Why Amsterdam is Removing 10,000 Parking Spaces

[@NotJustBikes]

Holy crap, Climate Town finally finished their video on parking: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYaxiXl-pbqbq5o 7 months late, but worth the wait!

[@NuCLeaRSHoT1]

Finally!

[@andrewehyang]

Came back to this when I saw it got posted!

[@leonpaelinck]

wait did you change the part where he said it wasn't ready? I did not know that was possible

[@ArbieLyvias]

:D awesome

[@helper_bot]

lmaooooo

[@melissahalle8398]

In Montreal we've pedestrianized over 30 streets and every time business people complain about it and then end up making a lot more money. It's also an amazing experience to walk down theres so much life and it's beautiful to see so many people having fun

[@clomino3]

Was just in Montreal, can confirm

[@lucasdalessandro9945]

« LA MAIRESSE DÉTESTE LES PETITES ENTREPRISES » -journal de Montréal last summer some time (probably)

[@carcrash48]

They need to open up some of these big roads like Mont-Royal avenue East and part of st Denis all year round. Imagine being able to do your groceries in skis rather than hugging a slushy snowy pavement whilst noisy cars chug along. Summer on these roads are sublime!

[@thefactspherefromportal2740]

Visited Montreal a few years ago, it was a wonderful time! The AC in our hotel broke so we got to move to a much nicer place. Loved the transportation and the attractions, would definitely go again

[@KaKam0u]

I visited my sister in montreal a couple of months ago, almost made me want to move to Montreal, it's so full of life compared to where I live lol

[@nicholasfield6127]

"When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." 🤯

[@koenigistmeinname]

We all need to keep this quote in mind.

[@chaos.corner]

Well, if you're talking about taking things away, sure. It's not like they're talking about giving everyone a car with on-street parking. With that said, moving on-street parking into parking garages seems good to me. Eliminating cars (or a large segment of them) is another question entirely. As for "subsidizing drivers", they should just be paying market rates.

[@casperd2100]

That quote is extremely ironic because Not Just Bikes is bias towards anything to do with cars. A lot of points he makes opens my mind, but that's because of the location. He talks about Amsterdam and Tokyo which has significantly less crime and theft relative to NYC, where I live. A bike rack would be heaven for criminals here. There would literally be nowhere safe to park your bike unless you take it inside somewhere. Cars outside, however, can't just be picked up and walked away with.

[@Dark__Thoughts]

@@koenigistmeinname My mind is a mesh and I'll forget the quote within the next minutes.

[@TheSpearkan]

@@casperd2100 Oh look, crime-based fearmongering, a classic excuse for NIMBYs and rightists to avoid change.

[@piethein4355]

I think you missed another major motivator for this plan. Amsterdam has a rain water dispersion problem, one that got worse with the introduction of more paved survaces and asphalt and that has become even more important as extream rainfall events become more common. A major reason for removing streetparking therefore is the introduction of more greenery for water management.

[@Glo0ze]

Which is kinda crazy if you think about it, What other city has so many waterways built into their city design and still has a rain water problem xD only in the netherlands where it rains 24/7

[@willekevanderham5326]

@@Glo0ze The problem is not to get rid of the rain water but to get rid of it without it contaminating the water in the canals, which would result in contaminating a lot of surface water in the region. Having all the open surface water makes it harder.

[@nfboogaard]

Extream... Pun intended?

[@saulzmon]

I love when politicians actually attempt to follow through on promises. It's such a rare occurrence.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Pretty normal in the netherlands though.

[@bartholomewthundercatiii3484]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 Guess it makes a difference when you can choose between more than 10 parties that will actually strive for different policy goals and represent the people’s interests, rather than two parties that have 95% of the same goals but force you to choose one morally because the other commits hate crimes against minorities.

[@Glo0ze]

you kinda have to if there are more than just 2 options to choose from or you will definitely lose the next election

[@sigmarizzlerking]

not rlly

[@vagonedorato]

The effort and accurateness you put into your videos is insane. I always appreciate the original non-stock footage you take and use in the videos and the list with all the sources links in the video description. Keep up your work. You are inspiring a lot of people.

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks! I try to take as much video myself as possible, and I fully license every 3rd party clip that I use. That stupid smart car in the canal was way too expensive to license, but it was too good not to include. Thank you, Patreon supporters! 😂

[@disklamer]

@@NotJustBikes Good choice that was priceless

[@ster2600]

@@NotJustBikes I assume that was scripted?

[@Psyda]

I love this man, My colleagues in city planning from the US and UK are highly inspired by your work. They often cite your content as a primary source of inspiration for their own projects, which demonstrates the impact and influence your work has had on urban development. Had an opportunity to visit Amsterdam this October for unrelated work and seen the construction projects first hand. Couldn't refuse the opportunity to visit, keeping the OVchipcard until next time. :D

[@annisdegoede3032]

next time you won't need the OV chipcard. a new system is being implemented right now that you can pay directly with your bankcard or phone. 😁

[@DaveVersteeg]

@@annisdegoede3032 it will not work for US people...they do not have a centralised banking system. Every bank has it own card..and cash is still king there. Its a wierd backwards country 😋

[@Keenan111]

Amsterdam's stubborn insistence on allowing cars into the city center remains baffling to me. There are examples all over the country such as Utrecht and Groningen that show removing cars is GREAT. I'm excited for the car-free Herengracht and hope it will lead the way to more completely car-free areas (such as the entire city lol).

[@NotJustBikes]

It's truly bizarre, but hopefully with PvdA, D66, and GroenLinks in control of city council that can change quickly. They announced today that they will reduce almost all streets and roads to 30km/h by the end of next year, so that's a step in the right direction. But the Amsterdam Autoluw project is moving _way_ too slowly for my liking.

[@SamDrives1]

Just think about the amount of money the council and government make from the high cost parking and taxes, such as congestion charge in London where everyone has to pay £15 a day

[@smittoria]

It can also go too far the other way though: the city of Groningen has also banned busses from entering the city center which makes travelling (to important destinations like city hall) difficult or impossible for people with disabilities or who are otherwise less mobile. The city is currently "holding a trial with small-scale, alternative transportarion in the form of golf carts and rikshaws" but so far there is no permanent solution.

[@Arjay404]

@@SamDrives1 But Not Just Bikes pointed out that in the US where they turned parking spaces into outside seating for restaurant the space made MORE money and not just a little bit more. Imagine turning man of those parking spaces into usable and profitable spaces. Like for example converting that Bijenkorf parking garage into housing or even just more shops.

[@Wednesdaywoe1975]

I suspect it's the tourism industry.

