Hosted by Bend Bikes. Sjors van Duren explains how transportation planning philosophy in the Netherlands can help Bend improve by reducing congestion and improving active modes like cycling and walking. By creating streets which flow at a slower but more consistent rate, higher volumes of traffic by vehicle, bike/ped, and transit and each be accommodated. Separating fast and slow traffic at the street-level and network-level increases the safety and comfortability of the streets and also creates amazing places to live.
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As of Aug. 2023. avg. gasoline cost is $8.50/ gallon in the Netherlands and $3.85 in the U.S. ( €7.76 /gal ; $2.25/litre; €2.05 Euro/ litre.) I think this contributes to the popularity of cars in the U.S. and bikes in the Netherlands. Any U.S. politician who even hints at raising the price of gasoline with taxes for conservation or climate change IS TOTALY WASHED UP and hounded out of office. U.S. people cruise around in heavy fuel guzzlers and they love it. It's even difficult to live in most of the U.S. without a car. Their society is utterly dependent on cars. Most of their country is covered by ugly urban sprawl with vast car parking areas. If a U.S. bloke doesn't have or want a car, he can't have a date or get married; he is seen as a bum, non- person, migrant, or weirdo. A bicycle is mostly seen as a kids' toy or a sporting utensil for a few geeks wearing lycra shorts, most of them effete gays like the bloke in this video wearing that girls' headband. Heaven help U.S. people when the oil gets scarce and expensive.
Another thing I want to mention is that in tenders you can really challenge the market. You can of course describe exactly what you want, but you can also say, this as an example: I want to have a possibility to cross a river. And you ask the market for a solution. And I know from experience that sometimes very creative solutions come up.
Roundabouts are very dangerous for cyclists. I can say that as a Dutchman. People get killed there, just a week ago a woman was killed by a truck in my hometown. Not the best solution.
Great points about putting cyclists in front of mobilists (where they're visible) and prioritizing traffic. Optically having cars slow down. Because its not about stopping traffic, its keeping everone moving safely. And sometimes you have to make tough decisions. Love from Den Bosch
Also great idea by the lady at the end. Creating one or three bikelanes which are engaging and beautiful to ride to give people a taste. Like from a village nearby straight to a school, city centre or trainstation. And good comment by the gentleman, you want public transport and cyclist interaction minimized because buses and cargo trucks are large
Of course 80% of the people in the comment section are Dutch (like myself…) Shows you that this is a topic that interests us a lot and want to learn more about even if our current infrastructure is already class leading.
And don't forget, drivers in the Netherlands are also riding a bicycle so they know where to look or how to avoid conflict.
I'm pretty sure he means cycling, biking , thats what motorcyclists do,,lol
You have to consider what cities are like.I stay in Dundee Scotland which is like living on a side of a mountain. It is OK going down but you have to push it up all the way back not pleasant even healthy young fit people have to push. It would be good if you live on flat land.
22:55 You see that in my neighborhood a lot now (Rotterdam North), but to be honest I never saw the point of going this far. Even if it is "minor roads", some people will have to drive into those streets and it puzzles me every time I have to, since you have to drive into random other streets to make a u-turn there (because you sometimes you are allowed to cross a street but not go to the left or right, bit hard to explain in just words), or drive around a whole block (through equally small streets) to get to your destination which doesn't solve anything but only makes things worse for everyone in my perception.
38:00 In reality though, normal Dutch people (ignorant and egocentric as always) will wait on the crossed out part as well, blocking the other cycle lane without giving any copulation. 😉
Besides my other comments, I want to say this was very interesting for me to listen to and I love how passionate Sjors seems to be in his work!
Where/what the hell is Bend?
Please come to Rotterdam! Here cycling infrastructure stopped developing 30 years ago.
This is a wonderful presentation. Wish all city’s would take a look at this.
Please talk to Belgian government, our country can improve alot in terms of road quality/safety/efficiency..
What i'm always missing in these presentations is that we (NL) are not only protecting cyclists with great infrastructure, but also legally. When a car hits a cyclist, he is always guilty in court. When you hit someone you really have a huge problem as a car or truck driver.
very good, more of this! nice glance to the future of some places that could be more very where
This is the best and most entertaining presentation I ever have seen on cycling! Very nice and it inspires me. I can't wait to take a ride tomorrow😀
Its very cool to see this movement about changing infrastructure to suit people in general over just cars. Not quite seeing it pick up speed in actual building yet but its a step by step process and as a dutch national I follow it with great interest
I'm Dutch and I agree with this presentation, even from my wheelchair/handbike perspective!
I'm very embarrassed by his accent!
I'm also embarrassed by his choice of words and the way he pronounces them! It's a fucked up mixture of British and American English!
that tunnel needs even more paint!
One thing he doesn't really talk about is how we also have separate bus lines on the bigger main roads running through the major cities. This really stimulates the use of public transportation like buses, even within the city, because it will be faster than being stuck in traffic. And also, in The Netherlands, we WILL close down main roads for these projects if needed.
Brilliant start even Sjors. Well done to try to define 'fietsen' for people. From a Dutchie and former Oregonian.
Does this ever start? I'm almost 6 minutes in & nobody has said anything remotely meaningful.
There's only so much content-less mutual admiration society an engineer can take before the mind is numbed into total shutdown & one is forced to quit listening.
My limit has been exceeded.
Making arterial roads attractive to cars in the Netherlands is two-edged. It takes you around the city center, so while driving you're always a bit detached from the place your moving through.
But then again, the cycling is so much nicer. Totally worth it imho.
There's so much info packed in here that I really doubt the majority of the audience retained all of it. I think they're the ones who are supposed to implement it, so I hope you gave them like a booklet summarizing and reminding them. Then again I guess they could rewatch this video