The Bike Lanes You Can't See - Ontvlechten

[@NotJustBikes]

I didn't actually read all 80 pages. assets.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/865234/mobiliteitsaanpak_amsterdam_2030.pdf The document is about the mobility plan for Amsterdam between now and 2030, not just plusnetten and hoofdnetten, and it's actually pretty interesting. It definitely tests my knowledge of (and patience for) reading Dutch though.

[@Ellipsis115]

Good thing you confirmed that, I wouldn't put it past you.

[@Paul_C]

It also gives an insight why the Dutch have that 'meten is weten' mentality. And why in some instances, the city is breathtakingly slow to actually decide what to do.

[@Conclusius68]

That document is not exactly easy reading for non-native speakers. I am impressed.

[@NotJustBikes]

I mostly read the Dutch version, and translated any bits that I didn't understand. It's not SO bad once you get familiar with the "urban planning" vocabulary.

[@ivoboksem851]

@@NotJustBikes if you ever need any help, or are by any chance in Enschede, hit me up.

[@DdW85]

Years ago I read an article about Dutch road infrastructure. The Dutch ambassador in Ireland famously always cycled to the embassy in Dublin, but noted the lack of cycling infrastructure, despite this city being comparably flat like the Netherlands. They told him that it would cost a fortune to build all these cycle paths across the city and that the city council would never be able to find the budget to pay for it. 'Budget? What budget? Every time you have to renew the sewers, you have dug open the street anyway. At little extra cost you might as well redesign the road while you're at it. It will take 25 years, but in the end you'll end up with the same bicycle infrastructure as we have.'

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, that's how the Netherlands did it. They changed their road design standards, and then implemented it when they tore up the road. Every road needs to be replaces about every 30 years. So within 30 years, you could have a new city, at almost no extra cost. And reduced motor vehicle volumes also result in lower road costs, which makes it even cheaper in the long run.

[@petertraudes106]

@@NotJustBikes ummm it took a grass root movement, stop de kindermoord en Nieuwmarktbuurt rebellion to change the attitude.

[@NotJustBikes]

@@petertraudes106 yes, of course it took those grass-roots movements, but after it was decided to do something about the unsafe streets, it was the change in the road design standards that made it possible. The other significantly improvement was the introduction of duurzame veiligheid in the 90s.

[@petertraudes106]

@@NotJustBikes Very true, but but but it takes people and politics to change the attitude. I suggest you look into the thoughts of Tjebbe van Tijen, one of the most prominent thinkers and activists of the Nieuwmarkt struggle, and ofcourse Luud Schimmelpennik, the inventor of het witte fietsenplan. (Currently very hot in Paris)

[@JasperJanssen]

Peter Traudes certainly, but it didn’t hurt that it was implemented at very low cost over a very long time. The grassroots movements would have had a hell of a time without that.

[@MrHenkkkie]

A perfect example of 'ontvlechten' is the town of Houten. It was built as a planned town so urban planners and traffic engineers had the abiltiy to fully separate car and bicycle infrastructure, with the result that a town of 50.000 people only has 2 intersections where cars and cyclists meet with traffic lights. All other crossings are via bridge or tunnel. The two trains stations in the two centres in north and south are perfect to reach with bicycle as well.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, Houten is a great example! Almere, too (but Houten is a lot prettier).

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

Almere has disentanglement done wrong. Way too much urban sprawl and too much infrastructure for the people density. It's great there is a separated bus network, but that's overkill, contributes to urban sprawl and is only competition to the bicycle and not for the car.

[@MrHenkkkie]

​@@hendrikdependrik1891 I agree. Both Houten and Almere were designed with mostly houses rather than appartmens, because people in the 60's didn't want to live in the small and insufficient appartments like in the Bijlmer. Almere is as a result a much larger city where buslines are needed, whereas Houten doesn't really need buses because it is very compact. And keep in mind: whereas Almere is done wrong from Dutch perspective, it is perfect from world perspective :)

[@DdW85]

But Almere and Houten are not really disentangled, as they weren't entangled in the first place.

[@MrHenkkkie]

@@DdW85 Yes that is true if you see disentangling as a process a city can go through. You can also view disentangling as a concept of a traffic system, where the disentangling takes place in the design stage.

[@cearnicus]

When people ask what one could be proud of in the Netherlands, they might say football (and no, I don't mean handegg). Or the Deltaworks, or tulips or cheese. But honestly? No. It's this right here. It's the biking/traffic infrastructure and how much thought has gone into keeping it safe. And most of us are oblivious to how good we have it here. It's only through channels like this that I became aware of it. Thank you for doing this.

[@NotJustBikes]

I am amazed that every time I research more about Dutch cities, I find another clever thing that planners are intentionally doing, that they don't do anywhere else.

[@Nefa35]

@@NotJustBikes You should look at the asphalt we use in our highway network. Noise reducing and spray preventing. When it's raining and you drive across the border it is literally a night to day difference. And there is still progress being made there.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@Nefa35 My favourite highway trick has been discontinued because it was too distracting: Musical paint. For a while they painted the edge of the highway in a pattern that plays classical music if you ride on it. It was supposed to signal the sleepy driver that they were drifting off the road, but in practice it led to people driving on the paint on purpose.

[@wilbertversluis2]

So true! Thank you indeed! @not just bikes

[@moladiver6817]

Handegg. 😂 That's golden thanks. 😄

[@wikashbidesie8006]

This is better than watching a movie. Just put a Not Just Bikes playlist on ,get a pizza and relax.

[@NotJustBikes]

Save a slice for me! :)

[@wimahlers]

@@NotJustBikes ... and get your pizza using a bicycle, not a car.

[@truusjenskens8485]

I have windows for hire where you can see it all live, 24 hrs a day....

[@NotJustBikes]

@@wimahlers I walk to get my pizza. ;)

[@wimahlers]

@@NotJustBikes ... while wearing your pedestrian helmet ... I assume ;-)

[@DarthNoox]

This channel is telling me two things: 1. Why not to move out of the Netherlands 2. Why not to move to North America

[@Lara-jp4xk]

If you watch some videos/ documentaries about food industry in North America, you'll have even more reasons to not move there.

