How the Dutch SOLVED Street Design
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- The current North American street design is not sustainable, the commute time and fatalities are escalating. But is the solution finally here? In this video we'll do a deep dive into how the Dutch design their roads and transportation network so effectively to reduced commute times and fatalities.
Bio:
Adam Yates is a real estate developer living in Toronto who works on master planned communities and mixed-use / residential developments. On this channel, Adam explores complex urban design and City building topics with rigor and optimism, helping his audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build.
Attribution:
-Plan Map Scene: travelboast.com
-World Map: Vemaps.com
-Roads and Car Aerial shot by Levinkoshy at Videvo
-Not Just Bikes priority networks
The rule of thumb: If two modes of transportation share the same space, the slower sets the speed. In reality there are exceptions for places where pedestrians are extremely rare.
The Dutch book on urban planning actually explains that this is one of the positive aspects of non-separated bicycles lanes
Thanks for sharing. Good rule of thumb 👍
You are incorrect. Traffic lights set thejourney speed ! You can share a country road and a car will travel at 60kmh and the bike at 20kmh. Bring in traffic lights (in an urban setting) and no matter a car drives 60-80kmh, higher speed will get undone by waiting at the traffic light junction. And indeed in London the average speed of a vehicle is 17kmh ! Not due to 'bikes', but because of traffic lights and congestion.
(This counts also for bike traffic. There should be as little traffic light junctions as possible . For example in my 200k Dutch town, I can travel north to south 8km and aproach like 6 traffic lights and a movable canal bridge (esp. in summer!). And if I push it by taking a street parallel I can even limit it to 1 traffic light and the bridge !)
Also traffic lights determine the flow of traffic. You may have urban roads with 2 or 3 lanes per direction (cap up to 1000 car per lane per hour = 3000). But this becomes useless when you approach a traffic light junction. (capacity of just 150 vehicles per lane, per hour ) . 2x2 or 2x3 urban streets don't make sense and are only dangerous and discouraging for pedestrians and cyclists !
therefore in Netherlands roads/streets in built up areas are usually limited (and even brought back to) to 1x1. With traffic lights 1x1 is enough.
I have seen pedestrians reach high speeds...
... as soon if they are on my hood or front bumper.
Did a cycling trip across the Netherlands recently, I was blown away by the infrastructure, not only in the cities but also in the rural areas. Literal separate cycle highways between small towns and cities.
I hope the weather cooperated. 🌞
@@joeycee5680 It did indeed! got really lucky with streak of sunny days in April with only light showers overnight. Only complaint would be the headwinds.
How far apart were those cities and towns?
@@maggiv5401 Not very far at all, maybe 10km was the longest stretch of uninterrupted path before you hit another little town. It's an amazingly connected country.
@@2penry2 those towns were there before the connection. The point is that the area is condensed unlike in the United States once you get past the Mississippi you can go very long distances between towns. Very few people are going to choose to ride bikes for distances like that. When I visited Ireland, I was told that at one point before the car, every town was no more than 6 miles from a railway station. I’m pretty sure most of those towns existed before there was a railroad.
3:41 I was just on the bus in Calgary, Canada and it was stopped at a red light, on a transit way, with no cross traffic, and with the parallel road on a green light. It’s shocking how even when millions are spent on a transit way, the busses still don’t get signal priority.
The Dutch do a great job at creating effective movement of people, rather than building for cars and tacking on other things, “just in case someone doesn’t drive…”
Yeah we have a similar situation in Toronto, they have a N-S dedicated streetcar lane which is great but then it has to stop at every major E-W cross-street street to ensure that “cars maintain an acceptable level of service” according to city staff… absolutely brutal haha
I've lived in both cities, and man sometimes I could walk faster than jumping on a streetcar in Toronto. Definitely biked faster. In Calgary, hoenstly I barely ever take transit. It's either bike or drive (unfortunately) for me. @@AdambYates
Traffic lights are more intelligent in the Netherlands, if there is no traffic, the light for the bus stay green and all tragic lights that hinders the bus will go red. It depends how tragic is, but in general public transportation has priority above cars.
