Does Anyone Actually Cycle in Switzerland!?

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I'm always being told that people won't cycle where it's hilly, and Switzerland is a pretty hilly country, so does anybody actually cycle there? Well, yes. In fact, there are several cities with a higher percentage of people who cycle than any city in North America.
In this video, I visit Basel, Bern, Zürich, as well as one other lesser-known cycling city, to see exactly what it's like for people cycling in Switzerland.
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This video contains footage licensed from the Associated Press (AParchive.com) and Getty Images

[@NotJustBikes]

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[@matrimoniobarriosbauer5942]

This year we moved to Switzerland from Latin America. Because of your videos I didn’t wanted to buy a car when we arrived, and had to fight my wife to agree with me. I convinced her by showing her your videos. Been car free for 7 months and loving it!!!!!!!

[@NotJustBikes]

Nice!!

[@chou3595]

what country did you move?

[@federico83bg]

As well you'll save a lot of money by not having a car which may allow you to have more disposable income which is essential the first few years after you emigrate. All the best for your new life abroad

[@peterhardie4151]

Thats cool.

[@stephensaines7100]

Excellent!

[@EvaristeWK]

As an Ontarian, I almost never visit "Fake London," since there's practically nothing to do and you're right, the streets are very unappealing. Always get a good laugh when you bring that city up lol

[@NotJustBikes]

No, of course not. Fake London sucks. Go look at historical photos of it though: it used to be beautiful, and it was supposed to be the capital of Canada.

[@teranova5566]

I hate Canada so much. It is a fake country

[@CanadianN1NJ4]

@@NotJustBikes The location, not the city, was chosen to be the capital of upper canada, which wasn't even Canada for a LONG time after. It was selected in 1793 and then founded in 1826. Canada was founded a good 41 years later. And York (Toronto) was marked the capital before the land was procured from the natives. Even the London tourism website says so

[@Jay_Johnson]

Wouldn't it be so easy as well as useful to put higher density residential housing on all the parking. Surely the rent pays more than parking tickets. Put people in the city centre and they will push for pedestrian infrastructure. I assume there is still a housing crisis in Canada?

[@georgesimon4469]

I live in Toronto and don't venture outside much. There are so many cars, many of them avoid main roads and use residential streets and these streets in turn become congested as hell. Bicycles ? I see a few of them around U of T Campus a few blocks away, otherwise they are a rare sight.

[@blooptastic]

Swiss here, having lived most my adult life in the SF Bay Area. Having cycled in both places, the difference could not be starker. In CH, even on roads with little to no bicycle-specific infrastructure, I rarely felt threatened or unsafe. Pedestrians, motorcycles, and bikes are simply an expected, accepted, and respected part of traffic. Here in the US, it's a different story. The lack of infrastructure is merely the symptom: The disease is the underlying mindset that anyone who doesn't drive a car doesn't matter. Walking, public transit, and bikes are for poor people, and who cares about them! To the extent most motorists even consider bikes as a mode of transport, they are considered a nuisance at best, and someone who needs to be taught a lesson at worst. Accidents and assaults are common, hit-and-runs happen daily, and even the police for the most part just consider this "normal".

[@ll1845]

American here-what you are saying is true, even in my small-ish city. It makes me sad. ☹️

[@cyrusthagreat6649]

What brought you over the river?

[@marlak4203]

@@cyrusthagreat6649 yep. All of that yet still here. Hmmm.

[@JonasLips]

Agree completely - I came here to post something similar. I live in Basel and it's definitely fair to say that the cycling infrastructure here is not perfect, but what really makes the difference is the attitude of road users to cyclists. I think it comes from the fact that many drivers are also probably cyclists as well in some capacity, so there's a lot of sympathy for the challenges faced.

[@lth7198]

I live in Zurich now and recently visited San Francisco, using a bike as my main mode of transport. I was surprised by the good cycling infrastructure in San Francisco - there's dedicated cycling routes along the coast and painted-on cycling lanes in many places. On the main commuter routes, even bright-green highlights for cycling ways. However, the behaviour of the drivers was really something else. On many junctions, drivers who want to turn right are supposed to cross the cycling lane in a more visible mixing zone ahead of reaching the crossroad. Which seems safe enough - if it were used. Drivers didn't particularly care, many just continued on the main branch of the street and turned right across the cycling lane without even looking.

[@luzwasgehtdichdasan4553]

I was so happy to see you cover my hometown Basel. I was absolutely laughing so hard seeing one of my best friends on a bike cursing down a car-driver for taking her right of way at 2:53. ‚Hallooo? Ich han Vortritt!‘ :)

[@d5555]

Not Just Bikes: "Does Basel have good cycling infrastructure?" Me: *comparing it to my city* YES! Not Just Bikes: Well, no not really Me: Yeah no, of course not

[@benhanpeter4790]

lol I had the same thought. Basel blows everything in the US out of the water, it's not remotely close.

[@larsandersson5974]

lol

[@mooreoutdoor9841]

Yeah, Not Just Bikes needs to come to my town in Tennessee, USA and do a bike infrastructure Review. Outside of a Greenway that gets you nowhere you bike on one of the limited sidewalks or get hit by a car.

[@chubbymoth5810]

Compare it to wine. The stuff in a box. bottled wine, bottled wine with cork, named wine, appellation, grand cru, premier cru. The first will get you drunk with a killing hangover, whereas the latter are pure enjoyment. The latter may be a lot more expensive, but gives a good return on investment, whereas the cheap stuff spoils quickly.

[@cookiesenpai1641]

@@mooreoutdoor9841 Oh no you're dead wrong smh. It gets you straight to the hospital or to the cimetery, one way ticket only.

[@Ssarevok]

Having grown up in the Netherlands in the 90s, I can confirm that current Basel is about what the situation was in NL back then. So Basel seems to be on the right track.

[@annaapple7452]

Yep, came here to say the same thing. He says things like "unsafe", and I'm like: but that's normal here? But yeah, things have improved a lot since then.

[@Ssarevok]

@@annaapple7452 Exactly! I was riding in traffice like that on my own when I was 10... :)

[@hugovandenhoek1032]

Hehe, right track... Tram track

[@fasc2298]

This gives me hope 🥺😅

[@ameliabrittain158]

I lived in both Basel and an American car centric hellscape and yeah there is no comparison, Basel is much, much better in almost every way.

[@chuchushoeTW]

Man, cycling in my hometown is nearly impossible. You eitherget hit by a car, or you get lung cancer over the year that caused by air pollution...

[@KorKhan89]

Where do you live? I generally find Taiwan pretty good for bike infrastructure, but admittedly I’m mostly familiar with Taipei.

[@chuchushoeTW]

​@@KorKhan89 Taichung haha, we do have some bike lanes, but mostly for tourism purpose like Houli. In the city, it's just a mess. Cars, trucks, motor bikes, bikes, pedestrians, all fighting each other... We don't even have consistent side walks... they just suddenly missing or being occupied by cars and motor bikes, or some street venders. Even if you do find bike lanes to ride on, the air pollution will make you afraid of getting lung cancer.

[@etbadaboum]

@@chuchushoeTW I noted that in general Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have generally excellent public transportation but prefer not to use bikes

[@chuchushoeTW]

@@etbadaboum For Taiwan I think it’s the weather, northern Taiwan rains too much, southern Taiwan is just too hot And most of us have a motorbike at home so really not much motivational to ride a bike

[@etbadaboum]

@@chuchushoeTW What about e-scooter (like Lime, etc.)? You don't seem to see much of them in Asia, to my limited knowledge.

[@phoenix3992]

As a young, fit, reckless man who regularly charges bicycle gutters without a concern and is inured to all but the most harrowing New Delhi traffic, I truly appreciate you teaching me what real bicycle infrastructure is and how it would greatly benefit the other 99% of the population. You've entirely changed my attitude about streets and continue to inspire me to be a lifelong advocate of improved urban design. Thank you Not Just Bikes.

[@DarioBunschoten]

Growing up in Winterthur I remember biking there feeling almost as safe as I do today in the Netherlands. Also, in Switzerland children are taught how to bike safely at school by police officers, at least that was the case at my school. Nice to see my hometown featured here, what a pleasant surprise!

[@NotJustBikes]

Yeah, I hadn't heard of Winterthur until I started researching for this video, but once I did start reading about cycling in Switzerland, it came up a lot!

[@buck6365]

Lots of Europeans probably know the city by name because of the Winterthur Group, a Swiss insurance company, which ceased to exist in 2006.

[@louisfesselet3963]

Thanks for the comment! I'm moving to Winterthur in September for a year , and I'm reassured now !

[@wainoxkatz1195]

German schools have that one too ^^

[@niedas3426]

The thing about Winterthur is that while the main roads aren't really bycicle friendly, you can easily just ride on side roads to minimize most of your contact with traffic. It could be better, but in terms of everyday practicality you feel really safe.

[@altriish6683]

"fines are scaled by income" This needs to be the case everywhere.

[@blubberblubb]

Sadly, it's not true, except for extremely big offenses. "Normal" traffic violations (like crossing a red light) have a fixed price - rich or poor, you pay the exactly same.

[@aphextwin5712]

@@blubberblubb Same in Germany, only the most serious offences have fines that are scaled by income. And you can alternatively also choose prison as the fines are labelled ‘whatever you would earn in X days’. So you either pay or go to prison for X days. But the normal fines are also significantly more expensive in Switzerland than in Germany.

[@aphextwin5712]

@@Moses_VII From a purely financial point of view this is correct. But very, very few people don’t attach significant value to their freedom.

[@taoliu3949]

That's a 14th Amendment violation.