[@p1x3lman]

Small bain = watching NJB to learn about intrastructure Big brain = watching NJB to learn the intersection you avoid due to construction actually opened up again

[@KaosNoKamisama]

I think in order to understand the Japanese example you provide (which is excelent), you also need to bring into the explanation the decentralized nature of Japanese neibourhoods. Yes, you have the "proof of parking" thing, but you also reinforce the needlessness of owning a car by providing super eficient and widely accessible public transport. And on top of that, every neibourhood is pretty self-sustained. Japan has a huge small and micro scale enterprise system, so there's a lot of places where people work, shop, eat, study, etc. at ultra-local scale. There are even legal protections to promote and safeguard locla shops at a local level, so they don't get eaten up by large monsters like shopping malls. This means that you normally don't even have the need to go much beyond your own neiborhood for most day to day things... and when you have to, there's plenty of ways to commute eficiently. The integration of good and abundant bicicle parking at train stations helps them to funnel a wider area of residents into using them too. I'm of the opinion that, as long as cities don't tackle the centralized nature of most towns, where most commerce, jobs, etc. are highly concentrated, there's no way people are going to give up cars that easily.

[@mattzolovsky8779]

Living in Beijing. The street parking is insane and I'm an avid bike rider. I feel so insecure when I'm riding a bike. The city picked a wrong role model for urban planning or GDP growing (there are a lot of people using car sales as an indicator for economic growth). And they torn down the old city wall to build a ring road ffs.

[@koenigistmeinname]

Isn't KZbin banned in China? How can you comment on this video when you're from China?

[@fantysq]

@@koenigistmeinname VPN

[@PK-tt5kk]

yeah, even in India, car sales is seen as good thing. Buying a car & owning a home is seen as signs of success. Many Indian cities prioritized car infrastructure & thus have terrible (terrible is an understatement) traffic. One good thing is that Most of India is still rural (like only 30-35% is urban) So they can easily change the city development model. Not to mention European type city design is getting popular in India, as people are sick & tired of car traffic.

[@Blackadder75]

@@PK-tt5kk it's pretty understandable for poor countries to see more cars as a sign of success. We did the same, when we escaped poverty in the 1950s-1960s. I don't blame them. We can only hope they learn faster than we did, because they can see the mistakes that others made before them.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@Blackadder75 the original selling point for cars is basically that they turn going into town from an all day long event, to a 15min trip for milk. And that sounds like the ultimate luxury, you just need to sort out basic road safety stuff and for a relatively small population of drivers the roads can handle it and everything is wonderful. And then you reach a critical mass and the tragedy of the commons kicks in and suddenly you hate everything sitting in a 2hr traffic jam for "no reason" meanwhile the road is falling apart and the city is going broke trying to pay for it. Its perfectly understandable why a poor nation would look at the USA and think car sales going up means prosperity and not realize that car dependency is draining our economy. (We aren't even filly aware about it even as we suffer directly. The slogan for NJB is pretty much "Don't watch this if you don't want to be perpetually annoyed to irrationally angry at your suroundings", and eventually more people will realize that cars are a luxury item not a basic essential, transportation is the actual essential good we are after.

[@crispoman]

The basically abandoned electric car chargers (like you show at 9:40) could, in theory, be converted into electric hook-ups for boats. The Gemeente is trying to encourage canal traffic to be greener (electric boats get their vignettes for less than a third of the price of petrol/diesel ones) and the infrastructure is already there so conversion should be fairly cheap.

[@poochyenarulez]

also electric bikes too, probably

[@swearimnotarobot3746]

One positive from the pandemic in Ireland was on many main streets of towns, various cafes set up outside seating. Good outside seating. They got rid of some main street parking. It made towns more lively. Pretty cool.

[@claian12]

You beat me to commenting about this. I remember the complaints from the car lobby during the pandemic about this, yet now retail and other streetside shops and cafes have made a killing in profits now that there's more space for pedestrians and less cars, leading to an influx in customers into the cities. Now if only we can stop the petty changes to crossing times that were made in the last couple of months, 15 seconds to cross a busy street is insane even for fit, able bodied people.

[@MoreGeography]

This channel has made me realise how far behind we are in Ireland though. I feel like among the general population there aren’t many people calling for more ‘amsterdam -ised’ towns and cities. It even seems like our Green Party cares more about implementing taxes over improving infrastructure to accommodate uses other than cars.

[@boymeetsmini]

It's amusing how they are so easily able to remove parking spots in Amsterdam. If you did this in the US, a lot of people would literally consider it the end of society lol

[@chaos.corner]

It looks like technically they're not really removing them but relocating them. Looks like that's giving them unintended consequences too.

[@jannetteberends8730]

All Communists.😂

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@chaos.corner only in that specific case they where relocated. The vast majority is simply deleted without replacement. Like the ones in the normal streets with the houses and the ones on the canals as well as the ones on large trough traffic streets they are not replaced. Only in places that are concidered to be important to reachable by car and where there is place for a garage they are replaced.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

The usa has more square feet dedicated to parking spaces then it has square feet dedicated to human habitation...

[@chaos.corner]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 So what? Asphalt is cheap, human living space is not. There's plenty of space for both in the US. Though it's worth pointing out that lliving spaces are also typically larger in the US than other parts of the world also. So I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

[@Marie-ig3tp]

Thank you for briefly mentioning the disabled population. I visited Amsterdam for the first time this week and unfortunately had a bit of a rough time due to a dislocated knee. Walkable cities are amazing until you can’t walk… at least most of the trains seemed wheel chair accessible. I can’t even imagine trying to use a mobility aid in other European cities.

[@zephyros256]

Afaik all the Sprinter (stopping at all inbetween stations) trains have platform level entrances, and the new single deck intercity trains also have this (in contrast to the older ones with a step) with future double decked trains likely also having platform level entrances. If you have to take one of these stepped entrance trains now you have to call in support early and they'll roll up a ramp at the start and end station, but it remains quite a hassle for all parties involved.

[@Tyrope]

@@zephyros256 If you need to board an intercity in a wheelchair; call up the NS beforehand, they have volunteers who live near (enough to) the stations with keys to unlock the boarding ramps located at all major stations.

[@zephyros256]

@@Tyrope I know, you worded a lot better what I meant. My point was that it is relatively inconvenient for everyone involved compared to platform level doors.

[@muhilan8540]

You can still drive there right?

[@MathMagician93]

You drive with a dislocated knee?

[@SRFriso94]

I was in Utrecht recently with my parents, and we drove there. Train is way more expensive when you have three people, and it would have taken longer to get there, because we weren't starting anywhere near a train station. However, Utrecht has a massive P+R on the south side of the city, where you can park all day for six euros, and you get a tram ticket to Central Station, for five people, to and fro. That is insanely good value for money, and on the whole, it was a very pleasant experience. Tram was quick and easy, and if I ever have to drive to Utrecht again, I'll definitely be going back there.

[@Snowshowslow]

Yes that's an issue with P&R's... It shouldn't really be cheaper to use public transport while parking a car than without it, otherwise you're penalizing people for nót bringing a big metal box to store. But then car drivers are usually so used to being serviced that to induce them to leave their car behind requires it to be an insanely good deal. I'm not sure what the solution to that is... Anyway, at least you were incentivized to leave the car at the edge of the city. Insert "it's something" meme 😁

[@Arlae_Nova]

Yeah that thing is amazing, when I'm with the car I always use it. More cities should implement such a system so cars don't enter the city center.

