After years of watching @Not Just Bikes and becoming an Urbanist nerd, I decided to go to the Netherlands myself. The first video in this series was just about Amsterdam; now let’s take a look at the bike, transit, and housing infrastructure across this little country! Is it all it’s cracked up to be?
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Thanks to Not Just Bikes and Road Guy Rob for the inspiration and video clips!
Filmed and Edited by John Meader
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#urbandevelopment #urbanmobility #urbanplanning #transit #engineering #travel #netherlands
48 Comments
Those small narrow streets?
That's usually one-way traffic.
Amsterdam isn't hated for being a big city. It is the people being cocky thinking that Amsterdam is the center of the Universe.
Fun fact: in case of an accident between cars and bikes, the car is always at fault!, even if the biker ignored all the rules and stopsigns, this is mainly because all cars have mandatory insurance, and after accidents those insurances will get more expansive… works!
Thank you guys,for showing me how beautiful my country is,I took it all for granted.🎉
Belgian here. Nice video! Also in Belgium (at least in the Flemish part) you will find a lot of nice bicycle infrastructure. Not completely as nice as in the Netherlands but we are working on it 😉! There are more and more people who commute (me too – it takes me about the same time by bike as by car for doing the 8 km (5 miles) to work every morning and evening). It is always nice to go for a bicycle trip to the Netherlands (not in Amsterdam – too busy). I hope you can make cycling more popular in the States but I think it will be difficult (hope I'm wrong)!
"Look if you build three storey apartment buildings people are going to die because I'm not going to be able to rescue them" – sounds like a skill issue, bro.Git gud.
👍🇳🇱⚘️
The white car with red stripes @ 5.40 is for parking enforcement.
Dutch car drivers cycle too.
and no "sound pollution"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiNn9LT3FWk
10:40: that's not a crosswalk. That's a speedbump that gives pedestrians a good opportunity to cross, but vehicles don't have to yield to pedestrians.
Traffic in Amsterdam il like a dance, as every motorist is also a cyclist. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. (Quick Quick slow) 😁
The situation at 2:05: it IS intuitive to Europeans because in Europe traffic lights are placed in front of the crossroads whereas in the US they’re placed behind the crossroads. Which in this case means that the bike rider who’s turning left, first needs to stop and wait for a bit, while at the same time should not be blocking all the other bikes behind him that are going straight forward. He will have to wait in the “right lane”, letting all the bikes behind him pass, until the traffic turns green and only then he can make a left turn.
Guess the demonetizing word: Gun?
About eye contact, as a pedestrian, people make eye contact with the driver of a motor vehicle before setting foot on the crossing.
In San Diego a little colour might have helped (unlikely) , how ever i understand their fear, i am also not a fan of a 2 ton death machine breathing down my neck. That being said i'm 50 and never had a car rear end me.
13:48 yes, that rut (spelling?) / notch is for bikes. That crossing will be up to the modern standards when ever it needs to be replaced, (decades from now) and will hopefully become a tunnel instead.
And yeah, you are doing a good job: Come on, an american coming o the Netherlands to learn, i hope you can convince others that the Dutch way is one of the better ways forward in terms of city planning.
I demand that it needs to come back on the Dutch Netflix 😭😭😭
Dutch Traffic Law protects the weaker participants in traffic. Whenever there is an accident betweeen pedestrians and cars or cyclists and cars, the car is at fault and has to prove he/she did nothing wrong and the weaker party was wrong. Insurance will also lay the fault at cars/motors, unless proven oyherwise. .
Start changing the mentality and laws. It will become better.
5:15 uhh… these are Fatbikes, not Motorcycles. A fatbike is jut a electrical bicycle going 25/30km/h. There are cycle path where mopeds are allowed as wel. With a top speed of 40km/h.
But motorcycles… They belong on the road.
Overcoming obstacles and discomforts has always been part of cycling. If the Dutch had only cycled on perfect infrastructure they wouldn't have gotten good infrastructure. The Dutch cycle when it is somewhat possible and then government followed by meeting demand for infrastructure.
Would be freakn cool t bike through bigger cities in the US in a safe way 🙂
Please don't be too afraid of the criticism! Dutch people are very blunt compared to Americans and honest to a fault. We often don't bother to make criticism into a compliment sandwich, and then we forget to say anything positive at all lol. I thoroughly enjoyed your take on Amsterdam cycling and I can clearly hear that you're well informed (with thanks to NotjustBikes). Would love to see more!
2:04 there is a lot wrong with this picture but the left turn lane being on the right makes sense with the layout of the intersection. Let me break it down for you.