[@MrCow579]

only reason why I would move to north america: nature. They have actual wilderness there which I'd LOVE to live in.

[@Flying_Kitty]

@@MrCow579 Finland also has great nature

[@kekkewezel4615]

@@Flying_Kitty yeah just go north to Scandinavia. It’s very similar to Canada

[@Tang-qi6zw]

There are a few places good in North America that are pedestrian decent. Downtown anchorage, AK is pretty good, with it's default pedestrian crossings, predictable one-way streets, and a long bike path connecting major parks around town (the best ones being off of the Spenard through way). Fairbanks, AK is remarkably developed for pedestrian traffic given it's an American city that gets colder than 40 below zero. I was never in want for a car when I went to school there since grocery stores, farmers markets, and any shopping I wanted to get to were very easy to get to by bike, and the bus network worked well enough if I was carrying too much (plus the buses were equipped with exterior bike racks). Boulder, CO is developed for marathon runners and long-distance cyclists, so you get good systems there. Soldatna and Sterling, AK has a parallel path for ATVs, and are so unpopulated even up in Kenai that you don't feel unsafe walking anywhere (and there are some destinations that it is quicker to walk between because of the side-roads, which you can just step over the barriers for).

[@thetoekster6728]

Im still amazed because this is so 'normal' for me

[@NotJustBikes]

Yeah, I have to make these videos quickly before it becomes normal for me too! :)

[@thetoekster6728]

@@NotJustBikes well, i like it! Appreciate your works

[@MRInuzaki]

I hope in the future my country can call this normal also

[@JZGamer]

How lucky!

[@DianthaV]

Same

[@KootFloris]

I think the hidden infrastructure, wired to safety, psychology and brilliant engineering should be exported, read copied, around the world, for more ecology, more physical training, more human cities, more living and less rushing. Your series is a super insightful guide to start doing that.

[@NotJustBikes]

Agreed!

[@stijn4771]

Exactly! I think implementing this philosophy in city planning around the world would make the world a bit of a better place

[@malloott]

I wanted to post the same feeling but couldn't express it as nicely as you did, thanks

[@pbilk]

@@malloott exactly and I agree.

[@KootFloris]

@@NotJustBikes Though the hidden costs might be an issue. Perhaps also make one, how how people building new neighborhoods could start implementing this from scratch, or or by repurposing streets in old cities. It may also safe costs, like for traffic lights, computers and programming, when it's mostly two different networks.

[@freezombie]

Wow. I'd never heard of these, so I just looked up the hoofdnet map for Leiden, where I live, and it's just all the routes I'd naturally take from anywhere to anywhere in the city.

[@NotJustBikes]

Locals tend to gravitate towards the hoofdnet routes without even realizing it. When I first realized that these were a thing, I changed the routes I cycled, and suddenly I was in all this new bike traffic I didn't even realize was there! :)

[@rjfaber1991]

@@NotJustBikes There might be a video in that; how these bits of infrastructure are designed to be só intuitive that people just use it without even realising.

[@juulvandijk5041]

I can't find any of Leeuwarden

[@madman19931612]

I work in Leiden as a food delivery guy (by bike of course) and as soon as this video came to the point I went "I already know EXACTLY which roads are which in Leiden, simply by thinking about what bits of the city I hate to deliver in :P

[@cern1999sb]

This is the thing I've loved most about cycling in the Netherlands. You often end up cycling completely away from car traffic, which can be through woods, parks or along rivers, which makes it really peaceful to cycle. I live in Cambridge UK these days, and while the bike infrastructure is better than most other UK cities, it is still miles away from any Dutch city in terms of cycling safety and pleasantness. The Dutch seem to be the only country who hire intelligent people to design their whole transportation system, including walking cycling, driving and public transport in all its many forms, and don't give them ear-ache every time a road had a car lane removed, because prioritising other modes of transport would actually make the city better for car drivers as well.

[@ucannotseemycomment]

Your channel single-handedly makes me want to move to the Netherlands 👀

[@savagegamer1507]

I am moving there

[@Rimuru.Tempest]

I live there

[@Rimuru.Tempest]

But on the east side

[@1970jel]

You are welcome!

[@0rbsterez]

Move here! We have stroopwafels 😉

[@TheBaegislash]

"Painted bicycle gutter" I'm definitely using that term to describe my city's horrible "infrastructure" now

[@AwoudeX]

we still have those gutters where there is just not enough room/financial incentives etc. to change it. I live in a rural village with 3000 people spread out over a wide area. There are many canals and next to them the typical narrow 60km/h roads with aforementioned bicycle gutters. I love those gutters because it makes the road look even more narrow and that makes drivers more carefull and aware of me when cycling. As a car driver i urge you kids out there, when you share roads with cars with bicycle gutters, be aware that it's far less safe so don't fool around on such roads for your safety and that of others. (recenlty i had kids in front of me, 5 wide, covering the entire road and playing on it which resulted in one of them falling almost in front of my car. Luckily i saw them coming miles ahead...

[@FreekDijkstra]

The proper Dutch term is "fietssuggestiestrook", suggested cycling lane. I guess that is public planner talk for "yeah, we didn't bother coming up with a good solution, we just put some paint on the road, and suggest you bike there. Don't blame us if you rather be somewhere else". (For the real nitpickers, Dutch law distinguishes between dotted painted line (fietssuggestiestroken -- only suggest you bike there, but you're on your own if a van blocks your way), solid painted lines (fietsstroken -- you must bike there, and vans are cars are not allowed to offload there), and separate bike paths (fietspaden -- proper cycling paths separate from the car traffic lanes).

[@THATGuy5654]

Same. What they call "bicycle lanes" in Milwaukee tend to elicit a "are you kidding me?" response.