[@AvWijk85]

To be honest the public transport in Utrecht isn't really great. It still relies on buses only, apart from the single tram line only which can be beaten in trip duration by riding a bike. The trams stops at Central Station, but to get to the old city you still have to walk or take yet another bus line. There is no public transportation at all during the night. The city council also made the brilliant move to ban all shared e-scooters which were by far the fastest means of transportation in the city South-North and East-West.

[@markachternaam5207]

The problem is increased because of sunk cost of purchasing a car. People only evaluate the marginal cost of a single trip, rather than the cost of car ownership. Of course the actual cost for 3 people taking a train is lower than the actual cost of 3 people taking 1 car to go somewhere, but that’s not the economic evaluation that is a single visit to Utrecht.

[@Roanmonster]

You need to look into 'groepstickets' (group tickets), those gets cheap really fast (assuming you're travelling outside of rush hours)

[@katerinavysinova5569]

Had to rewatch 10:40 about 10 times! Hope that person's okay. But it made made my day

[@waynerobertson5440]

Same here

[@co2_os]

I really liked that easter egg.

[@colemine7008]

me too, had to scroll pretty far down to see if anyone else saw that..

[@jaklawrence4301]

Years back, there was a plan to fully pedestrianise parts the Oxford Street/Regent Street area of central London, or at least remove private car access and have it be bus lane only. The scheme was fully costed, well supported by the locals and the people who go there to shop; and it was generally accepted that it would most probably actually have reduced traffic in the area as well, since it would've restricted access to a lot of parking and encouraged use of the 4 nearby tube stations or 10+ nearby bus stops. Unfortunately it was eventually blocked by the council because apparently the 'locals' were against it. Baring in mind this area is almost exclusively commercial and consists of listed buildings with no prospect for usage change, I'm not sure what 'locals' they meant. One has to assume they meant themselves, couldn't possibly not let the Westminster councillors bowl down in their Mercedes now could we?

[@tubaterry]

I like the person failing to park their bike at 10:41 and someone tripping over the flat ground the next second lol

[@kulupona]

thats all the same guy! is it Jasons friend?

[@Murdck_]

@@kulupona Yes, I think it's Rollie from Climate Town :D

[@emory4356]

For what it's worth, I found your channel a few years ago and have been a faithful viewer ever since. I am studying urban and regional planning in the U.S., but am currently on exchange studying spatial planning (as the Dutch call it) in Utrecht. Your videos were certainly an inspiration to me in choosing the Netherlands to study in, and it has been really awesome to experience good city planning in person (I'm from Florida). All in all, thank you for spreading awareness about these topics, and for everything that you've done and continue to do!

[@nfboogaard]

Awesome @Emory

[@LoTTus-Art]

Nothing is as calming as watching your videos. It really makes my day better. A LOT. Thank you, Jason.

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks so much! 👍

[@matthewvanvught]

how did you react yesterday

[@LoTTus-Art]

@@matthewvanvught Not Just Bikes has a Patreon, and there he uploads his videos a bit earlier than on KZbin. In another words, it was a private video for patrons till now.

[@asafkedar6722]

The video is quite calming but also depressing because I live in the us 😢

[@kedr0n]

Being an American who lives in a stroad-infested city, sometimes they actually make me angry because of how horrible our car dependency is 😅 especially when Jason goes into detail about how often pedestrian or other non-car infrastructure has been destroyed to make driving easier

[@koenven7012]

People not only use the most convenient mode, also the most reliable. If you're last train goes very early or if 25% of trams are scrapped because of not enough drivers, going to a friend in the city you need a car as otherwise you're not sure if you will get home.

[@chaos.corner]

Flexibility is key also.

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

@@chaos.corner trams are great for daily commuters though since thats all fixed times

[@chaos.corner]

@@ThunderClawShocktrix Commutes don't tend to need to be flexible though.

[@LotsOfS]

Love seeing some comparisons to Asia (Japan in this case). I usually only see people comparing Europe/Netherlands against North America/United States and it's getting a bit bland.

[@bobbirdsong6825]

to be fair, many places in asia have been making great strides against walkability and in favoring cars. but I agree

[@D4no00]

In my opinion the removal of parking lots can only be implemented when the public transportation is on a good level, otherwise people will always have to resort to personal cars instead of public transportation, bicycles are out of the question for long travels, it can only be used in radius of the city.

[@sagichnicht6748]

It is really fascinating what a car hell hole like Brussels can do when it just wants to. In a lot of ways it is way worse than Amsterdam but what Brussels has done in recent years for repairing its urban fabric in its central districts by building and expanding pedestrian zones like there is no tomorrow is impressive. Yes large parts remain absolute car hell holes but considerable parts of the old town are now really nice pedestrianized places. I assume Amsterdam is looking down on Brussels because that is an easy thing to do but in some regards they are really doing quite impressive stuff as well.

[@koenven7012]

the main problem with Brussels (and Belgium in general) is that public transport sucks so much that a lot of people have not option but take the car

[@BolasBug]

@@koenven7012 More than half of the households in Brussels do not even own a car. A vast majority of cars in Brussels are just people from outside the city in transit. They do have other options they just take the car as it is the easiest one as explained in this video. I m quite confident that this will change in the future thanks to initiative such as good move an the voetgangerzone. It will be messy and entitled drivers will trow a tantrum like they always but we ll get there.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Brussels is hell. True hell

[@isdattomatojuice9897]

@@koenven7012 nmbs is fine

[@koenven7012]

@@isdattomatojuice9897 If you live near Brussels and during the day to go to work, yes. But if I want to go to Brussels for instance to a concert and I want to go to a pub with some friends after, my last train home leaves at Brussel Zuid at 22:30 and the next one is at 5 in the morning (just checked the site of the NMBS). So it is simply not possible except if I go by car for at least most of the way (I'm not sure how long the metro goes). When I worked in Brussel and I lived nearby I took the train, took me about half an hour and I had plenty of them (unless they went on strike again). I'm not saying that there are not cars in Brussels of people who could also take the train (my neighbour back then took the car, I found him crazy for doing so), but not everybody has a reliable option with public transport, especially not later in the day.

[@kleinemonnik]

Around 2008/2009 or so I was cycling pretty fast through the Kinkerstraat: I needed to hand in a paper at the university and was a bit late. Then someone opened their cardoor in front of me, which I hit. For some reason I managed to make a movement and actually fly around the car door, landing on the saddle of a scooter, which broke my fall. Except for a few scratches, I only had hurt my left wrist a little bit. Unfortunately the car drove away immediately, especially since bystanders couldn't reach the police (and at least eight police cars drove by without stopping). Anyway, I'm glad that they are redoing the Kinkerstraat.

[@NotJustBikes]

Ouch! I'm glad you weren't more seriously hurt. Getting doored is no joke. 😬

[@SharienGaming]

wow thats horrible - people who just drive away after causing an accident are absolutely monsters.

