike sharing?!?
Everybody has ther own bike(s)
I guess you just missed the introduction of e-bikes and e-mopeds from Tier so that would give Utrecht a perfect score right?
E-scooters make life terrible for everyone.
Was filmed in September - must have just missed it!
@@UrbanCyclingInstitute Tier indeed just started renting e-mopeds. Living in Utrecht, I am not happy about them. I have seen the terrible mess that e-mopeds and especially e-scooters make in Oslo, Norway, I don't like my city being spoiled by randomly parked mopeds too. As many people already said, e-scooters are not allowed on public roads, and you need to drive on the road (not the cycle lane) and wear a helmet when driving an e-moped in town. That is quite something to overcome, so bikes are easier. Locals don't like rental bikes, so there aren't many around. Amsterdam is litered by rental bikes everywhere, noone likes that as well.
4:50 , uh lol wat? That is absolutely ridiculous xd
18? Are you kidding? I would give 100/20😂
You should lower the blurring in the video, especially when you use the selfie angle, the way the video blurs the background so heavily it makes those scene very claustrophobic, it makes it feel like you are getting in my face to talk to me which is uncomfortable, instead of just standing next to me and talking with me.
That's autofocus, not blurring
Imagen what it would mean for a beautiful old city in a highly populated country if all the bikers you see in the video would drive a car and would need a parking lot!
In the US, the best mobility score would equal a sad 2 :( FAR too much focus on individual car use. Little to no bike infrastructure, same with busing, trains and trams are worse off. Almost nothing is close enough to walk.
They now are trying to find reason to remove cycle paths in the London. Blaming cycle lanes, cyclist for causing traffic congestion. You could not make this up. They think because cars are moving, that they do not create the same amounts of exhaust fumes. Its backwards logic! Cars are the issue. Cars are an issue. Thanks as always for another decent video, showcasing why the rest of the world need to pay attention to the pro cycling movement in the Netherlands.
The thing is, we're not huge fans of all these rental bikes and scooters. Most people find them annoying because the are usualy parked haphazardly on sidewalks. And let's face it, most Dutch people own at least one bike.
Every (well... 98%) Dutchman (or woman..) has at least one bicycle of his or her own. So there is not that much need for bicycle sharing...
On average, yes. There are, however, neighborhoods where more than 10% of households doesn't own a bike. Though I believe it is due to bad urban design (no bike lanes or paths), not due to a lack of rental options...
@@i.k.8868 I think the influence of urban design is overrated! People in the Netherlands have always been biking. Actually in the '60 of last century the Dutch general and local governments wanted to get rid of the bikes (they thought that the age of the car had arrived....) Only later, and because people simply kept biking in large numbers, and they realized that biking is actually cleaner, healthier and safer, the governments at different levels changed tack and made biking a priority. So it is the biking which came before the infrastructure, not the other way round!
This is what you see in Kopenhagen too: People just want to bike, and if there is too little infrastructure to accomodate that, the pressure on that infrastructure gets high... Here too you see that behavior goes before planning!!
And about those neighbourhoods with fewer bikes. I don't know this for sure, but I think that on close inspection you will find that these neighbourhoods with lower percentages of bikes are also the neighbourhouds with high percentages of migrant workers (mainly from Turkey and Marocco, also from Easter Europe and Afrika), who do not have a biking tradition.
@@rientsdijkstra4266 I'm sorry but that just doesn't make sense. I know all about the history of biking in the Netherlands (I'm Dutch and studied Urbanism in Delft). The percentage of Dutch people cycling in the 60s was much lower than the percentage of people cycling in places like Overvecht now, also among people with a migrant background. Have you visited Overvecht? I wouldn't let my children cycle there... 'Build it and they will come'.
@@i.k.8868 you are right that there is a positive reënforcement the other way round too -> from better infrastructure to more use of bikes. But the problem with decisions on infrastructure is that they are never made without pressure from society. Governments and policymakers have to justify their expenditures to the tax-paying public... In this respect it is important to realize that even 50% or 60%R of people biking is actually A LOT... And it was because many people kept biking even without all those elaborate bicycle paths and when governments were only building highways for cars, that the governments changed tack and said: OK, then we will spend money on the bicycle infrastructure (principle of "If you can't beat them, join them...". Thus we have a double cutting sword (I don't know the appropriate expression in English), and a positive feedback loop:
More people biking => more pressure on governments to provide infrastructure
More available infrastructure => more people biking..
(BTW: I grew up in the 60's and we were biking a lot as children on streets without dedicated biking infrastructure (and I am still alive to tell the tale...)
@@rientsdijkstra4266 Yes. You are still alive. One of the boys who lived next to my mother when she grew up in the 60s was run over right in front of her eyes. And my taxi driver hit and ran over a 4 year old boy who was crossing the street from the playground to his home just 10 meters away... He didn't make it either. This still happens, and I intend to keep fighting for safer streets in postwar high-rise suburbs around the country, which were built for cars and still lack basic cycling infra.