[@klausbrinck2137]

They are typical for Germany, and the theory of "build safe infrastruture, and the cyclists will come" isn´t valid here, Germans will stoicaly cycle with 30 just inches away from a 16tons-truck driving 60, no problem, Germans are simply used to it, even grandmas drive like that... BUT: The right half of the "painted bicycle gutter" is the road´s edge, and essentially full of big pottholes (due to sewerage-iron-lids)... Everytime I drive on that edge, to make room for some cyclist that wants to overtake me by the left side, I´m forced to drive through all the pottholes, and there´s tons of cyclists and overtaking in German roads, similar to the Netherlands... Mainly, half of the time, you feel like you were in a shaker... ;-( Let alone, it´s mostly not even a "painted bicycle gutter" but simply "the gutter", no paint needed actually, but the pottholes won´t disappear by themselves, of course... The quality of the gutter is maybe perfectly nice for modern, spring-suspended cars, but for bikes, it´s an offroad-pit.

[@quillometer]

MY. MIND. IS. BLOWN! I am currently deciding what to study, and this video made me significantly rethink my options. Very, very interesting and intriguing.

[@NotJustBikes]

It is crazy how well-thought-out Dutch cities can be. They know what they're doing here!

[@steemlenn8797]

Something for you to read: urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html

[@baronjutter]

This is something so many north american planners fail at understanding. For instance I live in Victoria, regarded as one of if not the best cities to cycle in in north america. I don't own a bike because I think its far too dangerous and inconvenient to ride here though. Sure the city is building some "AAA" cycle routes through the city (built to sub-danish standards, no protections at intersections, old disproven bike boxes and all the other worst-practices north america is stuck on as it refuses to learn from the dutch experience) but they don't do anything to "feed" that network of AAA routes. So you have these cycling highways which a lot of infrastructure, but then a grid of local streets that have nothing. Unless you live directly on one of those major cycle route streets and your destination is on one, you'll be forced to ride in busy traffic for large parts of your trip. Because rat-running is a big thing on these street grids, all streets tend to be jammed with cars. Sure the 2 lane 40kph street is a little more pleasant to ride on that then 4 lane arterial, but it's still awful. Its like building a superhighway with no offramps or feeder streets.

[@Zadesniper]

Not just the planners, the people. Nyc has tried putting in bicycle lanes etc and it gets shut down by the communities. Although with that said I believe something is in the works, Hoboken/Jersey City have done an amazing job recently with at least giving somewhat protected bike lanes down major routes. (The only two places I know and can speak for)

[@ultimateo621]

@Chris Madison Neither was the Netherlands, but they changed.

[@rjdverbeek]

@Chris Madison I am happy that you watch these types of videos and learn. I also watch videos on American car traffic and also try to learn. What I for instance learned is that in the land of the free, kids are not free and must be transported by their parents to each activity until they are at least 16 years old. Being stuck in your home until you're sixteen is 'real' freedom. It's clear that you are not living in the land of the free. Get over it.

[@petertraudes106]

It takes a grass root movement to get to where the Dutch are now.

[@Blackadder75]

@@rjdverbeek touché

[@tfragia1]

This channel needs to be a College level course for civil engineers and planners. 🙏

[@kenbob1071]

Unfortunately, some of these city planners who know better, get their palms greased by big real estate developers.

[@CanyonWanderer]

Very interesting. Being a 55 years old Dutch native (mostly Rotterdam / The Hague area), this is the frist time I've heard this in such detail, what an excellent explanation! It is so easy to take this slow evolution for granted. I still remember the first 'Red asphalt' bike lanes appearing in my youth, when rediscovering cycling in 2018 after a really long time I noticed so much new cycling infrastructure. Not only the type you see as a car driver in everyday traffic, but especially the specific "cycling highways" that comprise the LF (Landelijke Fietsroutes) "long distance" cycling paths in NL

[@marcelvanlierop]

Those LF cycling paths are downright awesome! :)

[@CanyonWanderer]

@Ikreisrond Sorry, I did not know that at the time of writing. I was just overwhelmed by all the newly discovered infra 😀

[@CanyonWanderer]

@@jimcrelm9478 Sorry, but none of your arguments would apply when living in the Netherlands, completely different cycling infrastructure

[@runarandersen878]

This makes so much sense when you explain it this way. It’s obvious. I wish cityplanners, politicians and the general public would understand this. This also reduces the conflict between cars and bikes.

[@yourex-wife4259]

Theres no money in it, thats why you dont see it in NA

[@kenbob1071]

@@yourex-wife4259 Yup. I think some of these city planners are getting their palms greased by big real estate developers who have their own best interest$ in mind.

[@LetsTakeWalk]

I'm Dutch and I knew we were pretty good with Bicycles, but I never thought it was this intense and so unique to the Netherlands.

[@aleccooks]

It is funny how i get frustrated when i am in a 10 min traffic jam to get into Amsterdam where as my sister, who lives in Phoenix can be in a traffic jam for an hour and say “gosh that was fast!”

[@k34xy4wmnb]

And you blame Rijkswaterstaat of course :)

[@klausbrinck2137]

Till "Scotty can beam you up", the Netherlands hold the key to the next-best-solution, we have to admit... In Germany, we have nearly no infrastructure, but tons of people cycle, not much unlike the Netherlands, and it´s a blessing... And the country I originally come from (it´s not Germany), sounds just like Phoenix... ;-) In Germany, we have the best cars, people are proud of it, and MANY own one, but they know, that it´s impossible for all of us to go simultaneously on the strrets, so, MANY people cycle, when possible.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

What designers in America forget, even when making bike infrastructure (similar to the London example), is that if you send cars a few blocks out of the way it's inconvenient. But if you send bikes a few blocks out of the direct route, it is still inconvenient, but also physically taxing. You can *feel* the deviation. And because your travel speed is lower, it adds a more significant time increment.

[@UtahStories]

Great video. I visited Amsterdam 20 years ago with my bike and camping gear. I was blown away by how easy they made it to get around by bike, but they seemed to do it without pissing off all of the motorists. This explains how. Why can’t American cities and suburbs adopt this model?

[@paveladamek3502]

Amsterdam: A lady in a dress holding a bouquet of flowers is riding a bike. US: A lady in sweatpants is driving a car to a store 800 metres away to buy three items.