[@rendomstranger8698]

@@SharienGaming Actually, they are criminals. Any court here would sentence them with a hit and run. Then again, being a monster and a criminal isn't mutually exclusive. It's just that the word criminal has a bigger impact.

[@RealConstructor]

I believe everything, except the eight police cars. When I’m in Amsterdam I never see a police car, let alone eight in maybe 30 minutes.

[@kleinemonnik]

@@RealConstructor I actually counted them, hence that I remember that number. I think something was going on somewhere else, because some were driving at high speed (although none with sirens). But still, that combined with that the perputrator drove away and the bystanders couldn't get hold of the police, was pretty frustrating.

[@ProfessorDiz]

"Empty car park spaces along the canal will be redesigned. In the meantime residents have added their own planters." I'd love to live in a place where the locals take such interest and care of their local spaces. I am convinced the suburbs created a culture of isolationism and selfishness.

[@Aerlinn]

I'm always happy when I see there is a new video on this channel. As a disabled person, I also really appreciate that you consider that when you make your points about transportation. I'm actually quite curious what else Amsterdam does to make places more disability accessible - we're so often forgotten and I'd love to see what they're doing. I've also been curious for awhile now about how they handle emergency vehicles and the like in their street system - I don't think we've seen anything about that yet and I'm really interested to know if they've made any changes because of their street network.

[@koenkeep]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIm3daGPfq2EeKc

[@ChristiaanHW]

emergency vehicles are permitted to use bicycle infrastructure, if they can do so safely. and a lot of cycle-roads (paths sounds to rural) have bollards in them to block (larger) motor-vehicles. (like at 17:56 in the video, the red bollard on the right of the screen) but emergency vehicles and city maintenance vehicles have a key on board, and with that key you're able to detach the bollard (and trow it to the side) to enter those blocked of area's. and emergency vehicles have a system onboard that's able to override traffic lights and give the direction the vehicle is coming from a (exclusive) green light. we have rules/regulations that emergency vehicles have to be able to reach all area's in their district within X amount of time. so there always has to be a way for them to reach every building within that time.

[@tonho303]

11:42 Not more than the grid can take, all thanks to Cluster Load Balancing, a form of smart charging. If all chargers are occupied at the same time, each EV won't get charging at full speed, instead they will get only a share of the available load. It's too expensive to upgrade the grid in most cases, therefore overcommitting through load balancing is usually the solution.

[@chaos.corner]

If you get smart enough, you can also do tricks like discounts for deprioritized charging or "take me to 30 miles range ASAP then just trickle".

[@darekmistrz4364]

Also one 350kW DC charger that will mostly charge 10 cars per day, can be split into 50 x 11 kW AC with proper cluster balancing (not all power will be needed at same time, and even if it will be needed at same time, you can just lower charging power and cars will comply). I'm pretty sure that 50 people will prefer overnight AC charging instead of 10 people having DC charging. Actually I'm recently charging my Tesla with 230V5A and that is mostly enough for daily usage. On average EV will use 5 kWh per day and if I can plug in every day or every other day into 230V5A, I will be always charged to my specified max (70%) in the morning because my car will charge for at least 5/10 hours each day.

[@ThijmenCodes]

The great audio quality of your voiceovers make your videos even more enjoyable to watch. Just wanted to point it out!

[@NotJustBikes]

Thank you! This was my first video using an Earthworks microphone and I think it sounds great!

[@ToniGlick]

I was unhappy when Vancouver started charging for parking everywhere. Turns out it's been another impetus for me to bus, especially to downtown. It's a lot less stressful and I get to explore parts of the city I might not have seen.

[@MichiruEll]

Regarding disability parking: it's important that your system makes disability benefits (and car stickers) available quickly to the people who need it. My mother's feet are very very damaged and she currently can barely walk for 200 meters. She can't use a manual wheelchairs due to arthritis and insurance won't reimburse an electric one since she "can walk". She also would not get disability benefits or stickers, since her feet will likely be fixed by surgery (in 6 months). So yeah, for her, she can currently only go to shops that have parking super close. All that to say: make disability benefits more accessible!

[@kevinlove4356]

Most disabled people cannot drive cars. At least not safely! But many (including me) can ride a bike just fine. It is far better for disabled people (and everyone else) to have car-free cities.

[@mdhazeldine]

I'm a photographer living in London with lots of heavy gear. Sometimes I drive into the centre, but only if parking is available. I pay up to £40 per day to park in Mayfair but I'm happy to do so because I make my client pay for it (haha). What amazes me is how many people drive in massive SUVs and there's only 1 of them in the car and it's really not obvious that they have any real need to. They just do so because they can and because they can afford the high parking fees. The result is tons of traffic. In the last year or so, I have tried to reduce my gear down so I can go by train. In many cases it works just fine and I feel good about not taking up a space for a whole day and not having to pay for it, but there are some times where it's just unavoidable and I'm happy to pay a high parking fee for the privilege. I think the number of spaces should be reduced and the fees should go up, but I don't think we should remove all of it. Some people just do actually need to drive. We just need to have policies that discourage those people who do it just because they can.

[@adityadutt4921]

Thanks for the content, you have made this constant anxiety i have about the world which is probably common to all young people, a little less, thanks to you i have gone very deep and know there are various solutions to a number of problems. I wish to someday move to such a place to just take a walk whenever I need something or want to go for a stroll. Sorry i am a student so this most of what i can give

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks so much!

[@PK-tt5kk]

If NJB visits India, he will get a heart attack 😂. Unfortunately India had put more focus on car infrastructure (getting inspiration from US). Though I do see urban development policy changes in many of the elite policy making conferences. Terms like mixed use development, public transportation & cycling infrastructure is certainly being used a lot more but India is ofcourse decades behind. One thing in India is that India never really was able to implement any urban policy properly. Thus this led to very haphazard development in most cities. This made India feel very chaotic. Growing up I used to despise this. Seeing US in movies I used to be amazed that how well US urban planning was done. Separate place to live & work. No chaos. But now I am so thankful that none of those horrendous policies could get properly implemented in India. India is now putting lots of emphasis on public transportation (especially metros/subways). Though we are miles away from anything like cities in Europe (forget Amsterdam).

[@lichlance518]

Amazing video again, Jason! There is 1 extra reason I can think of why you would want on-street parking. Aside the reasons you said, the houses sometimes need maintenance. New central heating, new cabling etc. Yes someone can take a cargo bike to get to the customer, but if you have multiple customers per day, you want to make less trips back to office to reduce time and park decently close so you don't have to lift for a long route.

