Business Parks Suck (but they don't have to)

[@NotJustBikes]

I can't keep up with the comments on this video; there are way more than usual. Clearly this video struck a chord with a lot of people, and it should! This wasn't an "act": my visit to this business park made me _genuinely_ angry. When I came back from my meeting I wrote up this script and asked my editors to drop all other projects to get this out. I even hired a professional videographer to immediately go to Mississauga to film for me. The whole experience really seemed like a culmination of everything I've ever learned and experienced about cities. I can't believe how much of my life was spent in these shitty "non-places", stuck in traffic, or standing next to high-speed cars. It's bullshit. I am so sick of car-dependency-apologist who predictably trot out the same tired old disproven excuses and myths to resist building better urban places. If you've watched this whole video all the way through and you still don't "get it", then just stop watching. Because if this didn't convince you, then no video I ever make will ever convince you. Go watch something else. In conclusion, the way we build in North America is garbage, and we deserve better.

[@blakksheep736]

First. I completely agree.

[@blakksheep736]

The non-place point reminds me of a book I'm yet to read called The Geography Of Nowhere. Are you familiar with it?

[@Mayankgupta0809]

I think the channel should also start talking about how citizens can organize to make these things happen in their own countries!

[@NotJustBikes]

@@Mayankgupta0809 Maybe. But remember that I got so frustrated with advocacy that I gave up and left the continent. I didn't believe that North America would change in my lifetime. I still don't. So maybe I'm not the right person to lead that charge. But I'm happy to link to others promoting these ideas, like StrongTowns.org.

[@JanGosmann1]

As a German who lived several years in Waterloo, ON (without a car) I can totally relate!

[@toetertijd]

This is why (North-)American students love their College Campusses so much. It's the only walkable place on the continent.

[@potatopotatow]

My “favorite” feature of US business parks (and really any area near a stroad) is the “fake-out” sidewalk. Where you’re walking along what appears to be a sidewalk that will take you to your destination, except that the sidewalk abruptly ends and there’s literally no way forward unless you walk in the street, or climb a 6 ft fence and walk in a ditch.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yep. The sidewalk to nowhere. Thanks, Mississauga!

[@crazoatmeal1854]

One of the things I hated about my own transit commute to a business park job. There's a bus stop directly out front... across a parking lot... but coming in in the morning, it's also across a 5-lane stroad without even an unprotected crossing. The closest is at a signal 1/3 mile (over 1/2 km) away, and one that certainly doesn't prioritize pedestrians. And the walk to that signal features a "sidewalk to nowhere", which left me to walk in the painted bicycle gutter (which nobody uses, they go through the neighborhood on the side where I got off the bus) or empty lot, both of which pool when it rains...

[@traviskraemer]

I lived in Austin for awhile and the sidewalk coverage was horrible. I walked to a clinic that was less than half a mile away from my apartment and there was no sidewalk for one section and a business had signs telling people not to walk on the grass. Another time I walked to UPS or Fedex to return a package and there were sidewalks for the whole route except someone decided to change the side of the road it was on and not have a crosswalk. This was near an outdoor mall that was fairly decent for walking, but once you get a little bit outside of the core area there was no effort. I also had to report a crosswalk sign that told pedestrians to walk across a road right into 45 mph traffic that had a green light.

[@marjae2767]

Or "sidewalk closed, use other side," with an arrow pointing across the highway.

[@enjoyslearningandtravel7957]

@@traviskraemer well that’s really bad !!!! a business with a sign to not walk on the grass when they don’t even have a sidewalk. If it’s dangerous and they have no sidewalk I would walk on the grass where this sidewalk is supposed to be that part is not owned by the business it’s owned by the city a certain amount in from the street.

[@henryginn7490]

The, "I'm not insane, everyone else is, I know I am right about this" feeling really came through in this, and I love it

[@NotJustBikes]

Yeah, this trip made me literally angry (as you can tell). I just though of all the bullshit excuses I _constantly_ hear from North Americans. I'm done with it. They're wrong.

[@blakksheep736]

@@NotJustBikes 👏👏👏👏

[@derpedarp9041]

@@NotJustBikes yeah, it feels like you really went off in this one. And to that, I say, "go off, King." I am also sick of carbrain apologists, and I'm still stuck in North America.

[@TAPORZZ14]

@@NotJustBikes I share your anger. I'm usually a very, VERY calm person and unfazed by most things, but watching your videos on North American city design makes me physically hot and furious, knowing that we have good infrastructure even in the 'worst' parts of Europe. The fact that people have to suffer this much in a developed country makes me indescribably angry. Not sure how they should go about fixing this, as it'll probably take decades from the point of making a decision to do something. I think it's the incompetence of previous generations that's most infuriating to me as a relatively young person.

[@chrisw443]

Oh no. My therapist and I are gonna have a looong session now. LMAO

[@markbaker465]

"If you love the Netherlands so much, move there!" "I did, and it's mostly great! We should make life better for people elsewhere by following the example of the best parts of it." "No, not like that."

[@morganangel340]

Real Alpha Giga Chads drive cars... Broke boys beta losers use bikes and take the bus.

[@Google_remote]

can we just, copy and paste the Netherlands infrastructure everywhere?

[@hungryporpoise5940]

@@Google_remote nope! zoning laws. garbage racist zoning laws...

[@gokudomatic]

@@Google_remote Good luck applying an infrastructure designed for flat lands in hilly or mountainous areas. I just came back from a vacation in the Italian part of Switzerland, and there are localities there that are more vertical than horizontal. You could barely have a two lanes road (one for each direction) and one house on the side. Go one step further and you would fall 5 meters down. The right tool for the right job, that's the key.

[@Google_remote]

@@gokudomatic :(

[@tempest_dawn]

it's funny how walkable college campuses can be because they're designed for students without cars - best environment i ever worked in was when i was on campus at a university

[@rickyc1410]

Yep, as a college student, my campus is the most walkable place I’ve ever resided

[@SelmervanAlten]

That'd be a cool video in itself, most universities in the Netherlands won't even let students park on site

[@pixelblaze8284]

@@rickyc1410 yea, im in college rn and dreading the idea of graduating and having to go back to the normal US world. Like public transit is already shot here so a lot of stuff requires a car but most necessary things are walkable. But like I dont have a car, so I have no idea what I'll do when I graduate

[@NakAlienEd]

I live in a small (10,000 pop) college town, and I almost never use my car. Walk to work, restaurants, bars, etc. Only place I drive is to the town over to do grocery shopping at the walmart. Whenever I visit my parents in "the big city" i get frustrated filling up my car with gas twice a week, when over here, I fill up maybe once a month. It's kind of funny. Ever since I started reading up on urban design, I can tell the difference between the older parts of town, and the newer sides of town that were designed (or redesigned) to be car-centric.

[@adamqawasmeh4462]

So true! UBC in Vancouver, and York University in Toronto are both huge campuses that are great examples.

[@stuartcampbell4626]

That traffic light is smarter than the entire US Department of Transportation.

[@sacroyalty]

Lmao 😂

[@fredvrijhof3870]

EAT THAT mister Biden! @Potus Come and visit us in the Netherlands to learn about infrastructure and how you can improve it

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@fredvrijhof3870 I'm not entirely sure what a president is going to do about it, considering infrastructure is under state control for the most part, but you do you.

[@Sparkle_Wizard]

I would love to know the cost and instillation demands for systems like this per country

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@Sparkle_Wizard It's basically a matter of policy. You change the system when an intersection is repaved, as long as the policy is changed for intersections to have the required loops. The control systems themselves are just a matter of programming. This ultimately means the added cost per intersection is minimal.

[@SnorreSelmer]

I think you missed one big difference between the US and NL business-parks... The _noise level_ difference... Because of the massively reduced volume of traffic, the NL business-park is actually a nice place to work, and even go outside with colleagues during lunch etc. You're able to have a conversation without having to yell over the traffic that is right next to your building. Workplace noise is a big stress-factor and detrimental to employee health (mental and physical).

[@DoomsdayR3sistance]

When I was in the US/San Diego, the building I was in was so far in the car park you couldn't hear the road traffic since it was so far away, but you could hear the military jets that were flown around that area....

[@-daniel7233]

As a european, the dutch traffic light system blew my mind. The fact that the lights are not on a strict timer, but they change as the current traffic demands, seems insane to me, even though it should be the most obvious and rational solution.

[@ShawFujikawa]

I've seen traffic lights in (outer) London that do this, albeit not ones that can speed cycle back to green if only one exit has cars, so it's not unique to the Netherlands. It actually causes problems for me sometimes because drivers who don't know how they work will sometimes sit too far back where the sensors can't detect them, so we end up with the red light staying for like 5 minutes while all the other exits change normally lol.

[@swright4171]

In the UK, we have pufffin crossings, which are like this (they are like pelican crossings, but with sensors) but they are exceedingly rare

[@rogerwilco2]

It's 2022. This hasn't been hard to do for over 2 decades.

[@-daniel7233]

@@rogerwilco2 Yet, it's still not a thing in many, many places. In my country for example, the peeps in charge prefer building a bunch of foottball stadiums, even tho our footy is mid at best lol

[@Xtrems]

Where i live pedestrians just get a button on each side of the crosswalk to signify they want to cross the road, and upon pushing it you either have to wait for the pedestrian turn you just activated, or you immediately get green light, depending on who is prioritized on what crossroaf

[@evan]

I’m blown away with the way those traffic lights work

[@NotJustBikes]

I know, right? I stood there with my mouth open in shock and filmed it like a tourist. A traffic light. Like. WTF?

[@unclerubo]

I've yet to see those in Spain, where I live. Almost makes me want to visit the Netherlands just to be amazed by what is just so mundane to them :D

[@wwijsman]

Yeah, I moved from the Netherlands to Germany and I will probably never stop hating German traffic lights. They are so dumb.

[@wvwkssyy1oc7]

Great thing is that they are relatively simple to make. Just need some pressure/magnetic sensors in the road and cycle lanes and someone who programs some basic logic.

[@pakabe8774]

@@wwijsman Oh boy, I have never been in the Netherlands, but I hate our German traffic lights as well. Minutes of red light for pedestrians without any car passing by from any direction. Sure, many ignore the red lights, but sometimes at this crossing people die because of that, so it is clever to wait, even it doesn't look dangerous. But be sure, after minutes of red lights, as soon as any car is coming around, the lights for cars will turn red. And very often they turn green again, before they again turn red and to give green lights to pedestrians.

[@realityDUBSTEP]

As an American I feel like people literally just dont care. The people who are supposed to plan out this infrastructure don't care, the people who drive everywhere don't care. It's honestly depressing because I have also seen what cities can look like in places where people actually care. Instead of giving people transit options that are more comfortable, quicker, reliable, cost effective, environmentally friendly than driving a car we will instead continue to kill ourselves and pollute our surroundings with exhaust, noise etc. You've said it before in previous videos but it truly is anti-human design.

[@kirkshanghai]

I feel you-- it's going to be a difficult challenge to get Americans to actually care about changing their neighborhoods when we are largely building disposable, forgettable "non-places" with absolutely no cultural relevance or aesthetic value.

[@Norsilca]

It's amazing how most people in the US are absolutely fine with everything being gross, interchangeable, and forgettable - roads, fast food, shopping, offices - basically everything in their lives except their little castle guarded by a white picket fence.

[@dankmemes8619]

@@Norsilca welcome to north american culture. dont forget their fucking disgusting fixation on crime and law. this is americas greatest export, their god awful nation ruining culture.

[@Norsilca]

@muttbunch Interesting, how so? FYI I'm thinking of wealthy suburbanites who could afford a more walkable zip code.

[@benjiowen8433]

its not that we don't care, its that we're being squeezed so hard by the rich that we cant afford to care

[@Synth_Gaming]

At this point, America isnt even built for humans. The cars we drive live more comfortably then we do 😂

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

true

[@numetalmarkchavez24]

when inanimate and lifeless technology has more thought and consideration given to it than actual living human beings then you know somethings wrong

[@nqh4393]

than*

[@SimhaAnimation]

It makes sense that they made Cars movie.

[@no_ivy]

lighting mcqueen would be so thrilled

[@YOHOMEGIRL]

"..it's when the people you're meeting ask how you got there and they don't look down on you for taking public transportation" oof I didn't think that was going to hit me as hard as it did. Thank you for all your work in making these informative videos!

[@NotJustBikes]

Yup! I've been there!

[@erikvangurp509]

I ll give you an example of current Dutch thinking. My boss, the company owner, bought one of the first Tesla Model S cars available in the Netherlands, thats like 6 or 7 years a go. Before that he typically drove a (large) BMW. Nowadays when he leaves the office he makes sure to mention he has to catch the train home. Its like "Look at me! I'm doing my part." The fact is, a car is still sort of a status symbol. But being "practical" (public transport from inner cities is just faster) typically trumps the "status" part. There is no real stigma on using the train, metro, tram or bus.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

@@NotJustBikes Schipol airport four years ago was a nightmare for queues

[@tompiper9276]

@@oscarosullivan4513 You're not still queuing are you?

