Why Amsterdam is Removing 10,000 Parking Spaces

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In 2018, the political party GroenLinks promised to remove 10,000 parking spaces from the streets of Amsterdam by 2025. So how is that going?
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References & Further Reading
Verkiezingen Gemeenteraad 2018 - uitslagen per stemlocatie
maps.amsterdam.nl/gemeenteraa...
The Future of the Gardiner East: What Can We Learn from Other Cities?
www.waterfrontoronto.ca/news/...
On street parking and its impact on road performance
www.matec-conferences.org/art...
What Share of Traffic is Cruising for Parking?
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
San Francisco's SFPark Experiment
www.sfmta.com/getting-around/...
escholarship.org/content/qt0j...
Amsterdam Parkeertarieven
www.amsterdam.nl/parkeren-ver...
How Much Traffic is Cruising for Parking?
transfersmagazine.org/magazin...
Toronto's curbside patios made nearly 50x more money than the parking spots they took up
www.blogto.com/city/2022/10/t...
Even businesses are OK with losing on-street parking. So why would Toronto undo curbside patios?
www.thestar.com/opinion/contr...
What would a free market for parking look like? It'd look a lot like Japan.
www.citybeautiful.nz/2018/09/p...
Parking in Japan: What to Know before Getting on the Road - PLAZA HOMES
www.realestate-tokyo.com/livi...
Japan's proof-of-parking rule has an essential twin policy
www.reinventingparking.org/20...
On-street parking in Tokyo - How to use and the regulations | Living in Tokyo
living.rise-corp.tokyo/on-str...
Deze kades en bruggen in Amsterdam verkeren in slechte staat
www.parool.nl/amsterdam/deze-...
Parkeervrije Hoofdgracht
Inspiratiedocument voor een nieuwe kijk op de grachten
amsterdam.raadsinformatie.nl/...
Amsterdam telt al 1141 parkeerplekken minder
www.parool.nl/amsterdam/amste...
Meer ruimte, minder parkeervakken
amsterdam-autoluw-magazine.re...
Amsterdam wil 11.200 parkeerplaatsen opheffen. In Oost probeerden ze het een maand uit. ‘Je ruikt de bloemen’
www.trouw.nl/binnenland/amste...
Cities have a parking problem. More parking is not the solution.
citymonitor.ai/transport/park...
The Strongest Case Yet That Excessive Parking Causes More Driving
www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
More Parking Puts More Cars on the Road
www.sightline.org/2021/01/28/...
What Do Residential Lotteries Show Us About Transportation Choices?
people.ucsc.edu/~jwest1/artic...
The high cost of cheap permit parking in Amsterdam
ssrn.com/abstract=4140629
This video contains footage licensed from Getty Images
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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:12 Getting rid of parking is contentious
2:11 The problem with street parking
2:46 The finances of street parking
4:36 The Japanese example
5:47 The exceptions
7:20 How did they do it?
8:01 Example construction projects
8:41 Crumbling canal walls
9:47 Just do it
10:28 Frans Halsbuurt
11:22 Underwater cars
12:46 How is 10,000 counted?
13:17 Off-street parking is a problem, too
13:57 Amsterdam's car problem
15:31 Why are these people driving!?
16:50 How to reduce car use in the centre
17:20 4,000 and counting
17:51 GiveWell
19:23 Patreon shout-out

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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 😋

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@absolutemovie.]

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.

[@rjh00]

@@absolutemovie. 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.

[@elenachristian9860]

I suspect it's the tourism industry.

[@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.

[@tubaterry]

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

[@YoshiNuss]

thats all the same guy! is it Jasons friend?

[@Murdck_]

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

[@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?

[@SystemfehlerK]

You drive with a dislocated knee?

[@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..

[@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.

[@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.

[@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)

[@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

[@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

[@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?

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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).

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@ichmagkeinemachos]

There's a person falling over their bicycle at 10:40

[@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.

[@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!)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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

[@enmorot]

One of your best videos so far! Very well done indeed!

