Incredible video as always! One of the best videos of Amsterdam's public transport I've seen. I'd say that the dwell times are not the fault of OV Chipkaart but of the potentially over the top measures to prevent fare evasion. Also, all those bikes are locked, using something called a back wheel lock, which lets you lock a little metal bar between the spokes of your back wheel. Though you can still just pick up the bike and put it in the van. The Netherlands actually has one of the worst bike theft problems in the world. It's why all the second hand bikes are so cheap.
The bikes there are sold with a built-in lock that stops the wheel from going round. Here in London, of course, thieves would just throw it in the back of a van and sort out the lock later. In Amsterdam you’re more likely to be seen doing it and you won’t make a quick getaway. I had to watch this video twice, just to see if I was anywhere in the background (as I was revisiting at the same time).
Those build-in locks are only for quick stops. Most cyclists in the Netherlands, specially in the larg(er) cities, using a thick chain lock. And locking their bikes to non-movable objects, like the special made bike racks you so often see in videos about the Dutch bicycle culture. But despite of that, bicycle theft still remains a big thing in the Netherlands. Specially when it comes to the more expensive ones, like the E-bikes. Often thrown into a van the same way you just discribed of London, and ending up all over the world.
The metro just tells you the stop and which side of the metro to get off-it's very easy, as the metro also has a display to show where it is and what the next stop is. The dwell time is fast, but the trams run every 10 minutes on most routes during the day and every 15 in the evening. If the first is busy, just wait for the next. A personaal ov allows to add a missed tap - they are quite hard to obtain as a tourist as you need a Dutch / Belgium (istr) address to be sent one. They won't send them to the UK. I stay in Utrecht and use the train a lot. I speak some Dutch :)
Bike theft is rife in the Netherlands but especially in Amsterdam. But every bike has a built in 'frame lock' locking the backwheel. Not perfect but it makes the next unlocked bike a better target.😂
As others mentioned, yes we do lock ourbikes. In fact, in general for most people their locks cost more than their bikes. The reason so little English is used on the public transport networks (which can differ from city to city btw) is that we only use it when needed. I mean "Vijzelgracht"remains the name of the stop regardless of your language and tourists are only interested in "Anne Frank House", "Van Gogh Museum" or "Heineken Brewery". On trains it totally depends on the type of train. Intercity trains might have multiple languages (depending on route this can be English, German or even French) but on non tourist routes there might be just Dutch. In many cases it kind of depends on the train crew if they want to go that extra mile.
I use Vijzelgracht often as I change for a koffie and the tram - it has a huge escalator you can't see the top from the bottom. I only hear English announcements on IC trains that go via Schiphol or Centraal, sometimes on IC direct but never on sprinters. I am normally okay but I had to catch the train to Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena from Gouda and when it was announced it didn't sound anything like how it's spelt. lol
In the Netherlands we speak Dutch. Tourism can be nice however that’s no good reason to change the public transportation signage etc to a foreign language
Great video, good attempt at the Dutch place names. A few things from living out there for 6 years. There is no fair cap on the OV cards per day, so you can rack up costs if you are using a lot of GVB transit in a day. There are some complications to the fairs on the trains, you are charged more for peak trains, and you can get cheaper tickets if you use the NS app to book early. 52 is amazing and unless there is a catastrophe, like the flood earlier this year always works great. 51 and especially the 50 are rubbish always late and canceled. If I am using them I always have to give myself extra time to avoid tardiness. At least for the next few years they will be doing MAJOR work on both Centraal and Zoud stations. So you could be messed about as a visitor by all that. If you get the chance go and explore the Metro/Tram/Other tram/tramtrain of Den Hague and Rotterdam. There is a lot going on there that place in the North of England could learn from in terms of integration of cities that are close together.
Most traditional Dutch bike have a small wheel lock attached to the back wheel, which is much faster to lock and unlock than a heavy chain and is enough to stop someone just cycling off with it. It will be gone in minutes if you don't lock it. Your bike will be stolen eventually if you park it in the city centre for long enough, especially at busy events, but the trick is to park next to a nicer bike with a worse lock than yours.
Why should we, as being the Dutch, announce everything also in the English language? That is not our national language is it. There are signs all over the place that show you when and where to go, there are often some sort of info counters available, and most Dutch people speak enough good English to tell you the way to go when asked. Not that many cities in the world can say the same, are there (?)
trust, like fairs there are tourists that don’t speak dutch but the city is not going to cater everything to just tourists when they’ve got their own citizens who speak dutch to cater to.
Have you not noticed that there are validators spread throughout the trams? And another thing, every Dutchman always locks his bike everywhere and anytime.