[@oscarosullivan4513]

@@tompiper9276 No I am not it was back in 2017 when there was building work going on

[@TOSkwar22]

Of all the things in this, I think the thing that makes me angriest at American infrastructure is that goddamn stoplight. That. Fucking. Light. I have never, in my ENTIRE life as an American citizen, seen a traffic light that was a HUNDREDTH as responsive and well-suited to the flow of traffic as that. This entire country is built on cars, and our traffic light systems are GARBAGE compared to that. It's completely and totally normal for me to wait two or more minutes at a traffic light- one of the twenty I'll be encountering on any given trip- while there are literally no other cars around. None. Not even one. I will sit there at a red light, waiting, for two fucking minutes... For nothing. And our infrastructure is supposedly car-centric. No, at that point it's just garbage. It's not even car-centric. This fucking random traffic light at an office park in the Netherlands is better than literally any traffic light I've ever seen in DECADES, including multiple moves, plenty of travel, and more. We dedicate everything we've got to cars and we even get that so goddamn wrong that they're hellish to use and a complete clusterfuck!

[@hotswap6894]

True

[@snivader]

I completely agree, i didn’t realise just how bad the stoplights even in the UK look in comparison to these ones - in the UK usually you don’t have to wait too too long but, responsive traffic lights are a whole nother level of modern to me.

[@olevandongen96]

I used to work in Hoofddorp, and I know that traffic light. That is a good traffic light even by Dutch standards.

[@MarijnvdSterre]

I am sorry you don't have that, but getting angry at the stoplight for just having it's shit together really cracked me up. (reminded me to a certain scene in the movie Nobody ^^ )

[@daanwilmer]

Please tell me you at least have green waves in North America.

[@MakerTim]

7:17 I programmed that specific intersection lights :D Have to say your explanation is on point, except this intersection is a bit stupid; it doesn't use bus detection but just prioritize the "roundabout" users. But since almost no one uses that road by car I will accept your explanation fun fact, when in rush hour, the car lights have a countdown light system that signals how long they have to wait Also walking and biking have a countdown visualizer when you pressed the button

[@MarijnvdSterre]

Ha, must be nice to see it featured here :D Well, done I should say

[@tomwilson2804]

Please come and do the same for us in Canada and the U.S.! Let us know if you need a ride from the airport! The lights here a programmed so that only people who speed well above the speed limit aren't stuck in red lights like in Grand Theft Auto.

[@NotJustBikes]

Ah, amazing! And yeah, I did wonder that, but that direction seemed to almost only have buses. I need to make an updated video about traffic lights. There's so much I've learned since making that first one.

[@MB-co6qj]

@@NotJustBikes @MakerTim Get a coop going 😄

[@dwizzyvid]

Cool! I was about to comment on the Traffic signal preemption. My bus driver once told me the KAR system in NL can prioritise busses based on their delay on schedule. I.e. when the bus is running late it will get higher priority at a crossing. Is this correct? The traffic signals in this case were near a bus station.

[@chairmanlmao4482]

Does anyone else have to look away whenever NJB showcases train stations in the Netherlands in his videos? I can't even watch the footage of Dutch train stations without feeling bummed out and extremely jealous. My city discontinued its train services in 1978 because "the highway is quicker and cheaper than taking the train"

[@alberthusby113]

which city do you live in?

[@sirBrouwer]

Even me being Dutch the extreme high frequency is only with in the Randstad metropolitan area. I live more with in the country side and we are even lucky of having 1 station.

[@coolnewpants]

It's the beautiful underground bicycle garages that get me

[@USosalla]

No the public transit is really good where I live lol

[@dengamleidiot]

Shiiiiit

[@dxWizardx]

I've lived in the Netherlands my entire life and never realized this *isn't* normal. Genuinely feel bad for everyone having to go through miserable transport in places like that suburban Canadian city. I'm glad to see a different perspective on my country and I'm so lucky to have been born here!

[@crb1476]

I live in the suburban Canadian city he talks about in this video, only a few minutes away from that ugly business park. You guys have no idea how lucky you are, and there’s a reason why l love going to school in Toronto instead (which has a subway line and much better transit in general)

[@jman9919]

The NETHERLANDS is honestly Incredible when i went to go Visit Fam In Haarlem i was SHOOKETH it's so safe and Clean and Just So FUN even if the Weather's horrible IT'S STILL a SignificAnt STEP UP from South Africa. Eh i Guess it's just a DIFFERENT perspective. Stay BLESSED FAM .

[@TheGroovyGuitarDude]

I love that you talk about the idea of being looked in North America at as a second-class citizen if you don’t have a car; it’s so true. My wife and I currently live in a *fairly* bike-able city in Texas, and recently decided to sell our car and try using just our bikes to get around for a while. We both work from home, so about 95% of our need for transportation is just to-from the grocery store 2 miles away down a very bike-friendly sidewalk. We’ve only been doing this for about 2 months now, but we love it so far (and rent a car or Uber when needed); but there is definitely a stigma that comes with not owning a car here.

[@KarolaTea]

Same in (some places) in Europe. There's unfortunately also some people here who think that if you don't own a car, let alone a drivers license there must be something deeply wrong with you. Which makes no sense, seeing that you genuinely don't need a car in a lot of places here. (Definitely difficult in slightly more remote places tbf, but not impossible)

[@NotJustBikes]

That's great that you've been able to do this in your area of Texas! As I've said before, if you don't drive to work, you don't need to own a car. Are there carsharing programs available in your area? These really make it easy to go car-free in the city. I really wish more people had these options!

[@brad__s]

ah, an Esteemed Member of the SCC group

[@darrennew8211]

My wife and I only needed one car, so we sold one before we moved across country. Neighbors and siblings kept sending us ads for really cheap cars, like the reason we only had one car is that we couldn't afford two.

[@stevengoomba6490]

I’m wondering where in Texas this is. I commute to work by bike and it’s a short commute, yet there is zero infrastructure where I live.

[@WetDrainHair]

the fact that i'm seeing dutch commenters saying how they consider this area to be "boring, dull, and avoidable" and yet i'm in awe at the beauty of this. the brick, the color, the architecture, it all looks so well together.

[@kinmersha]

Yeah, I kept thinking about how colorful it was. So many places in the US are just, like, bleached. Concrete and dirty beige paint and grey pebble rooves, worn white buses, old sun-stained asphalt, etc. In this video there was so much color everywhere, from the bricks to the brightly-painted, new-looking transit vehicles to the blue-green-tinted glass to the exciting building designs and mixed-material walkways and bridges. It's really just incredible compared to anywhere I've lived.

[@Amaankf]

that one of the most intresting place I have seen , how can it be boring

[@dancinginunderwater]

Wait till you see the cities

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

Europeans always complained, like a lot, which is probably why they keep getting better and improving. They particularly hate single use zones, which is why they consider it to be boring. It would be nicer if the "business parks" do have real parks that non-business visitors could hang around. And it would even be better if they have shops, bazaars, markets, restaurants, fancy coffee shops that not only the busy workers can enjoy or stop by without wasting much hours, but also attract other visitors to the area to make it livelier, helping the businesses to pay the land usage premium and taxes, so nobody needs a "tax break" to incentivise their presence. In many better examples in Europe or Asia, these business parks will often feature fancy restaurants or bars / drinking place where workers could hang out after hours or conduct business meetings outside their boring office rooms. On the weekend, they can serve would be diners looking for out-of-ordinary cuisine that the affluent "well-travelled" white collars enjoyed during the weekdays.

[@gerbrandlub]

Quite a lot of us are used to working in the centre of a city, or basically not-business parks which is way more lively of course. But I'm not going to disparage the architecture and design on that. I'm going to disparage it because there are certain bits of cycle-lanes that could've been asphalt (or: ZOAB. It's less maintenance and rides smoother than tile or brick). There are clearly parts in brick in this video because of easthetic reasons, but at the smart intersection there were clearly bits that could've been asphalt.

[@faberzeyo]

I like how I always see Americans in the comments being amazed by the Dutch infrastructure but it also works the other way around. Every time I watch your videos I, as a European am amazed (and shocked) by how infrastructure works in the US. I can't imagine having to go everywhere by car, let alone have public transport like that.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Or always needing to be afraid the infrastructure you drive on isn't about to collapse on you. The amount of bridge collapses in the usa is freightning.

[@ca-ke9493]

Same, i live in a very densely populated Asian city which arguably has car problems as well, but the thought of not having public transport or public transport being for druggies is so foreign to me.

[@MrLLXF]

Difference is that one is objectively exceptional while the other is objectively abysmal

[@eternalsmiley9181]

i do hope you never have to experience it. Stay where you need not fear the public infrastructure!

[@andynonymous6769]

When he says that public transport isn't safe in canada he's not lying. Sometimes I get videos from school friends of police coming on the bus and arresting someone. During my highschool commutes (30 mins ish) there was often someone on the bus just ranting to the air for the whole time that everybody just kind of avoided. Also people who were clearly high. Sometimes guys would sit beside me when there were empty rows, weirdly close so they were touching me but I couldn't move seats

[@LARKXHIN]

"that's none of your damn business" Did not expect the hostility right out of the gate lol 😂

[@BearsThatCare]

I was so shook 😭😂 it was so quick and out of nowhere and such a calm voice

[@Serf_King]

As an internet weirdo, it's a wise decision.

[@FrietjeOorlog]

It must be the Dutch culture seeping in. I wouldn't consider it particularly hostile. Merely factual and to the point. It IS none of my damn business. I thought it was more funny than anything else :D

[@Brindlebrother]

heeeyy IM an internet weirdo. He's speaking to me! ! !

[@pjotrh]

Just Dutch directness. NJB is a walking/bicycling ad for that as well ;)

[@concernedspectator]

This channel is like a deconditioning program and I sincerely appreciate it.

[@dcpunk4]

This is a great way to put what this channel does to a north american's perspective

[@jandroniol]

This has made me remember the most embarrassing day in my life. Imagine, a spoiled European with public transport, asking at the head office in Indiana how he could get to the factory by public transport. Everyone looked at me like I was dressed as a purple teletubbie, and then everyone started laughing at me. The boss held my shoulder and told me - Don't worry, I'll take you by car -

[@sarahhenning5484]

They should have been the ones embarrassed

[@Brozius2512]

@@sarahhenning5484 They have no idea how terrible their infrastructure and public transport is.

[@Kirbychu1]

Indiana is hell even if hoosiers are very kind. When I lived there I would have drivers pull up and ask me if I was okay and needed a ride because they were so confused why I was walking as an adult.

[@DeathProductions200]

@@Brozius2512 in the defense of American citizens, we typically aren't educated on how the rest of the world runs things. Thats why you hear the outcry of the younger generation wanting things to be easier for everyone. It isnt that we are entitled. We just see that our European folk have a MUCH better system that we could easily get settled here. It isnt outlandish. And that isnt even a good defense mind you, cause we should always strive for more efficiency, but because the USA and Canada are so fixated on cars, to the point that gas prices being 4 bucks a gallon is crippling, where it can be the same for a place like the Netherlands, and nobody really cares as much. I do wish the country i live in improves itself. But I know it'll be towards the end of my lifetime before we see dramatic improvement

[@michigandersea3485]

@@DeathProductions200 When millennials are leading our governments, we will start to get these fixes.

[@ArkayeCh]

"The public transport here is terrible." "How spoiled. You stupid spoiled baby. Just take some crippling debt and buy a metal carriage like the rest of us."

[@ArkayeCh]

@@MicrogramHeathen You're right. I'm still in debt paying for my own metal carriage lol

[@GordonSlamsay]

I bought my metal box outright but then insurance and gas swept in for the kill 🙃 anyway I'm moving to an urban area soon and will be saying farewell to my metal box

[@ArkayeCh]

@@GordonSlamsay Good luck! Who knew these meta boxes would need so much plastic and dead dinosaurs to work huh?

[@DaGleese]

I moved to Germany a few years ago, and consequently had to sell my metal box, which was a hard pill to swallow, because I had great pride for it at the time. I promised myself the first point of order would be to buy a new metal box in Germany. Well I still haven't bought one yet... There just isn't any need. I moved for a significant pay increase in Germany as well, so it has nothing to do with being too poor. The transport is just really good here, and the weather in the summer is nice enough to use a bike.

[@eternalsmiley9181]

@@ArkayeCh Do tell, which dead dinosaurs do you use to make your metal box go scratch scratch on the pavement?

[@mmeranca9304]

You're trully influencer. Keep creating more content. NJB is a movement, not just a YT channel anymore

[@NotJustBikes]

That makes me nervous but yeah, you're right. 😬

[@grtbgf]

"Influencer" means shit, this guy is a Teacher.

[@henryginn7490]

I do love seeing NJB fans seeping into every corner of the internet and rising up whenever anything about urbanism is mentioned

[@giannecarlob3937]

You could make a religion out of this

[@mmeranca9304]

@@grtbgf That is true

[@englishwithkristin8962]

"car-dependency-apologist" I'm stuck in North America and everyone is like this. I feel like a crazy person, because nobody in NA even knows that car-dependency is a problem. And the amount of times I hear people joking about hitting cyclists with their cars.... it's insane. I hate it.