[@Ram-zc4fi]

@@blubberblubb and the fines are heavy. normal violations will have you out 100 francs (~100USD)

[@ThePandaTooth]

I did my Bachelor's degree in Basel and my Master's degree in Zurich, and bicycling was my main way of getting around, so I have a lot of experience biking in both cities. I really do think that there is a world of difference between them. Basel's bicycling infrastructure might not be perfect, but at least it feels complete. As in, you can get from one end of the city to the other while only using dedicated bicycling infrastructure. Most of that is bicycling through quiet residential roads, and some of it is a painted lane on the street, but it's _something_. Biking to university always felt safe, which is why a majority of students arrive by bike as well. Zürich, however? Much of Zürich's bike infrastructure is still flat out dangerous. There are many places where the bike lane you're on will just disappear right in front of you and drop you into a busy 4-lane street with no warning. Which, to me, is a huge problem - while some of the inner city has made progress in its bike infrastructure, other parts have not, and so it creates this incomplete bike network where you'll be deluded into a false sense of security, only to bicycle right into terrifying car-centric street design when you turn a corner. There are several intersection that will have you bicycling _between_ two car lanes. Ugh. Knowing which parts of the city are safe to cycle, and which aren't, is just one of the things you have to find out when living here. But it's nice knowing we're going the right direction, as some other commenters have said, we recently voted to expand the bicycling infrastructure pretty extensively. Who knows - give it a decade, and we'll be in a much better place!

[@michaelkueng]

Cycled almost all bigger cities in Switzerland and couldn't agree more. Basel is bad in my opinion as it just dooms cyclists to slow neighbourhood roads where you can't safely ride 30-40km/h on a road bicycle. The fast lanes are mostly reserved for cars. And Zurich is flatout suicidal. The trams alone kill multiple cyclists per year.

[@kilianortmann9979]

Having a complete route from A to B at the same predictable level of cycling infrastructure is soo important to get more people on bikes. A few combat commuters won't care about a few hundred meters on multi lanes streets, but for families to take up cycling reliable infrastructure is needed. Just a few dozen meters of dangerous roads between the best cycling lanes could be disqualifying if you want to cycle with your kids or for someone new to cycling.

[@noldos]

Yes, i hate cycling in Zürich. Some parts are great, and then.... Nothing. Rämistrasse, one of the most important street for students, is so bad. Zurich is also the only city i nearly got run over by a car. Happily, there was a votation a few years ago that should force the city to build a complete cycling infrastructure. We'll see if they follow through.

[@alainterieur4837]

@@michaelkueng The thing is that bicycle infrastructure should be made to be used by as many cyclists as possible. Since the vast majority of cyclists do not ride 30-40km/h but rather 15-30km/h, they generally much prefer quiet "slow" residential streets than "fast" painted bike lanes on dangerous roads. And besides that, if you really prefer cycling on roads your are allowed to do exactly that in most cases

[@alainterieur4837]

@@noldos Try Lausanne, Geneva and Neuchâtel. They're the same, if not worse. I've nearly been killed a few times already, and almost witnessed a few deaths by head-on collisions that were avoided at the last seconds (because of some idiots who overtook me going uphill, while another car was coming from the other side of the hill). Cycling infrastructure is almost non-existent and when there is some, it's just dangerous narrow painted bike lanes. Cycling here is an extreme activity

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

"Switzerland is of course, a pretty hilly country, so if those people were correct which of course they never ever are" Thank you for saying it. Those are the same people saying the US doesn't need high-speed rail. The US has plenty of mountains and trains traverse through them to connect the country just fine. They say "small towns/cities don't need stations because they're small" but IF they had better transit options, then more people would move to those cities, and they'd grow. That's a good thing. China has a pretty big system, so being big isn't an excuse

[@turritopsisrockola]

China has like 5 times the population almost all living in half the country

[@quuxjn2452]

As we also prove here in Switzerland very well. Mountains aren't a single reason to not have trains. Sometimes it's even the only way, for example Gornergrat, Jungfraujoch and Alp Grüm you can only reach by train

[@zapfanzapfan]

Feel like moving back to Switzerland, Kim? :-)

[@diverseizzue]

China is increasingly a bad example when it comes to high speed rail. Most of their lines have low ridership and are far from profitable. They were built either for prestige reasons, or to stimulate the economy.

[@AashayChaukekar]

Kim, is nostalgia hitting you hard?

[@carlamargeisch9300]

There is currently a huge cycling movement in Zurich advocating for saver infrastructure: critical mass. Every last Friday of the month, thousands of cyclists come together for a demonstration through the city, completely taking over some of the biggest roads and paralysing motor traffic. They clearly demonstrate how many people are willing to cycle once it no longer is so dangerous. (PS: you missed the most terrifying bicycle infrastructure in Zurich: Bucheggplatz. I often times sit in the bus completely terrified for the cyclists next to us.)

[@finn8518]

every time i drive through bucheggplatz i‘m even terrified for the cars, let alone the bikers lol

[@ThePandaTooth]

At bucheggplatz there's even a part where the bicycle lane just kind of disappears right in front of you as you merge onto a 5 lane street. As if to say "alright cyclists, good luck lol"

[@rauwuckl23]

Bucheggplatz is on my daily cycling commute and would certainly be the most likely cause for my premature demise.

[@adrienrenaux6211]

The critical mass is also happening in Brussels! Looks like the comparison is even better than we thought!

[@di_dmitriev]

I agree, it's a shame that author did not see that monstrosity, considering that he managed to go to Oerlikon (I saw shots near Milchbuch and Glattpark at the end). Oerlikon station is also not bad for cyclers.

[@Rebasepoiss]

One of the most fascinating things about the tram network in Basel is that it stretches across three different countries. It may very well be the only one in the world.

[@sonodiventataunalbero5576]

I think Geneva is probably same and in Ticino there are local trains and public transport to/from Italy. They have international cooperations

[@etbadaboum]

@@sonodiventataunalbero5576 A 'tram des Nations' is projected to be built to connect France in the upcoming years

[@xarnii]

fines are actually not scaled by income in switzerland, only the "Taggeldsatz" which is a fine a court orders you to pay, which only happens with bigger crimes, not common Vehicle tickets

[@lzh4950]

I remember its in Finland instead where traffic summones/tickets/fines are calculated based on your income; in Switzerland I heard its calculated based on your car's value instead?

[@brinesilver405]

@@lzh4950 nope, we calculate on a normal linear set. 20CHF per KPH over the limit, up to i think 20 over? from there on its basically a felony from where it gets scaled by income

[@haehlenlinus]

@@brinesilver405 that‘s also not entierly true. It depends on what the speed limit is. On the autobahn for example, 1-5 km:h over the limit equals 40.-. So not every km/h nessecarely makes a difference in the fine.

[@gajop]

I would like to see you do Japan once. I'm a European living in Japan, and while I'm looking at your US/Canada suburb videos completely horrified, I can't help but find many analogies with smaller Japanese cities & towns that I've lived in. Tokyo and bigger cities are definitely different, and public transport is indeed great, but I can't say the same for cycling & walking. I really miss wide pavements & cycling paths that I had in my home country. So I think a Japan video would be quite interesting, many (unusual) tradeoffs!

[@therosijedha]

I would like to see iceland

[@shaylenpatel6904]

Australia also. New Zealand is actually the most car dependent nation in the world. With the most car owner ship in just about every country

[@stefanociapparelli2802]

weeb

[@therosijedha]

@@stefanociapparelli2802 dude, you cant call someone a weeb for liking a country

[@stefanociapparelli2802]

@@therosijedha just did

[@Jodamo]

Such a stark difference between the bike/pedestrian friendly areas shown here and the more car oriented ones. The former has more room for plants, more people out, quieter, and just feels friendlier and more human. The car areas automatically feel kind of disconnected.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

This is exactly what makes so many cities feel hostile for me when I visit their downtown area: it’s built for cars instead of people. So it’s just plain not enjoyable to be there as a human.

[@jensesau3148]

The difference is huge if you compare naturally grown Cities like German Brunswick to the young and planned City of Wolfsburg (VW). Neighbour Cities but if you go one step away from Wolfsburg fancy Autostadt/ Outlet / Phäno-Museum you feel so unwelcome in the car centered world.

[@alanthefisher]

nice narrow gauge trams in Basel. Very cool 3 segmented articulated trolley Buses in Bern and then very funny to see rentalable electric scooters all around Zurich like its a north american city

[@JoeLikesTrains]

It also has a few Rentalable Electric bikes here and there

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

I’d be curious to hear your opinion on electric scooters

[@cyri96]

Yep Narrow Gague Trams are the standard for Switzerland after all, if a Swiss city has a Tram it's almost always with 1000mm Gague (or close to it)

[@Marquis-Sade]

Those scooters are everywhere in Europe and they are great!

[@Marquis-Sade]

@@meowtherainbowx4163 Like bikes, just better

[@Flowtuz]

I love how the cities are considered "small" while they are huge to most Swiss people, haha. One thing that was missed unfortunately: The very, very nice car-sharing services offered by the cities. The bikes themselves were shown in the video, but the system in general is super neat.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

What people consider a normal sized city has always been confusing to me. The typical US attitude is that the only big city is New York and everything else is basically a small town. Or at least, that’s how it feels when I try to say that we need public transit and everyone goes “oh it can’t work here. We’re too small!”

[@wohlhabendermanager]

I can relate to Not Just Bikes. I live very close to Germany's second largest city, which has almost 2 million inhabitants. That's what is "a big city" for me. The city I live in now only has about 40,000 inhabitants. It's really a one-horse town in mind. Even though we have everything one could possibly need here. Several supermarkets, a regular market every Wednesday and Saturday, a small cinema, a train station, bus connections to the suburbs... so it's really not that small, but compared to my former home town it's a drop in the ocean. And that notion hasn't really changed for me in the past couple years I lived here. Strange.

[@Flowtuz]

@@wohlhabendermanager that's true. I know that feeling especially for Hamburg (parents lived there, Girlfriend currently living there). For a lot of people growing up or living in Hamburg everything smaller seems to be a village.

[@marlak4203]

And i just saw yday the train that carries cars across..whatever. It was nice to see that. Never seen that before. Have seen that with boats carrying cars across while the persons are still in them but not trains. Very nice.

