American Reacts to Germany’s Secret Cycling City

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There is a need buffer zone between you and cars, making you feel safe. Where’s the buffer zone between you and cars? Because if this is the cycle path, then what buffer zone are you talking about? That this is not a buffer zone, guys. Absolutely not. Did you know Germany has a secret cycling? I did not know that. Evidently, that’s exactly what they have. The secret cycling city. This is the video by the channel Adam something. There we go. Links down below for this so you can go check out the original video. And this is not the Netherlands, guys. This is Germany. Germany’s secret cycling. Let’s check it out. Thanks for watching with me. Amsterdam is one of the most livable human- centered cities on the planet. After having dared to move past the core ccentric status school when I cycled around the city with not just bikes I was amazed how convenient it was and how calm and safe I felt throughout the trip. M That’s cool. So he went so he collabed with not just bikes. Yeah. So this is a bigger channel I noticed. Yeah. 1.34 million subscribers. Not just bikes is also a bigger channel. Not that big maybe. Well maybe. I don’t know actually. But uh I wonder where this guy’s from. Amsterdam is a gold standard of walkability and bike friendly urbanism that the rest of the world including Europe marvels at. That includes sounds like he’s from somewhere in Europe. His accent does. Uh the guy from not just bike bikes I know he’s from like uh Canada somewhere. Me living in Germany. Compared to Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, Germany is a mixed bag. Lots of Germans are still addicted to their cars and cannot imagine their lives without them. While many others are ready for a change. Urban areas in Germany range from loud, filthy, depressing urban motorways to large transitoriented spaces. From dystopian, grimy underpasses to friendly pedestrianized prominades. Bike and pedestrian friendly human- centered areas, while definitely there are often patchy and inconsistent for now. Anyway, compared to the gold standard of Amsterdam, German cities are still far behind. But what if I told you we are not in Amsterdam? This is Leipig, Germany. A Well, I can tell just from the color. It’s not the the bike path in Amsterdam would have probably been like a burnt orange or like a reddish color, right? City that makes no excuses when creating truly bike friendly human- centered spaces. As a rule of thumb, a good cycle path is one you would let your small children bike on on their own without feeding for their lives. This is why so-called Cherros and bicycle gutters are terrible. The leadership of Lipig is well aware of this. Yeah. So, that’s how we have it here. It would be exactly one of those two options, which actually, yeah, now that I notice it or that now that I see it, it does certainly say Brooklyn, Massachusetts right there. So, yes, that is certainly Oh, and of course, of course, we got the American license plate. Therefore, the city is full of safe, separate bike pads with adjacent traffic limited to 30 kmh. on the back streets. You don’t That looked a little bit more like because somewhere I don’t know if it’s in the Netherlands. I think somewhere in the Netherlands, maybe not. Maybe it’s Denmark or something has the uh greenish bike path or no, maybe that’s Carmel, Indiana. I’m not sure. Somewhere has green bike paths. I know you saw me seeing it in a reaction video. Let us know down below where that was. Traffic limited to 30 kmh on the back streets. You don’t even need a designated bike lane. Traffic is few and far between and the speed limit is low. Time to head in for a Saturday morning coffee and cake on this calm, friendly street. And while we’re sitting here, I would also like to thank AtlasVPN for sponsoring today’s video. AtlasVPN service that encrypts your data. So, uh, I was actually sponsored by Alice one time. Yeah. So, get your discount down below. It said like, yeah, right there, three years, $1.99 before the deal expires. This video was posted two years ago. Deal’s probably expired, but like I said, links down below for the original video if you want to run over there and grab that deal. But we’re not here to watch that. So, we’re going to go ahead. Oh, jeez. Where’s it at? Here we go. After the break, it’s time to look around the city. Lime has been progressively reclaiming space from cars and giving it back to everyday people. It’s fun to stumble upon an urban oasis like this in a place that used to be a barren asphalt wasteland. Dead tissue in the heart of the city. What’s it? Lights. Lights wig. Is that what he said it was called? Though apparently some people came out to protest against taking away their free parking spots in 2019. One of the signs says, “We want equal rights.” This is very, of course, they did. I mean, you know, it no matter what happens, guys. No matter what’s going on, you’re always going to have somebody opposing it on the other side complaining about it, protesting. It doesn’t matter, right? And uh the bike right before the picture came up. I was going to say like it kind of looked like a Dutch bike. I don’t know if it is or not, but funny when we consider that in inner city lip where this protest took place, only 25% of trips