[@edwardrow]

I'm originally from London, Ontario too. Currently, live in Toronto - in Corktown. I am obsessed with infrastructure projects and the terrible design of these two Canadian cities. I recently discovered your channel while looking up life in The Netherlands because my partner and I have been considering it. The parallels are wild haha. Thank you for what you're doing!

[@user-zv1we9jb7u]

I've seen a lot of stuff about American and Canadian urban planning on this channel that confuses/annoys me, but that suburb from 1:44 that has to be to worst I've seen. Completely rediculous, like just put a small road/path in between like what the frig?!

[@NotJustBikes]

Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous. It happens because there is no thought given to the overall planning: suburban neighbourhoods are designed in isolation. But there's also a mentality of not wanting "outsiders" in "your" suburb, so residents are often resistant to putting in pedestrian paths, or even sidewalks!

[@petertraudes106]

@@NotJustBikes misdadig bijna

[@marcovtjev]

@@NotJustBikes I wondered a bit about that same example. Here in the NLusually the far ends of cul-de-sacs are joined by pedestrian paths that are also abused by bikers (despite sluice like constructs to avoid that). Changing main infra is hard, but that would be SO easy to do. Even old neighbourhoods have such paths.

[@Blackadder75]

I never realized how bad it was in the US because the kids in the Simpsons and South Park actually do bike around.... But those shows originated in the 90s

[@Landrassa1]

@@marcovtjev I used to live in Harderwijk many years ago, which has a lot of these cul-de-sac type residential area's. You could literally throw 2 darts at a map to create a route, and it would always be faster (and typically more pleasant) to ride a bike than to take a car.

[@womenfrom0202]

And also important, the extremely high parking per hour costs make you rethink twice before going into Amsterdam center by car. And finding a parking place is also a challenge

[@ufoclips1]

I worked 60 miles away in Eindhoven and hired a car there,i drove into Amsterdam once......ONCE!.........

[@vincenzodigrande2070]

So if you want to shake of the police, just run through that one back yard and you'll have gained a half hour drive. 😂

[@NotJustBikes]

Now you're thinking!

[@rjdverbeek]

Remember the 2nd amendment

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

Then they release the fur missile. Another something we Dutch can be proud of is our network of private citizens and small companies training police-dogs and competing with them which has resulted in KNPV (koninklijke Nederlandse politiehonden vereniging). People buy a puppy, train it, get the best marks possible for certification in competitions, sell it to receive specialized training before being used in the field and repeat. Dogs are bred for function only (well mostly) so dogs from this program are sought after highly. The dog that forced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to blow himself up came from that program for example (the dog just had some minor burns). Unlike our urban planning these dogs were exported very very well. So much so that now the standard military dog and very often the police dogs too will be Dutch/Belgian (just different in the coat colors) shepherds from this program rather than the more bulky and often ruined by being bred for looks German shepherd. Such a competition: kzbin.info/www/bejne/morTfWWVZZusnJI

[@ekevanderzee9538]

And then the durch have bicycle police....

[@kaivanloon]

There are a couple of stories about exactly that, where people, mainly scooters, avoid police by goeing into a place the police can't get into.

[@Mxm0320]

I have lived, studied and cycled in Amsterdam for 10 years. I now realise that I didn’t appreciate the cycling infrastructure enough at the time. Eye opening videos!

[@mourlyvold7655]

I urge you (for ease of mind) to send flowers to the town hall every week for a year, as penance. I promise, you'll feel better... 😁

[@tokyosite]

i always watch your videos without commenting, which i should change because i enjoy them so much! its always so interesting even though i had no previous interest in urban planning. also your voice is very pleasant!

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy them! And I get to tell my wife again that somebody thinks my voice is pleasant. 😂

[@MagerKonijn]

These videos always make me proud of my country

[@philipe1502]

You're lucky these aren't gastronomy videos 😂 jk

[@taha8798]

@@philipe1502 LOL! thank god for their colonies otherwise the food in amsterdam would have been dreadful!

[@qqleq]

I've biked through London, Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Berlin and many other European cities. The good thing about being Dutch is when you grow up with bikes, you can also safely bike in way more dangerous cities then the Dutch, because you are completely in control over your bike and have learned what and whom to watch in traffic. My girlfriend is from Paris and she panicks whenever she bikes, even in bike-safe Holland.

[@savagegamer1507]

Wow

[@kalle911]

I remember my first time in Netherlands, my friend had been there for several years. "you do what with your bike!!??! turn left?!?!" Now that I've biked for three years in a non-Netherlands environment and having gone through three collisions with cars.. Yeah, I think I'm getting it now.

[@obi-wankenobi4056]

Ive biked in Barcelona and made a frontflip because I braked too hard. Ouch... Edit: It was from a descent from a very steep hill, something we dont have here in the Netherlands. Hills freak me out man 😬

[@bramvanduijn8086]

That has not been my experience at all, I don't know how to bike anywhere but here. It is precisely because I am used to cycling in Almere that I have very little experience with sharing a road with cars. I get really stressed if 800 cars overtake me in a 15 minute brikeride, in my experience it means I've made a mistake and ended up on the highway: It feels very dangerous.

[@electricboi9319]

I thought it would be the other way around: that because you are used to the safe bicycle network of the netherlands, you feel unsafe and nervous in countries with bad or no cycling infrastructure because you're not used to these bad conditions.

[@quentinl.9072]

This is next level.

[@NotJustBikes]

The Dutch, man. They know how to design cities.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

@@NotJustBikes we gained some experience with it thanks to the Flevoland project, and the lessons learned from rebuilding Rotterdam, and went from there

[@cascadecontroller]

Zurich has the opposite approach. There's places where you have to cross a street, then a tram track to get onto a sidewalk where pedestrians, cars and bicicles are allowed (looking at you, Hardbrücke). It's more of an entanglement.