[@lzh4950]

@@wohlhabendermanager Meanwhile when my city (Singapore) had ~2m people (around the early 1980s) we were still being convinced (by Havard I think) that our public transport only needed buses & not trains

[@rouaneb6664]

Whenever I watch these, I think about how my city Canberra is consistently rated the most cyclist friendly in Australia... and yet I think that's mostly because we can legally cycle on pedestrian paths. The most cycling infrastructure we have otherwise is painted gutters that are often in terrible shape, and only some 1% of Canberrans commute by bike. A recent discussion paper on making things more cyclist friendly got widely mocked. I wish we could get to the level that most of these towns are at.

[@BananaArmsMcNess]

Agreed, I live in Sydney and even the worst cycling infrastructure in Switzerland is far better than what we have here, and the public transport makes me green with envy! Unsurprisingly most people commute by car, 1% or something by bicycle, and the city is choked by congestion...

[@rodlavery509]

From memory Canberra has a fully separated bike path somewhere in each suburb which you can use to get to the city centre, so that might be part of the rating? But I also remember them being bumpy, full of long detours, interrupted by most roads, and of course needing to connect vast suburban sprawl means it takes an hour to actually reach your destination.

[@steveding2006]

I believe Melbourne could be a city where public transportation and cycling are as near good as a Euro city. -- It is quite a pity that Sydney destroyed all trams over a night in the 1960s. And all Au cities are better than any Canadian cities.

[@codemakeshare]

I lived in Canberra for a many years, and now in Switzerland. The CBD was indeed not great for cycling (painted lanes just ending suddenly between car lanes on a 3-lane road, etc.), and drivers were really aggressive, honking and shouting "get a car". But, the moment you get out of the centre, it was pretty amazing, with a completely separated bike road network, far away from any car roads, mostly through nature reserves and parks. My daily commute to the university went around the back of Black Mountain, along the lake, and straight onto campus. I think I had to cross one or two car roads on a 20min ride from home to office, and the rest was bike paths through nature reserves with kangaroos and birds left and right, without even seeing any cars. So, I found the suburbs were really good for cycling - just maybe a bit far, depending where you live (Canberra spans 60km north to south, with 300k population!). I actually found Switzerland less pleasant for cycling in comparison, as you often end up on busy roads with no alternative "bike-friendly" route. And as shown in the video, traffic lights are sensor-controlled, and often won't turn green for bikes at all - if no cars show up (e.g. at night), you can wait for as many cycles as you have patience for (or just use the pedestrian crossing which has a push button...). But indeed the car drivers are very patient, careful and considerate, so despite riding a lot more within traffic it feels pretty safe most of the time. Cars will actually stay behind you in narrow spots, and almost never honk at you for being in front of them. The Swiss have a pretty relaxed attitude to driving.

[@petesmitt]

I cycle commute in Melbourne and regularly use footpaths when the road is unsafe to use; the police ignore this if the cyclist is riding at a safe speed for pedestrians, typically around 10 kph.

[@sabatuur8791]

Not sure if anybody has mentioned it yet but we in Zurich did vote the last two years to expand our bike infrastructure (about 100km of new bike lanes throughout the city, 50km of which will be free of car traffic) as well as make it more pedestrian friendly and have more 'meeting spaces'. We're also limiting car traffic to 30km/h throughout the city. All of this will be done in steps until 2040. Long way to go but it's going into the right direction. There's also gonna be a tunnel underneath the main train station (a remnant of the old metro project in 70s) that will be converted into a bike tunnel to traverse that area more easily. And those votes were pretty one sided: 70% and 74% for the bike bills, 57% for the general traffic plans. Sadly, I can't find any resources on it in English. I'm glad you exposed some of it though. It's something that bothered me for a while and hopefully over time this city you can see the differences. :)

[@NotJustBikes]

I asked online about what plans were happening and I read through these plans. They sound great! I filmed where the tunnel under the train station will be, so I guess I could use that for a before/after video in the future!

[@RTSRafnex2]

The tunnel is not from the U-Bahn project but from the infamous "Expressstrassen-Y" (expressway Y) project of the 70s , which was supposed to connect the A1 and A3 in the middle of the city. Fortunately, the project has no future today.

[@sabatuur8791]

@@RTSRafnex2 Oh damn, my bad. Glad that wasn't realised. So I assume then the Milchbucktunnel was part of that project.

[@RTSRafnex2]

@@sabatuur8791 Exactly, together with the ugly (and unfinished) Sihlhochstrasse (elevated highway)

[@yagruumbagaarn]

Super interesting to hear an example of direct democracy. People in Switzerland must think the rest of world is pretty backward where you just vote for a Mayor who then gets to do god knows what god knows why until the next election, and we call that "democracy"?

[@Gabriel_Tan]

Inhabitant of Winterthur here. There are actually plans to make the inner city free of cars, so maybe if you come back in a few years... Also you can always take a side street in Winterthur, they are usually parallel to the main street and have a speed limit of 30km/h. The side of Zurich you filmed is quite unfriendly to bikes, it's also pretty hilly there ;) Near the lake, for example at Stadelhofen, the infrasturcture for bikes is significantly better, but not quite as good as Winterthur :)

[@TremereTT]

I think it's like in most cities, you can allway cycle on sidestreets or in Parks/Greenstrips that run parallel to the big car friendly main roads. It's a fact that many cities have big amounts of cars driving through, instead of closing these streets or undertaking the impossible venture to make them bike friendly, most cities simply offer save and parallel alternatives for bikes and foot traffic. You can cycle all over the Rhein-Ruhr-Metroplex, while you can also take a car and use motorways cutting throu all these cities, or you simple use Trams/Subway and S-Bahns ...The place is ugly, but it allows for every form of movement. It's also pretty easy to cycle from city to city...well that's basically because you might just cross the city limits when you visit your friend in the house next to yours.... but still makes for an enormous amount of intercity cycling... ;-)

[@kaybaumann4989]

Always fun to hear people about Switzerland. Basel and Zurich might be small by international standards but both are bigger then Bern, Bern is so small that you can get around to a lot of places just by walking if you don’t take public transportation. Things are all around slowly but steadily improving with a lot of places banning cars out of village centers and making things more accessible for bikes.

[@theirishvolunteer6643]

For me Frauenfeld is already a big city!

[@kaybaumann4989]

We lived closer to Bern when I was a kid but we moved to the Country side when I started school. The town I live in now is a few hundred people, but we still have good bus connections.

[@ranbanbam]

Luxembourg is also currently very similar to what is shown here for Switzerland. We don't have separate cycling infrastructure in most places but the cities are trying better especially in the capital there is a huge push towards cycling and better cycling infrastructure each year

[@kalle911]

What I really liked about getting around in Switzerland was synchronized timetables for trains and other modes of transport. Even in small villages.

[@iamjoestafford]

I noticed the same thing in Estonia when I was there last month - it was so seamless, even linking small village bus routes up to time with the ferries to the islands! I wish we had the same here in the UK :(

[@LiiMuRi]

Yeah, it's awesome to go to any small village in the mountains and all the changes from train to bus etc just happen so seamlessly

[@kalle911]

@@iamjoestafford do you mean the one near Haapsalu? They got to that only a few years ago. The situation here still leaves a lot to be desired, connections between buses and trains are mostly a coincidence. Forget about putting a bus stop at the train station, it needs to be 500 meters away, etc.

[@iamjoestafford]

@@kalle911 I caught three different ferries to/from Hiummaa and Saaremaa and they all connected seamlessly with the buses - as well as being amazingly modern and quiet. I also cycled throughout the country and was amazed to see stops everywhere serviced by buses throughout the day. I also loved the smooth segregated cycle/footpaths that appeared on the edge of virtually every town, giving people a safe route away from cars and even enabling people to use electric scooters. Really, it was light years ahead of the UK!

[@kalle911]

@@iamjoestafford with long distance buses they do connect, they're meant to. The local buses depend on other factors. But yeah, it all probably depends on your standards. I've been to Switzerland and Netherlands and mine are high. I've taken trains in Spain and it's a shame how we are too incompetent to get every passenger a seat on long distance trains.

[@Goxenul]

I feel like I went the full circle! I started watching NJB around when it first started, while I was living in California. Now I'm watching this video from my apartment in Zurich.

[@NotJustBikes]

Nice! How are you enjoying it, compared to California?

[@Goxenul]

@@NotJustBikes I've lived in the Bay Area for 3 years without a car, so I had to become a power user of transit or mixing transit and Ubering, etc. :) I carefully chose the location of my apartment, so I've been able to do the day-to-day life, but most of the classic California things to do on weekends, such as hiking, were basically impossible without a friend with a car. I'm excited to be able go places and access nature here in Switzerland. Two other things are mention is that the trains work magically with timed transfers and interlining, and the buraucracy is actually fairly helpful and helps you resolve your issues efficiently (I guess that's not a transit thing, but I suspect those are corelated). One thing that I miss is good and inexpensive takeout.

[@mk-oc7mt]

@@Goxenul congrats on the move! I live in the Bay and used to be a car free, mixed use power user. Now I have a car to do just what you mentioned- to access the beautiful hikes that you just cannot access without it. Its a shame, because other than that and dire work project trips I really never use my car.

[@Velofil]

I'm a Cyclist from Basel, I know some traffic planners personally and will forward this great video to them right away.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

NYC comes to mind when it comes to dangerous places to bike. While yes the city does have cycling infrastructure, the problem is that cycling in NYC is still hardcore mode as the cars surrounding them don't view cyclists as equals. I've lost count at how many cars I've seen block bike lanes (I've seen official city vehicles do it too ironically), and how many accidents that have occurred. They've just introduced mini street sweepers to help clean bike lanes, the aim is that it will allow the Dept. of Transportation to create narrower bike lanes that wouldn't be blocked by cars. And they're experimenting with new barriers. But alas, only time will tell if it actually makes a difference.

[@Dinelril]

One thing to mention, when you talked about the bycicle-unfriendly streets, is that often the bike paths follow entirely different roads far off the main car streets. You just kinda have to know where you're supposed to go with a bike which isn't always apparent if you're not from there.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Which is definitely good to know for the locals. But we need to still push for solid bike infrastructure to be accessible to all people regardless of if they’re “in the know” or not.