[@zoomosis]

As an Aussie it's perplexing how the US is known for championing "freedom" despite effectively making it mandatory for everyone to have a car. (Australia is far from perfect when it comes to car dependency but our cities do generally have far better public transport than anywhere in the US.)

[@rorychivers8769]

@@zoomosis Pommy here, Melbourne was really nice on a bike or walking, Sydney was ok, Brisbane was surprisingly cosy, but the further out of the big cities you get, the harder it is to deal with the sprawl, the vast distances just to the nearest Coles. I'd be trying to get my daily groceries and I'd end up like a sweaty lobster. Coming from the UK, Aussies regularly drive twice a day distances that I'd pack a change of clothes and picnic basket for. When I got back home, the first thing I did was get a motorbike licence, just in case I ever go back there!

[@thexalon]

"And the amount of times I hear people joking about hitting cyclists with their cars.... it's insane." What's more insane: I know of at least one case where somebody in a car *actually* rammed a cyclist, very much on purpose, and the police did absolutely nothing about it even though the cyclist was able to rattle off the car's license plate. The second-class treatment of people not in a car in America isn't just inconvenience, but designs and systems that literally condemn them to injury or death if it inconveniences car users.

[@kirkshanghai]

@@thexalon I can vouch for your friend's story. A cyclist can be following all traffic laws acutely and thereby cause an extremely minor inconvenience for a car and STILL the default public opinion will be that the cyclist was in the wrong. Genuinely wild how people I consider good people will see a cyclist and literally dehumanize them into an annoying little insect that should be squashed.

[@EggTamago7]

What really rubbed it in for me more recently was realizing how unhealthy it is working in a place where you basically have no choice but to drive to work. Working prior jobs in the inner city or going to school was always a combination of walking and transit, and I didn't really need to go out of my way to exercise or eat healthy to maintain a reasonable weight. I start a job that I need to drive to without changing anything else about my lifestyle, and I put on 20 pounds within half a year. The obesity epidemic in North America gets plenty of discussion, and I'm convinced half the problem is shit urban planning. Plenty of European countries with much lower obesity rates have utterly unhealthy national cuisines - they just manage to burn those calories off by going about their normal day, whereas we need to drive to a gym or fill our basement with exercise equipment to achieve the same thing.

[@KelsomaticPDX]

As an American, the more I see the more I feel like we live in one big joke. It almost feels like we designed an environment specifically to create misery. We spend so much time wondering why we have horrible issues with mental health, drug abuse, and violence when every space that the average worker encounters is borderline dystopian, loud, ugly, and inherently classist… edit: Just realized this had multiple typos due to an edit I made midway through 💀 Fixed

[@Avatar2312]

It is designed cheap (which also means huge maintainance costs). The misery is a complimentary upgrade you are not allowed to refuse.

[@jeroenrat6289]

I think it's called 'corporate blindness'. Not knowing it can be done differently and better until you see or experience it can be done differently and better. Travelling overseas or just by watching these type of KZbin videos can educate people, any maybe inspire enough people to make a change. If we'd only adopt the good things from each other, we could make it an utopia.

[@Free-g8r]

There is large proportion of the US population who will fight tooth and nail against changes to the existing urban fabric. Or at least they could easily be manipulated into fighting against it. Just watch Prager U's video saying that there's a war on cars happening and therefore a war on personal freedom.

[@guy-sl3kr]

That's the thing though, it's the _average worker_ who faces these problems. The owning class does not care at all about this. In fact, it benefits them because workers who are divided, depressed, and addicted cannot organize themselves.

[@SwiftySanders]

Well said! Amen Amen!!!

[@J1Jordy]

"The weather sucks here but everything else is pretty great" - The Netherlands in one sentence 😂

[@Thitadhammo]

And the weather doesn't suck that much on most days, as you very well know

[@Thitadhammo]

@p p Next to a stroad? :-)

[@utterbullspit]

Well I like rainy and cloudy days, so he can speak for himself lol!

[@mav1969a]

Ha…! When I decided to move from Memphis to Netherlands three years ago, one promise I made to myself was to never complain about the weather. And to be honest, it’s not really so bad during the bad times, and pretty awesome during the good times. The short days during the winter months are what I really don’t like.

[@Attaxalotl]

My home state has been in drought for about 1200 years. I will happily trade some of that rain for some of our sun.

[@revenevan11]

The fact that they put up a fence in one of the *exact* places you used to walk is absolutely infuriating lmao

[@IceSpoon]

Why? All people enter through the parking lot with their cars, at least the people we want to welcome in. Those other people are out there in the street, so we just put the fence because we had some complaints about those others entering here. Oh, sorry. I accidentally put my american glasses on. Yeah, what the fuck man. It's maddening. We would have made a crappy fence with an opening following the dirt path people carved over the grass and call it a day. Never a full fence.

[@ArthursStudio]

lmao maybe because its their property and they have the right to put a fence there?

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

@@ArthursStudio lmao, maybe corporations shouldn't be treated as people, rather their employees should be. If American urban planning had anyone sane in it that area around the business would be some form of public land if it's not being used by the business. Yet it's mowed and a fence is there, for what purpose?

[@ArthursStudio]

@@voidofspaceandtime4684 Well if you we’re a business owner and would be interested in putting a fence up on you’re property and you wouldn’t be allowed to how fair does that sound? It’s America you have the freedom to do things 🤦‍♂️

[@11235Aodh]

@@ArthursStudio It's so very unwelcoming to all their employees that don't have a car though, and that's the whole freekin point ain't it. It's not about them having the right to do something.

[@wolfgang7709]

"it's not just the little things, it's everything all together" Even the pops of red from the brick and paint make the area look more lively and pleasant, as opposed to gray everything. When he showed the first clip of the business park from the Netherlands, my jaw dropped because of how pretty and vibrant the red brick was next to the green grass. Let me repeat that, I was awestruck because of red brick and grass.

[@NotJustBikes]

I know, right? And the weather was _terrible_ that day, too! I can't even imagine how good it looks in the summer.

[@cloudyskies5497]

@Koowluh Sounds like there's room to improve, which hopefully can be done. Those are good ideas.

[@jayhill2193]

@@NotJustBikes It was a pleasant, shiny day for friesian ;) I'm half kidding, not being a friesian myself, but I like rainy weather so I felt even more compelled by your presentation of that genuinely pretty business park. I live in Germany and we can certainly learn a lot from the Dutch.

[@_JoyceArt]

I’m always surprised when I see videos from America and Canada that don’t have trees or even shrubbery. Because I’m so used to see flowers/shrubs/hedges/trees every day, everywhere. It’s pretty and particularly now with the nice weather, it lifts my mood. I work in finance, but in a production plant, surrounded by other manufacturing companies. And the days I’m expected to be in the office, I have a view of well maintained lawns, flowerbeds and trees, and that’s just our own grounds, it’s the same the entire industrial park.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@_JoyceArt i just discovered vice grip garage channel on youtube today, a guy that buys old beat up cars fixes them up on the spot and then drives them home from all over the usa. Anyway, he always puts in a timelapse of his several houndred mile trip home, and even though he often uses the avoid highway function so he drives trough a lot of towns and stuff it always get's me extremely depressed watching it. Everything is brown and/or grey and empty and rusted and old (not the good kind of old)and broken. Hardly any trees, parking lots EVERYWHERE as far as you can see.. And all you see moving is other cars. No people walking, no people biking, just no people at all anywhere other then the ones sitting in cars. It could be some movie featuring a dystopian future or something. Really depressing.

[@liam3284]

For whatever reason, Australian councils think "industrial zoned" areas need only a sidewalk on one side of the road, too bad if the entrance to the business park is on the opposite side, and that road has a posted speed of 70 or 80kph.

[@666Tomato666]

Canada is the USA's hat, but it sure feels like Australia is the USA's pants

[@entropizzazz2733]

If you're lucky. I was in an industrial-style place that was a couple of blocks from IKEA and Monash and the road had ZERO sidewalks with huge trucks roaring down the street.

[@bruh666]

I was traveling in Australia a few years ago, and stayed with people in a suburb that had a skatepark + playground on one side of a massive, 80kph 6-lane road. The road had no crossings anywhere, and the nearest traffic light (a massive junction connecting to an 8-lane road) was more than a 5 minute walk away. I witnessed children crossing this road.

[@dylanc9174]

@@666Tomato666 I hate how everyone thinks we are just little America. I would turn Canada into an island like Australia, or like that town in ATLA if it meant we could get as far as possible from America. Then we could join Europe or Asia where people sometimes know what they are doing.

[@666Tomato666]

@@dylanc9174 well, obviously you're not like America, you have far smaller prison population and much lower infant mortality rate you're still much closer to USA in city planning than, say, France for example

[@TransitAndTeslas]

Pisses me off that people will say this design is “war on cars”…..sorry a sidewalk would even be a “war on cars”

[@kjj26k]

Maybe cars should be war'd on...

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

To be fair, there is kind of a war on cars in the netherlands. And there has been a lot of resistance against it over the years, but that has been dying down more and more as more and more people see the bennefits getting rid of cars bring to life and society. Public opinion is now finally shifting much more as boomers who grew up in the 60s when cars where seen as the symbol we had arived economicly are dying off. The attachment to cars is mostly emotional and therefor irrational. And no i am not some anti car hippy, i love cars and have several exclusive ones, drive rallys yearly and do competitive endurance racing. I love cars, have all my life. But they just don't make sense in an urban setting and the space they take up while littering the streets 85% of the time is just idiotic. I do use my cars for fun and travel. But i barely use them day to day becuase driving in a city standing for stoplights and whatever is just not enjoyable and frankly a waste of time.

[@gino14]

PragerU called it a war on cars. If there is one, then you can call me a warrior. Nay, one day I will be a warlord. I want to amass the necessary political and financial capital and destroy our dependence on cars. It is the only way to secure our future.

[@oldcowbb]

"they are attacking our identity" is such an easy and common tactic that Americans use to defend the status quo

[@Xtrems]

A a car owner, I don't mind the war on cars as long as it's done properly. Sometimes it isn't, and you end up paying a lot of money for a parking access because there's no reasonable alternative, but when it's done correctly it's great. I live in a small village with no public transport, and for many years I always 1. Got into my car 2. Drove to the city, to the nearest train station 3. Got to nearly anywhere I wanted to by train. The city that my village borders is designed in entirety AROUND the train, since the train was there first, so it's a really long and narrow city. Everything is within walking distance of a train station. And if you for some reason just really dislike trains, there are busses too. Dunno why, but they are.

[@leahhp9879]

Living in the Netherlands has ruined the US for me. I was born there, grew up there, and moved to the Netherlands as an adult. Everything seemed normal there until I lived here. Recently, I didn't visit the US for three years due to bad timing and the pandemic, but I finally went back to visit family last October. It made me legitimately depressed. I returned to the Netherlands and told my Dutch partner that the trip, though pleasant and great to see the family I missed, cemented my decision to NEVER live there again. It's just awful! One of the things that I didn't even think about that struck a chord with me in this video was the idea that you can't just show up to public transit in America and get on the next bus/train/etc. You have to look at the schedule ahead of time and hope it's there when it says it will be because there are so few running through the day. I never took public transit in the US because I lived in a place where it didn't exist at all (like most American cities, of course), so my only public transit experiences have been in the Netherlands. I don't even bother looking at the metro schedule or train schedule when I take it, I just show up and catch the next one because I wait at most 5 to 10 minutes. The thought never even crossed my mind. It's just wild to think about trying to take the public transit in America when comparing the two. Really, though, I didn't realize how bad it was until I lived here. These videos resonate with me a lot. I'm sorry American fam, I'm not going back.

[@XEinstein]

As a Dutch person I totally understand your non desire to live in the US again. Yet... the amount of wild natural places north America has is mind-boggling for me. For experiencing all that nature I wouldn't mind putting up with living in the US for a while

[@extrastuff9463]

Well you do have to look at the public transportation schedule if you live outside the city or want to go to such a place (to get a decent connection on the urban bus lines and such). But I suspect I don't want to know the answer about whether you can even get to most smaller towns/villages in the US or if you can how frequent the lines are. I sometimes feel like that detail is a bit missing here in this channel, but mostly it makes me appreciate what I've always taken for granted growing up here. In the Randstad area I've never really had any issues with getting to places by public transport except when Utrecht had some of its issues ruining many train schedules.

[@Blackadder75]

@@XEinstein that's why we live here, save up some money and then take a nice long holiday trip in the USA. That way even using the car (road trip!) can be an adventure instead of a nuisance. 20 years ago I saw my first stroad in San Diego and I wasn't depressed, I took pictures of it because it was so crazy!