[@Glo0ze]

Yes this, I do this kind of work and i need on street parking since walking with all the gear for long stretches is not good, i have to make multiple trips to and from my van and now i sometimes have to walk for up to 10 minutes one way which is kinda insane. But work vans are mostly accepted if the are parked on the "Laad en los" the unloading only parking spaces so they should just remove normal street parking and keep some of those spots. Because now i have to walk not because there is no on street parking but because all on street parking spots are taken and there are no "Laad/Los" parking spaces

[@Hackwar]

After watching all of your videos over the last years, I did change my opinion quite a lot. I'm a father of 2 young kids with a dog and 6 years ago we bought quite a big (used) car. I still consider that to be the right purchase at the time, but I also know, that when this car goes to the scrapyard in 5+ years, we will downsize considerably. I don't see us ditching cars altogether, but I seriously plan to drive something half the size and at least as importantly: far less. My wife already switched from driving to work by car to a bike and I actually never started driving by car in the first place. And with our kids being able to ride their bikes themselfs now, we don't need the space for the stroller, etc. anymore. I'm hoping to reduce my yearly mileage quite a lot in the next year, even though we plan on going on vacation(s) for the first time in several years. I do see the need to reduce the number of cars on our streets substantially.

[@Bubu567]

It's at least worth mentioning how cars are still necessary in rural parts of the country. This stuff is extremely polarizing when they aren't even considered, and a huge point of contention and division.

[@salina3192]

I love how much this channel influenced me when moving to the Netherlands a couple of months ago and now I get to experience this every day. I sold my car, commute by train and do my every day things by bike. It actually works.

[@mollyf8703]

I visited Amsterdam in September for the first time, and really didn't care much for the inner canal ring. The sidewalks are SO narrow, but you can't really walk in the street bc of the surprisingly high amount of cars. My hotel was right off Damrak, and cars were constantly pulling in and out of the bike lane. But I loved the quiet, green streets of De Pijp, and now I know why they're so quiet and green!

[@Glo0ze]

This is also a problem of on street parking, The driving cars arent that big of a problem since you will need to keep the road at least wide enough to allow emergency vehicles to pass. And if you reduce parking everywhere the amount of cars on the street will ofcourse be lower. If they removed parking on the canals they could use that space to widen the sidewalks and everything would be better

[@seanedging6543]

Some of these traffic clips made me absolutely white knuckle 😰 Also, always great to see Raleigh. Looking forward to more anti-parking material! Hopefully, you both have some more collabs in the works - the last one was both hilarious and informative (even as an urban planner!)

[@claian12]

The on street commercial parking is a relic of the 1950s, when cars were fewer and so space for car based shopping was plenty. It doesn't work for 2022, given how many more people exist and drive nowadays. There's not enough space in cities for cars, let alone using your car to park up right outside and shop.

[@NotJustBikes]

The actual scene in the movie, of the smart car falling into the canal, looks so fake and CGI that I don't even know why they bothered doing a real stunt: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGqqY2ecbNigm9U

[@zephyros256]

Oh god, they even have a wilhelm scream a bit later on. I think the chase would have been a bit less spectacular if the car got stuck

[@bernardfinucane2061]

"or even Germany" is sort of an odd remark about pedestrian zones, because every city in Germany have an extensive pedestrian zone in its city center.

[@blueninety]

I've been confused by this whole "car vs no car" situation ever since I was introduced to your channel. There's plenty of research, real-world examples, and proof showing that car-free cities are not only healthier but also much, much more profitable, and that the current city design employed widely by the US and adopted by Europe in some places is an absolute economy-destroying disaster, and yet, time and again, governments keep insisting on building these unprofitable cities... These people aren't stupid, this isn't a cartoon, they're people in powerful positions, and yet they keep approving and pushing for the construction of what are essentially money-pits. There has to be more to it than simple naivety, these people must be acting out of malice or personal gain. Maybe they've invested in oil companies or in the car industry? And then people wonder why the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer...

[@RobbieRosati]

At least in the US there's a huge "car-brain": most people don't know what it's like to really live in a car-free city, all they think of is the rush of independence they got when they got their first car as a teenager in suburbia. There's huge public backlash for removing parking spaces, and huge pressure to add lanes to highways, etc. There's always a chicken-and-egg problem: everything is car-dependent now, so why spend money on a good bus or other transit system when you can appeal to your base by widening a highway? And of course, the construction industry benefits, the car industry benefits, you get some nice campaign contributions too.

[@JosdeKleijn]

One thing they also should do is cheapen the public transport by a lot, because for people not coming from the city it's just simply cheaper to go by car.

[@TheMl145]

As much as I don't like parking everywhere I feel that there needs to be enough in certain places. As someone who lives in an apartment there is nothing more frustrating than coming home and having another car parked in your parking place. This happens when there is not enough parking elsewhere. I also need a car since If I want to visit family they are all in rural areas.

[@Snowshowslow]

Well, IMO you're half right. There shouldn't be more cars around than parking spaces, but that doesn't mean you should build the parking spaces based on the amount of cars around. You should limit the amount of cars to fit how much parking you're willing to accommodate. You can do that by making it cumbersome and expensive for visitors to bring their car in (but easy to use a P+R or public transit), by making it difficult to get a second parking permit for a household and by making other options more appealing than owning a car for people like you. For example: if you need the car every few weeks to drive out to family, you'd probably be better off with a car sharing service if it was available. So it needs to a) be available close by in sufficient numbers b) be affordable (ideally less expensive than car ownership per month overall) and c) it needs to become more of a hassle for you to keep the car around somehow (sorry, that's not the popular part of my message, I get that 😬). Because people will stick to what they know unless they have some reason to look for an alternative, even if that would have been better for them for a long time. Don't get me wrong: the alternative should be in place, functional and easy to use before they start to annoy you and your neighbours into owning fewer cars 😉

[@emma70707]

Do you actually need to own the vehicle though? It would cost me $300+ to insure and pay for parking in my current apartment per month. I could rent a car to see family in said rural area for a long weekend once a month for less than that. If you have any sort of car payment (or could, you know, invest the thousands of dollars of your asset that would otherwise sit there depreciating) and could otherwise do all of your other commuting by ebike or public transit, you'd more than break even. Need is a strong word; I've found in seven years of living car free that cars are more of a nice to have in cities. They certainly make life easier but you pay a huge upfront and recurring cost for having them that most people take for granted and thus ignore.

[@docvideo93]

In the US state of Maine, there is a town called Bar Harbor that is extremely popular in the summer. Parking (no longer free as of 2020) in the town is a nightmare because of the town's density (think pre-cars) and huge trucks (think WWII reconnaissance tanks-size) driving around then trying to fit into these spots. To combat this, there is a free bus service that connects the town with other villages and hotels on the island where Bar Harbor is located. When I went to Bar Harbor for groceries when I lived there for the summer, I would NEVER take my car there to avoid the madness of people circling the town like vultures looking for a spot. Jason, if you visit the US again, go to Bar Harbor in the summer time between June and August. I think you will get alot of good filming material about how Americans and Canadians love really love walkable cities, but just don't know.

[@abebaali1500]

i was in amsterdam recently and was surprised by the amount of parking and car traffic in the city center, glad to see they're working on fixing that. also remember being bother by the construction on the streets shown in this video, now i know why :)

[@NotJustBikes]

Hah! Well I'm glad I could fill you in! :) Thanks so much!