[@Dinelril]

@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet Oh I agree, the cycling infrastructure is far off perfect. It's just an explanation as to why there were such stark contrasts in close proxmity. That doesn't mean it's good nor bad, it's just something to keep in mind

[@etbadaboum]

@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet Plan your bike trip using an app!

[@stephanieherman2861]

i agree, nothinig sucks more than when you have to guess what bicycle street to take in order to go where the cars are going

[@paxundpeace9970]

If want to ride around sea or along a river those paths are great but for using them in city traffic they are just a kind of the wrong way. Still for some they are good for commuting from town to town. Some prefer normal streets because river paths (example) aren't always clear.

[@nicholasengel9823]

2:55 "Hallo, i ha Vortritt" What a legend

[@max-s643]

I grew up in Basel and moved to Zürich about a year ago. I can only confirm the stark contrast between these two cities. And interesting fact about Zürich is that the most important (and worst cycling) streets are owned by the canton and not by the city. This is similar to Basel with the defining difference being that in the canton of Zürich only about 30% of people live in the cities and another 30% in big villages while the city of Basel makes up almost 90% of the total population of the canton. Which of coarse leads to the differences in transportation policies you saw between those cities.

[@vivavasquez]

in my town San Diego Ca. nimbys come out like zombies when the mayor tries to make safe bicycle lanes , they call the local media that never fails to show up and they shout and scream and cry about lost parking spaces .

[@joeg451]

I love that you've adopted CityNerd's "indicator species" metaphor. I think it works really well.

[@666Tomato666]

Or a Waffle-House index

[@NotJustBikes]

There's so much to be said on this topic! For example, there's also an underground bicycle parking garage in Basel that I was in too much of a rush to film, and I didn't even get a chance to visit other cities, like Geneva. I guess I'll have to go back to Switzerland! :)

[@JacobBax]

Oh no.... you have a rough live.

[@HeavyZCH]

Please come to Geneva and explain how this whole city is a kafkaian death trap for biking commuters.

[@jeremiahhebert1325]

your content is amazing and super rewatchable! please keep up your amazing content. :)

[@jonket9197]

@Not Just Bikes What are your thoughts on the public transportation system in Germany including trains and the nine euro ticket, but also its cycling infrastructure? In general I think cycling is hard in larger cities, apart from Münster which is a cycle friendly city near the dutch border, with much investment into new cycle paths. Thank you for this overview video of another country.

[@sajanaryal6932]

Hey Not Just Bikes, I would love to watch a video of you critiquing North American cities like Chicago, Vancouver, Philadelphia, etc. I feel like these cities are not as depressing as the suburbs and other cities since they are walkable and have usable public transit.

[@HiFunLP]

There has been a general push to make cities more cycling friendly across the whole country. So your comparison to amsterdam is pretty spot on. We're just a few decades behind (like usual)

[@kOaMaster2]

Awesome to have covering Switzerland! As Basel being my hometown and my current resident town, Winterthur being the place where I lived during my studies and Zurich the place I studied in and now work in for more than 10 years, I can tell you that your analysis is spot-on and I really hope your view and outlook on Basel (and Switzerland in general) is correct! Growing up, we never had a car and used bicycles & trailers or public transportation. Using the bike for everyday getting around and the "last miles" to work in all of those three cities for more than 8 years in each, I can definitely see all of your points. Commuting to Zurich (from Basel) by bike every now and then, I wish this would be possible for more people and I can't tell you how often I get upset and angry about the situation in Zurich compared to especially Basel. A few things I'd like to mention here: - Normally bicycle gutters/lanes are fine as long as the overall traffic is not too fast, however what is really bad is when it is next to parked cars. That's dangerous x10 and there have been enough fatalities for that case! - What pisses me of the most in Zurich is the fact that whenever the space is getting narrow, the bicycle gutter or path just ends. Sometimes in the middle of the road. With Zurich having too many cars and traffic jams, this is just ridiculous and it's "forcing" a lot of cyclists to go for either the sidewalk or snake-like in between cars - both of which is not allowed and dangerous but understandable. - Finally after many years, turning right at a red light with your bike is fine in case there is the "yellow-on-black" bicycle sign. Hopefully this is becoming the norm. - The "Velostrasse" you mentioned has an important new concept: On those roads it is okay to ride side-by-side and also those roads have always the right-of-way - which is super useful as a cyclist compared to the "whoever is coming from the right has the priority" in normal 30-zones and very bicycle-friendly. Stop-signs (the worst!) and traffic lights have been reduced a lot. And last but not least: Everybody who is living or has lived in the city understands that a public transportation-, cyclist- and walking-friendly city is the future and cars should be reduced to the absolut minimum. Unfortunately, it's mostly the people coming from outside (with cars) who have quite a saying depending on the political situation (e.g. in Zurich). If it was only for the cities to decide, a lot of them would be moving forward a lot faster with this change.

[@umbra2130]

Tolli Zuekunft für tieferi Ikommensschichte 👍🏻

[@ClausWawrzinek]

The infrastructure looks a lot like what I grew up with and see in Munich, Germany when I visit. Overall it looks pretty amazing compared to so many other places. I now live in the United States, and there is a lot that can be learned from what is seen in this video.

[@establishmentdisliker372]

the US is a car-centric hell! we must change this!

[@dxelson]

@@establishmentdisliker372 step one: ban single use land zones

[@enekolopezantxustegi]

Move back to Germany

[@praxis-cat870]

@Carl Gunderson This is a political deadend. Doing this will get you unelected and thrown out, and will make your opponent vow never to do anything. If you want to do restrictive governmental policy, you do it if and *ONLY* if you've already got the solution built out and accessible, otherwise you're dooming people to misery and you to never getting elected again.

[@Traumglanz]

@Carl Gunderson So they riot if they don't get some shops next door asap? Sounds like the wrong solution. Make biking better than driving, not driving worse.

[@namenamename390]

Fun fact: The word for bicycle is one of the things that's different between high German and swiss German. As mentioned in the video, the Swiss say "Velo", but the Germans say "Fahrrad".

[@LagartoPT]

I think Velo is french.

[@namenamename390]

@@LagartoPT yes it is, but the German speaking Swiss still use it.

[@metalhat3534]

@@LagartoPT Yes, it is one of the 'Helvetisms' as they are called, in Swiss German we use quite a few French words, a short list of the top of my head, in Swiss-German, High.German, English order: Trottoir - Bürgersteig - Sidewalk Perron - Bahnsteig - Platform (at a train station) Glacé - Eiscreme - Icecream Pneu - Reifen - Tyre And many more which are more difficult to define since the Swiss-German word is not French by nature and many more that I just forget because I don't use high German that much.

[@aphextwin5712]

@@metalhat3534 Trottinett - Roller - Scooter Sali, Salü (Salut) - Hallo/Tschüss - Hello/Bye Tram - Straßenbahn- Tram

[@Runegrem]

@@metalhat3534 Those words are very similar to the Swedish words for those things as well, also because we got a lot of words from French. Trottoar Perrong Glass Däck Well, that last one is a it different. Also, while the common word for bicycle is "cykel" we also have the old, out of use word "velociped".

[@benhur2806]

Native Swiss here - To be dead fair, you did end up choosing quite flat cities relative to some other towns more in the mountains (albeit that's where waaaaay less people live), like my hometown, which is built on a hill with a 15% incline, which does make cycling quite challenging at times... Though most of the population does live in the flatlands, so really, not an excuse not to expand cycling infrastructure :P

[@bojanbogdanovic3124]

Shout out from a fellow Canadian who moved from Toronto to Winterthur! Winti as the locals call it has a bunch of protected bike paths, I just think that you missed them as they are accessed from small residential streets so you have to know where the are. For example, I feel safe taking my 7 y.o. for a ride-along to the city centre. Reach out when you're visiting next time and I will be more than glad to show you around!

[@louisfesselet3963]

Hello sir, do you know if the road 7 ( leading to elgg) has some cycling infrastructure ? Thks

[@ChrisWachtler]

Oh man, it's trippy seeing so much footage from my own neighbourhood. Side note about Basel, the investment in biking infrastructure has just began a few years ago. The Velostrassen for example were added just this year. There's much more to come and it's one of the main focuses of the city, including at least one new bridge over the Rhine focused on bikes and walking (from the northern part of the city over to France) and potentially a second bike only bridge between the Wettsteinbrücke (the steep one) and the Schwarzwaldbrücke to it's east. And regarding the density of people in the streets. Basel is a center hub of a fairly large tri-national metro area. So it's basically the focus point of around 800'000 people, despite it's small actual size of 180'000.

[@RichardRenes]

Basel is on the right track. Remember, the bicycle infrastructure in the Netherlands wasn't built overnight either. It has been developing for 50 years now. and it started by limiting cars on some roads/ streets.

[@dario-viva]

can you please send me the links to articles about these bridge-projects? I am very interested. Especially about the bridge between the Wettsteinbrücke and the Schwarzwaldbrücke. When cycling to Chliibasel, I mostly use the cycle-path that is beneath the road part of the Schwarzwaldbrücke, having an alternative route would certainly spice things up a bit. Vorfreude herrscht! Liebi Grüess voneme andere Basler

[@ChrisWachtler]

@@RichardRenes Coming from a point where they wanted to get rid of the trams in the 70s to where we are now, I'm very happy. If only our subway / regional train / s-bahn (what ever you want to call it) project hadn't been postponed for decades... guess I'll have to wait until 2040-50 now :/

[@ChrisWachtler]

@@dario-viva You'll have look for the terms Rheinbrücke Hüningen Basel and Sevogelsteg to find more info. Sadly Sevogelsteg seems to have been abandoned.. :/

[@sarapocorn]

Seeing other Swiss folks comment here is also trippy af. I‘d love to be friends with y‘all.