[@ianfrasch3948]

@@XEinstein As an American I am jealous that you can bike a few miles and be in the middle of a field. There is nature here, but you are so far from it due to low-density suburban sprawl pushing nature farther and farther from the city. And it's rapidly being gobbled up by more suburbs, roads, and parking lots. If you want to be close to nature you need to live a very car dependent lifestyle, because we don't have walkable rural villages with public transit links (not anymore, at least), plus there are few jobs out there. Going for a weekend hike in Colorado from Denver involves sitting in highway traffic for 1-2 hours (summer hiking traffic is bad), arriving at the trailhead all stressed out, doing the hike which is nice, then driving back and arriving home mentally exhausted. For me, all the driving kind of ruins it. Vacation trips where you stay in the mountains are better but you still have to drive there and the place you are staying may be unwalkable. I am jealous of the ability to take public transit through the Alps and be able to get off and start hiking right from town. I just love how close nature and open space is to the city/town/village in Europe.

[@IIVQ]

In NL, almost all rail lines have trains at least once per 30 minutes, from 6:30 till after midnight, 7 days/week (but start a little later in the weekend). Buses are a little less frequent, not all towns have a bus service, and some only from 7-18 on weekdays or even only on school hours. This is contrasted with the red-gray R•NET buses you see in the video, which go at least 4 times per hour but sometimes every 4 minutes, an are fast buses, with as few loops as possible and one stop per village or neighbourhood (often on the main road - people are expected to bike to these buses and there are bike racks on the stops) instead of one stop each block.

[@obiwankenobi661]

i did a cross-country bicycle-tour in 2019 and i rode across the netherlands from the german border to the coast near amsterdam and the bicycle-ways were 99,9% of the time completely flawless. no bumps, no potholes, no cracks and always clearly marked. 10/10. would go there just to ride a bike lol.

[@goldenegg7447]

wait... bicycle ways aren't supposed to have bumps, potholes, and cracks? Theres at least one every 2 feet where I'm from (Montana). Not to mention there are very few bicycle places and most of the time they're just slapped in and don't even connect.

[@obiwankenobi661]

@@goldenegg7447 thats a shame. montana is the only place i would want to travel in the u.s. if i ever go there in my free time.

[@goldenegg7447]

@@obiwankenobi661 nah, hell man. It’s beautiful. Well worth a trip. It’s just that sidewalks and bike paths suck because of the freeze melt freeze melt we get here. The trails for hiking are great and the scenery is beautiful. Be careful though, we have one of the highest death per capita in car wrecks in the entire us.

[@СергейНиколаеску]

Wait... what's a bicycle-way? ))

[@joker6solitaire]

My college campus had bike paths filled with cracked and popping-out slabs of concrete. I rode over one at a bad angle, which caused my bike to fall on me and break my foot. I think the Netherlands sounds like the only place I wouldn't be afraid to ride a bicycle again.

[@Wafelwaffel]

When seeing American and Canadian infrastructure, I always notice how over there the outside is only meant for transportation exclusively. Unless you go to a destination meant for relaxation like a park or nature reserve. While in The Netherlands and other parts of Europe are more focused on using the outside as a living space. People don't just live in their houses, work places, and parks. People also live in between those spaces, the streets and roads connecting them. And living should be comfortable and pleasant, not something depressing and annoying. So when cycling to a destination to relax, like the forest of Amsterdam, I can actually enjoy the journey to there, not just the destination.

[@tyrannosaurusrexican6123]

I can’t even enjoy nature trails or parks half the time because cars can still be heard, especially if it’s someone who decided to rev their engine super loudly.

[@riley_oneill]

Its kind of weird, people will want to live in suburbia or exurbs because they want space. But they will literally never leave their home unless they are in a car. All the space serves zero purpose other than being physically far away from them. The actual space they occupy is tiny, typically a quarter acre.

[@hendman4083]

@@riley_oneill Maybe if any of my fellow citizens could be carrying a firearm, I would like as much space between me and them too.🙄

[@zebraloverbridget]

@@riley_oneill Part of that is due to poor requirements for apartment buildings. The noise your neighbor makes isn't as big of an issue if your walls aren't connected. Can't forgot how inconsiderate most people are as well, so living with shared walls can be hell in some cases. There are far better solutions than suburbs though

[@itisdevonly]

This is so true. North Americans don't seem to realize that beauty *is* a function. It's stressful to live in ugly places. It's bad for our health, both mental health and physical health.

[@scanzip]

I work in the FedEx International Centre building you visited. I moved to Hoofddorp from Memphis, TN 3 years ago and this office and commute experience was the first thing that got my attention about relocating. I bike or transit here all the time and enjoy every minute of it. Some trivia as well...Did you know this FedEx building was 'the most sustainable building in Europe' when it opened in 2011' and completely runs on biofuel?

[@rockstardonut777]

Sustainable and biofuel sounds like an oxymoron nowadays. TN to the Netherlands is a huge change. How do you like it so far?

[@maumau298]

Youre a lovely person, Shawn

[@headerahelix]

Wonder what made these people so needlessly angry about biofuel.

[@headerahelix]

@@cebruthius Just explain what you mean instead of this childish behaviour.

[@headerahelix]

@@cebruthius Asking you what you mean is childish? Wtf

[@ZentaBon]

URBAN DESIGN IS NOW MY RELIGION! I AM CONVERTED! THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME THE LIGHT.

[@davidty2006]

I cannot not notice certain things.

[@bencallif6781]

Now we need you to run for public office…

[@iwtie112]

the well-designed traffic light?

[@cazwalt9013]

What's your creed

[@andersdenkend]

Wish I had KZbin back in my school days where I absolutely did not know what to do with my future. Videos like this and others should have been essential viewing to ignite the sparks in students regarding possible future career choices.

[@JC-vq2cs]

"Irrational anger - no rational anger" - yup, that is my feeling every single day in this US city - even living in one of the historicaly mixed use, mixed housing well-designed oldest parts of town. The street/stroad design of the city and region just sucks and anyone not driving a car is penalized - time, safety, enjoyment, etc. That anger is bad for my health, but just moving around the city offends me, even just walking the dog in my neighborhood. The city keeps implementing pathetic tiny measures, if any, and claiming to be progressive when Sustainable Safety design is well established and transformative. Then the US does stupid stuff like freaking out about already too-low gas prices and gives in to the oil industry propaganda machine instead of naming and shaming car dependence and actually starting to do something about it. We feel stuck by family and work or would love to relocate to a civilized country like the Netherlands. I have been an activist for decades and so little has changed here, I am tired and just want out. Car dependence = unfreedom, climate chaos, and corruption.

[@wich1]

It’s not just the non-drivers that get penalized, it’s the drivers as well, because everyone has to drive, everyone is in each other’s way. A smart driver wants more transit & cycling infrastructure because it’ll make their driving experience better

[@JC-vq2cs]

@@wich1 good point! Most US / NA drivers have a really hard time grasping this, unfortunately

[@wich1]

@@JC-vq2cs oh, it’s not just NA drivers, it’s drivers the world over, including in NL. That’s the thing, improving infrastructure and urban planning requires actual governing, which seemingly many actual governments are rather inept at

[@JNJNRobin1337]

dependance is against freedom

[@grayonthewater]

Same!! You are me

[@kv8212]

As a Dutch person, it is so weird to hear someone get exited about a regular, average business park. But I guess we are just extremely spoiled.

[@Kebabje]

I hate people saying that usa is the best, it isnt in almost all ways

[@martijnvangammeren1868]

It is kinda weird. But I moved to belgium and oh my I miss the Dutch urban planning!

[@lazergurka-smerlin6561]

Yeah even I as a swede am extremely jealous of the infrastructure. Although that might just be because I don't live in a city. Although tbh I couldn't imagine this kind of public transport anywhere else than perhaps a major city

[@natanvanhelden385]

@@lazergurka-smerlin6561 I guess we (in the Netherlands) have a big advantage. Because the country is so small, and so densely populated, it almost always "worth it" to invest in public transport. It's not like northern Sweden, where it's incredibly sparsely populated

[@williamspell5692]

You are.

[@lockettowl]

I felt this in my soul. I live in Philly, which - we're told - has good public transit and is walkable compared to most places in the US. Comuting from an inner ring suburb to basically anywhere here is just like you described suburban Toronto - there are sidewalks and bus shelters, and you can kinda count on busses arriving every 15-30 minutes, but it's quite clear non-drivers are tolerated, not encouraged. Before I got a car, I felt exactly like you said: a second class citizen. The thing to remember is, there's a reason we chose to build North America this way. There's a general assumption that poverty is the result of deficient moral character, or that poverty itself is a character flaw. With this mindset, the poor *deserve* to be miserable and struggle to do things that come easy for wealthier people. And public transportation is for the poor, so it's a moral necessity that it sucks. (Note: in the urbanized US, poor is nearly a 1:1 euphemism for Back, including non-poor black people) The sad irony is that this mindset hurts everyone. It creates more traffic and more dangerous roads for drivers, longer commutes, higher demand and prices for gas, and dirtier air. But, because we're committed to maintaining privilege for those who can afford to drive (and reinforcing it by incentivising suburbanization) we double down on making our cities crappier.

[@marcheinen5832]

@kevin lockett, wonderful comment, pointing out the layers of thinking and judging that are underneath so much of the stress and suffering we keep ourselves and each other in. Alain de Botton has a wonderful TED talk on this subject kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6W2dmeonNGrmLs Greetings from the Netherlands

[@jasonriddell]

and KEEP bankrupting infrastructure budgets so even the "car-loving" well to do suffer on BAD quality roads

[@jout738]

So wealthy people gets fat with no exercise, while the poor people only one’s who train their physical body by walking to the supermarket? This is bit sad how they oppress homeless people, but isent becomming homeless or poor be part of getting paid so less or getting fired from job with nobody helping you, so you become homeless, so what is this delusional thought that its deficient moral charchter, if your poor, when becomming poor is same reason in europe and they mostly immigrants who just cant get job, so cant get paid and cant buy a home. Its simpel like that, so it aint deficient moral charchter and I dont know where this comes from?

[@jout738]

Americans think its privlidge to use a car to drive to your work, while poor people cant afford a car and so need to be miserable using public transport, while is it fucking privlidge using car for 50 years to drive same crappy roads to your work or is it privlidge being more free to use multiple ways of transport to go anywhere you want to enjoy your own life, when you dont need to go in car in traffic jams to go anywhere you want to enjoy your life?

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

Imagine having an efficient public transit so that people can save money and avoid poverty and won't need to buy car in order to apply a job.🤔

[@TheOneWithComments]

You're right about being rationally angry. I recently visited the Netherlands and after returning to Dallas, TX (one of the most highway infested cities in North America) literally every street was upsetting. I was already aware of how bad Dallas was thanks to videos like yours but actually getting to experience good public infrastructure really drove the point home about how bad it is here. There have been maybe two intersections that I've seen that I wouldn't change since I got back. But it's so much worse here than I originally realized. So much wasted space and so many inefficient roads and everyone just accepts it because they don't know any better. It's maddening.

[@magladek]

Hello, fellow Dallasite👋agreed on all points. I drove to Allen recently and I noticed pedestrians are literally not allowed to cross under 75 at Stacy Rd (and probably other roads). So many terrible intersections, 6-lane arterial stroads everywhere with 40-45+ mph speed limits, and the tragedy that the DART isn't everywhere.

[@stevengoomba6490]

DFW is egregious when it comes to good city planning, but it does have the potential to become somewhere decent. If our massive budgets weren’t put into widening highways we could expand our rail and bus options. I recently went on a trip to downtown Dallas from one of its many outlying suburbs by bike, and it was very rewarding. I really really wish things weren’t so car focused, but I’m doing the things I can to combat that.

[@snooks5607]

I feel like this is a curse of design without constraints. when there's a limit on resources the design has to either get smart enough or it fails entirely. it's often seen in computer software, with better computers the software gets bigger and slower even though earlier version worked fine with less resources, things get sloppy just because they can. however miserable all the space and money made NA traffic infrastructure Netherlands would probably be worse if they hadn't gotten smart with it.

[@rhysrhysrhys]

"The freedom to not to have to drive" This is what its all about. Great video as always, thank you.

[@thefifthhour45]

@@UzumakiNaruto_ Less traffic on the roads because it's not required to drive results in less stress for the remaining people who want to drive.

[@ahhh6201]

@@UzumakiNaruto_ I adore driving. With that said, I adore driving to PLACES. I hate commuting by car, I hate having to use my car to get milk and bread, I hate using a car for anything other than leisure.

[@fl0pZ3]

@@UzumakiNaruto_ kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmm1g3hop6mqas0 🙄 nobody said you can’t drive

[@HyenaBlank]

​@@UzumakiNaruto_ Less drivers means driving will be more enjoyable for those that genuinely want to drive themselves if everyone had other options.

[@bocahdongo7769]

@@UzumakiNaruto_ Not Just Bike also already cover that Less people driving = more enjoyable driving. Even with slower speed limit on Netherlands.

[@rhubarbjin]

As a Brazilian who moved to Europe, I absolutely grok the feeling expressed at 13:07. Coming from the car-infested pedestrian-hostile infrastructure of Rio de Janeiro to the frictionless bliss of Amsterdam gave me quite the culture shock. I was literally taking pictures of bus stops and asking my friends back home "Can you believe this?!" but they didn't understand my excitement. It's something that has to be experienced and felt.