Now compare public transport in Amsterdam to any British city of a similar size. Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds don't have any underground at all and Leeds doesn't even have trams. Birmingham only has 1 tram line despite being bigger than Amsterdam. When the Belgrade metro opens at the end of this decade, the 3 largest European cities with no underground will all be in England.
Nice video! Am a brit living in Amsterdam - there's actually a lot of buses - just depends what routes you are travelling. Also no one ever leaves their bikes unlocked - there's just a lock mechanism on the back wheel that you don't see and would tend to be used for short stops. Otherwise a great video - your Dutch pronunciation needs some work though :)
Even rotterdam has english announcements and so many other even very small and not touristy cities across central and western europe have english announcments. Really weird. Maybe it's related to their strategy to reduce english tourism. (Because of drunks etc)
Busses don't exist or deep dark suburbs? LOL busses are very normal in many part of the city. Either parts that don't have tram service or to connect areas that aren't connected by tram. Many of these busses never visit central station.
Regarding cyclists being chaotic... that very much an Amsterdam and to a lesser degree 'big city' thing. It isn't because there are so many bikes (although it does account for some of it) but ironically because the tourists are so utterly unpredictable and frequently walking around in cycle lanes or doing other stupid shit that makes locals have to adapt to just get where they're going. If you look at a slightly less touristy location that has a lot of bikes, you'll find that it is very orderly because everyone knows the rules and keeps to them! Regarding locking of bikes.. most people don't bother with chains. There's an integrated back wheel lock that's as easy to use as 'get off your your bike, twist key & pull bar down, extract key and wander off'. Five seconds, done. Does it stop someone who is insistent on taking your bike away by putting it in a van? No. But the locked back wheel makes it a pain, and that is enough. It's not easy to cut cut the lock off because the bar that locks the bike is only revealed near when it goes through the spokes, and is a bit thicker than the average iron chain link I've ever used. Unlocking is similarly easy: stick key in, twist, and the spring takes the lock up automatically. You can be back on your bike in like 5 seconds assuming your hand-eye coordination doesn't suck with getting the key to go in its keyhole.
The Dutch railway system was privatised in the late 1990s, more or less following the British model. For example, the railway lines are owned by ProRail and even the NS, the National Railways of the Netherlands, is semi-privatised. NS is particularly strong in the Randstad (A'dam, R'Dam, The Hague and Utrecht). In other Dutch provinces there are about 10 foreign railway companies, such as Arriva, Keolis, DB regio, VIAS, Eurobahn, Transdev, etc. It can sometimes be confusing to check in with the OV-chip card or OV-pay if there are three different railway companies at a station and travellers have to change.
So funny you think people don’t lock their bikes and that people don’t steal bikes here. Stealing bikes is really very common. They even get stolen while they are locked. Almost everyone has got their bike stolen at least ones. And everyone usually does lock their bike. You should look closer. But
You cannot compare London (population 9 million) and Amsterdam (population 1 million) public transport systems like you do... sorry. But thanks for uploading.
I haven't been in London for a mere 8 years, but if you regard Amsterdam / The Netherlands as having superb public transport, London must be horrendous. The public transport in The Netherlands is absurdly expensive, inefficient, unsafe and unreliable. Not sure how much worse London could be.
.we should chat, loved this video, at first i was like 'blah just another blog , 31 seconds, and i subbed, i am 18 years here now , , i work with OV Amsterdam daily
Everyone locks their bike in the Netherlands. But you have to watch a little bit closer to see it.
Incredible video as always! One of the best videos of Amsterdam's public transport I've seen. I'd say that the dwell times are not the fault of OV Chipkaart but of the potentially over the top measures to prevent fare evasion. Also, all those bikes are locked, using something called a back wheel lock, which lets you lock a little metal bar between the spokes of your back wheel. Though you can still just pick up the bike and put it in the van. The Netherlands actually has one of the worst bike theft problems in the world. It's why all the second hand bikes are so cheap.
Dwell times are only long in areas (center of Amsterdam) where there are a lot of tourists who don't understand the system.
The bikes there are sold with a built-in lock that stops the wheel from going round. Here in London, of course, thieves would just throw it in the back of a van and sort out the lock later. In Amsterdam you’re more likely to be seen doing it and you won’t make a quick getaway.
I had to watch this video twice, just to see if I was anywhere in the background (as I was revisiting at the same time).
Thieves do this too in NL, especially with ebikes now
Those build-in locks are only for quick stops. Most cyclists in the Netherlands, specially in the larg(er) cities, using a thick chain lock. And locking their bikes to non-movable objects, like the special made bike racks you so often see in videos about the Dutch bicycle culture. But despite of that, bicycle theft still remains a big thing in the Netherlands. Specially when it comes to the more expensive ones, like the E-bikes. Often thrown into a van the same way you just discribed of London, and ending up all over the world.