[@Gujb426]

I love watching your critiques of cities while dying inside. "Just painted bicycle gutters!" LMAO as a suburban Ontarian that would be heaven to me. I bike-commute a couple times a week and have had to develop a strategic network of sidewalks, park paths, and church parking lots to avoid the stroads and even then there are two stretches of having to choose between a tiny pedestrian sidewalk and biking a no-shoulder stroad.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

I actually have a video that I’m currently editing that’s addressing the question of “what counts as good bicycle infrastructure?“ My philosophy boils down to three points and the first one is safety. It was interesting watching this video and seeing how safety was addressed from a different angle: driving down the amount of car traffic.

[@ecenbt]

Honestly I understand what you mean, but I would guess that painted gutters only work if the people living in the city already have an understanding that there are bikers and they should be respected in the traffic. For car centric places where there is a general disdain for anyone outside the car driver, I'd suggest they are really really dangerous and those places absolutely need some sort of protected bike lanes for people to start biking. I know it sounds counterintuitive as it requires more investment, but noone's gonna start riding bikes in a place filled with stroads just because someone painted an extra lane

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

@@ecenbt agreed. I personally am very hesitant to use any painted bike lane on a street where cars go over 30 MPH. And this is coming from someone who feels extremely comfortable on a bike! People who are less comfortable like my Father in Law refuse to use anything that doesn’t have some form of physical protection like bollards or a cement curb. So he ends up riding on the sidewalk most of the time.

[@sirtobey1337]

It's good to get some outside feedback. Bern has improved a lot in the last couple of years, but it's also good to be reminded, that a lot still has to be done - but that it could very well also become great. It hurt a bit that Basel seems to have the edge, but it's also a motivation.

[@SteveAkaDarktimes]

Zürich in particular is dedicated towards becoming more Bicycle friendly, even if its slow going. and the city government aims towards a 2000 Watt plan. the problem with Zürich is that it sees a lot of car commuting from other nearby cities or the "agglomeration" or suburbs as its an economic centre in Switzerland. it is also somewhat of a transit nerve centre due to Geography and Autobahn lines. Zürich city traffic is infamous in switzerland.

[@katarn999]

Fully agree on the infamy of Zurich city traffic! Nobody from the greater Zurich area in their right mind would go into Zurich city centre by car if they can avoid it. You simply take the train, even if you own a car! E.g. if you see somebody trying to drive across the "Bahnhofstrasse", you know the person is not from around Zurich (probably from abroad) and got caught in the one-way-streets that are fairly common in the city centre. Always makes me smirk at those poor bastards trying to find their way back out of that labyrinth! 😂

[@munjee2]

"Several of my shots were ruined by a passing transit vehicle" This might be the most first world problem.

[@Banom7a]

imagine having transit vehicle in the first place lol

[@elgrazo82]

4:30 dont let the population number fool you. Basel isnt able to expand their city limit since it mostly directly borders other cantons (swiss "states") and other countries. The actual urban area has quite a bit more people. But great video, I agree with just getting rid of cars isnt automatically being bike friendly. Personally I prefer taking the trams or walking over biking too

[@seizan88]

I never clicked on a video faster (I'm actually from Switzerland). Totally agree with every point. I was always very proud of our public transport. But honestly, this channel made me realize how lacking our bike infrastructure is. It could be worse for sure. Look at the Netherlands though, they are miles ahead of us. We can do better. I think we will do better. In time, step by step :) I also switched to biking to work instead of using public transport so.... let's go bike infrastructure! :D

[@yann5489]

As someone from the french part of Switzerland who cycles I realised how unlucky I am. (the infrastructure in the french part is so much worse)

[@s1borg]

So true

[@erik5374]

As someone from the Netherlands who spent quite some time in Switzerland (a while ago): your country is doing great. The signing and (long distance) routing were way beyond ours 15 years ago. And bringing bicycles (and ski equipment) in public transport was also much better than I was used to. Switzerland should definitely share the podium with the Netherlands and Denmark.

[@max-s643]

Something you didn’t mention in your video are the long range cycle paths in Switzerland. The Swiss cycling infrastructure is very well suited for long range cycling tours. It’s truly amazing how interconnected the long range cycle paths are in Switzerland. You can go from anywhere to anywhere using only the official cycle paths which almost always are quiet and well maintained streets through the country side with very good sings showing the distance to large cities but also to nearby smaller villages. If you have some basic knowledge of the Swiss topography and don’t mind memorising some names of villages there is no need to look at map during longer cycling tours.

[@Fan652w]

Thank you from Roger Sexton for a superb video. I have holidayed in Switzerland many times, and I can agree with every thing you said. You missed one point in Basel. There is a huge underground bike park at Basel SBB station - and it has been there for many years! About 5 years ago the House of Commons Transport Committee was questioning a cycling expert. An MP representing a Cornish constituency said. 'You cannot expect cycling in Cornwall - it is too hilly.' The expert replied, 'In Switzerland, 9% of all journeys under 5 kms. are made by bike.'

[@olawaleajibola4431]

Typical excuse made in the UK for non cycling or provision of safe cycling infrastructure!! Lol.

[@gizmatron_]

i was raised in the same soul-crushing gta town like you and your videos have been blowing my mind. i always knew something was wrong with where i lived and i never really wanted to go outside cause there was nothing to do and everything was so far away. thankfully i don't live there anymore but recently i moved and chose a town with way more walkability than any place i have ever lived and i love it! i've been riding my bike a lot more around the place and im currently looking into getting cargo space for my bike to make grocery trips. thank you for these awesome videos 🙏

[@CroobieLetter]

If you don't buy too much groceries, or are willing to make more trips per week; consider panniers.

[@aleasenigel9517]

I live in Prague, and had the exact same thought a few times: the public transport is too good to even consider the bike. However i am glad that the city is communicating it’s intention to change for the better. It’s just gonna take time.

[@marten837]

As a Dutchie, it's super interesting and hopeful to see the progress in other countries! One thing that does keep surprising me is the luxury of having good cycling infrastructure throughout a country. Here in the Netherlands you don't really have to think about cycling safety for about 95% of the times and it keeps getting less and less. Choices about where to live or work with regards to travel are mostly based on distance, public transport and overall safety (e.g. whether it feels safe to be outside when dark), but I don't think I have ever heard people say: "I don't want to live there because there is no safe way to cycle to the shops or work"

[@Ninja-The-Red-Shinobi]

I dream about the day when America has a train system like Switzerland.

[@SilverDragonJay]

Same, I was trying to figure out how I could get home to visit my family for the summer without taking a plane but all of the trains would take like 12-16 hours with multiple transfers (including bus segments due to large gaps in train service) often in the middle of the night. By comparison, it takes about 6.5-9 hours by car and 1.5 hours by plane (not counting the TSA dance). In addition, there's countless complaints about those trains being delayed, sometimes by up to 30 minutes, due to interference by freight trains which are supposed to yield to passenger trains but often don't. I'm sure that if you miss your train you'd be able to get on a bus instead of waiting for your train to return, but still that's a big risk right there. I wonder why Americans don't take the train.

[@reddpanda7240]

Thanks. Can always use a good laugh. Enjoy the holiday.

[@automation7295]

@@jimhabsfan And yet there are still people in the US that will still say "United States is the greatest country in the world", which show how ignorant some people are. Every country have their upsides and downsides.

[@michalandrejmolnar3715]

Will never happen with Republicans

[@yutiros5174]

@@michalandrejmolnar3715 nor the democrats. the US is a political hell.

[@ameliabrittain158]

YAY!!!! I AM ACTUALLY QUALIFIED TO TALK ABOUT THIS!!! Qualified meaning, I am an American citizen who lived and when to highschool in Basel, Switzerland for three years, meaning I have grown up in both a car centric hellscape, and in a city with actual, functioning public transit, and it made all the difference. In fact, my parents purposefully picked a house to live it that was next to the tram stop so that I could take the tram to school every single day and never need a car. It was amazing. The trams were clean, frequent, and reliable, and took me to all of the places I wanted to go, if not directly then via one or two connections, by bus or a very short walk. I lost weight and walked at least 4 or 5 miles a day just by living my life. Bikes were noticeably more common than in America, I knew many kids from my school who commuted by biking, but honestly the trams are so well connected that tram(or bus) + walking was enough for most people. Coming back to America, public transit and people-centric design was the number 1 thing I missed most, and this was before I ever watched your videos and developed an understanding of WHY these things were so good for people, and why car centric design was so bad. Now that I have that understanding, I miss it even more. Grüzei von Baseland! And hello from Memphis, TN!

[@TiddesMVChannel]

How come you went back after Highschool?

[@ameliabrittain158]

@@TiddesMVChannel my whole family is in the states, and my parents moved back to the US as well the following summer after I graduated, and now I am going to college in the states too. As much as it sucks sometimes, it’s my home, and while I loved so many things about Switzerland, I knew I couldn’t stay there forever.

[@TiddesMVChannel]

@@ameliabrittain158 understandable, Glad you enjoyed your time :)

[@ameliabrittain158]

@@TiddesMVChannel have you lived/visited there too?

[@theknightyoshi3147]

Hello!. I grew up in New Jersey, and am currently attending high school in Basel similar to you! I am facing the same decision you had to face, whether I want to go back to America for family, or attend university in the EU for my own ease.

[@epleeple241]

You should do a review of Bergen, Norway. These hills in Switzerland looked very gradual and long, whereas in Bergen it is short and steep slopes. Also it rains a lot, and in the winter it doesn't stay cold and snowy for long periods like in Finand, but right around and above 0°C, which means wet snow, salt and very cold for cycling.

[@Volvo_EG]

So; are there cyclists in Bergen or is there literally no infrastructure and bikes?