@@MartinWebNatures I think you mean traffic and not tragic 😅
@@EyesOfGehenna 🤭 yep, typos but you get it. Don't correct it, sometimes TH-cam don't like correcting and posting is lost
USA and Canada are 50 years behind in road and street design.
Definitely agree!
Maybe true but there are certain areas that are more ahead than others. I believe cities need to start making higher standards than what the provinces put out because some know better.
More then 50 bro
Over time (at the replacement/repair rate every 30 yrs) they can correct car-only structure. The southern town in the US where I live in South Carolina has given a very nice nod with protected bike lanes. They have been in place for a year and because they are not “penciled-in” suggestions they help. What is lacking is everywhere else in town given completely over to heavy extreme speed car and semi truck traffic. So many wrecks. Solid summer season of orange alerts for terrible air quality and no not due to wildfires.
The beg buttons are the only way for those on foot or bike to cross and wanna guess how long we wait at those? Insane how long. If you don’t hit the beg button it will not give a turn at all. And that means extremely low priority causing mistakes and possibly creating accidents. Hullo.
When people were always told they are the best, they are less in for changes by influences from other parts of the world. In contrast, the Dutch are always in for views and ideas of others. They are eager to try something new but also want science based proof the idea is actually better. Even Dutch speedbumps have a scientific developed shape and dimension. So the main thing to change is the will to change and a community type thinking, without the individualistic me first approach.
3:35 uh... that is not the "Amsterdam network", that is the Dutch network Those two are not the same. That said, the Amsterdam Biking network would basically look comparable to the national network in density. There are very few places in a city where bikes are not allowed. Defacto every street is part of the network.
Was looking for this comment haha. Amsterdam and The Netherlands are not the same.
And @ th-cam.com/video/L7_O1GSPIWo/w-d-xo.html it shows a German street, captioned 'Netherlands'.......
@@TaniDraws That is not what 90% of Americans think it is (of the small 5% that actually know it).
Wait until you try to explain that Amsterdam is the capital city of the country but not the province it is located in and that the government is seated in another province altogether.
Guess @AdambYates couldn't believe that map wasn't a biking network of a major city, but of the whole country, includinging its rural areas.
Great concept! Crazy how people are fighting this type of design in Toronto when it clearly works!
They're fighting those stupid painted bicycle gutters that make no sense and are dangerous. What NONE are suggesting is a separated / safe bicycle network.
Great video, Adam. Keep it up. I'm really glad to see the increase in urbanist content on TH-cam.
Thanks, appreciate the note!
Dude!!!! I did my research paper on “EV are not the future for America” and talked a lot about walkable cities and reliable transportation and I love you went into detail how they use their streets. got yourself a subscriber
Actually Self driving cars are the future. You clearly needed to do a lot more research. All areas are walkable if they have sidewalks which most places do. Seems some people when they say walkable they mean cars are more restricted.
I thought so too but after further research it won’t solve our over reliance on vehicles. States like Texas are destroying neighborhoods to construct more roads. Here is an article you might find interesting according to the guardian “worst of all is cobalt, which mostly comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the Washington Post 15% of that country’s mining operations are in the “informal” (unregulated) sector, which employs upwards of 200,000 people (including thousands of children, some as young as six) working in unregistered and badly ventilated mines.” Green cars aren’t green. If you’d like to read my paper I can email it to you.
@@ronpetersen2317Cars are not the future. There is no way to create an efficient transport network that involves individual people in metal boxes that weigh several tonnes and are parked on average for 20-22 hours per day. They are too big and take up too much space and are too inefficient.
Just taking a car and putting an electric engine in it and having a robot drive it, doesnt solve the problem. The problem is that its still a car.
