CRR 002: Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany

Thank you George for this very interesting and enjoyable summary of the paper. Pretty useful for us down here in France. Aurore Fabre-Landry, Sustainable Mobilities (consultancy)

Cycling side by side also improves the possibility to teach children age 5-6 cycling on the cycle paths and roads, and also allows for greater visibility and safety. As for connections to public transport, busses and trains tend to go 2 times an hour on not so often used routes, so areas can stay unlocked for older residents, disabled and people unwanting or unable to cycle the distance (which tends to be a lot longer in rural areas compared to urban areas) or just to avoid bad weather (snow, sleet hail, heavy rains) and up to 6-10 times an hour on busy routes… Yes on some tracks there are 12 or more trains (6 intercity, 6 stoptrains) going each hour during weekdays, all moving 140-160 kmh (85-100mph), allowing for great ease of longer commutes by public transport, 1 thing which has to be noted. Cycling to points for acces to public transport is more used in rural areas and direct cycling is used more often in urban areas. Public transport also provides cycles for rent (really cheap IMHO) at destinations. Further access to roads for wheelchairs, tricycles, scoot mobiles, prams and buggies for babies, disabled and elderly is improving as well due to more focus on cycling and pedestrians due to mode separation with ramps. The biggest obstacles tend to be old architecture not allowing for ramps or easy access by small wheeled transportation. Cycle Infrastructure is also open for skeelers, skateboards, scooters (both motorized variants >25kmh and human powered), scoot mobiles, ebikes >25kmh, and horses, though horses are rarely seen in urban areas. Users of these wheeled (hooved) options have the same protection by law as cyclists, all falling under the same header of slow traffic. (As opposed to fast traffic being cars, busses, trucks, lorries/semi's, motorcycles and 50cc+ mopeds and scooters). Some slow traffic is diverted to the main road, think of mopeds 50cc 45kmh, speedpedelac 45kmh, scooters 50cc 45kmh, 45km cars for disabled, horse with carriages or other pulled wagons, big bakfietsen and bakbrommers for transport and agricultural vehicles, e. g. tractors, 25-45kmh depending on license and age. And of course other vehicles for agricultural needs (combines, other harvesting equipment).

My best guess is this. Although too many of my American comrades believe a long time lie about Henry Ford and the creation of the Automobile, the truth is it was Karl Benz about 15 years before Americans with his Patent Motor Wagen. So you may ask why then is cycling more prevalent in Europe if the history of the automobile began there? Well in the beginning only very wealthy people had cars as they were made to enjoy as a toy and was not taken very seriously as a mode of transportation. Mostly due to available petrol, roads to drive on and reliable tires. Therefore the horsedrawn wagon and bicycle were what most people in Europe could afford and rely on. Now here is where Ford comes in, he was not even the first to build a car here in the States he was, however, the first to find a way to mass-produce a reliable and affordable car. So his move then encouraged the government to build parkways such as the first parkway built was in NY that is the Bronx River Parkway. In addition to the interstate throughout the country. So there you have it. Now here we are coming close to connecting all states by the rails to trails where we will soon be able to ride on designated paved cycling roads as they have in the NL where I very much enjoyed while living there for a year in the early 90s. When I operated my yacht charter business on wall street in the 90s, I was bi-coastal between San Diego and Westchester county NY and I rode every day with an average of 700 mi a week. I am now in the classic car parts business and soon to close on 15 acres of land for the business and there is a rail to trail right in front of the property. I plan to build a small cafe' on the edge of the trail where cyclist can stop for Dutch-style pancakes and great fresh food. I am in Jacksonville, FL and relocating one hour south where all this great service will be.

Thanks for the great content. I've really been enjoying your channel. As a full-time bike commuter and roadie in Charlotte, NC, your content resonates with me.

Making cycling more comfortable seems to always require hard decisions that deliberately make driving less enjoyable and less convenient for people. Making it more expensive might also work at a certain level, as it could force people into the cheaper alternative of bikes, transit, feet. But calming traffic, causing drivers to go the long way around, and everything else to make it less attractive for people will elevate cycling on their menu to a higher position.

Great analysis here in your vid. I'll watch for the next part.

I’m not sure if the paper mentions this, but in my opinion a very important aspect is the fact that Dutch typical peri-urban middle class, medium density residential areas aimed at families, are still designed with a density of around one single car parking space per home. This while a Dutch family will typically have at least two people who need to be able to go to work (on overlapping hours). I’m pretty certain that combining this parking standard with the availability of nearby bus stops and cycling infrastructure, makes it feasible for families to actually live in these neighborhoods. Which in turn makes it economical to keep designing new neighborhoods according to similar standards. So there’s this sort of feedback loop in place.

I'm starting to feel like i have to pay you college money. Thanks so much for all the free knowledge 😉