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@91djdj]

Nice video! I´ve been to Amsterdam once too and yeah, the experience within the city center was pretty hectic and chaotic. I wish there would be an overall paradigm shift in urban planning where there are more walkable urban cores. Walkable, but also reasonably connected for all modes of transport.

[@teage12]

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

[@haschnrt]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@NotJustBikes]

Visit givewell.org/notjustbikes to learn more about GiveWell. And if you donate between now and the end of 2022, GiveWell will match your donation, up to $100 (or while matching funds remain). If you're planning to give to charity this holiday season, definitely consider giving through GiveWell.

[@littlebitofhope1489]

I hope that person who fell wasn't hurt.

[@LeafHuntress]

Hé Jason, Ik ben van twitter gegooid toen ik ietwat te aggresief reageerde op vuurwerk idioten, dus ik kan je niet zo bereiken. Ik heb een videoverzoekje. Ja, je hebt al honderden ideëen & you wil talk about that in a future video, maar luister ajb even. Kun je iets maken over de humane kant van fietsen? De verliefde paartjes die hand-in-hand fietsen, de moeder die haar kind met een hand op de rug ondersteunt, het kind dat achterop bij papa op de bagagedrager staat,(wist je dat er 3 hits zijn in NL met bagagedrager?) het toeschieten & elkaar helpen als iemand gevallen is, oppassen bij wiebelende kleutertjes, dat soort dingen. Het valt mij op dat in het buitenland fietsers vaak gezien en benoemd worden als insecten. Wellicht kun jij de wereld wat humaniseren. Ajb, bvd, Liefs leafs(^.^)

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@DavidFraser007]

You always bring good news and I'm always a bit sad when your videos end. I don't even live in a city.

[@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.

[@ethanmoore886]

7:13 is a beautiful shot of what effective city design can be. Going to come back to this

[@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...

[@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

[@_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.

[@secondengineer9814]

I'm glad to see GiveWell is sponsoring you!

[@Cinderbloom]

I would love to hear you opinion on the new Tram line in Odense - Denmarks 3rd largest city - that was very recently completed. They pedestrianised a lot of the center of town, and had some really interesting ideas, but there's been so much talk about problems with it, from noise, to speed, to rattling and problems with bike tires.

[@No-yn1mj]

I would honestly love to see the bigger cities of Denmark be more pedestrian and bike friendly

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@Pingoping]

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

[@nfboogaard]

Very true!

[@boxrick1]

Great video as usual. Bloke at 10:40 has a bit of a fall.... 😪

[@NotJustBikes]

He also has a lot of problems drinking coffee.

[@coolnewpants]

@@NotJustBikesAre you the guy who tripped and fell?

[@Partario]

@@NotJustBikes These scenes were like straight from an end-scene from parks and recreation

[@aye3678]

@@coolnewpants I assume so, seeing as how the same dude was recorded walking other areas. Would be weird if they just followed a random dude and recorded him lol

[@fietsenOveral4650]

Great work as always! As a new-ish Utrecht resident (from the US), would love to see more coverage/examples of all the great stuff going on here! The huge transformation of the station area in the last ~10 years overall - the car-low city center, aggressive removal of car lanes/dedicated car space (Voorstraat, Nachtegaalstraat/Burgemeester Reigerstraat, Catherijnesingle, Westelijke Stadsboulevard - 4 or 6 lanes to 2, Kanaalstraat), and paid car-parking across the entire city soon. It seems like every time I discover a slightly problematic area, they have a near or mid-future plan to renovate (ex Westplein by CS, Europalaan). Newer developments in Lijdsche Rijn have wide areas with basically no direct/cut-through arterial roads.

[@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

[@jekker1000]

damn man. I am not sure if you put all these big and little accidents in there on purpose but they sure are adding a great slap stick line to this video. I had to rewatch the car getting bounced into the canal 3 times and 10:38 is funny as hell. what event was the car being bounced in the canal?

[@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.

[@generousgeoffrey]

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

[@logy7]

7:25 Very curious where this footage is from. And thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@digimonflow]

These videos are so good at explaining some of my biggest gripes with urban development while being concise and entertaining. I look forward to the next one!