The car that is on the zebra crossing isnt supposed to stop there, he has to stop at the white line on the right edge of the frame. The second car is also over the white line. You can get a ticket for that. That front car is even obstructing part of the left turn bike lane. You should have yelled at that driver.
So lets imagine those 2 cars are waiting before the white line and there is plenty of space for cyclists.
When the cyclists have the green light, the cyclists that go straight ahead cross, while the ones who want to take the left turn go on the left turn lane, stop and wait there for the other cyclists to pass, and then they can cross the street. The lights are timed so that they will have plenty of time for that.
This lane is on the right side because if it was on the left, it would be on the road and that would cause dangerous situations. On the right, they are protected from accidents by the zebra crossing on right side and the bike lane on the left side, which reduces the chance of accidents.
This is not an even intersection, it is designed for a high volume of cyclists going straight ahead and only a low volume of cyclists turning left into a side street. And it looks like an intersection where cyclists from all side get a green light at the same time, and then the cars go in order. Which is why this weird looking layout is probably the most efficient. But, it could probably be improved by widening the shoulder in the middle so the cyclists who want to turn left can wait there.
Ah about the 'signs are for cars' goes also for traffic lights. Many squares have the 'all on green at once' for bicyclist because they don't need to be told who goes first. And it's not perfect but for some crossings this works. An example is the video "All Directions Green (Tegelijk Groen) – Groningen". I have cycled there for several years every day to the train station. Never had an issue there. It's so much easier to navigate on a bicycle.
This was a fun pair of videos, thanks for sharing 🙂
We don’t build our houses of flammable materials like wood. Building you saw in Amsterdam are build of bricks 😂
The highway overpass in Houten, we did use to have a lot of those and they have mostly been replaced with tunnels. Making a bike tunnel under an existing road isnt that complicated, you just shove a big concrete tube in and put some drainage under the bike path and thats pretty much it. Im surprised you managed to find one of those stairs you have to push your bike up, I only see them at train stations these days.
2:05 that there is horrible design, I hate it – me, a dutch person
5:35 yeah its not that safe but it is what it is :/
13:40 yup its the old style but sometimes they still make them. I hate them :/ They're better than nothing ig
Oh also generally honestly I think you've seen mainly the better parts of the cycling infrastructure ngl. For example Breda is much much worse than Amsterdam, Utrecht (and Houten).
Also little rant from me:
Google maps and honestly generally all way finding services are actually HORRIBLE for the good cycling paths. I take many many paths that google maps just doesn't understand. A cyclist is often (but not always) allowed to go into a one way street the wrong direction and google just doesn't understand. Same with that there's often connections that are just not listed on google maps even though they are there. Its really frustrating tbh
To be fair, Not Just Bikes did mention that mopeds are allowed on bike paths in quite a few videos, and is himself not very happy about it
The purpose of going to the right to make a left turn is to position yourself as if you're coming from the right. In effect, you're not making a left turn, but you're crossing the street. And then there is no need to create facilities for cyclists turning left (like wider spaces, traffic lights, etc.), cause there are no cyclists turning left.
I wish americans ( and other foreigners ) stop this disease of comparing the Netherlands with their native country … serves no purpose at all : any country is what it is !
on 8:36 "There are no rules". Is not thrue. There is still the right of way and riding on the right side of the road. Plenty of American sidestreets also have no painted signs nore seperation. Where do you ride? On the right side afcourse
Lads complaining that its not intuitive because he didn't understand how some of the designs he'd never seen before worked
Of course, certain things didn't work as well as you'd want them to learn… you aren't using them properly… it would be the same as sitting someone into a car and telling them to drive despite them never driving or knowing anything about it, they wont know the rules of the road and will therefore break them and road designs wont function as intended
11:03
Here in Limerick, Ireland, our newer cycle paths that are on the roadside have a high kurb that comes up and then straight back down on the bike path side
This was done to stop illegal parking
The council basically said "we're sick of asking ye to stop parking like idiots… so now if you do it your wheels will get banjaxxed"
They will absolutely destroy the wheels of a car and i know cause when the first one was built, someone tried it and had to get their car towed away cause both of his left axils wer snapped in two 😂
Nobody has parked on these types of cycle paths since
For a lot of cyclists,including myself, trafficsignals and lights are just a suggestion.
For a lot of years I'm cycling every week around 70kms through the centre of Amsterdam for my work, use a helmet, a fast gravelbike with discbrakes and a small rearview mirror.
In the citycentre I'm much faster than cars.