[@lzh4950]

Yeah I was thinking I also didn't see much cyclists on my university campus (which sits on a ridge) where its roads have up to 6% gradients. In that case the bicycle basically becomes extra dead weight when cycling uphill, but is also where electrical scooters shine, with their motors engaged together with your own muscle effort making it easier to climb the slopes (the motor alone isn't powerful enough to do so)

[@henrygrey285]

Nope the Hills are very very steep here... Basel and Winterthur are more of an exception in Bern and Zürich the terrain can rise by a few hundred Meters in the same horizontal distance. In Zürich you have to make about 200m to go from the lake to some of the highest neighbourhoods in a stupidly short amount of time... Meaning lots of back and forth serpentines

[@GaertnerJan]

E-bikes with tough tires would be your friend there. There’s plenty e-mountainbikes and such, outfit them with some fenders and off you go. One can cycle through rain and slushy snow okay, only when it freezes up and the roads are slick with ice then you’d have to opt for an alternative. Our winters are similar in NL though climate change has decreased the amount of frost we get dramatically, main difference being the slopes for which an electronically assisted bike works wonders

[@railwaystuff]

One thing, drivers when learning for the exam, need to know how to safely pass Cyclist, to look out for them, and not cut them off. It is also a part of the Driving Exam, I was stunned you do not learn that in America. Also, most people in Zurich rather take the Tram, Bus or the S-Bahn, public transport is also very frequent and good in Zurich. Not many people like cycling in Zurich, because it is very hilly, also why E-Scooters are so popular there. Next time, go to the Limmatal Area, (Dietikon, Geroldswil, Weiningen, Oetwil a.d.l, Spreitenbach) you will see a lot of people using their bikes. In smaller Towns people cycle way more often, because the Streets are way more quiet, even when there is no Bike infrastructure (or almost none).

[@RMTransit]

Ooh, the mountainous land of transit :D

[@gauthamasiddharth9221]

Yea this comment should be higher up

[@AnotherDuck]

@Zaydan Naufal Maybe because it doesn’t say much, even if it is from someone people who watch these videos probably would know about?

[@arteria.coronaria]

I feel like we can get away with this as cycling infrastructure for several reasons. One being the fact that every student undergoes training and a "biking exam" [Veloprüfung] at primary school where they teach you how to behave on the marked&unmarked cycling paths. You also learn genuine traffic rules such as cars know it, how to enter and exit roundabouts, etc. During the drivers exam for cars you're also always taught to check mirrors and position the car correctly in a way that bikes fit anyway, and how to safely overtake one without danger for anyone. Another thing you perhaps may not have noticed right off the bat is the multitude of bike lanes and paths along rivers and lakes, they're usually the best way to enter a city such as Zürich or Bern by bike. (And they're car free, usually near forests or nature protection zones which makes them incredibly nice)

[@herbert3177]

That's the same here in Norway. Children in primary school learn traffic rules and how to ride a bicycle in traffic. Learning how to safely get around on your own is important.

[@europeangardenflower9812]

In the Netherlands also.

[@ifannecandoitsocani7288]

14:11 has such a random cute moment. May that father/uncle/brother and toddler be blessed and live happy lives

[@Super-JD]

Being Swiss(-french) living in Canada I was very curious to see what was that last city! Glad to see you loved our public transport. The whole country is really like a big metro system. Boats can also be used as public transport on big lakes like in Geneva. However I never liked so much biking in Switzerland, never felt safe, especially in my hometown of Lausanne. Things are getting better slowly... At a Swiss speed.... And I'm the happiest biking in montreal!

[@Travender]

I love how the woman was screaming „Hallo, Ich hab Vortritt!!!!“

[@thatRyzzle]

As someone who grew up near Basel, I could never imagine myself living in a car-centric country, ever. Growing up, I used to dream about living in the US or Australia, but after realizing as an adult how car-centric those countries are, those dreams noped the hell outta my head.

[@TheRealAThom]

I used to and still do dream the opposite (from the US) :D

[@axsh970]

@@TheRealAThom haha me too planning to move to EU in a few years.

[@willpeden6055]

Australia is a big place. If you live in inner Melbourne or Sydney you can get by without a car easily and many do. Thanks to the councils implementing a lot of policies and infrastructure to support this. Also having ridiculously large legacy PT systems helps create a much better future than 99% of US Cities. I think Australia has invested something like $100 Billion into public transport projects over the past 5 years. Obviously places like Darwin and Townsville are more American like given their size and isolation "requiring" cars

[@theactivecoconut6077]

Australia is nice though. I'd take the nice weather over cycling haha

[@ChrisTopher_Urbanism]

I live in Sydney and get around by bike and public transport (bike/train combo is unbeatable). I have a cargo bike and there are two people with the same bike as me that I sometimes run into at the shop. I regularly see people get groceries and transport kids on cargo bikes and plenty of kids ride to the high school down the road from me - perhaps despite the infrastructure rather than because of it, in the inner west a lot of the infra is one way streets that are two way for bikes and streets only permeable for bikers and walkers, although some (often very badly done) protected cycleways are being built. Once you get around 10-15km from the city in any direction things start to get pretty car centric

[@GodlikeIridium]

14:28 there are multiple ones in Bern too btw.

[@stuffifollow]

I have just finished watching all your videos so far in the channel. It's been a delight. In some part I too have experienced several of the issues addressed in the videos. From my experience, as a Portuguese who was born in a small 4.000 inhabitants island, moved to the capital, I made the decision of leaving Lisbon and some future in my career for a worse job in Évora, where I don't need to take public transportation, nor bikes, nor cars. I can just walk 10min to work, lunch at home, etc. And although I have more work load I feel much more happy in these last 6 years than 2 years living in Lisbon. All best for the channel, the videos are amazing!

[@mix3k818]

While it's easy to salivate over Japan's trains or the Netherlands' enormous bike infrastructure, people just aren't talking much about Switzerland's efforts to make their alternatives to cars feel worth taking. I honestly don't know why. Is it Switzerland having a similar culture to Germany? Is it Switzerland not being a huge country?

[@axelnils]

Switzerland isn’t real, dummy

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

Most people never think of cycling when talking about Switzerland. Switzerland is a train country. And in Alpine nations public transit makes more sense, because drilling an 8-lane Gotthard Tunnel through the Swiss Alpes is going to be prohibitively expensive. However, when PT is popular, cycling is automatically becoming more popular too, because it's a great last mile solution. The typical Swiss bicycle gutters can also be explained by the mountains. Hilly cities like Maastricht like bicycle gutters too, because there's a mindset in hilly cities there's not enough space to have completely separate bike lanes. Still, Switzerland can do in valley parts without that much elevation like in Arnhem.

[@metalhat3534]

Could be both of these factors, but something that I think influences things more is: content creators that would be able to show this in comparison do not often come to Switzerland since it is expensive here. At the same time one cannot say that there is a single unifying Swiss culture that is different enough from Germany's or France's or even Italy's in the respective parts of Switzerland. Obviously we have such a culture, but it is not something that can be easily spotted in a short visit. And then again, I don't think there are many, if any , Swiss content creators that would cover this topic in detail, and if they do it is not in English. Could I do it? Certainly but that would need to be a hobby and I am not much into video editing honestly 😅

[@cyri96]

it's probably also partially the "wealthy People in mountains" part, which many don't connect to Good pulic transport infrastructure, which is ironic considering that many Swiss mountaintops have significantly better public transit access that entire regions of other nations.

[@tardvandecluntproductions1278]

They are a great example that you don't need to destroy the whole street and build Dutch, to get likewise results, yeah. Some signs here and paint there, goes a very long way!

[@Voyagerch75]

Cars stopping at pedestrian crossings is not just a courtesy, it's actually mandated by law.

[@automation7295]

Not exclusive for Switzerland, stopping for pedestrians is mandated by law everywhere around Europe and even in North America.

[@finaloblivion799]

@@automation7295 Yeah, it's a state law here in Georgia.

[@daedalusspacegames]

True as this may be, in the places I've lived in the US there's a world of difference between “people are required to stop at pedestrian crossings” and “people stopping at pedestrian crossings”. So I understand the comment as moreso addressing the cultural difference.

[@fallenshallrise]

LOL. In Canada it's mandated by law for cars to stop at ANY corner where a pedestrian wants to cross regardless of whether there are zebra stripes or not. It's just that only 1-10 drivers actually bother to stop no matter how much paint or lights you put up.

[@JudyCZ]

Well...sure it is a law but how much it's actually respected, varies tons from country to country. German pedestrians are so used to always getting way from the cars, they can in really dangerous situations when visiting the Czech Republic. And we're neighbour countries.

[@smaeschli]

This was interesting! I lived in Zurich for 28 years, in Bern for now for over 13. I've basically always cycled everywhere in the city that was more than a 5-minute walk away, so have plenty of first-hand experience. Zurich wasn't especially bike friendly, however the issue wasn't infrastructure or traffic per se, but rather the interpersonal aspect. There was a lack of mutual consideration between cyclists and motorists. Car drivers in Zurich tended to invade cycling lanes a lot. Where there were no cycling lanes, motorists frequently made a point of driving dangerously close to cyclists. They would often stop VERY reluctantly for pedestrians, slamming on the brakes at the last possible moment and flooring it again before the pedestrian had safely reached the curb. Cyclists in Zurich were no angels, either, often not stopping at crosswalks, instead riding around the pedestrians like they were on an obstacle course. I find the cycling routes in Bern to be generally ok, but as you noted, there are some intersections that are very tricky. Still, riding (and walking) here is way safer than in Zurich. I don't think I've yet had to deal with a car blocking the cycle lane since moving here. Bernese motorists don't cut me off or drive unnecessarily close to me. I've witnessed many drivers here, who upon seeing someone in the vicinity of a crosswalk, slow right down in anticipation of that person potentially wanting to cross (I'm putting thoughts in their heads here). When said person does indeed cross, the motorist waits patiently. No screeching of tires or honking of horns. Whether driving or pedalling, there's no rushing a Berner. If I'm out at night, I'll 100% encounter a singing cyclist, and if the weather is nice, the odds are high of being serenaded by a cyclist during the day as well. You noticed that in Basel there were lots of parents with their kids in cargo bikes, Netherlands-style, and that in Zurich you saw only a couple of cyclists pulling a trailer with their kids in it. I think that may just be a difference in local tastes. My daughter grew up in Zurich and now lives in Basel. She spent her first couple of years in a seat attached to my bike. Trailers caught on in Zurich, but not until she had already learned to ride. She moved to Basel after graduating, bought a cargo bike a couple of years ago when she and her partner got a Schrebergarten, and they now transport my granddaughter in it 🧸💕.