[@terryterhaar7495]

Finally a new video!!! I find myself longing for your vids and I dont even watch infrastructure videos in general I just like the quality of your vids and to learn things about my country that I did not know before

[@airplanewhat5316]

Hi, I live in Milano Due, a small village just next to Milan. It was designed and costructed from scratch with separation of pedestrian/ciclists and cars. The whole village is constructed at terrain level, while roads from the perimeter progressively get down at something like 2 or 3 meters from the terrain level, but their actually still there, they are not coverd with dirt, but pedestrians and cars are still amazingly separated and you dont even realise about the presence of cars. All the village is connected with small "pedestrian roads" (something like that) and a "bikes' roads" next to them, always at the terrain level, while cars 3 meters down. Those small roads are then connected with pedestrian and bike bridges that pass over the cars road. So every time I go to Milan I feel really lucky of how my village was planned, but I can see a slow (but not radical as in netherlands) change towards bike infrastructure, but it's not sufficient, because there are still too many ignorant people that dont want to ride and they dont want to give bikes their space so theyre against nearly everything bike related, but they dont realise that the spaces that luckly are already closed to traffic are now the best parts to go shopping and relax away from cars

[@airplanewhat5316]

also, there's one central road that passes from the middle of the village (but below ground level, so perfectly separated) while there's one road that passes all around the village, to arrive behind the condos' underground garages

[@Earth098]

This channel is my favorite urban planning channel. I love the way he explains things very clearly, with no distractive background music

[@cern1999sb]

Every driver in the UK seems to think they're an expert on road design, because they've had to overtake a cyclist, and seem to think that the solution is to get rid of cycling. As a cyclist and a driver, I hate being forced into the road with cars, and I hate having to overtake bikes in a car. In the Netherlands this is almost never a problem, because the flows of traffic are completely separated. It's better for everyone. The networks which route different traffic down different paths (without making cycling feel like a second-class mode of transport) are also great, and I wish more city planners would do this

[@OldClam5]

I'm so envious of this type of infrastructure. Would love to see more of this being adopted in US cities.

[@adamgilleece4936]

So crazy. I started watching your videos before I moved to Amsterdam from the U.S. I’ve been here for about a month now and I recognize just about every street in this video. You go right by my student housing!

[@mhjmstultiens]

Hope you like staying in our country! :)

[@klaasdeboer8106]

A very good example, under construction, is the inner ring of Amsterdam, around the 19th century fortifications, on the outside there has always been the s100 ring for cars, with uneven concrete tiles as a bicycle path on the sides. Only about a hundred meters inside of this ring there is the inner ring for bicyces and trams, and it is being resurfaced as fietsstraat, in smooth red asfalt, all around the city center. (Another reason to avoid the center ;-)) This fietsstraat is working so well, even with cars as guests, just because there is a good alternative for cars, so you will only drive your car in there if you really have to be there, for example to pick up something like a washing machine.

[@GaiaGoddessOfTheEarth]

As someone who bikes almost daily in American suburbs these videos always make me so jealous. Not having to chose between terribly neglected sidewalks (that seem to be designed for the sole purpose of spiting bikes) or riding next to cars going 40+ MPH (65+ KPH) would be amazing.

[@jimzecca3961]

Isn't it illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk in most places? AKA, you should be riding on the streets following the same rules as cars. Not that it's safe to do so in many places.

[@renanfilipe7459]

Your content is awesome, it's chilling to watch and informative at the same time. A little precious gem I've found on KZbin. Thanks

[@twistedmezelf]

pretty fun to see you feature maps i've recently started working on. dedicated mobility plans are becoming the norm in the netherlands and its quite intriguing to see how extensive the process is for designing such plans.

[@mrmofdog]

I don't know what it is about these videos but they just always hit the spot

[@matthewconstantine5015]

This got me thinking about when I cycled a lot in the area I live in (sadly, not for some years). There's very little infrastructure for cycling, so I had to find my own ways to get around safely. I worked 5 miles away, but trying to go in a direct way was not only dangerous, but involved having to get off my bike and walk it for about 20 minutes because of a historic downtown area that was 100% hostile to bikes. I eventually found a path that added more than 3 miles to my trip, but took the same amount of time because I never had to get off my bike. It was, for the most part, safer and had a better flow. But to say the least, it was not intuitive. I had to study maps and do a lot of experimental trips before I struck upon the route. Considering I live just outside Washington D.C. in one of the richest areas of the country, it's frustrating that there's so little infrastructure for pedestrians or cyclists.

[@domestik834]

Damn. Cities all over the world seem to make the same mistakes. Those "quiet routes" are the biggest part in a new "bicycle friendly" infrastructure which is planned in my city, Aken, just literally 0km away from the Netherlands, but in Germany. Thanks for pointing out the problems which I see in those structures, too. Keep up the good work. I love to see all the aspects for better alternatives to cars.

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

Just sell them the plan by claiming it's a way to make things faster and more efficient for cars. :)

[@muffinfighter3680]

0:26 Yeah Hamburg is garbarge when it comes to bicycle infrastructure. There is not even a tram anymore (since the 70's)

[@ashaman8567]

Wow, the Dutch traffic engineers really contend with some high level design, I’m impressed with both how pleasant and efficient the design is for the users and impressed with the genius of the designers.

[@mvdwege]

I'm not normally the kind of guy to go "Netherlands, rah, rah, rah!", but one thing does make me happy to have been born and living here: we deliver world class civil engineers, and it shows. Yes, they have their blind spots (the orthodoxy is still to see e.g. motorway flow as a fluid dynamic, which leads to some questionable design decisions that *increase* jams), but when it comes hydro-engineering, road design, and any other civil engineering task, I'll take a Delft or Twente graduate over anyone in the world.

[@locturallylocs9097]

Feeling so greatful watching this video while out for a walk on a street in The Netherlands with a nice big sidewalk and a large bicycle lane separating the bikes from the other traffic.

[@maxtillie]

Haha, love the Crappy London vs. Real London distinction

[@NotJustBikes]

If there's only one thing I want people to take away from this channel, it's to know that there is a "London" in Canada ... and it's crappy.