The metro just tells you the stop and which side of the metro to get off-it's very easy, as the metro also has a display to show where it is and what the next stop is. The dwell time is fast, but the trams run every 10 minutes on most routes during the day and every 15 in the evening. If the first is busy, just wait for the next.
A personaal ov allows to add a missed tap - they are quite hard to obtain as a tourist as you need a Dutch / Belgium (istr) address to be sent one. They won't send them to the UK. I stay in Utrecht and use the train a lot. I speak some Dutch :)
''Dutch culture'' is NOT just Amsterdam......and Amsterdam is not completely Netherlands😉....there is much more to see than that.
Lol right. He didn't even get to use bus in Amsterdam 😂
Bike theft is rife in the Netherlands but especially in Amsterdam. But every bike has a built in 'frame lock' locking the backwheel. Not perfect but it makes the next unlocked bike a better target.😂
As others mentioned, yes we do lock ourbikes. In fact, in general for most people their locks cost more than their bikes.
The reason so little English is used on the public transport networks (which can differ from city to city btw) is that we only use it when needed. I mean "Vijzelgracht"remains the name of the stop regardless of your language and tourists are only interested in "Anne Frank House", "Van Gogh Museum" or "Heineken Brewery". On trains it totally depends on the type of train. Intercity trains might have multiple languages (depending on route this can be English, German or even French) but on non tourist routes there might be just Dutch. In many cases it kind of depends on the train crew if they want to go that extra mile.
I use Vijzelgracht often as I change for a koffie and the tram - it has a huge escalator you can't see the top from the bottom. I only hear English announcements on IC trains that go via Schiphol or Centraal, sometimes on IC direct but never on sprinters. I am normally okay but I had to catch the train to Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena from Gouda and when it was announced it didn't sound anything like how it's spelt. lol
In the Netherlands we speak Dutch. Tourism can be nice however that’s no good reason to change the public transportation signage etc to a foreign language
What a beautiful
sounding voice you have !
And the way this vid is structured and presented really is top-quality !
🌹
Great video, good attempt at the Dutch place names.
A few things from living out there for 6 years. There is no fair cap on the OV cards per day, so you can rack up costs if you are using a lot of GVB transit in a day.
There are some complications to the fairs on the trains, you are charged more for peak trains, and you can get cheaper tickets if you use the NS app to book early.
52 is amazing and unless there is a catastrophe, like the flood earlier this year always works great. 51 and especially the 50 are rubbish always late and canceled. If I am using them I always have to give myself extra time to avoid tardiness.
At least for the next few years they will be doing MAJOR work on both Centraal and Zoud stations. So you could be messed about as a visitor by all that.
If you get the chance go and explore the Metro/Tram/Other tram/tramtrain of Den Hague and Rotterdam. There is a lot going on there that place in the North of England could learn from in terms of integration of cities that are close together.
cool Video, in the region of Rotterdam, ( Rijnmond ) is a system called waterbus, also accessable with your bike.
3:50 NS intercity trains have become stupidly expensive over the years sadly
Most traditional Dutch bike have a small wheel lock attached to the back wheel, which is much faster to lock and unlock than a heavy chain and is enough to stop someone just cycling off with it. It will be gone in minutes if you don't lock it. Your bike will be stolen eventually if you park it in the city centre for long enough, especially at busy events, but the trick is to park next to a nicer bike with a worse lock than yours.
Or just take your rusty omafiets everywhere and it's mostlikely not gonna be stolen. Or if it gets stolen it probably wasn't worth much to begin with.
Survival of the 'shittest', you might say.
( and I know, there should be an 'i' there, but then it doesn't really rhyme )
Why should we, as being the Dutch, announce everything also in the English language? That is not our national language is it. There are signs all over the place that show you when and where to go, there are often some sort of info counters available, and most Dutch people speak enough good English to tell you the way to go when asked. Not that many cities in the world can say the same, are there (?)
trust, like fairs there are tourists that don’t speak dutch but the city is not going to cater everything to just tourists when they’ve got their own citizens who speak dutch to cater to.
Have you not noticed that there are validators spread throughout the trams? And another thing, every Dutchman always locks his bike everywhere and anytime.
Don't forget that Amsterdam has only 10% of the size of London....
So?