That postcard street in Utrecht is literally around the corner from my house. Feels good to see some bay bros raving about my town. Keep fighting the good fight! I visited Cali and I loved it despite the lack of cycling infra lol
You look familiar to a Belgium Comedian…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ftrrWg970
oh pls , we dutch dont need a flat bed bicycle or ''backfields'' to transport a door XD i mean we be going to local electronic store on bicycles just to buy a fridge and cooler combi that's about 100 to 135 kg. 200 mtr. tall 50 wide and 55 deep . and have the store owner strap it to our backs as we hop back onto our bicycles to pedal home whit a fridge and cooler combi strap to our backs XD and not just fridge and cooler combi's , even washing machines and dryers . sometimes even couches from ikea and such . its a common thing to see and do in The Netherlands .
first off all , free way / highway is not ment to cross by either foot or bicycle . unless there is a bridge or tunnel going over or underneed it wich is ment to make it possible for people on foot or bicycle to cross . if there is no safe over or under pass , do never cross the free way / highway . even whit not causing an accident , its considerate a crime and you be arrested and jailed .
next to your averidge roadway infrastructure network ment for cars and trucks , The Netherlands does have a bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure network trough out the whole land . and like car and truck roads , these bicycle and pedestrian paths and infrastructure does connect to all city's , towns and villages . and thus enabling any to travel and go anywhere and visit any city 'town or village by car or truck . you can also ride the bicycle or even walk your way trough the hole country's and go from place to place , visit every city , town or village just by bicycle or by foot . and yes these pedestrian paths and bicycle lanes are all accessible by wheelchair as well . therefor even disabled people can use them , either whit help or even alone . allowing even disabled people to travel around , even if their is no motor transport or public transport available .
At 2:04 You can prevent a lot of angry reactions if you make a connection to your fellow bikers and give proper directions with hand signalling which way you're planning on going to. Generally people will let you, to prevent a crash.
Furthermore our highways are most certainly more quit than in the USA, since we have noice reducing asphalt, which contributes to 50-80% noise reduction compared to concrete highways. Also when passing a suburb, or living area almost all highway noise is reduced because of noise barrier walls.
I remember when I first cycled in Amsterdam as a student being from a much smaller town. It was very overwhelming for me too even though I had been cycling my whole life. I totally get that
Nice vid …. regards from Delft, The Netherlands
5:20, yes he does say that in many of his videos
As a 40 year old born and raised Dutch man I've never (consciously) seen anything like the lane on the right for going left. So that's pretty rare. That being said, it does make some kind of sense. If you want to see more flaws in the Dutch bike infrastructure, come to The Hague. We have plenty of crossings where as a cyclist you end up in front of the lights on your right, while cars are moving straight past you on the left and if you want to turn left, then, well, fuck you figure it out, I guess.
Yeah we hate motorized vehicles on bike paths too. Especially kids on ebikes that go way faster than is legal are currently a moral outrage. They're relatively new and under-regulated and causing a lot of accidents.
The way to not lose your bike in one of those fietsenstallingen is to have a funky bike bell, panniers or saddle cover that you can easily pick out. And then remember the vague direction of where you left it.
Also I appreciate you pointing out that it's not perfect yet. A lot of roadworks are happening at all times, and usually those improve the layout. It's a work in progress. We're ahead of other countries, but we're still pretty far from the finish line.
14:19 funny how you walk “on the wrong side”, are you a lefty?
I can’t walk with my bike on my left side, always have it on my right hand side.
In Nijmegen to get from the river level up to the Snelbinder bridge which is quite high and steep there is a special facility for bikes. To go down there is a narrow gutter with "broombristles" on ether side to slowdown your bike when taking it down. To go up there is also a gutter but now with a escalator in it, not with a flat surface but some bars on it. They basically stop your bike from rolling back.
Hi, a big part of why our bike culture works is also because of the traffic laws. Within city limits, when you get into an accident with your car vs cyclists or pedestrians, you as the car driver are mostly always the liable one and considerd at fault. You drive the deadliest vehicle so you are held most responsible, regardless if a cyclist pops out of a lefthanded street and you hit them. Pedestrians and bikes, have the through way in the same direction at unmarked crossings. I don't know if that is a big difference with the USA. But this is true in every city and village over here and helps with car drivers being extra considerate to their own wallets.
There are cycleroutes for Utrecht to Houten where you don't have to use to walk over a bridge to cross the freeway. There is a cyclebridge to the south of Utrecht to cycle to Houten without walking.
2:35 you swing to the right there because you will need to stop there to wait till it’s your turn to cross the street. If you would stop on the left, that would block the way for bikes going forward, and it would put you closer to the moving traffic.
11:58 in Dutch we call that a “bakfiets” I guess cargobike in English. This one is old, they can move a serious amount of cargo with them. When I was a student they were popular to borrow when moving to another apartment, or if you needed to buy a lot of beer for a party.