[@alexandernordstrom1617]

I live in Sweden and visit Amsterdam at least once in a normal year. As much as I love it, the last couple of times I've been unable to shake this feeling of "is this really the showroom for the enlightened world that it's held up to be?" Even in this supposed cycling and walking utopia, there are cars almost everywhere, and because there are a few quiet streets here and there, the stress that cars induce whenever they're around is all the more obvious. The Dutch may just be too good at providing optimal, segregated infrastructure for all modes of transport, and that may be great for transportation, but a city is about so much more than that.

[@Glo0ze]

Wow that survey about why people drive in Amsterdam is just insane to me. I have to drive in Amsterdam quite often because of work(installing smart home products/elektrician/alarm or security camera installations) and i positively HATE driving in Amsterdam i have no idea why people would voluntarily drive in Amsterdam. If i ever go to amsterdam not work related i NEVER take the car and i live in Enschede the other side of the country. I mean just parking for 3 hours costs as much as the train ticket itself and then i havent even calculated the price of gas needed to get there. The biggest problem is parking permits for/from residents of the city itself. If you dont need a car to transport stuff (like my work van) and you dont have a parking permit it is not worth it to drive a car in terms of your time/sanity/money so no reason at all. I'm all for removal of standard on street parking but they need to keep at least one or two places for unloading/work vans since sometimes its hell walking back and forth for 10 minutes plus each time with all your gear because they removed ALL on street parking in a large area.

[@Spido68_the_spectator]

Street parking can be good part of the street, but it's rare and mostly annoys everyone. That's why parking garages are better. Not only you waste waaaay less space for cars (you can stack them up) but it also allows the removal of street parking. You end up with better streets and better parking. Everyone wins. Those garages create busy intersections, but if the access is well placed on a road that isn't a stroad or calm living street, it should be alright Here in Nevers (France), the city center is partly car free (fully at certain hours) and has 2 or 3 garages around for people living there or comming to park out of anyone's sight. The very few parking spaces are mostly used by delivery and utility vehicules

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Banning cars completely is even better though. Just build parking garages outside the city for people to park their cars. In the city nobody needs a car, you might only need it if you leave the city. Then you can pick it up in the parking garage.

[@ChristiaanHW]

that's also the case in most Dutch city's. most of the time the (historic) city center is only accessible to cars in the hours the shops are closed. and delivery vehicles are only allowed at the start of the day, when the shops are just opening. the rest of the time the are just for pedestrians, bikes aren't allowed in the busy pedestrian streets either. it's always a bit weird for Dutchies to see people talking about Amsterdam like a paradise while a lot of Dutchies think Amsterdam is (one of) the worst pedestrian/cycle cities in The Netherlands. but that's because a lot of people (from other countries) only know one Dutch city and that's Amsterdam.

[@Spido68_the_spectator]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 not a bad idea, but however the area size could be an issue regarding how public transport can cope with that new movement of people. Bike stuff will help sure, but everyone will cycle.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@VestedUTuber everything that you would need a car for can simply be delivered cheaply. Just having the heavy things delivered when you need to is orders of magnitude cheaper then paying for car ownership. Plus van rentals or bakfiets rentals are available. And transit is very disability friendly. If you can manage getting around per car you can also get around by transit just as easilly. And if there is something you really need a car for once in a blue moon, carsharing schemes are also always available..

[@Ekitai_Hebi]

@@VestedUTuber and thats basically my case, i work construction all around the netherlands and honestly Amsterdam is one of the worst places to work in simply because of the amount of equipment we work with, in some cases cause us to have to essentially count up to an hour and a half for just getting our equipment we essentially do renovations so we're generally not on bigger projects which in turn for us wouldnt make sense to get a city permit and its essentially making us choose jobs outside of Amsterdam and other bigger cities since it cuts too much into profit for the company

[@c-tinescuandrei7512]

Great video, man. Writing from Bucharest, a 10 years experienced cyclist in the riding game of the capital of Romania. Don t come here because you ll be amased at how much cars dominate the infrastructure and basically the city in general. Keep up the good work, cheers form Bucharest. Peace!

[@Pingoping]

Loving how much previous parking space is being used for greenery. Helps so much with cooling the city down

[@nfboogaard]

Very true!

[@cyrkielnetwork]

Few weeks ago I saw question on Reddit what people dislike living in Amsterdam. Most answers included high renting prices, to much turists and to much cars and parkings. That's show that if you build city for bikes and walking, people will want to bike and walk more, but if you build city for cars people will want to use cars more. Simple, yet in most cities in the world councils can't understand that.

[@Raz0rking]

My fear is that while car usage gets made less convenient, the other alternatives stay shit.

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

thats exaclty what would happen here in the states

[@Raz0rking]

@@ThunderClawShocktrix I live in a country wich is considered to have good public transport. As long as you work 9to5, not on weekends and don't live in the middle of nowhere. Then it gets shit.

[@BadgerStyler]

Fun fact: That building directly behind the tram at 17:22 is Guerilla Games, the studio that made Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West. Their view must have improved quite a bit this year thanks to the new park

[@youmukonpaku3168]

ah, *that's* why both Vekta and Helghan looked familiar - they based the former on the nice parts of Amsterdam and the latter on the view out the windows.

[@SchwertKruemel]

The biggest problem I have with bikes is theft. You simply can't have a bike that's nice to ride and light enough to carry up or down a few stairs, let a lone an bike, without buying a new one every other month. That's a problem cars don't have to such an extend. And I don't really see a solution anytime soon

[@_NoDrinkTheBleach]

I can't help but think about the good intentions behind the sub surface road system inside the Loop in Chicago. It was designed to reduce traffic on the surface streets (for the purpose of making downtown more quiet and beautiful), but only encouraged more people to drive downtown. The additional traffic overwhelmed the sub surface lanes and spilled over into the surface streets. So it fixed nothing and added further congestion at new choke points.

[@bababababababa6124]

5:36 I would’ve expected Japan to have better bike infrastructure 😂 Even then though with absolutely no bike lane it’s probably still safer to bike on that Japanese street than a bike lane in North America

[@ratchet1freak]

part of having good bike infra is reducing cars, also their other transit options are a lot better, so walking is also a very good option most of the time (especially when combining with a train trip or similar where taking a bike is awkward)

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

It is safer to have no pedestrian and no cycle infrastructure at all if you want speeds to be low. If there is no obvious partitioning of the space and everyone can use the space as they please people are far more alert and drive at appropriate speeds. Most neighbourhoods are basicly void of traffic signs and sidewalks are not raised from the road at all, they are just a slightly different collor tile. That way it is clear that nobody has priority anywhere and kids can play where ever they want etc. These are easilly the safest streets we have. Trafic incidents simply do not happen there at all because everybody is aware it is a shared place and that anything can happen at anytime, so people act responsible. The best way to improve safety is by making people feel uncomfertable. If you are uncomfertable you are slow careful and alert.