[@FGH9G]

12:07 Dude! Those luggage lockers are awesome! Perfect for people who are traveling to cities and towns and want to walk around but not spend the night, or obviously not want to lug around a huge rollie bag. Many North American cities and towns can DEFINITELY benefit from those. And that Jason Bourne joke was great 😂

[@danielkelly2210]

They actually used to be more common in some of the US but after 9/11 they started tearing them out as they were considered places terrorists could plant time bombs.

[@FGH9G]

@@danielkelly2210 Yeah unfortunately. I had a feeling that potential terror threats and fears of them definitely had something to do with that.

[@sacroyalty]

"I wonder why nobody is cycling in this part, it.. must be the hills" lmao always caught off guard by the sweet comedy and laughs on this channel. Great video as always. Switzerland blew us away in beauty and public transit, I wasn't even thinking about bike infrastructure while there.

[@martijnvangammeren1868]

True, and most people also tend to forget when talking about the "flat netherlands" the southern part. The province of Limburg is not flat it doesn't have mountains but it has hills like the Ardennes and the Eiffel. Beautiful part of the country.

[@MinuxLP]

that specific part of the street is a loop for trams & u-turn for cars and the start of the highwayramp so it makes sense that there are no cyclists :)

[@wohlhabendermanager]

Yeah, people are great at finding excuses why they "cannot bike". Either it's the hills. Or it's the wind. Or it's too cold. Or it's too warm. I wonder what kind of magical place The Netherlands must be that there's no wind and the temperature is always a nice 20 degrees Celcius and it never rains or snows. Last time I was there was almost 30 years ago. Maybe it's time I go back and check the weather conditions.

[@karelpicka3925]

Diseclamer: I commute to work every day by bike (and everywhere else, of course). I also have a car, but for more than half of the year I ride my bike around town for the vast majority of the time, and I use my car when I need to travel longer distances out of town. The point: Actually, I'm a little annoyed by this mockery of the "hills in the way" argument. I've been looking at elevation profiles in Zurich, for example, and if someone cycled from Zurich Airport all the way across the city of Zurich to Meilen, they would cover a nice 23 kilometres and climb a nice 101 metres on the whole route. I cycle to work every day, it's only 4.7 km away. But I have to climb almost 130 metres. In less than 5 kilometres. When I go to visit my dad who lives two city parts away (about 10 km away) I have to climb about 200 vertical meters. When I go to see my mom (8km away) in a completely different direction I have to climb about 140 vertical meters. And I'm only talking about one trip there. The way back may vary (it may be more downhill, but I still get a few more tens of meters at least). I've tried various routes in Bern, Zurich and other Swiss cities and it doesn't even come close. Yes, Switzerland is mountainous and far more so than the Czech Republic where I live. I've been there and I was truly captivated by the beautiful high Swiss Alps. But that doesn't mean the big cities are on the tops of mountain ranges. I'm not saying it's impossible to get around on a bike, I ride one myself every day. But it's ignorant to say that hills are not an argument. Years ago when I first tried to switch to a bike as my main mode of transport in Brno to go to university, it wasn't the fear of traffic (even though the cycling infrastructure was virtually non-existent then) or the extreme distance ( it was about 9 km) that stopped me, it was the incredibly grueling hills. It took a lot of fitness to really do it every day and even then I can't (like in Amstrdam) cycle in my work clothes because I would arrive at work completely sweaty. So I have to carry clothes in my backpack to work where I have to change and ideally shower.

[@karelpicka3925]

Damn Now I spend 2 hours on Google maps :)). Anyway, funny comparison. If I cycled from the very centre of Rotterdam to the very centre of Amsterdam, I would cover about 75 km. Nice bike trip. And I'd climb 47 vertical metres on the whole route (one way). Which is less than half of what I do every day when I ride home from work (128 vertical metres on a 5km route - one way).

[@TIPworks]

As someone who has moved to Zurich from Sydney this year, the idea that Zurich rates low on bike friendliness is crazy to me. I'm not saying your wrong but I'm very happy for the change I've made.

[@ebnertra0004]

Yeah. I'm very confused here in the US. It appears the Swiss actually considered something other than cars on their roads. It may not be great, but it could be sooo much worse

[@maxpowers4436]

Its the perspective of him who has a world of knowledge regarding this type of stuff so for him Zurich isn't anything special in the grand scheme of things. You are coming from Sydney which has practically zero bike infrastructure to Zurich which is 1000 x better.

[@Blackadder75]

NJB lives in the Netherlands, which has much better bike infrastructure, and not only in city centra but all across the country. So compared to that it's mwah. As for pubic transport, it;s the other way around.. The Netherlands has an ok public transport, better than many other places, (like Sydney) but the Swiss beats that, theirs is even better.

[@Traumglanz]

@@ebnertra0004 The US just scores negatively on a chart from 1 to 10.

[@a1white]

It’s all relative isn’t it. London, UK isn’t amazing but it’s 100x better than it was 20 years ago and a lot better than many other cities in the country.

[@dylanpotato8739]

i think you should make it a series where you review different countries like this. seeing the places in this video made me happy because it was really cool to see what other countries look like. i think the coolest place in this video is basel! it just has such a cool atmosphere, specifically the place with a lot of trams. also seeing bike lanes make me happy. also this video is really fun

[@userSchlonsch]

I was really looking forward to this video because I’ll be moving to Zurich later this year. So thank you for this fantastic video! And now I just really want you to check out and rate my hometown’s cycling infrastructure.

[@joekerrthejoker]

Thanks for showing cities that are at different stages of transformation away from car centric planning. It can be demoralizing to see the end result without the middle stages, especially in North America where we are much further behind. These sorts of videos show what incremental changes look like, and more importantly, that it is possible to change our cities.

[@nici9376]

Great video taking a look at my country! Next time you visit make sure to join our critical mass every last friday of the month in zurich at the "bürkliplatz" (7pm)! Thousands of people get on their bicycles and drive through the city to advocate for safer Infrastructure. Anyways, as someone who's in zurich every day I couldn't find any mistakes in that part and agree with your takeaway. Roads suck for bicycles right now.

[@voolt]

there's also one in Geneva! every last Friday of the month!

[@MetallicAddict15]

I was in Zurich a couple of weeks ago and had the same experience. Trams are king over everyone and will run you over if you get in the way. Cars are discouraged, but biking infrastructure has a long way to go. There was one big crossing where we had to cross 5 streets just to go straight ahead, while cars could pass right on through.

[@nici9376]

@@MetallicAddict15 oh that probably was at the "HauptBahnhof" its really bad there...

[@ennemuk]

Yess the critical mass demo is so much fun!! And very important.

[@RTSRafnex2]

@@MetallicAddict15 I mean yes the biking infrastructure should be better but I don't see any problem with trams being the kings of the streets...

[@uhpenyen4291]

A video released on my birthday! I love it, thank you!

[@keanoscarermitano619]

I remember how beautiful Swiss is through your videos. Great infrastructures, food, cultures, scenery, and great people with great moods. Thank you for the videos! I also did remember our Glacier Express Trip to Mt. Zermatt by trains.

[@iamjoestafford]

I live in North Staffordshire in England, where the Stoke-Newcastle conurbation has a population of over 375,000 - so more than twice that of Basel. At one time the area had a dense tram network as well as suburban train lines, but these were ripped out in the postwar years, leaving buses as the only form of local public transport. We had a decent municipal network until the Conservatives deregulated and privatised buses in the 80s, and it has been on a steady decline since then - bus routes here have halved since 2015 alone! Coupled with a road network designed in the 1960s around the car complete with very dangerous intersections and few crossings even for pedestrians, almost everyone here drives. As a result we have horrendously bad traffic jams at all times of day, illegal air quality choking the area, empty high streets as everyone shops at out-of-town shopping centres, and a growing obesity problem. Local planners and politicians are clueless - whenever there is any funding available, it is spent on building more roads to 'open up land' for yet more car-dependent new shopping centres or housing. This is repeated in almost every city or large town in the country, with very few exceptions. When I visit places on the European mainland - for instance, I just spent a lovely week in Estonia - it really hammers it home how backward this country is. Urban England is even more densely populated than most of The Netherlands, and yet we emulate North America in our planning decisions...it is crazy. PS Great video - I have always wanted to visit Switzerland to experience the amazing public transport as well as the scenery, and your video has reminded me to plan a future visit!

[@timsoel566]

Hopefully expropriate becomes a less nasty term in your area, so you guys can take control of city transit and expand again. (The public transit, not necessarily the city)❤

[@user-go8oj4dl4w]

And can someone tell me, is it just the UK media that runs the Drivers Vs Cyclists type stories?

[@jakem5039]

It's like that in Stoke yes but outside of Stoke the UK can be really good. Leeds, York, Lincoln, Edinburgh are all towns and cities and are fairly good in terms of public transit and cycling.

[@alexfrye6]

Oh come on, we're nowhere near as bad as North America. I've only been to Stoke once but it seems like it's an outlier, most large towns in the UK have a decent bus service and most cities have that plus some form of tram or local rail. Intercity journeys are usually a similar speed or faster by train compared with driving. We're nowhere near Switzerland but we don't do too badly in the grand scheme of things. It's moving in the right direction too, bus services being cut is obviously bad but fortunately it's also quite a simple thing to reverse. In the last 20 years or so there has been real investment in building new tram lines and railways as opposed to just keeping what is already there ticking along as was the case for the previous 100 years. I really don't get why the government don't fund local bus services better though. A few extra busses are much cheaper than these massive rail projects which they're willing to fund and it would be a vote winner among the elderly who of course vote the most.