@@TheSuperappelflap Cars are pretty efficient. Even here in the Netherlands with good public transport, in most places I've lived and jobs I held, the car was almost always vastly superior to public transport for my daily commute. Even taking traffic into account, it's a huge time saver. It seems they take up a lot of space... but consider that if only 25% of car users here would switch to public transport, they'd completely overwhelm the system. And there are already few opportunities left to add more trains on busy routes.
They do have their problems, but some of those can be solved by autonomous cars. One is getting rid of parked cars in dense city centers or even residential streets. Another - and this is a huge deal - is that it makes ad-hoc car rental convenient. If you only really need a car for the occasional trip to the DIY store or to visit relatives or a holiday, and the train is not an option, you might rent a robo-car, have it rock up at your house 30 minutes later, and it'll bugger off by itself once you are done with it. Same as a taxi? Yes... with the notable difference that the robot makes it far cheaper, to the point where you might not want to own a car at all if you're not using one daily. It's already happening to a degree with ride-sharing cars, basically rentals that are parked in the neighborhood and can be unlocked with an app. We have a few of those around here. Self-driving cars would give drivers more options, and spur wide spread adoption. Which is great, because cars still have their uses.
Self driving cars will eventually be a hell of a lot safer than having meatbags behind the wheel.
@@TheSuperappelflap They are the present past and future. Have you only lived in a major city? It wouldn't work even in suburbia. In a small town forget it.
1:44 These ideas didn't come from discovery, people first protested in the streets about the high number of deaths caused by cars, especially among children. And then over time more and more solutions were created and probably still learning, tweaking
it's best to separate instead of prioritize modes of transport.
This is the first video I've watched on your channel and was pleasantly surprised by the production quality, given your channel is still an emerging one. I like that the animations are a little retro. As for content -- this was a GREAT primer on road infrastructure, I wish a video like this was around when I got into urbanism, it'd have connected the concepts for me faster. The graphs and such are really helpful in comparing countries.
"The Amsterdam network" All of the Netherlands.
But that's part of the beauty of it. It's all connected, and that's a large part of why it works so well.
How many square miles are we talking about?
Amsterdam Metropolitan region
2,580.26 km2 (996.24 sq mi)
Toronto Metro
5,905.71 km2 (2,280.21 sq mi)
Netherlands sans water
34,329 km2 (13,254 sq mi)
Well, as a Dutch person I would say: just start with creating a separate, red coloured lane at the side, reserved for bicyclists. That's not that much of an anchievement (and not that costly), but it is at least half of the job, looking at safety matters. Bu that, the bicyclists will feel respected ánd they are sooner noticed by cars, which rapidly reduces the number of accidents.
I think you underestimate how costly it will be. It only works really well if you connect the entire city, not just a neighborhood or two. Creating dedicated bikelanes throughout whole the city is an expensive and time consuming task. If it was easy, don't you think more NA cities would have done it?
May I ask what the limit is in distance that a Dutch person expects to cycle for daily transit? Most people I worked with- retired now- drove 10-20 or more miles a day for work. It wouldn't matter how many bike lanes there were, they were not going to cycle to work, even if traffic jams kept the time used the same.
At 4:45, bicycles don't really have priority at the intersection shown. Instead, there are separate traffic lights for bikes, taking away the conflict with cars. This approach is standard at intersection with main roads where cars can go fast.
At slightly more minor intersections, there are roundabouts with separate lanes for bicycles. The bikes then will typically have priority for ones inside urban areas.
Great video, showing the road types that are used is neat, but showing how they form a network with other road types is so much more useful to get an idea of how they can or should be mixed together. I personally play with designing a grid city in my off time, and seeing how and when to mix things just makes finding potential design considerations so much easier. I hope you can make more technical stuff or just show where you could find more like this for the seemingly vanishingly rare group of urban design nerds.
Wow! Great succinct explanations. This should be the go-to video for anyone first getting exposed to these ideas.
Thanks! Appreciate the comment!