[@kalui96]

I think a big difference is the sense of "society" they have, which differs compared to US culture where people are actively and proud of being antisocial. I see a lot of comments about space and layout but there are plenty of examples good and bad places all over the globe. Therefore, it can be said that it's just a matter of caring

[@teddymacrae]

If you told me 3 years ago I'd be amped up for a video on off-street parking coming out I would have said you were crazy

[@POINTS2]

My city closed a block of the main street downtown for one evening to setup holiday lights. It is amazing how much better it looked just not having cars lining the street!

[@luukdehaan6420]

You teach me so much about my own city and civil engineering! I wish our schools would create a bit more awareness (maybe they already do, but they didn't tell us anything about this during my time).

[@pygmalion8952]

this is not civil engineering. it is urban planning and maybe a little bit of environmental engineering.

[@RobOllett]

Alright my bakfiets full of tools made it in there! Love the channel, I moved from Denver to Amsterdam in 2018 as well and have been following this channel ever since. Keep it up!

[@GuillermoLG552]

You made no mention of taxis. Is there dedicated parking for taxis? I have calculated that if I gave up my car, used public transport and liberal use of taxis, it would be cost effective (I live in London.) Sometimes, you just need a car, to transport that large item, for my 96 year old mother in law, or to move my son to a new flat. A video about the role of taxis would be interesting.

[@SlosII]

Brussel has installed amazing bicycle infrastructure along the inner ringroad. As a Belgian living abroad,I was surprised to see it when I was last there....

[@benefiet]

Good to hear. In my belgium city of Kortrijk, there is also positive change for biking.

[@teage12]

Your work, this channel, is an _actual_ contribution to a better world. I'm happy you exist! Thank you sir!

[@Thunder.Sizzle]

I like your points in the context provided (e.g. a downtown location) - the problem I always run into is that in my area (US), there's tons of work to do even before parking can be removed. However, at least we're building isolated, residential communities with no outside connections except for one thoroughfare at the main entrance with no street parking. Not only do I now get the joys of anti-parking policies, but I also don't get the benefit of a walkable, bikable, or transit-accessible community. We can't even have both sets of grandparents over without parking becoming a problem. If we're going to build car-dependent neighborhoods, we can't pretend they're walkable, bikable, or transit-connected communities.

[@jasonreed7522]

And we build these wonderful suburbs with a house every half acre lot just to not include a sidewalk because apparently its a "rural backcountry road nobody in their right mind would walk down" and not obviously apart of the village where a sidewalk is mandatory to be a complete road/street. Fundamentally before we can get to even the least dense transit options, we need a sidewalk to actually get to the bus stop to get to the train station to go inter city. And at this level of density you may as well ride your bike on the sidewalk because its objectively safer for everyone, and once you escape the suburb you can use real bile infrastructure like a park's multiuse path or protected bike lanes. (Painted bike gutters are just disrespectful)

[@Glenni91N]

Maybe the electric charger can be used for boats? We've gotten more and more electric boats in Norway lately, so maybe it'll find use for that there too.

[@4200Felix]

60.000 € per spot is pretty shockingly cheap for so much space in the middle of Amsterdam. A public parking space in Østerbro in Copenhagen cost about of 110-120.000 € in 2016, and probably significantly more today.

[@sanderdeboer6034]

Problem with most car drivers is that they don’t even know how public transport works and they often have a real bias towards it. I could never get my mother to use public transport in Amsterdam. Even though in her younger years she used it a lot. Partly old age, but also just so used to the relative convenience of a car in front of the house.

[@Deliverygirl]

@Terminal I don't have to respect your selfish choice when it immediately makes everyone else's life worse in the short and long term.

[@DavidNewmanDr]

The electric charging point by the canal in the video will reduce the noise of traffic. Because you can still use it to recharge electric motorcycles. It is not just for charging cars. I rode my electric motorcycle all around Ireland.

[@louislamonte334]

Excellent video! I really look forward to living in a car less car-dependent community. The USA is so obsessively car-dependent and autocentric I only see tiny pockets of car-free areas. Most communities, such as Indianapolis, Indiana for instance, are 100% car dependent and destroyed great electric streetcar systems completely many decades ago. Your video illustrates vividly how beautiful, livable and attractive car-free communities truly are.

[@elijaha773]

Considering how US zoning tries to freeze neighborhoods in time, it is mind-boggling that neighborhood streets are redesigned elsewhere. In my neighborhood, the biggest redesigns are road restriping and traffic light replacement.

[@ville829]

7:00 This point cannot be stressed enough, I'm visually impaired so a license is unattainable for me (not that I would get one anyway). Having to turn down job opportunities because driving to remote locations is expected is ridiculous.

[@amcaesar]

The Singelgracht garage is set to come on line very soon, with something like 800 spots -- I wonder how that will change the traffic patterns over here in Jordaan/Nieuw West...

[@AllianaCordova]

Let's be real here, concentrating 600 spots into a single building was always going to be a massive bottleneck, particularly in an old city center like that.

[@SteeGrav]

When I was a student, at Université Laval in the '90s, I sold my car and took the bus to go to the campus. Everything was available by foot in the city centre. But when I wanted to see my parents on the outskirts of the city, I had to take a taxi,which will cost me half of my weekly budget, or ask my dad to come to drive me home. Public transportation was, and still is, design for students in Quebec City. And it's the same now, 30 years later in Sherbrooke, where I live now. In fact, it's even worse. Here, bus transportation is consciously designed to accommodate students and "poor" poeple because everyone else is assumed to have a car. It takes me 7 minutes to go to work in my car. By bike, it takes me half an hour. The bicycle ways are very good and safe because the city build most of the away from roads. In summer time, I take my bike a lot (even if Sherbrooke is a hilly city and it's quite demanding). In winter, it's almost impossible. The bus is a nightmare to go from my home to my job at any time of the year. One hour and a half! And I have to schedule to arrive 30 minutes before my shift begins... or 30 minutes late. So a car it is. In Canada, if you are not a student or an office worker doing 9 to 5, you need a car or you don't work. Sad reality...

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

building car parking spaces under a canal seems like a clever Dwarf Fortress trick

[@bishwatntl]

I understand the desire to remove street-level parking, but it isn't practical to think that all city residents can give up their cars in a short timescale. There will continue to be people who need to get to and from places that don't have public trasnport that meets their needs.

[@Dogo.R]

Givewell is an amazing sponsor. Similar to 80,000 hours. Just simple resources to use your time and money to do more good.

[@evawettergren7492]

Well, when I didn't have a car I always wished I did have one, as I hated lugging around heavy shopping bags on packed trams or buses. Now that I have a car, I prefer to walk. (Especially during winter as I have to dig my car out from under a mound of snow before using it.) So, guess whether or not I will use a car depends for me what is the least inconvenient.

[@dudaseifert]

Understand that i don't say this lightly, i watch A LOT of youtube: your videos are the ones i am most excited to watch when they pop up on my feed

[@DomingoDeSantaClara]

Those abandoned car chargers along the canals would be perfect for electric canal boats which are now becoming a thing. For a city like Amsterdam it could help jump start a new water based transport system.