Now compare public transport in Amsterdam to any British city of a similar size. Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds don't have any underground at all and Leeds doesn't even have trams. Birmingham only has 1 tram line despite being bigger than Amsterdam. When the Belgrade metro opens at the end of this decade, the 3 largest European cities with no underground will all be in England.
Nice video! Am a brit living in Amsterdam - there's actually a lot of buses - just depends what routes you are travelling. Also no one ever leaves their bikes unlocked - there's just a lock mechanism on the back wheel that you don't see and would tend to be used for short stops. Otherwise a great video - your Dutch pronunciation needs some work though :)
Even rotterdam has english announcements and so many other even very small and not touristy cities across central and western europe have english announcments. Really weird. Maybe it's related to their strategy to reduce english tourism. (Because of drunks etc)
You are very well informed.
Enjoyed that!
Busses don't exist or deep dark suburbs? LOL busses are very normal in many part of the city. Either parts that don't have tram service or to connect areas that aren't connected by tram. Many of these busses never visit central station.
I’m currently watching this in Amsterdam right now! On a city break there for a few days. 😆
Regarding cyclists being chaotic... that very much an Amsterdam and to a lesser degree 'big city' thing. It isn't because there are so many bikes (although it does account for some of it) but ironically because the tourists are so utterly unpredictable and frequently walking around in cycle lanes or doing other stupid shit that makes locals have to adapt to just get where they're going. If you look at a slightly less touristy location that has a lot of bikes, you'll find that it is very orderly because everyone knows the rules and keeps to them!
Regarding locking of bikes.. most people don't bother with chains. There's an integrated back wheel lock that's as easy to use as 'get off your your bike, twist key & pull bar down, extract key and wander off'. Five seconds, done. Does it stop someone who is insistent on taking your bike away by putting it in a van? No. But the locked back wheel makes it a pain, and that is enough. It's not easy to cut cut the lock off because the bar that locks the bike is only revealed near when it goes through the spokes, and is a bit thicker than the average iron chain link I've ever used. Unlocking is similarly easy: stick key in, twist, and the spring takes the lock up automatically. You can be back on your bike in like 5 seconds assuming your hand-eye coordination doesn't suck with getting the key to go in its keyhole.
The Dutch railway system was privatised in the late 1990s, more or less following the British model. For example, the railway lines are owned by ProRail and even the NS, the National Railways of the Netherlands, is semi-privatised.
NS is particularly strong in the Randstad (A'dam, R'Dam, The Hague and Utrecht). In other Dutch provinces there are about 10 foreign railway companies, such as Arriva, Keolis, DB regio, VIAS, Eurobahn, Transdev, etc.
It can sometimes be confusing to check in with the OV-chip card or OV-pay if there are three different railway companies at a station and travellers have to change.
Goedenavond DJ Albert Heijn 🙏
Dj Albert Heijn 🫡🫡
never had my bike stolen in amsterdam, most people get drunk or high and forget where they parked it and the city removes them after some time
No tescos comparison with Albert Heijn lol
Next time ;)
Amsterdam the home of the stroopwafel? Gouda is😢
Not on tiktok😂
Wauw, who is this guy and why are his interest so inline with me... and my name is Joost.
I can recommend you the YT channel: Not Just Bikes. It will explain you a lot about Dutch infrastructure beyond bikes.
So Amsterdam is literally a London. so why bother going there?
London has public transport?
12:44 NOOO NOT THAT WOMEN VOICE WHY GVB, WHY CHANGE IT BC OF THAT M7, JUST KEEP IT THE SAME FOR OLDER FLEET GOD DAMN sorry
I have bin to Londen a while ago,and i was amazed they didn't any announcement in Dutch.....shame,shame on them!
😂😂
So funny you think people don’t lock their bikes and that people don’t steal bikes here. Stealing bikes is really very common. They even get stolen while they are locked. Almost everyone has got their bike stolen at least ones. And everyone usually does lock their bike. You should look closer. But
You cannot compare London (population 9 million) and Amsterdam (population 1 million) public transport systems like you do... sorry. But thanks for uploading.
Trains Station 🚉
I haven't been in London for a mere 8 years, but if you regard Amsterdam / The Netherlands as having superb public transport, London must be horrendous. The public transport in The Netherlands is absurdly expensive, inefficient, unsafe and unreliable. Not sure how much worse London could be.
Tbf, there are deffo pros and cons of each. Could easily display my adoration for the Tube any day!
Both are terrible🤮🤮🤢🤢
.we should chat, loved this video, at first i was like 'blah just another blog , 31 seconds, and i subbed, i am 18 years here now , , i work with OV Amsterdam daily
I was born in 70's Brixton , and south of the River raised
Have you watched @exploringtheforeign. Id love both your perspectives in a collab