Awesome cituy Utrecht
Electric mobility only introduces danger. The human condition is not aided by external energy sources. The human condition is human only, for millions of years to come. Therefore the last one should also be 5/5.
But before I forget: thanks for all the good work 😀
E-Scooters are the worst! I am very glad the netherlands are so strict about them.
Lack of scooter options....be happy!
Seems like they could use some better landscapers. Not a fan of all the weeds everywhere. Doesn't have to be grass; but there are more sustainable and beautiful green plants they could use.
They’re not considered weeds but Dutch wildflowers…
I find some of the pan and zoom effects to be too much and motion-sickness inducing. Just wanted to let you know. I like the content, but struggled to watch it.
Brb packing my bags
Do Coopenhagen next
On it ;)
In a country with more bikes than people, there isnt a great demand for bike sharing.
"There wasn't enough space to build ramps, so you're going to have to dismount... and climb down."
This is where you're wrong sir. Sure going up the stairs on my bike is quite tricky, but down the stairs is super easy.
😉👍🌻
I think scooters are forbidenn in the Netherlands
Like electric scooters such as lime? Why? They are arguably way safer than any bike could ever hope to be
I also notice no one uses skateboards which are even better than bikes and scooters
@@raaaaaaaaaam496 safer for who exactly, the driver? and less safe for everyone else?
@@Roman500 how are electric bikes less safe? Especially how are skateboards less safe they are by and large the most safe form of non motorized transport I can even imagine
Scooters are not forbidden. It's just that nobody really likes them
I'm leaving this comment instead of a like as a token of my appreciation for the person/people behind this video #nolikeswithoutdislikes
Bit of a fail with the steps up and down. What do disabled folk on bikes and mobility scooters have to do?
They take the lift right next to the stairs (on both sides)
They use one of the other options to get across. There are three.
Dutch glory and Biden are u watching this.
you drive really fast through the bicycle parking garage and that's it? Again you don't show anything really well.
At least Utrecht understands that you have to be able to cycle into the underground bicycle garage to make it usefull. That bridge over the station is quite a fail though, but my town will be building a useless 30 million bridge across the station where you won't even be allowed to cycle on.
The Netherlands is treating bicycles more and more like cars which will eventually hurt cycling numbers because it gets increasingly more annoying to cycle to places and park your bike easily where you need to be.
The bridge is a bonus as there are 2 tunnels as well, one on either side of the train station.
@@marcvanmaanen2946 A bonus should still be usefull, especially when it cost tens of millions.
@@bastiaan4129 yes, well. That was not how it was designed, it is just how the plans had to be altered at a very late breaking moment because of the contracts with the owner of Hoog Catharijne, which apparently nobody realized had implications for this.
No doubt when those contracts expire the access stairs directly to the platforms will appear. In like 2050.
@@JasperJanssen Not knowing your contracts and having to make detrimental decissions during the latest stages of a project could still be considered a failure right?
@@bastiaan4129 The bridge is already an important alternative from the west side of railroads to the east. And with the upcoming 'Beurskwartier' on the East side the importance of the bridge will only rise in the years to come (and it's beautiful).
Having the busiest path means there are insufficient alternatives ;-)
No it doesn't.
(As someone who actually lives in Utrecht)
@@Leonium797 I know, that's why it isn't the busiest road :-b
Yeah helicopter platform is needed for the students.
Utrecht seems to lack diversity. Not many joggers.
No need for jogging when you already cycle to work.
@@kakadorez11 You completely missed the point.
Too bad you didn't visit the impoverished neighborhoods of Overvecht and Kanaleneiland, where over 15% of the population lives, but where there are barely any bike paths or lanes. There are many 50km/h roads where you have to cycle on the road in between parked cars and city busses. You made Utrecht look like some heaven, but for some residents it is not safe at all to bike to school! You also forgot to mention the relatively high number of cyclists that get killed in Utrecht by city busses and lorries.
Where do you get that from? You can safely cycle in both Overvecht and Kanaleneiland. Most main roads do have separate bike paths and where there aren't, the maximum speed is 30 km/h (or exist better alternatives).
@@FelixalPorto Ok, take for example the Orinocodreef. That is a 50km/h road without cycle lane. Or the Amazonedreef, a wide 50km/h road in terrible condition, with bus traffic but without cycle lane... The same goes for (parts of) the Nijldreef. And there are a few more hideous roads in Overvecht. Kanaleneiland is slightly better, but still the municipality keeps making terrible decisions in these neighborhoods when they resurface major streets by not including bike lanes at least. Take for example the reconstructed northern part of the Marco Pololaan... In my opinion a huge omission if you want to stimulate the local youths to take up and keep up cycling! And yes, sure, like every place in the Netherlands there are a few quality cycle routes in the area. Actually there are only five bike paths in Overvecht (on a population of nearly 40.000 people), and most do not cross the neighborhood itself; one lies on the southern border along the Vecht river, one on the eastern border along the train track, one on the northern border along the city edge, and two cross the neighborhood from north to south. Within the neighborhood itself cyclists are forced to use the same space as cars in over 90% of cases.