Videos like this seem happy to suggest that just providing the alternative (traffic, public transport) will magically induce a tectonic shift in public mind. Maybe, but that is not how it happened in the NL; there, beside the carrot (providing alternatives that work), there is also the stick (increasing the price of using automobiles both ownership and fuel taxes). The stick is more about making sure the tradeoff is actually considered rather than just to go with the status quo, and then specially for the 2nd (and more) car. Also military personel, and scholarship students (most) got a public transport pass rather than a transportation deduction. In the NL all these changes over decades partially absorbed the growth in cars per household beyond one (the primary car is much harder to eliminate beyond rarified places like major city inner cities). I don't think a change like this is possible without the stick part, and videos like this that suggest it is purely traffic engineering are somewhat deluded.
Stevenage in the UK is a prime example of how not disincentivizing car use while building perfectly fine infrastructure has no effect at all.
one mayor problem that isnt adressed here why this might not work in the US is that they do zoning wrong. In the Netherlands you can have shop on street level with housing above the shops. You can have commercial buildings be in residential zones like supermarkets and other type stores.
In the US you have to drive to do whatever. You need to drive out of your suburbs to a commercial zoned slab of land where all the stores are. Where in the Netherlands you can walk or cycle to the closest supermarket, in the US u sometimes need to drive severmal miles to get to the closest supermarket.
The US is designed to be car centric and the zoning works against redesigning traffic in this way. The way the US builds their cities now and the way they zone them makes owning a car mandatory or get shafted in unreliable almost non existing public transit.
@@ronniebots9225Note that while true the Dutch system also only covers the daily trips (grocery and work and children's schools commute). Maybe some other stores in the city centre are also reachable by bike for a larger share of the population, but it is not as universal. Same for larger shops in the city outskirts. So it is pretty much only a first magnitude car free solution. (and then specially, as said in the first post, to reduce cars per household rather than do away with it completely. That is mostly only for a minority living in the city centres). In addition to the first post: parking in the densest (city centre) neighbourhoods also plays a role as "stick"
The carrot isnt just less traffic accidents and functional public transport. The carrot is that its generally faster and easier to bike, walk, or take public transport than driving. For example when I visit my parents town, I can walk in 10 minutes from the train station to their house, on safe streets, crossing only 2 streets that have "fast" (50km/h or 30mph) traffic.
I can bike from their house to the city center in 5 minutes along those same safe streets. If I drove instead, I would have to drive for just as long taking a detour along the roads for cars instead of the direct route I can take on my bike, and then find a place to park, and then walk to the store I want to go to. It would take longer to drive than to bike to the shop and park my bike in front.
It's also about changing attitude : If your Mother / daughter / child is on a bike, you will look out for bikers / fietsers ... the fiets always wins in NL .
Brilliant piece Adam, it would be amazing if we could start doing this in North America. As the model of upgrade and replace as you go makes so much sense.
Totally agree! Thanks for the comment, appreciate it!
US: more cars! We want more ca-a-a-a-a-rs!!!
@@garryferrington811 and BIGGER ONES! why use a car when you can waste 2 parking spots and the climate with an oversized RAM VAN?
Plenty of Dutch urban planning innovations can be implemented in North America. However, there is still a problem of zoning. Many North American homes are far from their daily destinations and thus require motorized transport of some form.
Outside North America, most people generally live within walking distance to most of their daily destinations. Walking is an option for groceries, restaurants, shops, offices, schools, and transit stations. In that situation, having a car is more of a luxury than a necessity. For those where a car is a necessity (elderly/disabled) or extremely convenient (families), there will be more space to move around and less traffic if there are less cars on the road.
Its not just about the transportation network, its also about the distances and accessibility between the daily destinations.
Great video! Something that often gets overlooked is the material of which the road is made of. In residential neighborhoods in the Netherlands you will almost always find bricks instead of asphalt. Driving on bricks create more noise, which causes you (generally) to drive a bit slower. It's cheaper in maintenance too.
Great point!
The bricks are also more permeable, which is also very important in the Netherlands, and it's more pleasing to the eye. It also makes access easier to get to cables or plumbing underneath and quickly reassemble when the job is done.