[@NotJustBikes]

I know, right? It's just so hard to explain, even in a video!!

[@autohmae]

Send them NJB's videos 🙂 Maybe then they will understand

[@aaaaaaaard9586]

Same here. I also share my excitement to my dutch friends and they don't understand either.

[@malk4803]

Rapaz eu moro em BH e sinto inveja da mobilidade urbana do Rio... Rindo de desespero

[@hunam1464]

I love how owning a car is seen as a rite of passage, instead of what it really is: a crutch for intentionally bad design and means to sustain classism.

[@jaredgreenhouse6603]

"A crutch for intentionally bad design" well put

[@leeloooooooooo]

Don't forget flabby body and early grave!

[@Matthew-.-]

Lmao "classism". Sorry but US and Canada are much larger land wise than European countries. Cities are more spread out therefore you're expected to own a car. It's not classism, it's geography. Don't get me wrong, cities should still do more to help public transport, but cars will always be first here due to land mass.

[@jaredgreenhouse6603]

@@Matthew-.- Distance *between* cities are large, but nothing about size mandates that *intra*-city travel has to only be by car. If you have expanded and reliable public transportation, you give poorer people access to the economy in their cities without forcing them to pay for the upfront cost of a vehicle + maintenance + fuel + insurance. Lowering the barrier to entry increases employment and more employed people = greater private+public revenue.

[@michigandersea3485]

Much of the original problem was Silent Generation / Boomer trauma from white flight (which was made worse by the prevailing racist mentality). Making cars mandatory to get around intentionally excluded poor people, and the assumption going back long before the 50s (see the Middletown studies) was that any decent white person should be able to afford a car. The intent was segregation by unofficial means, and at least in Chicagoland, still is. White flight continues to occur in certain Chicago suburbs today.

[@hatchetscoured]

Second- class citizen. That fully encapsulates what it feels like to live in most US cities, especially Houston, if you don't own a car. You can't get a job, you can't get groceries - hell you can't even GET to most places in the city without a set of wheels. The car qualifies you to live and it shouldn't be that way.

[@applesyrupgaming]

this is intentional. The reason for all the urban freeways and suburbanization is racism. White flight away from the suburbs + postwar boom in auto affordability led to carcentrism, leading into rail removal, and the blight in the cities, as suburbs and other illegalized black people in them

[@MrWhatcat]

This this. I have no car and it's exactly like that - there are so many jobs I can't get and things I can't do because of not having a car. It's just adding insult to injury that I have bike or walk on the side of the road, getting splashed by cars when I wait for the bus. And then people just act like you're a child for not owning a car. We didn't own cars for thousands of years. Don't see how now they're such damn important things.

[@shuttlesworth8508]

Land of the free lol

[@ImKuru]

@@laurie7689 Not Just Bikes has made a video on this “Grocery shopping in Amsterdam” (and maybe another video not sure) but I’ll try to explain in my own words. You do not have to buy everything in bulk in fortnightly purchases. How I grew up for example and how I still do it today is that I just walk to the supermarket (literally three minutes) and buy whatever my house and I are craving for dinner that day. Decreasing this bulk buying also leads to less food waste (NJB explains this in that video as well).

[@jinsory5582]

@@laurie7689 As discussed in other videos; A lot of the facets of all the stuff 'we' want to be changed in the current American Urban Planning status quo, involves stuff like zoning ordinances, etc... With the way American towns are currently built, the idea of "getting groceries" is always gonna be driving multiple miles away to a big grocery store, to pack a whole load of stuff, on a weekend. In places like Amsterdam (and this is a valid comparison, because this is what we look to achieve;), grocery shopping is much smaller scale because all places with 'grocery'-type items are literally smaller, closer to areas with residential units, and are therefore able to be accessed by walking or cycling. This means that a lot of the people over there get to obtain their 'groceries' over the course of the week, as they use them or need them. You won't need to haul 200 lbs of Groceries when you just buy the 2kg you need every day, or every other day. And, that process won't be as annoying as other people from North America think it is; because the way the city is designed makes it both easy, and even more-desirable compared to depending on large grocery warehouses that can only be accessed with a car.

[@kakalukio]

Honestly the best part about all this is the fact that you insist Hoofddorp is "nice". No Dutch person will want to go there if they can avoid it. But if you compare it to whatever the hell is being done in america it's freaking heaven.

[@olevandongen96]

Same goes for Almere, I imagine! Though I agree with Jason about Hoofddorp being "nice". It actually has sheep inside the city limits!

[@NotJustBikes]

Yup. Dutch people have no idea how good they have it. I guess that's why this channel is so popular in the Netherlands. :)

[@Broekmanium]

​@@NotJustBikes You can probably make a full video about Dutch people complaining about nothing lol. It's too cold! It's too sunny! Godverdomme klote regen!

[@linuxstreamer8910]

@@NotJustBikes yep as a dutchy i watch it for this reason bedank voor de goede videos stop niet met het maken van zulke goede videos

[@tiaxanderson9725]

@@NotJustBikes Oh definitely. I guess, when you've known nothing else, it's easy to miss how good or bad you have it.

[@rantingrodent416]

Being a North American that finds the whole idea of driving repellant, your channel is simultaneously life-giving and deeply frustrating. This video is the perfect distillation of it.

[@Moeilijk18]

It's never too late to move ;)

[@mcdonnell-douglasdc-1056]

@@nnnnnn3647 It is never about hating cars. What we are angry about is car-dependency. Car-dependent infrastructure requires everyone to use a car to get just about anything done in a timely and efficient manner. However, not everyone wants or needs to use a car, or cannot use a car. Disabled people, pregnant women, people who can't afford a car and the elderly comes to mind. You have the freedom to use the car if you need to, if you want to, or you can afford to. Yet you also have the freedom to not be entirely dependent on the car as a viable option to do everything. This is what Not Just Bikes, and everyone else who is against car-dependency, are advocating for. In fact, this is the main focus of the channel: what can North American infrastructure do to improve itself and move away from car-dependency?

[@rantingrodent416]

@@nnnnnn3647 Taking transit means that I can do things I actually enjoy while I go from A to B rather than depleting my meager ability to focus for prolonged periods of time on driving safely (I have ADHD, controlling my focus is a significant effort). I also have some eyesight issues that aren't bad enough to stop me from getting a license, but are bad enough to make me uncomfortable with driving. So I do not and will not drive anywhere.

[@gildone84]

@@nnnnnn3647 The most freedom is provided when someone can choose whether or not they want to reach for the car keys. You just want to force car ownership on everyone, even those who can't drive. How Soviet of you...

[@resurrekt3273]

I'm an Indian, and I've watched my part of town turn into a stroad over the last few years (because they built a few business parks a couple of kilometres out of town) We don't even get bus lanes or sidewalks. The only upside is that car congestion is so bad that nobody can drive fast enough to kill anyone

[@F1fan4eva]

Immigration Officer: Why do you want to move to the Netherlands? Me: I binged on all the videos by "Not Just Bikes", and got a job here to move here.

[@NotJustBikes]

Immigration Officer: "Yep. We get that a lot. Just check the 'orange pilled' section of this form."

[@mikek9297]

@@NotJustBikes Carrying Dutch demographics forward singlehandedly… maybe with a little help from their urban planners.

[@blakksheep736]

@@NotJustBikes Pfffffffft.

[@David-rn4nf]

@@NotJustBikes based and orange pilled

[@steamingpileofspaghetti9755]

@@NotJustBikes you funny bunny

[@ashtons.2483]

This is why I love the internet. It allows people like you with pretty unique experiences to actually share their thoughts to a massive number of people. You are making a difference here. Your videos have somehow managed to enter the "entertainment educational" side of youtube and it has led to some of the people I know actually being willing to question the way things are being done right now. These videos can and will actually make a difference, so thank you.

[@Ferrichrome]

We need to change people's mindset, and quickly. NJB is doing a great service.

[@nickfosterxx]

Nicely put. I sort of try to tell some people this about 'the internet' (altho mostly Twitter I must say) and usually get funny looks. You're exactly right, and another high five to NJB.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

It really is astounding how easy it is for one person to reach a ton of people these days.

[@dekaredfire]

I simply have to credit this channel for making me play SimCity 4 again.

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

He and creators like him are getting high value people to the Netherlands who will become advocates when/if they return home (after a visit or working here some years). So that's a big win-win. And the way this kind of content is snowballing on YT is amazing (for example kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6u8eYpnq72Nl68 or kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHvPc2ebi9tlfJo). It seems that North America is really waking up, like intended, but many places in the rest of the world too! And once a place gets critical mass among voters even in the US magic can (start to) happen: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ25iKlvhJWkh5Y Funny how the Dutch also helped pave the YT roads to a better world (most early subscribers were Dutch because of our obsession of listening to what foreigners think of us). :P

[@zainabns5501]

Instead of sending tulips to Ottawa every year, the Dutch should also send city planners😭

[@xFD2x]

Ok, just suppose ... they would send city planners. Would they listen, and act ? In my experience: Free advice is often regarded as having no value ....🤔

[@aivansclips970]

🙏🏻

[@zainabns5501]

@p p I know😭

[@Makkis]

Please do, we need them.

[@HomeWorkouts_LS]

I don’t usually think city planners are to blame. Those new Dutch planners would have to convince everyone else to pay for it.

[@doubledutchclutch]

"I'm not gonna share which company I visited with you Internet weirdos. That's none of your damn business." 😂I love this guy.

[@sanjoth90]

I’m from d Philippines and I’m used to communities with mix residential and commercial areas. When I visited LA I was really surprised and baffled how far the shops were and how they were located in empty areas with little to no residential homes. I also like walking around when I’m out of the country and that experience really sealed the deal for me to choose Europe on my plan to move.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

LA specifically has an interesting (and depressing history to this). The oil companies paid to build out roads as long as they got to design them. So they used the roads to intentionally cut off areas from each other in order to make it more necessary to own a car here. Greedy companies suck amirite?

[@lakka1148]

Good choice. Hope you like it here :)

[@tchen2905]

@@SaveMoneySavethePlanet Ikr! LA is controlled by greedy corporations. Yet people say that LA is "too full of environmentalist liberals". The reality is that the opposite is true, it's too full of oil company republicans. The "overton window" (the range of politics that are considered centrist) in America is so screwed that wanting better public transportation is seen as "environmentalist communist bullshit" (actual words I've seen Americans say about public transit). American Republicans think that LA is having too much environmental movements and too much public transit, while if LA was in other countries, it would be seen as car dependent and too right wing. Americans growing up in car dependent places are so brainwashed that they see good urban planning as being communist. They think that cars are freedom so therefore public transit is communist, yet don't realize that needing a car for everything takes away freedom.

[@Traumglanz]

The irony is that I have a hard time understanding how those shops in the middle of nowhere even can survive when every store in a residential area would have such a huge location advantage … then I remember zoning codes.

[@deafshark9932]

Even our suburbs that have basically the same design with the americans, is still miles better because of sari-sari stores.

[@tarobrob513]

I recently graduated High School and because of this channel, I finally decided what to do with my life; To be an Urban Planner.

[@tarobrob513]

To add, entirely not just because of this channel, but I am what people considered to be a cyclist, I ride my bike to school and back, and people think I'm weird. "It is unsafe", which is true- "Just ride the bus" but I hesitate because it takes my independence away from going somewhere else like my friend's house or the store. I long ago decided that I'd rather have a challenging and unsafe childhood than have a miserable prison-like childhood.

[@angrysnailbug]

That is a great idea! Good luck. You can make a small part of the world better.

[@Sofiaode18]

I'm in my second year of uni and I regret not getting into urban planning because I didn't know that the field would be a viable option for me.

[@victorandrei02]

Good for you man, keep it up!

[@elijaha773]

@@tarobrob513 Is biking also faster than taking the bus?

[@GalladofBales]

American corporate people: "Why does no one want to go back to the office?" The office they are talking about: Seriously though, I hate how in English North America we can't even acknowledge the fact that since driving literally can't be an option for everyone, there should be alternatives that are reasonable. Obviously it's classist to assume anyone can "just buy a car", and not to mention that many disabilities prevent individuals from driving. I live near Seattle now, and as far as the US goes it has the best buses I've ever experienced. I used to drive my parents' cars growing up in a more car-centric area and now I enjoy the freedom of moving around the metro area without dragging a metal box with me. My coworkers for the most part used to not be able to afford a car and once they got one they "couldn't go back". I tell them coming from a more car-centric area that I started biking and taking the bus and that I certainly couldn't go back. And we're only just starting to build out the subway system here, I can't wait to see more trains in the area.

[@Ascend777]

I "couldn't go back" either because of the USA infrastructure that was designed to be car-dependent.

[@Ascend777]

Roads, parking lots, and lawns account for 80% of land use.