[@alexfrye6]

@@jakem5039 I actually wouldn't put any of those in the top tier, but yes most places are fine. Top tier for me is Glasgow, London, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool. That's for public transport, can't beat Cambridge for cycling.

[@DinosaurVid]

As a Swiss person I'm happy to see us represented :D And nothing in this was more Swiss than the lady in Basel shouting "Hey, I have priority!" at a driver...

[@eilony9]

Ich ha vortritt!😂

[@sg_dan]

So that's what she said?! I don't speak the language but was it had been something to that effect 🤣

[@martinjones5622]

"This area reminded me of Brussels, and that's not a good thing" Preach. Brussels is still my least favourite place I've ever been, and although I didn't fully understand at the time it had a lot to do with the parts I went to being loud, dirty and car-centric. Also with my hostel being painted only in shades of battleship grey.

[@Gipsy2512]

A bit late to the party, but with a Dutch dad and a Swiss mom from Basel living in the Netherlands I had to see the video and react. Basel is beautiful! I miss getting together with my grandparents and going 'home' with tram number 8 😥. Sweet memories! My uncle used to bike to his work. It's getting better and better in Basel to bike. He used to be one of the exceptions. Now a days it much more the norm.

[@moritzl7065]

What you said at the end basically sums up transport in Switzerland: It's a 1st world problem. The competition for bikes is from public transport, not cars. Anyone sane would never drive in a Swiss city, it is so congested. On a side note: Notice how there are extremely few streets that have 2 lanes or more per direction for cars (other than motorways). Because the moment a city street is wide enough, that space is given to trams or buses.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, it's the same in Amsterdam, and it's exactly the way it should be: if the two car lanes are full, build a public transit lane.

[@blakksheep736]

I suppose it _is_ better that way. :D

[@averagehelper]

@Zaydan Naufal An argument could be made that a civilized country should at the very least have *plans* to improve its city transit story. Most of the United States, from what I've seen, has few such plans if any, because car go vroom vroom or something idk

[@udishomer5852]

@Zaydan Naufal with regards to public transportation, the US is definitely 3rd world. Can't comment on the other countries as not familiar with them.

[@steemlenn8797]

@Zaydan Naufal In regards to transporting people, yes.

[@jedraszektv]

It's crazy how London, Canada with a population of 400k has comparable transit to a bus service connecting rural polish villages around a town of 13'000.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Tell me about it. Here in SoCal people STILL try to tell me that we don’t have a large enough population for better transit. And I’m just like “we’re standing in freaking Los Angeles…if LA can’t justify a light rail that how in the heck can any other city?!?”

[@EstebanGuevaraObando]

I was waiting for this video. I was surprised when you announced you were in Switzerland, I went to Switzerland on June too. I been paying attention to the bike infrastructure too, i did it based on what I learned with your video.

[@mnm809]

I was pleasantly surprised to see Winterthur on your list as someone who moved here from the states it feels like almost no one has heard of it but its a wonderful city to live in.

[@Snowshowslow]

Transport by river cushion is also definitely a thing in Basel! :) Had a great summer trip there and seeing as we were broke that was the main thing we did, haha.

[@robinpayne125]

Also the reaction ferries in Basel are a pretty unusual way to get where you're going.

[@Snowshowslow]

@@robinpayne125 Okay I had to search for that (found a Tom Scott video, btw, with a great explanation) and wow... I can't believe I missed those! They look like such a genius concept (although a little slow). Next time I have the money to venture into Switzerland...

[@blakksheep736]

It seems real fun.

[@ruddymedia]

I live now for 1,5 years in switzerland (Bern) and i love it here, most time i use public transport - for the reasons you said. But to choose "Ostring" at 10:17 its a bit unfair, this is a street coming from the motorway/Autobahn. The official Bike routes are also often not through the city Center (Bahnhof + Zytglogge 9:41), e.g. more often through Bundeshaus (8:20). There is a nice Map with the official Bike routes called "Velohauptrouten" (should be one of the first search results) But nice video like always! :-)

[@BlackMew13]

As a swiss person its really fun seeing some places i have frequently been to myself in a youtube video XD Its also funny and interetsing to see someone be amazed at so many things that are completely normal to me I think one reason why cycling everywhere, especially to work, is so normalized in switzerland, is because its the norm for most school kids of a certain age to go to school by bike We're even thought about road ruels and safety in school and i had to complete a bicycle riding test supervised by the local police in order to be allowed to use my bike to get to school Car drivers also seem to be way more mindful of everyone else on the road compared to the US, which i think helps a lot with making cycling a more viable and safe option Also i would like to add, that hearing someone refer to Basel as a small city was the WEIRDEST thing to me! XD

[@timavolkov]

A great video! Very informative on so many aspect of urban transportation design in Switzerland :)

[@mischahavoc7851]

Greetings from Switzerland. I love that you came and visited. As someone who commutes daily by bike and uses it for every day necessities , I sadly have to agree with you. Inner cities are well developed, but once you leave the center it get dangerous real fast. We have recently started to invest, in long biking paths along main roads, to the outskirts of cities and smaller town. We do however have a long way to go... I also feel much less save that I used to, car drivers seem to have gotten more aggressiv in the past few years. To be fair, id probably be annoyed as well being stuck in traffic at least twice a day :) Edit: Also the amount of swiss people in the comments gives me hope.

[@gokudomatic]

I can testify that car drivers in Switzerland can be quite aggressive. If you're sensitive to that, don't go anywhere near Geneva. Especially not with a car. It's crazy there. I used to drive there when I was young, and even as a young man, I found that place to give the same feeling as a bag of furious feral cats. Road rage is like the normal state of mind there.

[@alainterieur4837]

​@@gokudomatic Same thing in Lausanne! I almost got killed a few things, and witnessed way too many near-misses. And the bike infrastructure is much worse than in Geneva. There is very little of it and when there is it's just a bicycle gutter than is sandwiched between two car lanes. The city very recently built one just like that (that even goes uphill!) and patted themselves on the back from this new bike "infrastructure"

[@gluschtigschindli6089]

As you mentioned in the end one of the biggest differences in Switzerland is the culture. My town here has basically no bike infrastructure but I still feel relatively safe driving my bike, because most car drivers are actually decent human beings

[@leandrog2785]

Do most drivers also ride bikes?

[@ODMXypher]

@@leandrog2785 Most of them do

[@michaelrch]

It's mostly the same outside of cities as well. When you ride in the countryside, the drivers are nearly always considerate. Coming from the U.K. it was a huge change. What with that, the amazing vistas and the well maintained roads, it's basically paradise for recreational cycling :)

[@the_bottomfragger]

That's the thing. I would feel comfortable riding a bike in most places he called unsafe. Separate tracks are nice to have but they're not that needed here.

[@andrew1lee]

This is so true. My route to work makes me cross a few roads. Will always get let out. Also it's just more pleasant cycling in Switzerland than in UK

[@albinscott]

Man, I love your channel! Thank you so much!

[@janSinkaje]

I'm glad you enjoyed Basel. It's overlooked a lot especially as a tourist/travel destination. You don't have an epic panoramic view of the alps there like in other Swiss cities but it's full of culture and it's close to the Jura mountain range. And as a side note: The population might seem small but it's still the third biggest city in Switzerland population wise after Zürich and Geneva. The area of the city is really small and unable to expand since it's surrounded by Germany, France, and the canton Baselland. But if you count the suburbs which expand across canton and even country borders, there are a lot of people. Most of the people living in the suburbs are using public transport but I also know quite a few using bikes or e-bikes.

[@amcaesar]

This is a great introductory handshake with Switzerland for those of us who've never been there. How was the ride out from Amsterdam Centraal?

[@NotJustBikes]

It was pretty good! There's a direct night train from Amsterdam to Zürich. The rolling stock is a bit old, but it's still a nice way to get there.

[@derstijn]

There is also a daily ICE high-speed train connecting Amsterdam and Basel directly in less than 7 hours 👍 (Which, by the way, is an hour faster than if you were to drive non-stop without refueling and breaks)

[@amcaesar]

@@derstijn You're speaking my language, Stijn.

[@TheSpecialJ11]

@@NotJustBikes I love night trains. Nothing like going to sleep in your "hotel" and waking up in another city.

[@robinpayne125]

@@NotJustBikes ÖBB have new sleeping and couchette cars on order, they should arrive on this route in the next year or so.

[@gkuoni]

Thank you so much for visiting Switzerland! Wanted to add on that a few months ago (November 2021), there was an approved vote on improving pedestrian and cycling infrastructure while reducing car traffic in Zurich. I personally travel everywhere by public transport, but have considered getting back into cycling partly due to your channel, so I'm glad things have gone full circle!

[@Niven42]

I'm sure that flatness helps make cycling popular in some places, but, as you've shown us in your videos, it goes hand-in-hand with infrastructure.

[@ConorHayes42]

Last month, I spent a week in the town of Rossatz in Austria and it was a delight being able to cycle everywhere, something that I hadn't been able to do in nearly a decade. It almost made me not want to come home to Toronto and all its bike-hostile infrastructure.

[@KingUnKaged]

Weird topic idea: a video about how emergency service vehicles like ambulances and firetrucks, and the routes, they take, and how they differ between car dependent and non-car dependent areas.

[@tardvandecluntproductions1278]

From some Dutch police youtube channels. They hop on bike lanes like its a road for them. Little curb here and sharp turn there and they get around quite easily. Would feel very unnatural for a car driver but they train with such possible routes in mind.

[@blakksheep736]

I support this video idea.

[@Brot-o-Typ]

18:26 Note that the only train delayed, is the one coming from Germany...

[@MHX11]

lol yeah, I also see this in my city all the time that those are the only delays

[@liamprentice3574]

Ah I miss our trolley busses in Wellington, NZ. They added so much charm and a unique sound to our city before being replaced by hybrid busses a few years ago. New Zealand has a lot to learn from Europe and its cycling and public transport infrastructure! Thanks for your videos, I always admire your calm but witty delivery.