[@dennisverweij4817]

@@NotJustBikes But both are still on the Thames river.

[@YiaMdj]

This channel has surprisingly really helped me appreciate this country more

[@mostafahashish2923]

Definitely one of my fav channels. Thanks for the consistent thoughtful analysis!

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy it. I find this stuff fascinating, and it turns out some other people do, too! :)

[@mostafahashish2923]

@@NotJustBikes yeah, between living Dubai and Cairo, remembering A'dam is like transportmagic. I just sent the video to a friend and when he saw the exciting 80-page doc comment - he was like "oh, it's a canadian you!"

[@davebalmada]

As always, the quality of your videos is great! I also like how you showed a variety of places, from Zuidoost and Duivendrecht to Zuid and the Center.

[@TheRampax]

In watching your videos, I like the way everyone seems relaxed, and looks out for one another. Nobody has to brake hard, even at cycle route cross roads people just casually slow a little to allow the perpendicular flow through. There doesn't seem to be any "attitude" from any of the different types of road users. That just seems unimaginable in the UK.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, it's a very "egalitarian" approach. You don't get that feeling that one group considers them superior to everyone else, and generally people are accommodating in traffic.

[@mourlyvold7655]

All our motorists were born and raised as cyclists, makes a difference.

[@ian-titusmanta7399]

I've experienced this sort of infrastructure for the first Tim when I Moved to Freiburg (Germany) to study. And it's so great, sometimes I would take visitors for a Bike ride through the City just to show them how relaxing it can be.

[@touristicvenus]

when i started biking as a delivery boy i really started noticing these highways. Once you find them you will be everywhere so much faster and have a great ride! Look at stadhouderskade wich is a mess, but if you take the bike street at sarphatistraat you have a nice bike enviroment!

[@rick0201]

Thank you ‘Super Jew’

[@TreniFS_]

This! A few years ago I was thinking about how in my city streets are often too narrow to build a proper tram lane, and I realized that there was a street in my neighbourhood that by chance has the tram on a calm street and has a lot of car traffic on a parallel road. I thought that it would be great to do this everywhere on purpose, I didn't know it's already a thing where you live! It's nice to see this exists, can't wait for when we're going to do the same in the 31st century!

[@mourlyvold7655]

I must warn you that waiting for the 31st century will actually demand some patience on your side... 😉

[@maglorian]

I'll have you know that I'm now going to read a 80 pages document from a gemeente I don't even live in, See What You Have Done!!! (thanks, I loved the video)

[@pawn_b4]

The Merenwijk in Leiden is a large neighbourhood (~15k citizens) which has a big bicycle-only road going straight through, heading towards Leiden Centraal. Halfway through, the road splits into three different options that cyclists can take to efficiently reach different parts of the city centre, or the station. What is amazing, is that you only encounter any cars once you've reached the city centre. Its name is the Broekweg (once a small polder road), but we locally call it the 'aorta' of the neighbourhood, which fits perfectly, as hardly anyone takes the car to the centre unless they need to transport goods and it's always full of cyclists. You can ask *anyone* here about it; they'll know what you're talking about. There's a lot that can still be improved in the neighbourhood, but this one bicycle lane is a blessing, and this video surely helped me appreciate it more! www.fietsberaad.nl/CROWFietsberaad/media/Kennis/Bestanden/Fietsverkeer%20GVVP%20Leiden%20def%20WJ.pdf?ext=.pdf (The hoofdnet for Leiden, page 16, the Merenwijk routes are in red)

[@Leon-un8jy]

I'm from Hamburg and I love how you used it as a negative example.

[@NotJustBikes]

Yeah, I like Hamburg, but that street in front of the Hauptbahnhof ... just terrible.

[@Leon-un8jy]

@@NotJustBikes Unfortunatley not the only terrible one. Right now I'm actually living in Helsinki which has decent bike infrastructure.

[@thescrewfly]

Thanks for the location tags throughout. Very useful.

[@Rimuru.Tempest]

WE NEED TRAINS PART 2 PLZ

[@NotJustBikes]

Ahh. I planned to film it when I was in Canada but my trip got cancelled because of Corona. ☹

[@renzo2able]

@@NotJustBikes that darn virus

[@pbilk]

@@NotJustBikes oh darn. I almost forgot about that series. Need some local Canadian videographers? 😉

[@Rimuru.Tempest]

i like trains

[@bryanverhagen8831]

If there is something I learned in Not Just Bikes' videos it's that we dutchies take our entire country for granted. I personally live in a small town (about 2000 people) and I can get anywhere without a car. I study in Utrecht and by car it takes about an hour to get to my school. I get there in 50 minutes combining cycling, busses, trains and trams. I cycle to my nearest busstop, drive on the bus to the nearest trainstation, take the train to Utrecht, hop on a tram to the school district (Science Park) all in les time then I spend driving. I love my country's infrastructure

[@prplt]

I'm surprised not a single comment talks about the situation at 1:45, that's just insane 😱

[@SebiStr99]

I've always thought of Graz (Austria) as pretty decent in terms of public transport and bicycle infrastructure, but this channel showed me how much there is to improve on. I really hope that we take Dutch cities as examples for future planning, because everything I've seen so far is pretty amazing

[@f1freakf127]

I absolutely love Amsterdam! I would love to move there and cycle all the time

[@Dave-gw6wh]

This is really high level content, i love it!!! Keep doing what you are doing!

[@al-du6lb]

Will you do a video on the different between American and Dutch yard work culture? The time, money and wasted space put into the American lawn is absolutely insane.

[@NotJustBikes]

My wife and I bought a house with a yard and we *hated* it. Neither of us are gardeners, so it was just a bunch of unnecessary work. Our neighbours just paid someone to do it for them. But so much of the US and Canada makes owning a yard a *requirement* because of setback requirements and minimum lot sizes. They have literally made it illegal to build a house without a big yard.

[@al-du6lb]

@@NotJustBikes I lament every time I have to mow the lawn. I would like a garden, but not the lawn. I know in Germany (probably in Netherlands too) there are small lots close by where people can rent to have a garden if they wish. This seems like a nice compromise and because all the gardens are together people can share gardening equipment.