[@hdgaming4563]

Your videos are great. Also where I go to every summer Vienna, is doing a lot of upgrades to its transportation network including the new U5 underground and the extension of the U2 line as well as many new grassy tram tracks. However one problem with Vienna is the ring, even though it has tram tracks it has like 4 lanes for cars. And drivers ays its a nightmare to drive in the ring because of all the traffic and because of the Trams are along side the cars.

[@heidirabenau511]

I am going to Vienna in 9 days time!

[@hdgaming4563]

@@heidirabenau511 Enjoy your time there how are you planning to get around?

[@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.

[@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

[@louiskuypers550]

So glad you made an example out of Frans Halsstraat, I grew up in this neighbourhood and it absolutely has become my favorite street in Amsterdam, with all the cosy bars and restaurants, perfect mixed use street imo.

[@martinc.720]

Uploaded just as I finished reading an article on the CBC website that mentions your channel.

[@hollywood123ism]

I agree but it is very annoying when you have worker strikes on. I had to borrow a emission compliant car to drive into London as it was the only option due to train strikes for a interview that could not be done online.

[@blueninety4393]

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.

[@walterbyrd8380]

Some years ago, I was riding my bike, fast, in a bike lane by a row of parked cars. Somebody opened their door, right in front of me. I managed the dodge the door, except for the very tip of my right pedal. I was flung right into traffic. I still remember the sound of squealing tires as cars slammed on their brakes to avoid running me over. To this day, I am still nervous about such bike lanes.

[@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.

[@valteu]

Thank you for your amazing content. It is unbelievable that city authorities still spend so much more money for car infrastructure compared to mass transit and bike infrastructure. And Amsterdam of course is one of the best positive examples! As a German I would be so happy to have similar transportation opportunities!

[@Glo0ze]

The biggest problem is that that the car infrastructure is already in place and other infrastructure needs to be built. So if the city has a budget there is a recurring cost for infrastructure MAINTENANCE which gobbles up most of the infrastructure budget each year leaving almost no money to build new bicycle infrastructure. Because you cant just abandon existing infrastructure in a city with hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. even though in the long run it is wayyyyyy cheaper since maintenance on bike lanes is way less then car infrastructure. So any change has to be slow and gradual to wait for the car infrastructure to wear out then instead of just repaving it spend a little extra to change it to something better (more room for bicycles and or pedestrians for example)

[@SamWickens]

I really wish more of this would happen here in Luxembourg. My way home from the station has a bicycle gutter that abruptly disappears for one block to make way for on street parking, despite the opposite side of the road being an actual car park that stretches the entire length of the rail bridge it's underneath. And if you follow where the signs lead you as a cyclist, you end up in the woods because since you're on a bike, obviously it's for leisure. But we're just married to our cars here, and it probably won't change until places away from the capital get decent connections.

[@Lukas-dr7vo]

I really like how you are able to tell difficult topics in an easy way! Are you an urban planner or just own interest?

[@LeafHuntress]

He’s not an urban planner, but he plays one on youtube. ;-)

[@fatrobin72]

Thanks to a new car centric retail park (currently just a "garden centre" (garden stuff is less than 50% of the stuff in store)) and a stretch of the road having a 6 traffic light junctions per mile ratio... for everything within a mile it is quicker to crawl on the floor compared to driving (only reason rolling is slower is due to having to go uphill some of the time)... Even outside rush hours.

[@draggonhedd]

Every time I want to go to the grocery store downtown, I curse thet fact that my city used to have an extensive tram network and doesnt anymore. So now I'm forced to drive the most irritating and convoluted route through some of the busiest roads across town instead of taking public transit. I would bike but thats also really sketchy because of traffic. (barely enough room for a basic bike, nevermind a cargo bike, and i dont feel like being a martyr for a cause). Its so frustrating.

[@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.

[@iron-mage]

when i got the notif for a new vidya i smiled & thought YOOOOOOOOOO New NotJustBikes :D

[@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.