are made by car. Yet cars dominate the majority of public space. At least they did back when this protest took place trying to Okay, so only 25% of trips are even take took by car. So that makes more sense cuz like here in the United States, like way more than that would be took by car. Of course, we have a lot of parking lots. Nobody wants them, but they’re there. Got to have them, I guess, just cuz our system sucks. It’s broken. It can be fixed, but it’s not yet. Keep away at this outrageous privilege by turning an asphalt wasteland into a social space. Yeah, there’s that Dutch looking bike I was talking about right there. And dozens of entitled snowflakes will come out to scream at you for it. Unfortunately for them, it’s not up to the silent majority to conform to the excessive convenience needs of an outofouch loud minority. As the saying goes, when you’re privileged, equality feels like oppression. Sorry, snowflakes, but in lig your time is coming to an end. The carcentric hard times have created strong men who are now creating good times which will then create even more strong men via clean air, enough movement and low noise pollution. Biking in Leipig is simply pleasant and at no point have I felt in danger. Cyclists are almost always separated from cars and the motor traffic speeds are limited for safety. Areas where this isn’t true are the temporary exception instead of the eternal norm. Lipigotion. It’s a popular college town with a steadily increasing the exceptions. Light are the temporary exception instead of the eternal norm. Oh, okay. Lightwig. Okay. The name of this city. Okay. Leig is a city in motion. It’s a popular college town with a steadily increasing population currently around 600,000. In the center, there is a whole new bike friendly walkable residential district being built on former industrial land with mixed zoning, lots of green spaces, and midrises sporting 2,100 apartments plus schools and kindergartens. They obviously watched my video about why skyscrapers are a bad idea. Previously, I talked about shadows and bicycle gutters being terrible, and they are. Corn zoom pest right next to you at high speeds. The surface is uneven and they fall at the wrong time. It means getting run over. on this bridge. Liipix solves the problem by converting one entire traffic. Hold on. Was that in the US? This looks like very much United States. Just people. But then again, I don’t know. There’s a lot of people walking around. You don’t have that a lot. Well, I mean, in New York City, you do. This could be New York City. Run over on this bridge. Lipick solved that problem by converting one entire traffic lane on each side to cycling lanes. There is a neat buffer zone between you and cars, making you feel safe. Where’s the buffer zone between you and cars? Where’s a cycle path? Is it on the side where the like the sidewalk? Is that like where this person’s at? Is that what they’re talking about? Or is it this? Because if this is the psychop path, then what buffer zone are you talking about? That this is not a buffer zone, guys. Absolutely not. on each side to cycling lanes. There is a neat buffer zone between you and cars, making you feel safe. This lane conversion increases efficiency since a lane. It’s not a buffer zone. Okay, so he’s on the bike on this lane right there. It’s not that’s not how they do it in the Netherlands. Nope. I don’t think I don’t think they’d be that close to cars. Can move up to 12,000 cyclists per hour compared to only 2,000 cars. Life accomplished this massive improvement not through a multi-million euro construction project, but with a bucket of yellow paint. So, mayors, please take note. The surface will need some reassing eventually as cars have created rots all over the place. It’s insane how quickly cars destroyed their own infrastructure and we’re spending billions and billions on this every year. When was the last time you saw a bike lane having to be patched? Most of us I don’t know where that is. That looks cool. I like the architecture of uh like these things, whatever those are that stick out from the side of the building. That looks nice. Heaven. That’s because the heavier the vehicle, the more damage it does to the road exponentially. So, case in point, an average car causes road damage 1,600 times that of a fat man on a freakishly heavy bicycle. Okay, I love it. Causes road damage 1600 times that of a fat man on a freakishly heavy bicycle. You know the meme about how Roman roads survive to this day, but then the engineers arrived and now we’re full of potholes. That’s because of cars, not the engineers. Yeah, I just wish my also both cuz Roman roads the way that they laid them at or like if you go back look at the top though. Okay, this has drainage. It’s individual stones. There’s drainage. Modern roads don’t have drainage. Water sits. Little cracks that form. Water goes in it, freezes, separates, whatever. Cracks get bigger. Potholes form. I’ I’d say it’s cars and engineers. Both. They’re both to blame. And it is windy out there. Engineers. I just wish my bike didn’t creek so much. I left it out in the rain for a few days. I can’t record like this. What should I do? Well, well, put oil on your bike, I should call a service center, which will schedule me in one month from now where instead of repairing the problem parts, they