[@Landrassa1]

@@al-du6lb Yes, we have those too, we call them volkstuinen. Unfortunately what does happen a lot is that people opt for "low maintenance gardens" (mostly pavement) which has a negative effect on both water management as well as reducing the available biosphere for all kinds of bugs and birds.

[@thekingoffailure9967]

@@Landrassa1 Lots of people here in Canada are opting to cover their yard with gravel or woodchips. They cut down bushes so they don't have to bother maintaining them... so much workable land goes completely wasted simply because people want a buffer between them and the SPOOKY strangers on the street. I'd LOVE to own a garden but I live in a walk up without even a balcony. Every day I walk past these wasted covered yards and wonder if by the time I can afford a house with a yard, will they even exist?

[@jimzecca3961]

It's important to remember in a lot of suburbs, especially closer to rural areas, you need larger lots to handle your septic system and to not overtax the water supply since everyone has their own well.

[@Walterwaltraud]

"two ton death machines" - spot on. Always a question of perspective.

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

Where i used to live they were building a new neighborhood. There used to be a road between fields. The fields became houses and they added a zig zaggy road for the houses to be on. When that road was finished the straight road got poles and a pink color so cars had to take the very slow and windy road while bikes got a fast path I've seen other neighborhoods with the same plan. Straight riad through limited to bikes and very windy roads for cars Whoever came up with that obvious solution deserves a medal

[@MirejeLenoir4670]

This London (UK) thing with quiet streets is amazing. We have the same issue here in Montréal. Most of our main boulevards are fairly large but not enough to support at the same time the car trafic, bus lanes and a proper bike infrastructure, even if sidewalks are usually thin here. The result is that we have a lot of bike infrastructure on smaller streets that still don't really compete with the larger (more dangerous) streets that provide a more direct route (or a more intuitive path). Then, to calm motor trafic on those small streets, some of them now have detours followed by the bike path or lane as well, making the route less familiar.

[@domesticatedpanda]

Can we get a video of you reading out all 80 pages of the mobility plan? Your voice is soothing and relaxing, and it would definitely help me and many others to fall asleep at night :)

[@NotJustBikes]

You do *not* want to hear me reading Dutch. My voice would not be so "soothing and relaxing" when every other word is pronounced incorrectly. 😂

[@dabrentie]

Your videos are really enjoyable to watch your videos. Me as teenager around 13. It’s pretty cool to hear your thoughts of the Netherlands, where I live.

[@mediataal]

Again a great video. Very good insights.

[@NotJustBikes]

Thanks!

[@ucannotseemycomment]

How did you comment an hour ago when the video was posted 4 minutes ago??? 🤯

[@Rimuru.Tempest]

Patreon i think

[@mediataal]

Celsius I am a Patreon So I get early access. Great way to support this channel with great content.

[@kallevanschagen113]

as an Amsterdammer i love this channel, gives me insight into things I see as normal and shows me what its actually worth.

[@mdhazeldine]

Why doesn't everybody do it this way?! Every urban planner in the world should watch this channel!

[@arposkraft3616]

@3:17 I'll add that in some cases that on car hoofdnetten we have something called "green wave" which means that if you drive at the legal limit youll have non stop green lights because they are planned out like that, not only improving traffic flow but also being extremely pleasant and better for the environment the stop-starting

[@woutervanr]

Yes, that's something I really don't understand in American/Canadian suburbs. Why would you not have the alleys we have here to take a shortcut as a pedestrian? Surely that can only happen if they assume that 100% of the people use a car to move about?

[@NotJustBikes]

Yes, the assumption is that everyone will drive, so this is unnecessary. It's the same reason that some of these neighbourhoods do not have sidewalks.

[@cearnicus]

@@NotJustBikes And since it _is_ the only option, then _of course_ people will drive. Sigh, the shortsightedness of it all :(

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

N00bs have designed those neighbourhoods. N00bs want easy access by car and no people around their house. Plenty of people in the Netherlands that hate a main route bicycle path through their backyard. It's a route they can't access by car, they can't increase their gardens over the bike path and bike thieves and other criminals on scooters have escape routes with less social safety compared to roads for cars. Fortunately, the Netherlands looks to the needs of the people while the rest of the world is looking what the majority of the people (which mostly are infrastructure n00bs) want and just serving it without any reconsiderations aside from costs.

[@3of11]

If you attempt to do that it most suburbs you will be met with fierce resistance by the occupants. Most of these are gated communities and they want ONLY one or two ways in or out for anyone. Hardly any one is going to “need” to walk from one subdivision to another because there is nothing but other houses for a couple miles radius minimum. In these areas people barely know their neighbor. Want to know why so many Americans are paranoid and Xenophobic. They basically live in solitary confinement.

[@Vespuchian]

@@3of11 Ah, gated communities, aka voluntary ghettos.

[@Froboymike]

Great video!! I have watched many of your other videos and I love your perspective and how you compare and contrast all the great things in the Netherlands to North America. I am a city planner in Utah and although things are starting to go in a good direction for multi-modal transportation, there is still a lot of resistance trying to just get a more balanced system of transportation. All I want to do is help save our resident’s lives, tax dollars, and help reduce traffic congestion!

[@NotJustBikes]

Nice! I assume you read StrongTowns.org?

[@Froboymike]

Not Just Bikes Definitely! Chuck and his team are awesome 😃 They have put out some great videos this year too that I have had my staff watch. I love the idea of resilient communities in so many ways, but it even applies to transportation. Just like a city would want a diversified economy, a diversified system of transportation makes for a much more efficient and resilient city. In Utah we are pretty much auto-oriented and I chuckle anytime the I-15 freeway shuts down due to an accident and think “if we only had a truly diversified transportation network”, then 2/3rds of the population could still move and get where they need to go!

[@MomberyPrivate]

We need this in Los Angeles so bad!

[@freudsigmund72]

not just in LA. Virtually all town and cities in the US can benefit from this approach.