[@yusufhanif3704]

"English North America" you and the video presenter should just say US + Canada, man

[@bababababababa6124]

@@yusufhanif3704 Why the hell are you getting mad about that 😂😂who cares, everyone knows what countries they're talking about anyway lmao If anything its not like Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean aren't any better either they're car centric too, so just saying North America still makes sense

[@thekingoffailure9967]

I'm high functioning autistic,. so there's nothing preventing me from driving a car to commute every day, but driving PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH the sensory overload, keeping track of all the moving vehicles, knowing damn well not even half the people I drive past are paying a reasonable amount of attention and just hoping no one screws up. GAH

[@orrd]

I never thought I would feel so many emotions on the subject of business parks. Can we start a petition to pass a law to require all city planners and land developers to have to watch videos on this channel?

[@salemend6891]

They label this as socialist propaganda. And use higher taxes to fear monger people not wanting this type of infrastructure.

[@chihirostargazer6573]

that's a good idea.

[@purplegill10]

The city planners already know all of this. It's those in the higher up positions of local government who shoot this all down. Ask your local city planning council and watch as they do the exact same rants that NJB does because this stuff has all been known for _decades_ yet only the Netherlands, as a whole country, has embraced their city planners.

[@kb0x]

I'm all for it.

[@тоска-р1о]

they cant. then their funding from big car and big oil and big dickinyourface will go down.

[@dylicious7693]

As a Hoofddorper myself I never realized how much thought has been put into this business park. Thank you NJB for making me realize that I shouldn't take these things for granted!

[@starbase218]

It’s the path to happiness. But yeah, it’s easy to forget that.

[@branding01]

same here, though a friend is a modern architecture city-guide and does tours there a lot, so i figured there must be something just a bit more special there...though to me it also looks like any other businesspark, also here in the east (gelderland). i also am happy to realise its quite comfi, yes.

[@_DeathDreams_]

​@@nnnnnn3647 You say it like it's only young healthy people that benefit, but I'm pretty sure public transportation + bikes benefit basically everyone. Kids benefit with independence since they don't have to be driven around all the time to school, the elderly also benefit because they're not stuck in their homes for a caretaker to drive them (in a sensibly placed city, businesses are nearby), and different kinds of disabled people benefit by not relying on others to be driven. Families get by on public transportation all the time, too. In a system with everyone using it, you can have freedom to go anywhere whenever, because there's enough frequency that you can just go spontaneously. It's not like you have much freedom in a car, since you're still stuck in traffic along the freeways designed by the government, and you have so many more responsibilities and payments to make, like insurance, gas, repairs, etc. Even for the people that really do need a car for certain disabilities, people that need a car for their jobs, or people that just insist on a car despite more convenient options, then you should support public transport so that there's less traffic for them to deal with.

[@Ry_TSG]

The mind melting "you have got to be kidding me" feeling was completely tangible in this video and does such a good job showing the difference. Incredible video, as always.

[@Ry_TSG]

@@nnnnnn3647 Loud, dangerous, expensive, take up a lot of space, pollute the earth, make cities worse places to live, not nearly as convenient as good public transit.

[@BeyerEfendi]

Keep doing the lord's work, man. We need as many voices speaking against crap city design as possible.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

It’s been really cool for me over the past couple of months discovering all the talk about city planning on KZbin. Some really amazing commentary out there!

[@BeyerEfendi]

@@stacer1962 Was just a figure of speech, I'm not religious myself :) Akin to "Keep fighting the good fight," etc. No need to rush into vitriol and internet-rage :)

[@jamezrael2495]

Looking at the Netherlands’ examples remind me of what US universities look like and feel like. This is what I miss about school after graduation. Being able to walk everywhere. The community of having other people on the sidewalks. And the small, one way streets that surrounded campus. And I’ll never get that again in the US, especially in the Midwest

[@rogerwilco2]

If enough people communicate they want it, things will change and building codes and infrastructure will as well.

[@jamezrael2495]

@@rogerwilco2 i’m sorry but recent events tell me the US government or any state government doesn’t care what the majority of people want. regardless, no one is taught about these alternatives in Midwestern schools. when we do hear about them, they are disparaged in the media as hippy nonsense

[@Tokorai]

"If you don't like busses getting stuck in traffic, grow up and get a car." That attitude is EXACTLY WHY traffic is so bad!

[@yeahnope620]

But it's true. Nobody is going to sit in a bus with a bunch of poor people, unless they themselves are poor.

[@rodgerlang884]

I agree and it bothers me that people don't see the benefit both ways. If public transit and cities were built properly then more people would take the transit and that would lower traffic making driving better for those of us that would prefer not to take public transit. It's just common sense

[@cummerou1]

@@yeahnope620 The only reason why only poor people use the bus is that because using the buses is so bothersome that anyone who can afford to will use a car. There are many millionaires in London who use public transport (the tube) because it's way quicker and easier than driving

[@alejandrovallejo6763]

@@yeahnope620 Making my live miserable so strangers I'll never really meet dont think I'm poor. And making the environment and economy worse as a side plus.

[@nltiro3387]

@@yeahnope620 ew poor peasants, they might as well be dirty animals huh

[@LiquorWithJazz]

I used the phrase, “The freedom of not having a car,” when describing my life outside of North America and the Americans lost their minds. “But cars are awesome!” Let me tell you about walking 10 minutes to work.

[@jeroenrat6289]

Cars ARE awesome! I'm Dutch and like cars, and like to go out on my bike. But when you are forced to spend money on a car to be able get a job, to go to work; get groceries; get your kids anywhere; go visit family etc. etc., that is NO FREEDOM!

[@SilkNeon]

My parents accidentally gave me the freedom to bike everywhere with every place we moved to. Accidentally in that there was a safe bike route to where I wanted or needed to go. When I got a car I didn’t get why people loved them. Wasn’t freedom, it took away my exercise and gave me various additional expenses. I made sure I was always within biking distance of work with every move from then on. Recently got a car again after being car-free for 6 years. It’s more a mobility device for my wife that we use for overtly awkward trips to certain doctors. I will admit in very specific routes and scenarios it’s nice, but a variety of all the transit options is really pleasant. Love walking lately, and am privileged to make sure I live within walking distance of my needs.

[@Banom7a]

@@jeroenrat6289 fr haha, having good public transport is great for driver too because it remove shitty driver who are forced to drive away, which improve driving QOL to other.

[@-wessel7877]

They'll never understand how great it is to never be looking at a timeschedule of trains/busses, because they'll be there. That freedom is more powerful than anything else.

[@Aileenwasright]

I’ve been watching a lot of Korean and Japanese vloggers and I am incredibly envious of how many of them can just walk to work or just take the reliable public transport that’s nearby. So many of them even have time to return home for their lunch break without ever having to drive. I can’t understand how anyone likes having to drive everywhere. Getting in my car feels like a task that I want to hurry up and get it over with.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Work from home??? Why would I want to do that when I could hang out with my best friends (nameless coworkers) in a beautiful business park (hell)!

[@Sadiyyah314]

I love when what I have been feeling my whole life, is so eloquently said.

[@OwenWatt111]

I think the thing some people don't realize when they're shown how nice our Dutch infrastructure is the fact that it's everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE, not just the biggest 50 cities, every little town is build to this standard.

[@ralphholtkamp595]

most of our infrastructure isn't a beautiful as in this video. even the "bad looking" businesses park at 12:50 is way better then most businesses parks. On most of them the bike lane stop at the entrance and you have to bike next to the cars and trucks. Especially those build before 2010 its way less worse then the footage out of the US but far from fantastic or even nice. Dont even start about public transport they are non existing on 90% of the businesses parks in the Netherlands, or you have at least to walk the last 15 minutes especially for those ppl who dont work at offices times.

[@09conrado]

Doorn? A44 door Wassenaar?

[@tijn001]

That is really not true, the Netherlands has great infrastructure in general, but the randstad is so much more advanced than the rest of the country. You will never see an office park like this in Kerkrade or Sittard. Chemelot is the second largest industrial property in Europe and its accessibility by transit is much worse than its access by car.

[@america6545]

Netherlands is small compared to the United States.

[@cy-one]

@@america6545 That's a non-argument.

[@starbase218]

Many Dutch office workers will go out for a 30-minute walk in the afternoon, to combat the after-lunch dip. I think this is also why these places are designed the way they are. It’s not just for the commute.

[@dog-ez2nu]

These places must be super productive, maybe not in a 'I really want to get out of this hellhole and go home' kind of way, but in a, 'let me just take a breather and come back to it in a sec' kind of way. Less mentally taxing,

[@Jacksparrow4986]

Or maybe people take walks because these places are so nice?

[@starbase218]

@@Jacksparrow4986 Well, I’m Dutch, but I also worked in Belgium, and when I took an afternoon walk there, my colleagues said “oh yeah, you Dutch people do that”. ;)

[@Jacksparrow4986]

@@starbase218 dutch people are used to nice spaces so...

[@PaulMutser]

@@Jacksparrow4986 I've declined a job in the past because the location wasn't nice to take a walk in, and I think many other Dutch people would do the same.

[@Maklaka]

Yeah about a decade ago I visited The Netherlands / Germany on business and it radically changed my worldview. The livability and walkability of the cities is just crazy compared to Rust Belt USA. It taught me that public infrastructure isn't tantamount to communism and that sometimes we can ALL have a way more pleasant lifestyle if we prioritized the community over extreme individuality. It's definitely an eye-opener for Americans who think we're #1 in literally everything and cannot be improved.

[@HallsofAsgard96]

I've wondered for a while now where that stereotype comes from?( That public transit especially trains is communist) Is it one factor or a mix of several? Like that China a communist country has built lots of rail infrastructure in the last few decades? Or that a train is shared by many but is usually government owned? Cars are individually owned but tend to use lots of public infrastructure ( like public streets and highways).

[@gravityskeptic8697]

It just makes more sense from whichever way you look at it. Because of the public transport and bike infrastructure, roads are less jammed. The problem in the US is that politicians lack courage to roll out anything that can't be explained in slogan, so they usually opt for a solutions that everybody can understand, like widening roads to fight congestions. Proposing to remove a lane for a bus or bicycles would be political suicide.

[@HallsofAsgard96]

@@moon-moth1 Another point I wanted to add is that from what I've heard China is (ironically) the largest market for private automobiles.

[@michigandersea3485]

It's Boomers and Gen X who think that. The younger generation mostly knows better.

[@zabby113]

Oh my god I worked in Mississauga probably 10 minutes away from where you did... commuted by an awful bus route, didn't earn enough, and my boss... word-for-word told me to "Grow up and buy a car". Spooky. Too real.

[@Chocolate-wb1bu]

The fact that owning a car in North America is synonym with "being grown up" basically tells you everything you need to know about how sad the situation truly is. And to make it even worse a bicycle is often seen as a vehicle for children.

[@gustavohab]

Same ppl who complain about the social credit in China are the ones who empower the car dependent system, go figure

[@lisaw150]

Honestly, some conservative and rural areas in Europe are similar, in my experience. In parts of Germany for instance, the way the car is treated amounts to idolatry. I'm unfortunately not much of a cyclist due to medical issues, but even motorcyclists like myself are frowned upon for not driving a car. Anything that is not a car is viewed with suspicion and disgust.

[@imhere1303]

I keep being told that I'm not being dependent and I'm not taking responsibility for my life because I can't drive and don't have a car

[@lisaw150]

@@imhere1303 oh my, all too familiar! I'm a lawyer with a master's degree, I've lived abroad for a long time, but people who never even finished high school let alone have a job are telling me there's something wrong with me because I don't have a car licence (just motorcycle, because that's so much easier haha) Cars are a cult...

[@Skelekin13]

I have two friends that don't drive and probably won't ever drive. I tried talking to my dad about car dependency and he referenced them, saying "so we're supposed to just change everything for them to walk? get real!" it really is a cult.

[@BrazenNL]

"Being treated every bit as good as everybody else regardless of the way you got to the office." So people get evaluated by the mode of transportation used. Are you kidding me?

[@woomywobble1053]

That's trafficist!

[@eliemervelez3583]

It is absurdly common that employers wont employ people without their own cars. Its even a common interview question. Its dystopian

[@Vnifit]

It's absolutely true. If you bike to work you are considered a risk-taking cyclist and if you bus to work people feel sorry for you (the impliciation is "how horrible it must be for you"). As another commenter mentioned, it is frequently a question even for minimum wage jobs to ask if you have a car, because if not then you're a liability in the event they need you on call or they need you somewhere other than the office. It's genuinely ridiculous

[@SilverIncense]

Especially if you take the bus, since they are not very reliable schedule-wise, it's seen as a liability. All hail the car so you can sit in reliable 2 hour traffic.

[@sirBrouwer]

@@Vnifit that does happen also here in the Netherlands. Enough jobs do require you to have a car. Often those are jobs in areas where you just can't get to (safely) with out a car. however a respectable company will in that case help you in ether giving you a company car or a lease car on company. or shared pay. (you only pay if you also use it for private use).

[@skrotseng]

I remember when I first visited the Netherlands. My wife and I were going to a small town in the middle of the country, and took public transit to get there. We had a transfer on the outskirts of a small city to the bus that would take us out into the countryside, and I'll never forget that when we got on the second bus, the driver greeted us with a smile and the bus had a wifi connection while we drove through the agricultural fields. My brain melted and I've never wanted to live in suburban America less than in that moment.