It's great
Less cars = also less polution and less overweight = more healthy people = less money spend on sick people
As a Dutch traffic engineer I would say that there's lots of improvement still to do in the Netherlands. Fatalities are going up, especially in the group of elderly people with a n e-bike. We are not yet there....
Darwin will take care of that.
the road system is 1 thing, behavior is another... You can't make things idiotproof without dropping any and all pragmatism. E-bikes and smart phones are driving up the fatalities and just to be complete: the increase in single households increases the amount of journeys on the roads. Have you factored in these 3 things? How will you compensate these things by adapting road design? Whenever accidents happen that are because of poor road design, the dated situation gets on some priority list and gets updated quite soon. Our way of making roads is not prone to needing lots of improvements except for the dated situations that are still dangerous, which as i mentioned over time will be amended.
Now to adress your single point: elderly people on e-bikes... Maybe just needing a license is enough and prevent the incapable of using them?
Maybe we arent there yet no. But we are great at creating good safe infrastructure. And im sure we will find solutions to the e-bike problem too. To be honest i dont really understand why there just isnt a helmet law for it. I mean driving a motorized vehicle going over 25 should normally have that obligation, no? And like the person before me said, maybe a license yes.
I live in the Netherlands to but about the elderly on a e bike. These should be forbidden at a certain age and a training should be required to use these bikes. Know everbody gets the blaim of more accidents and thats complete not correct.
That is also at fault of the elderly people themselfes 😂 they ride crazy on these faster bikes often without helmet
2:57 unless you're a taxi driver in which case just fuck everyone else. Biking in the amsterdam central canals kinda sucks honestly
Very good video. I am also a filmmaker myself and am impressed with how you made this. Very clear, compact and to the point.
I live in the Netherlands and it's like choreographed traffic. You always know what everyone - cars, buses, bikes, trams, peds, mopeds, mobility scooter, literally everyone - is going to do in traffic. There are accidents, but they are much fewer and less severe than in the US. Also getting your driver's license is a long and expensive process so people know the rules and follow them. Srsly it's like €2000+ to get your license!
Excellent presentation, short but super comprehensive. The vocal-fry is a bit much though.
Thanks. Will definitely try to fix the vocal fry for the next video. Appreciate the feedback!
Yes, I noticed that this frog voice is a typical American disease. I guess they think that this makes their message more important😂
@@AdambYates Don't worry about the vocal fry as much as your mixing. Your voice was pretty quiet compared to the music.
I also think that the Dutch mentality plays a large role, we grow up with bicycles, and when we learn to drive in a car also learn how to deal with pedestrians/bicyclists
the footage at 4:15 is from my hometown Braunschweig, Lower Saxony in Germany, very random surprise hahaha
I'm just so glad that the carbon tax in Canada is being used to aggressively build high-speed rail. Oh wait...
To play music with my friends I have to drive to the another city. It’s a ride of 10 miles with some 12 traffic lights. I live east of a city of 160.000 inhabitants . the other city is on the west side of my hometown. So I have to cross my home town. Still I only need 25 minutes to reach my destination. Good road design and transport management in my home country The Netherlands makes that possible.
Impressive and professional video. Excellent work
Thanks Travis!
We, the Dutch still have traffic jams every day , despite our world class infrastructure, but that is because people became wealthier and wealthier and buy more and more cars (even people who enjoy using bikes and public transit often have a car or more than 1 car . Oh, and also because the population just keeps growing because everybody and their mother think that here is paradise , based on all the youtubers who proclaim that the netherlands is the best place in the world
but not more then a hour
Why do these types of channels only ever visit Amsterdam?
It is like only visiting New York as a representation of the whole USA.
I saw channels where they were showing very friendly bicycle cities like Utrecht and Groningen
They do not just visit Amsterdam
Important factor is also the law. Even if a car has priorty and hits a cyclist who is technically in the wrong, the car driver still considered "guilty" in a way, because he should always consider the vulnerability of the cyclist and the fact that he himself decides to navigate tons of steel at high speeds. This makes sense in that if you choose to ride a way more dangerous vehicle, you simply have way more responsabilities. It is almost impossible to fatally injure somebody as a cyclist so its in the end only logical that different rules apply when something goes wrong.