[@FortiterEtRecte]

As an Amsterdam resident and car owner I think it is a great idea! Driving in the city of Amsterdam is pointless, you can expect to take 10 minutes to drive a km and it is dangerous (not to mention the cost of parking). However, great ideas need to be reasonable. Many people relay on cars, for trips around the country or elsewhere in Europe. As long as more underground parking is made available for everyone, i can get behind it. Another point is disability, I have a very old neighbour who relies on her car to visit her family. It is outside the flat in a disabled space. Removing her space would be unacceptable, some people need a car as public transport is too physically difficult. Those driving into the city just because should not be allowed, or charged a carbon offset fee to fund planting new trees in the reclaimed spaces! Lets see how it plays out!

[@haschnrt]

Man i love your videos! They should be mandatory for every city planner! Greetings from car-loving germany :D

[@eladnarra]

Good video - although I'm not very convinced that most people bringing up concerns about car-free cities don't actually care about it. I see that claim on Twitter, but very often when you look it's disabled people themselves talking about issues with removing car access. Personally, I'm one of those disabled people you mention who can't drive - but I still rely on cars for accessible transport. Where I live that's partly to do with lack of public transit, but even when I move to an area with better transit I will still probably rely on cars. Not only is public transit too much of a COVID risk, it's usually too tiring. Lots of people only consider physical disability when talking about these issues, but I have chronic illnesses that are exacerbated by stress and mental and physical exertion. In my experience, cars are often less tiring, even if the journey is longer, because as a passenger they don't involve navigating transfers, figuring out routes, broken elevators, and late buses. Accessible parking would help with reduced spaces, but 1) it's hard to get access to these, especially if you don't fit the expected stereotype, and 2) accessible parking often isn't close enough to make it useful.

[@bababababababa6124]

When will the USA and Canada snap out of their car dependent nature… it’s honestly embarrassing for them

[@AnymMusic]

they'll snap out of it, when the people running it don't run it anymore, a.k.a the car lobby

[@bababababababa6124]

@@AnymMusic we can only hope

[@Sheila_Chu]

its really embarrassing and those mfers think its cool 💀

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

hen they have the same density as Europe

[@kevinlove4356]

Fracking delayed peak oil, but it is still coming. I predict that Toronto will lose its car dependency when petrol hits $6/litre.

[@sjblack9135]

I was able to visit Amsterdam (and several other Dutch cities) over the summer and it’s so fun to learn what kind of construction was happening on these roads!

[@shirl-e30]

Yet another great video! I'd love to move from the UK to Netherlands one day, things are just done so sensibly there and decisions aren't made out of greed

[@samuvisser]

We most certainly are not a utopia. Just months ago it was revealed our tax system was applied in a racial basis and many people where unfairly taken out of their homes. I love my country but this channel is not ‘fair’ to it, as in, it makes it sound like some utopia it is not and never was

[@atropatene3596]

Yeah no we're just another flavour of capitalism. Still greed.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@Samuël Visser As far as transportation and ways of getting arround go, compared to pretty much the rest of the world it is..

[@longbow857]

This is on city scale though with a majorty left voters. The country has been goverend by Rutte and his right party for as long as I can remember and the scandals are stacking up. That said from what we hear from the UK these last years it seems you guys persist on doing even worse :P

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@longbow857 Don't say 'you guys', just cause someone lives somewhere doesn't mean they're involved with the bullcrap shenanigans going on

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

The videos of all those quiet streets are so incredibly great. I would love to live in such a quiet street. Thanks for the great videos.

[@pietroasp]

My main issue with parking spaces is that they make everything further away. Instead of going 100m to the shop it is 120, because parking spaces in front of home and same parking spaces in front of shop. And that space is there doing nothing, but making route longer for everyone, it is even worse when you realize half of the time those spaces are empty, so they are not even utilized by car users. I wonder how much smaller cities could be if we remove all parking spaces (not that it is possible, as we can just replace them with something else, but for future buildings it is still possibility). To extend same goes for roads, while you need them - without cars there could easily be less of them and remaining could be narrower.

[@bluegill5802]

The phrase “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” comes to mind. Also in a CityNerd video he noted how the most likely thing to make you drive places is owning a car. And most view owning a car as a sunk cost (even though that isn’t really true).

[@darekmistrz4364]

I have problem with this. I live next to subway, my work is next to subway, I work mostly remote but sometimes need to go to office. I will take my expensive electric car any day because: 1. I pay leasing for it monthly 2. Used up electricity is cheaper than adult subway ticket 3. I sometimes need a quiet place at work for a meeting or call, I can just go to my car and not care about meeting room schedules 4. If I decide to go grocery shopping I can conveniently pack it into my car and go home 5. If there is urgent call to take while going to/from work, I can park anywhere and handle it in that moment. While being on subway I can get off, but there is no private space where I could talk in silence. I could go to loud coffee shop and that is it. I love Not Just Bikes channel but I have problem convincing myself to leave the car at home more often, or maybe even sell it. And these arguments are not even considering non-regular usage like driving to family to other city or transporting something big/bulky from time to time

[@hajayedamir1878]

Its not an NJB video without some classic Brussels bashing

[@Brian-bp5pe]

Writing from Chicago, any street in The Netherlands represents a vast improvement over what we have on most of our streets. I agree that automobile traffic and automobile street parking degrade the experience of living in a large city. Some of our suburbs prohibit overnight parking on the streets, which creates a less chaotic, more relaxed feeling overall, in those places. This is as compared to neighboring towns without overnight parking bans. My primary interest is with bicycling and safety for bicyclists on the street so, in my mind, The Netherlands represents a kind of place where bicycling Nirvava might be achieved. In the distant past, people everywhere were reliant on the public transit that was available to them, because personal automobiles just weren't in the picture. As the costs of car ownership continually increase, that may also leave the public with a renewed appreciation for alternatives to driving one's own car.

[@tescotrain]

NJB did you notice that guy falling off his bike at 10:40? 💀💀💀

[@NotJustBikes]

Considering it's Rollie from Climate Town and we filmed it on purpose, yes, I did notice. 😂 Thanks for the SuperThanks! 👍

[@definitelynotacrab7651]

Amsterdam streets are always so beautiful, like a scene out of a calendar painting.

[@Elena-vy2om]

The first thing I find is important to know where the parking is. When I'm going to Amsterdam from Belgium it's mostly an impulse thing. So I don't investigate where best to park. Know that I know a carpark with a metro is accessible it's an easier choice to lessen the road congestion. Sadly it's still cheaper to drive to Amsterdam and park then to take a train to Amsterdam.

[@by9diz8]

The Japanse store their cars inside, which makes their homes smaller. The cars have to go somewhere.

[@torrawel]

As someone who was hit yesterday by a huge American style car leaving its stupid parking place (result: broken arm..) here in Amsterdam, I of course completely agree with you here. They have to go (both cars and their ridiculous parking spaces) Immediately. End of discussion...

[@generousgeoffrey]

the traffic jam that always forms in front of the Bijenkorf in Amsterdam will never cease to amaze me