[@namelessness42]

I'd be pretty spooked if my buss drove through some fields as well.

[@branding01]

Ah yes that's another thing here. 4G wifi all over the country. everywhere, also in the forest. We complain about that, strangely. Probably because we are so packed and want real nature, the feeling we are really out of the matrix somehow ;-) but i also realise the convenience of it now you mention it.

[@MisterG00]

Sounds like you went visiting something like 'De Hoge Veluwe' (Kröller Möller museum with a lot of Van Gogh.) around Otterlo. There was a extremly small buss running between Ede and Apeldoorn for a few years. With Wifi. And nice busdrivers.

[@mathijs5471]

@@branding01 This person is talking about literal free working wifi on the bus though. Some busses have that feature since a few years.

[@branding01]

@@mathijs5471 true

[@mindmaster323]

Living in Los Angeles my whole life, I've gotten used to the sea of asphalt and didn't really think much of it. It never really clicked in my head that having a good view means being able to see the mountains off in the distance clearly, past all the skyscrapers and whatever parking lots are nearby. But watching these videos really just solidifies in my head that I'd probably prefer to live in smaller towns because they're at least marginally more walkable than most of LA. I didn't even realize how bad our zoning laws were until I started watching your videos. Learning about all this just makes me more annoyed than I was that my city is so spread out and hostile to people who don't or can't drive.

[@rogerwilco2]

Complain about it to your city leaders and politicians.

[@米空軍パイロット]

As another LA born and raised, small towns are hit or miss. You will certainly need a car because there is zero public transit, unlike the buses I took in high school. LA isn't that awful when it comes to transit, and it's gotten significantly better since I moved away.

[@GanyuSimpingDegenerate]

When you showed that business park I had a sense of deja vu. Every business park in Canada looks exactly the same. That Dutch business park is honestly more beautiful than most public parks I've been to here in Toronto

[@RoseSolane]

The funny thing is: This business park is very car-friendly compared to many other business parks close to the airport or in Amsterdam. The public transport friendliness doesn't come at the expense of car friendliness. I worked for several years in this area (one bus stop closer to the airport then the one shown in the video) for a lease company (yes, car lease!) while not owning a car. Getting there by public transport was easy. But the few times I needed a car for business trips (car lease company!) driving home wasn't a problem. Inconvenient because of the traffic around Amsterdam, but getting out of the business park and on the highway (snelweg) was easy. I have worked in Amsterdam in places that are much less car friendly and where public transport is by far the best option.

[@herlescraft]

NJB I have to thank you for widening my understanding on why exactly I always liked cities a lot more than I did my home village in the Tuscan countryside. One month ago exactly I found a job in Florence and I'm currently living car free, first think I did was join a bike advocacy group. Thank you for helping me understand what a city should strive for and even if only indirectly... helping Florence grow more people friendly. Will you ever be in need of some footage or info for the area, just ask, I'll do my best with what I've got :P

[@NotJustBikes]

That's so good to hear!

[@ComradeBenjamin]

I was first shocked that in Canada your bus stops are kinda nicer than the ones here in America and then my mouth hit the floor when you showed the Netherlands.

[@markb6978]

You never notice this in your daily life, but it’s pretty cool seeing how well thought out all this infrastructure really is.

[@deanmoriarty6015]

growing up in the us (the midwest no less lmfao) you just think “well that’s life” or “something must be wrong with me for feeling weird/uncomfortable with this way of life” until you realize most of the rest of the world has it figured out, actually. it’s just us who have to suffer lmao

[@rjfaber1991]

It is bizarre that you can take a direct high-speed train from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to the centre of Paris, which is next-level air-rail integration compared to what most of the world has, and most of us who live in either the Netherlands or France (or Belgium) wouldn't even bat an eyelid, because it just seems normal.

[@tomrogue13]

@@deanmoriarty6015 when i was in college (my college town actually made an appearance in the video lol) i always wondered why more people didn't walk. I never thought beyond that though and kept driving.

[@jujublue4426]

@@deanmoriarty6015 In France you suffer like that in the countryside, but big cities and their suburbs have public transportation. I was surprised to learn that even big cities in North America don't have proper public transportation for most of them. American cities are more populated than French ones so I don't buy the " it would be too expensive", I can understand it's hard to maintain train and bus lines in the countryside but in a big city ?!

[@planefan082]

@@deanmoriarty6015 I'm the opposite. I'm Canadian, technically, but grew up in Hong Kong. I travelled a lot, but mostly to other well-developed places. I moved to Canada in 2014, assuming at the time that the rest of the world would have obviously copied cost-effective, beautiful transit by then or that it couldn't be that bad if they were okay with suburbia. Then it hit me. Love the people and the rights but I want to leave.

[@geniej2378]

As a visitor to the US, the ugliness you're pointing out is exactly what was my first impression. The bleached out, extra wide roads which feel miserable to walk as a pedestrian. Even on an overcast day, the Netherlands business park looked so much brighter and cheerful than the Canadian one.

[@machtmann2881]

I find that newcomers to the US tend to comment on how isolating the experience is to live here. With how far apart people are from each other, it's easy to see why our spaces seem anti-social

[@AbsolutePixelMaster]

The most relatable thing about this was the difficulty of actually trying to convey your experiences. Heck, even though I fully understand your experiences, there were times in the video when my brain started perceiving what you were saying in car mode. Of course, I can recognize the fallacy and shrug it off, but for the majority of North Americans who lack the knowledge/experience that we have, it is extremely difficulty to receive the right message. For instance, at one point it almost seemed like the transit system was wasteful. My brain went "look at all these spoiled people who are getting to work on public funds instead of paying their own way by driving themselves!" then I remembered that we are a society and the collective financial cost of personal vehicle ownership and the infrastructure required to maintain it far exceeds a societal system. It is sooo much more wasteful when everyone drives themselves instead of grouping up and moving dozens or hundreds all at once on a single vehicle.

[@coocoo3336]

I get the same feelings. But I remember it's drivers who are entitled and stripping away that entitlement is fine

[@Rerbun]

Those aren't free train and bus trips by the way. Also, if I'm correct, these busses and trains are probably even the (most) profitable ones in the Netherlands, because of the high number of people in them. So even the public funding part is unfair here

[@coocoo3336]

@@Rerbun i have to pay for train and bus in na.

[@Rerbun]

@@coocoo3336 the point is that it is not necessarily publicly funded even though it might seem that way if you can't imagine good public transport without public funding. The infrastructure on the other hand is of course publicly funded

[@AbsolutePixelMaster]

@@Rerbun Haha, I totally forgot about transit fair! I'm a student so I get it as part of my tuition right now. Ha ha... Its amazing how our limited perspectives can cause us to see so little, even when it is regarding something we already know.

[@mattshnoop]

Man. Man, oh man. I'm a Canadian living near the GTA and, wow... this video makes me so, so sad. It's truly-in the most actual sense of the word-depressing to see how terrible it is, and how good it could be. Thinking about how good it could be is one thing, but thinking about why it's this way is even more upsetting: the car industry has manufactured a terrible environment which we will now never escape from, and that influence extends so far into everything that I go on a spiral. One day I hope the whole world can be run by people who give a shit.

[@logans3365]

I’m American, and Amsterdam makes my country look like a third world piece of garbage, I can’t imagine anyone not being able too clearly see how much better transportation and even just the overall atmosphere is in Amsterdam.

[@fakespike1]

@@nnnnnn3647 It's not anti-car, it's anti-traffic. The commenter nor NJB has ever said to remove cars entirely. In fact, NJB did an entire video on why driving is *better* in places that aren't car-dependant. Also, driving may be a freedom, but *having* to drive no matter what is not. Having many options besides driving is more of a freedom.

[@Zoza15]

@@fakespike1 Troll account..

[@logans3365]

@@nnnnnn3647 it depends on your definition of freedom, yes cars can take you a lot of places, but as it stands now if I want too leave my home too go do anything the only option is car, no freedom of choice too choose any other form of transportation.

[@danielprieto4047]

Guess what? Your country is worse than third world ;)

[@arjentromp12]

Amsterdam is pretty much a shithole though. Fun city to visit but its not really like the rest of the country.

[@karsu7988]

You can hear the pure rage in this man's voice at American infrastructure

[@Mastakilla91]

This video has a different tone to it than your usual ones. It doesn't adress my usual enthusiasm for car-free urbanism, instead it just makes me both very angry and in the same time close to tears, knowing that some people ARE FORCED to grow up and live their whole lives in such a unworthy and misanthropic hellhole of a surrounding which makes their lives miserable without the people realising why since as an individual you cannot fully grasp the way urban design effects your psyche and physis. We literally built ourselves a distopian nightmare without noticing it. Only people who were forced to go through this to make ends meet know the feeling I'm currently having.

[@guyroebuck8510]

Exactly. We are a product of our environment!

[@mariadraak5267]

Yes! I was so frustrated and angry watching this video. One excellent idea after another, so much common sense and forward thinking, then I look around at my city and I see nothing but the car-worshipping hallmarks of it's heavy industry roots. Asphalt, concrete, parking lots. It's ugly and dangerous and it really pisses me off.

[@pharaohsmagician8329]

As a Canadian EBike rider who doesn't have his license and lives in the KW Area Ontario, this channel is honestly amazing. I wish we could fix Canada, and we can. This channel is literally *Magical* in the way it shines light on such a big problem that's so prevelant that it's *completely* ignored, or made worse.

[@blooptastic]

"Just shut up and get a car" Sadly, that about sums up the last 100 years of transportation and infrastructure policy in North America. 😭

[@blooptastic]

@Zaydan Naufal Uhm... Washington left office in 1797 😂 Model T was released 114 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYDXpammn6-pd9E

[@rendomstranger8698]

Actually, NJB left out part of what that sentence should be. "Just shut up, get a car and pretend that somehow makes your life less miserable like everyone else."

[@DataLal]

And then you get to complain about the traffic and construction for years on end just as every other car user does. Actually, I don't have a car and I've never driven- never even took the test. I feel like a unicorn being this way in central Alberta, Canada, but in my generation there's more of us than there were before. Still a vanishing minority though.

[@dbclass4075]

@@UzumakiNaruto_ Which is why The Netherlands's infrastructure investment is not just limited to transportation. They pay great attention in urban planning too; a productive city to ensure everyone, rich or poor, have easy access to opportunities, especially housing.

[@JanDoggen]

Note that it also sums up to unwillingness of many Americans to pay taxes to make decent infrastructure possible. Yes, we Dutch also "don't like to pay taxes" but there's an underlying realization that this quality infrastructure (and other things) are made possible by Euros.

[@wickedslick3000]

YOU TELL EM NJB!!! I'm so happy this is blowing up, you and the channels like you are genuinely becoming the leaders of this movement. I used to feel really hopeless about our cities here in Canada (Edmonton native), but after watching your videos and talking to people about them, I KNOW that we will be successful in creating places that don't suck. I sympathize with your stories about transit in Canada. I was that person for a long time. We didn't have enough money as a family for a car. And I get so angry thinking about how awfully myself and all the other transit riders were, and are treated. Keep up the great work, you're hands down one of my favourite creators on this entire platform. All the best!

[@AntoineHorns]

As a french programmer I have been tempted to look for a higher paying job in the US, but I have been there enough to know that even a much better pay would have a hard time making up for the quality of life we get here in western Europe.

[@toetertijd]

Yeah, I'm in a simmilar situation. As a kid I always wanted to move there. But now I don't want to anymore. I mean, the county is beautiful to visit and do roadtrips for a week or two, but I would not want to go live there for any amount of money. I'm an IT consultant, so a 6 digit per year paycheck over there would certainly be possible. But I'd rather stay in Ghent.

[@Kirbychu1]

I'm in the inverse position. I wonder if I should stay here for higher pay or travel to a European country for a better quality of life lol. There's a couple pockets in the US that aren't that bad, but they will cost you.

[@canuck21]

You can have a good quality of life in the US if you're willing to drive.

[@mr.zimtus5231]

@@canuck21 until you're sick, or need an abortion, or want to go to college...

[@natanaeldamian2192]

@Mahima Bhat and the mass shootings, and the awful public transport, and the massive debt for college education. Aah America.

[@elorbo8100]

I am from Germany and I thought about doing my master's degree in the Netherlands but I wasn't sure. Since I discovered your channel, I am sure that I want to study and live in the Netherlands. Not necessarily because I am not happy with public transportation or bicycle infrastructure in my hometown of Düsseldorf but rather because many large Dutch cities are just taking it up on another level and are still so well connected by train to Düsseldorf that I kinda feel at home in the Netherlands already. You are a great embassador for living quality in the Netherlands.