[@kristoffersparegodt420]

The entirety of the world

[@54Nt1460CD]

L.A also needs a good subway network like that of Seoul and Tokyo. The city is way to big to rely only on bicycles. L.A needs trains and trams desperately.

[@mindstalk]

I haven't heard of Japan having similar concepts, but there's some similar effect, at least in Osaka. Along main roads, bikes are mostly separable from death machines by the availability of wide sidewalks, though you'd still need to use a crosswalk or walk your bike up/down some stairs to cross intersections. Residential streets are 30 KPH, naturally slow because they're winding and shared with bikes and pedestrians. So the effect is a whole lots of streets that are safe to walk or bike in, in between busy roads where you stay on sidewalks and maybe use over/under passes.

[@CamiloSperberg]

That stabilization system on your bike is impressive!

[@NotJustBikes]

It's just a GoPro HERO 7

[@rikenequist5833]

Nice video! We call these streets 'fietsstraten' (bicycle streets) which means that bikes have priority there. And the word 'ontvlechten" (disentangle) has stress on the second syllable not on the first

[@nvwest]

This channel really taught me how to better appreciate our street design

[@Walterwaltraud]

Well the best plan going forward is still to go Quietways first (especially for paths used by kids, students etc.) to do it with a low cost, straight connection, safety first, gain traction and support ideal and THEN or parallely imitate what you perfectly outlined Amsterdam did (love your videos, this is the best one of all of them actually). Do the roads when you redo the infrastructure anyway, but make sure the parallel direct roads get priority for conversion without resistance. Keep up the good work!!

[@iamanomas]

Hi from St. Thomas, Ontario (just south of crappy London). They’ve just completed a series of streets to replace old sewage systems and pavement and damned if they still didn’t use the opportunity to redesign them to incorporate proper bicycle lanes and sidewalks. More gutter paths as you say. It’s so frustrating!

[@mourlyvold7655]

You guys should organise, lobby, whine and protest. How big is your 'cycling community'?

[@atthehighpoint]

Dit yt kanaal maakt me toch altijd weer even blij dat ik hier in NL woon

[@williamdion1236]

You should check out Le Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal, it's a neighborhood slowly transforming into a dense bicycle-friendly area

[@koenmvandeurzen613]

These hoofdnetten are so cool. I am in my second year of architecture and urbanism and my teacher showed these maps for Delft just last week. I didn't even know they existed before.

[@TheoHiggins]

I was just thinking "I wish he'd talk about Real London, we've got great public transport, but very congested car-prioritised roads and almost no cycling infrastructure to speak of" And second later you bring up the Quietways, nice

[@rebeccaalbrecht771]

This explained a lot to me, now living in the Netherlands. I hear how people back in my hometown in the US think that protected bike lanes are needed everywhere, even so it seems on fairly quiet streets, Yet, all the time, here in the Netherlands I ride on streets with no apparent protection, though there are few cars.

[@cluelessmango768]

Some of America's city planning seems so basic to me, like, as if they tried to make city planning something an infant could do, even though it doesn't need to be. Zoning where only 1 kind of building is allowed? Stop lights that only check if someone is there and not if there are many or switching lights before the car/cyclist arrives? I just don't get it. I do want to note that I take such things for granted in the Netherlands of course, but many things that improve our daily lives are done behind the scenes and by smart people who have worked hard to come up with the best solutions for such problems.

[@linuxstreamer8910]

as a dutch person this channel is very interesting to see that thing that are normal for me are not so standard

[@namla777]

I didn't know we had those plans. But thanks for showing the things we normally don't think about, just using it without thinking about it

[@adrienrenaux6211]

I think this video is one of the most important one to show to everybody to explain why we're not just weirdos on bikes that want to annoy drivers

[@amcaesar]

I never thought to consider the complexion differences in those routes, but now that you point it out it seems obvious.

[@harmgoethals59]

I'm always amazed the Dutch streets are so much nicer to travel on then Belgian ones. Hopefully we get better. Doing a great job!

[@bryancurdi451]

This reminds me of something I saw another day near, where I live, I saw that there was a separate bicycle lane, but I have never seen a bicycle lane, on that road, so I was confused for a bit, I think that is the most people I ever saw going on the bike on that road. One thing I'm looking forward to is that, my town is building a new park, and there is going to be a new shopping, center, what I like is that there doesn't seem like there are going to be too many parking spaces and some people are already complaining that there is going to be traffic, which I hope means that more will start going where they need to walking, biking or with public transportation. What brings my hopes up is that recently, I have been seeing more people walk and bike.

[@bryancurdi451]

I actually learned a couple of days ago that, it's actually Maimi Dade County's mission to make it better for bikers, and I even heard that they were testing an app, where when you are on bike ot will automatically give you a green light.

[@gorkemgulan]

I am also very impressed by animal crossings. Not the game but the bridges over highways connecting forrests.

[@mourlyvold7655]

I used to work in forestry and had to daily traverse one that was a combination bike path/ animal crossing (it's very wide). Meeting deer most every morning. Even saw badgers every now and then. They are great and, in contrast to some people's believes, work very well! Are you Turkish?

[@thomasgortemaker]

I live in Hengelo in the Netherlands and there is a thing called a "fietssnelweg" (bike motorway) that is only open for bikes and it's a direct connection between the big cities in Twente, it's still improved upon with even big construction in the center of Hengelo, but can already be used to travel directly to Enschede and Borne and Almelo

[@Richard-ox6zk]

I'm learning a lot about my own country from a foreigner ;)

[@renzo2able]

The reason for that is that they see it as a non standard in there life and thus notice stuff like this far quicker then those raised in it

[@Mi.i.i]

You ever been to the hague, in the Schilderswijk area? It used to be a hot mess of cars clogging up the entire street from the city centre towards zuiderpark. Now they have finally put in filtered permeability. Bikes can go through fine, but cars won't. If you've ever visit, cycle the length of the hoefkade, and visit the area around the stationsbuurt.

[@benobaars]

Yes near Hoefkade and HollandSpoor big improvements. Before criminals were racing there in their cars.