replace my entire bike frame for €500. Just kidding. My bike is not a Tesla. Let’s go to a hardware store, which Okay, I was going to say that’s No, that’s crazy. Don’t do that. which isn’t out at the edge of town next to a highway, but right in the center near the main station, connected by this convenient, fully separated bike path. That was a proper buffer zone. This stuff here, that’s a real buffer zone. You got signs, you got trees, holes all the way down in between. And the bike lane is right here in between separate than the walking path. the road that’s closer to how you’re supposed to do it except for this area, but you know, after a 5-minute bike ride, time to get some oil, bearing grease, and that wrench that I’ve been putting off buying for the last 6 months. Leaving the hardware store, this bike parking area of a nearby office building looks like a good spot for a quick repair. Just tightening a bolt or two, some oil to the right places, and the bike is good to go. No scheduling, no weight list, no service. Wonder if that was a Dutch bike. Okay. Van Dyke Pro. It looks Dutch. Yeah, sounds Dutch. that has that that wheel guard thing uh back here that Dutch bikes have. There’s the name. Well, I went over it, but you get the idea. Some oil to the right places and the bike is good to go. No scheduling, no weight list, no service fees, just some good old-fashioned do-it-yourself maintenance. Oh, yeah. Why is that funny? What am I missing here, guys? Can you explain this to me? Who is that guy? Why is that funny? Let’s visit the Lipick Historical Center because it is beautiful and fully pedestrianized. Okay. So, are you allowed to just ride your bike through those areas? Because in some places you’re only allowed to go on the bike path, right? But then other places you can just go wherever. Because I know here in the United States, for the most part, unless there’s a specific sign for it, if there’s a walking path for people, you can take your bike there. There is even an underground Ebon station with four frequent commuter lines. Just look at this alleyway and try telling someone it would look nicer with a traffic lane and a row of parked cars. Yeah, sure. Sure would. Another very nice thing about Leipig is the abundance of on street bicycle parking racks. Many cities forget these. It’s one thing to be able to get somewhere on a bike, but you also need a convenient civilized way of locking it. Lamposts, fences, and traffic signs don’t count. Thankfully, in Lipig, such convenient on-site bicycle parking is ubiquitous. They are everywhere. seems to be some areas in still not as many bikes as the Netherlands though, but I mean they didn’t claim to be. I’m just pointing that out. Remain very much car centered. The legacy of megalomaniac Soviet urban planning. We’re in former East Germany after all. Speaking of what’s going on over there, some sort of mini protest. Let’s see. A Russian flag, the flag of Saxony, two peace flags, and two flags of the German Reich. Uh, wait one sec. There we go. My civic duty is done for the day. It’s getting dark soon, so it’s time to head to the station. I’m visiting a friend in a nearby city. Though the station area is still roller carcentric, there is a safe, separated signaled bike path all the way. You know, I will say one thing looks dirtier than a lot of other country. Like look at the ground there. Like a lot of times you see countries in Europe and like or cities in Europe and the and the and the asphalts or the tarmac or pavement, whatever you want to call it, is cleaner. This isn’t so much. Oh, look, the old underpass. I’m glad they’ve canceled it. Underpasses are just a way to expel human beings underground so that cars can rule the surface world. Good riddance. Huh. Our journey ends at Leipig Main Station. A huge impressive building with huge impressive chandeliers. Jeez. It even has an underground multi-level mall integrated into it. And it has one of the most impressive Starbucks coffees I’ve ever seen. Seriously, just look at it. Starbucks. Overpriced coffee. Don’t go to Starbucks. Why would you do that? Starbucks and German imperial architecture or a good mix apparently. My train is departing in a few minutes, so this is where I’ll conclude. My home city of Leipig, through conscious, consistent effort is turning itself into a truly bike friendly, livable, human- centered place. Instead of solutions like Sheros, they actually do what needs to be done. And okay, so he says his home city then didn’t sound like a German accent to me. The city is better for it as it tailors itself to the silent majority instead of a loud entitled minority. The amount and coverage of bike friendly infrastructure is almost unprecedented in the country. This is why I’m calling Leipig Germany’s hidden Amsterdam. Have you been to German cities that are as bike friendly as Lipig? Let me know in the comments. Thank you for watching. Okay, so Germany’s hidden Amsterdam. No, maybe that’s the best Germany’s guy. Is that the best Is that the best cycling that you have as a German over there? Maybe we’ll check out some more stuff about uh German cycling cities or or other countries cycling uh cities and stuff like that. But anyways, thanks for watching. Like and subscribe. You guys have a super fun awesome day. I’ll catch you in the next one. Take care. Okay.