[@andynonymous6769]

More of an ambassador for living quality in north America. I am Canadian and I didn't even know how bad it was here until I tried biking to school. Spoiler alert I almost got hit multiple times. I REALLY didn't know how bad it was until after that, when I started watching this channel. I honestly had no idea it wasn't normal everywhere

[@kevinh3238]

Not only is this better for the mental health and confort of the people. It also helps the environment with more people using public transport or just walking and/or cycling.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

Yea it’s huge for emissions and land use reduction!

[@hokiepokie]

Yep, tho the Netherlands still has a major emissions problem due the high population density so innovative solutions are a must. The country has the highest nitrogen emissions per area of Europe, tho its mostly due to livestock instead of transport.

[@hauntedshadowslegacy2826]

It's also better for people who can't drive due to disability. Like, hello? Blind people can't drive! That ain't changing just because some car manufacturing exec wants a new yacht. The pure, unadulterated ableism stains every aspect of car-dependent city planning.

[@theferrit32]

@@hokiepokie The emissions is not because of the population density. Netherlands has significantly lower nitrogen emissions per capita than the rest of Europe and North America. Emissions per unit land area isn't the metric to care about first, and if we did care, we would probably actually prefer the Netherlands strategy of concentrating emissions into less land area to do the same amount of overall work, because it seems that this helps them achieve lower emissions per capita. Increasing density reduces emissions per person.

[@hokiepokie]

@@theferrit32 Nitrogen deposition per unit land area is the metric to care about. They did not call out a nitrogen crisis for nothing. The critical deposition values vary mostly between 5 and 25 kg nitrogen per ha per year. In most cases, the range is between 10 and 20 kg nitrogen per ha per year, with a range of 5 to 10 kg nitrogen per ha per year for sensitive marshes and dunes. The Netherlands currently has an average of 21 kg, and may need to go to 14 kg average to avoid serious damage to nature. Source: www.wur.nl/en/Dossiers/file/Nitrogen.htm#:~:text=40%25%20for%20ammonia%20and%20over,above%20a%20critical%20deposition%20level.

[@gerbertvanloenen]

Great to hear something positive about Hoofddorp, in the Netherlands we usually complain about that suburb as it is car centric and ugly to Dutch standards Actually, I have a meeting in that business park tomorrow and will try to look at it from a North American perspective and be happy.

[@peggedyourdad9560]

If that's considered ugly, then I'm wondering what's deemed to be beautiful by Dutch standards.

[@karkatvantass3730]

As an American that place looks amazing. The fact that it's ugly to Dutch people really says a lot about our infrastructure.

[@bettievw]

To explain to any North Americans who might wonder why we think this is ugly; we Dutch people tend to favour older buildings and nature. Trees are better than grass, grass is better than concrete. So to us, this is a very empty and large space, and it's associated with work (and misery). A lot of us yearn for forests because we have so few, I think that might be why we tend to dislike these spaces. That being said, I think I like them more now that I've seen them from the lens of someone else!

[@peggedyourdad9560]

@@bettievw Oh ok, that makes a lot of sense. It's interesting to learn about places with such different land layouts than where I live because the state I live in has woodland practically everywhere (my state is actually most known for its state parks and wildlife, among a few other things).

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

I’m currently looking for a new job and see this exact issue with almost every potential company that I can apply to! Luckily, I seem to have finally found one which is directly along the train route which I live on so 🤞 I can land it. It’s seriously absurd how North American cities force you to have a car in order to earn a paycheck. Just drives our monthly costs up to absurd levels along with our emissions!

[@Maki-00]

Last year, I moved back to my hometown. I live right downtown and when I went to apply for a job in a nearby office building, there was a question on the application asking whether or not I had a driver’s license. It was an office job with no driving involved and the interviewer had the nerve to ask me WHY I didn’t have a license. First of all, I lived two blocks from that office, so I wouldn’t have needed to drive anyway. Second, I was hit by a car when I was a teenager and when I tried to learn to drive, I didn’t feel comfortable. I also lived in NYC most of my adult life, so there was no need to drive and I prefer walking and getting exercise and fresh air instead of sitting in traffic wasting hours of my life away. Anyway, I solved the problem by getting a WFH job instead!

[@Parker307]

When I browse jobs sites it is not uncommon for me to see a job that I could do but then it's says "Must have drivers license. Must have reliable transportation"(this always means a car or truck).

[@shawnpitman876]

You think that's an accident? Everything about the North America way of life is meant to suck every ounce of money from you possible for the corporate overlords.

[@KiLLJoYYouTube]

Sounds to me like you're just poor dude

[@dalstein3708]

As a Dutchman I was bewildered when I saw photos from the US of people lining up for the food bank... in their car. We too have food banks, and a poverty problem, but if we get into financial trouble we can sell the car and still get around fairly well. After watching NJB I understood why in the US the car would be the last item to go. But from this side of the pond it still looks weird.

[@JoeDonahue]

I work periodically at our Hoofddorp office. After my first visit, I talked with my wife about how wonderful the infrastructure is there. I'm really happy to see this video. I'm so jealous of what the Dutch may take for granted.

[@Heyhaylix]

Your videos and strong towns have inspired/radicalised(?) me to completely change my academic track and focus on urban design with my geography degree. I hope to do a masters in urban planning and take cities back for the humans! I never realized how passionate I could be about something like roads, but here we are.

[@arvispinkletter5324]

"Theoretically possible to be a pedestrian" LOL.... you really get this when you have to BE a pedestrian in these areas. The thing that really makes me sad is that in order to create/update places in North America to be better, it means investing a lot of money into different infrastructure for something that isn't already used in that way, therefore it's tough to convince anyone to spend money on it. It's a chicken-egg scenario, where the chickens cost millions of dollars, so even though the eggs seem like a nice idea, it's this perpetually out of reach expensive concept which NEVER gets pursued. The worst thing about the business parks that suck is that they're already THERE, they're already BUILT, so changing them is expensive-to-impossible.

[@Tama_Abiru]

Expense is the same excuse given to those of us who want the US to go metric: "but what about the cost of changing all the road signs!!!11!". The cost is always too great if it's something they don't want, whereas the cost is never an issue when it comes to how things already are. The other popular idea here is that it has to catch on voluntarily before it will be taken seriously "if more people took public transit FIRST maybe we would invest in it more". It's social/technological darwinism at its finest.

[@arvispinkletter5324]

@@Tama_Abiru Exactly. Spend millions of dollars on more highway or widening existing motorways? NO PROBLEM. But build transit, build walkable infrastructure? Too expensive!

[@IceSpoon]

@@Tama_Abiru It's almost ironic that being a cyclist in Santiago de Chile---sorry, I miswrote it. It's almost ironic that choosing to grab a bicycle to move around in Santiago de Chile is seen as a political statement. "Oh, look at him. He wants to prove that it's possible to move around without the freedom of a car lol". No, mate. I just happen to have this decent bike rental service near my office and near my home, so it's faster than the metro and much easier (all things considered) than cars. But it's somehow seen as a political statement. I think the same happens in the US. For those brave ones that take on these cycle lanes protected only by paint (lol) or nothing at all, it's seen almost as something political and not an actual feasible way of moving humans.

[@xanthoptica]

Similarly, "theoretically possible to take transit." "Okay, so it will take 3 legs and an hour and a half to get to your destination after some long transfers, but IT IS POSSIBLE TO TAKE TRANSIT...now let me get down to spending billions of dollars adding some lanes to this freeway."

[@schwig44]

@@Tama_Abiru it's not the road signs that would be too expensive. It would be the refitting and retooling of what remains of our industry. There are still products being made every day that are made *slightly* easier because they were designed and manufactured with the imperial system. Due to economies of scale there are certainly businesses that are winning contracts based off the savings from that marginal saving of time/labor/sometimes even material.

[@SpreadFriendliness]

Its nice reading the comments and seeing how this really seems to have struck a chord with the North American viewer. May it be a seed for improvements in the future.

[@rogerroger9952]

The part about smart traffic lights reminded me: back when I was in high school in South Carolina (US), I had to walk to and from school an hour both ways. I lived on a pretty busy road, so I had to cross at a crosswalk, but the traffic light was always green for the busy road and only ever went red when there was a car on the road I needed to get to. So one day on my way home, I was sat at the light for a while, hoping it would turn red, but I soon realised that it wasn't going to turn just for me. So what did I have to do? As a high school kid of maybe 16 or 17, I went out onto the road and jumped on the weight sensor until the light turned red for the "car" on that road.

[@doubledutchclutch]

Good god, that's awful.

[@srirachapasha]

When I tell people the Netherlands is 100 steps ahead of the world, no one gets it. No one does infrastructure better than the dutch. The dutch literally took one of the most uninhabitable areas of the world and turned it into a place worth calling home. My dream, as a middle easterner, is to someday call that wonderful place home too. Much respect to the Netherlands and everything it has been capable of achieving through amazing planning and working for the public good

[@rendomstranger8698]

@UCHXx0Huxc1jMZL9y5IvCP8A Yeah, no. Read the other comments. This business park is one of the places most Dutch people do not want to go. And most of his video's are recorded in Amsterdam. A city so crowded with cyclists that most Dutch people prefer cycling anywhere else in the Netherlands. Pretty much everything he points out is not special anywhere in the Netherlands. With the possible exception of some of the traffic lights, as most traffic lights aren't as perfectly timed as the ones he shows. And even that is up for debate. The only reason he *seems* obsessed to the average Dutch person is because he has dealt with much shittier infrastructure for most of his life. And because the things he points out are so normal that it takes a Canadian to point out that the rest of the world doesn't go about infrastructure in the same way. As for what he shows about Canada and the US, that is the entire point of the channel. Not much point in showing the US and Canada if he does not show the problems that he is talking about.

[@netweed09]

I've always seen the u$ as a 3rd or 4th world country m8. Size doesn't matter. The few very High-tec facilities and beautiful scenery they do have doesn't quite 'save' them because overall they're just so massive and 90%+ of it literally looks like it's stuck in the 70s or early 80s still: from the cars to the general stores making up that 'run down' urban look. And that's before the gangland crimes. But forward nations (yours is 1 of the best) make urban areas attractive, Chic and Modern.

[@11235Aodh]

Thank you and I'm sure you don't hear it much, but welcome :).

[@PhilVaive]

I would LOVE to move to the Netherlands! They just seem to have done everything right there.

[@ZomB1986]

This country is ideal to live in, if it wasn't for the government and the rules they shove in our faces every time. For instance, they shut off city centers for diesel cars older than ~8 years because they're so polluting. They're forgetting that America is polluting 10x more than us. It's actually a country already praiseworthy of how clean we live and drive, yet they treat us like the worst environmental offenders.

[@joyl7842]

My mother took all this for granted for the last 36 years, even though she was born in Poland. Now she decided she wanted to live in Australia, because of the more comfortable climate. She was happy, until she wanted to go someplace that wasn't the beach. Australia is so much like North-America this way. You can't go anywhere comfortably and with ease without a driver's license and a car 😭 When I used to work in Australia it took me 40 minutes on foot to get to a shopping center for groceries, that's how awfully designed the suburbs were/are in Brisbane. Now I live in Middelburg, The Netherlands and it's a 5 minute bike-ride to my job in a business-park and the same to get groceries.

[@RockbottomRosa]

I'm born here in the Netherlands and have always lived here so am so used to how things are that I just don't think about it. However a few years back I traveled to some countries and stayed a few weeks in Brisbane. Me and my friend decided that we wanted to go to a wildlife center that was a bit further away instead of the 'go to' touristic one that's close to the city. (We had chosen this one because it was very animal friendly and did a lot for conservation.) I think the drive over from the place we stayed at would have taken us about 30 to 40 minutes by car, however we both didn't even have a driver license let alone a car to drive. So we opted for public transport and it took us over 2,5 hours and a lot of walking/standing and waiting/being unsure/crossing dangerous roads to finally get there! The park was beautiful and I did enjoy myself but after that we did decide not to go to places that far sadly...

[@miyounova]

I feel you! I moved from Europe to Aus a few years ago, and it's miserable. People, in ANY city, find a 90 min commute perfectly normal. People find it normal to have to drive 5 min to the shops. To have 8 lane stroads in the middle of the city. And let's not even talk about the ridiculous highways stacked on top of each other in the middle of Brisbane...

[@snowstrobe]

I was born and raised in Brissie, and like NJBs, I thought it was normal. But I hated it as I have always prefered to walk and ride. Thankfully now I live in Europe, and would never go back for this reason alone.

[@eggplant9277]

@@miyounova sydney is a nightmare but the one time i went to brisbane those highways blew my mind. absolutely horrific

[@snivader]

12:09 i actually felt offended by that fence, and it’s not even my commute it’s yours you’re describing there! oh my gosh

[@NotJustBikes]

I guarantee it's because they believe only criminals would come in the back entrance. The building was robbed when I work there, but, of course, they came in through the parking lot entrance.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@NotJustBikes Of course. You can't carry anything away without a car. In the Netherlands the friendly bus driver would help you with that safe!

[@goncastaneda5628]

I just finished doing an essay about bad city design and un-walkability in Mexican cities. Your videos have been super helpful and your channel has really gotten me into city planing and I’m really grateful of all the knowledge and awarness you’ve raised though these amazing videos.