You should go to the Dutch city Zwolle. It prefers the bicycle above cars..
Your voice's so deep 🥲🥲
There are several other factors to consider such as mixed neighbourhoods where people can live, work and shop close enough that they can easily walk or cycle to services. Every little neighbourhood has shops and restaurants.
Then there is public transport infrastructure, most European cities have access to public transport within a 3 minute walk from home or work with greater frequency. In Europe you can get from point A to point B without having to go through a central downtown hub, public transport in Europe have ring networks moving people around the circumference of the cities. Airports and train stations are all served by public transport.
European cities also have a better system of parking, taking cars off the streets in underground garages and large, multi-story park houses next to shopping and business areas.
If you properly design the greater societal infrastructure instead of bits and pieces, it is proven that cars, bikes and pedestrians can function together.
The US can do this, its not something only Europe can do
@@andrewcharlton4053 One of the problems is that US zoning and nimby laws restrict to what extend this can actually be implemented.
@@_DRMR_ Of course. But that can be changed. That's the whole point
The Dutch reported on 2024 that there has been a decrease in cycling from 2012 to 2023 , with a 20% increase in fatalities. Electric motorized bikes use has increased from 5% to 37% in the 10 year period
Yes most people use electric bikes right now but we also have people that still should chose cycling because they use the car for only 5 minutes to get to their work
Great video, Amsterdam is not representative for the rest of the Netherlands but because its the biggest and most known city of our country its fair enough to use this as an example. our fatality rate is about 650 a year last few years it is slightly raising but our traffic is getting more crowded as well. we have peak traffic at 7 till 9 am and 16 til 19 pm on the highways. Especially when its bad weather congestion can rise till a 1000 km. lots of campaigns to let people carpooling or promoting public transportation where effortless because the congestion didn't decrease. so not everything is great about our traffic. But for a country as big as the state of Maryland with a population of almost 18 million we at least try to advance our movements.
[] ... campaigns to let people carpooling or promoting public transportation where effortless because the congestion didn't decrease ...
Where is your source supporting this statement and conclusion?
@@wimahlers files nemen niet af en in de auto's zitten doorgaans maar 1 persoon. In de jaren 90 was dat een doorn in het oog van het kabinet Lubbers en het opvolgende paarse kabinet. Ik zat toen op de basisschool en we kregen zelfs lesmateriaal ter promotie van openbaar vervoer en de geflopte carpoolstrook.
Notjustbikes is your channel.
I am stuck in traffic jams every day, what you filmed are people with a low income, tourists, housewives, foreigners, people who have a regular job were already stuck in traffic jams this morning.
Actually, if I remember from another TH-cam video, the first attempt at bicycle-friendly streets ended up causing *MORE* problems with congestion. It took a total rethink of the street design to get it right.
Was it a video from Bicycle Dutch?
That is true but that bike road design was just not good at it is normal not to get it right first try
One thing the US needs to do as a first step, and that is to allow mixed zoning. That reduces the need to travel (groceries and clothing around the corner in small shops) in the first place. So the bike or walking will be a viable option.
To me, the North American approach seems like it discriminates against all traffic but cars. In practice, this leads to cities that aren't very liveable.
Every city I know has bike lanes and sidewalks. So no ... there is something for everyone. There are some small older roads that might have issues but most have something for everyone.
@@ronpetersen2317 Are you talking about roads with a cycle lane on them? Good cycling infrastructure is not dedicating a part of the roads to cycle lanes. I myself have cycled in Britain and once had to use a busy roundabout while cars were zipping past. It was literally terrifying. Situations like that should not exist, because people will get killed.
The relevant question is: are the bike lanes safe? Are the bike lanes separated from roads where cars go fast? At busy intersections, are there separate traffic lights for bicycles? Could a 10 year old safely make a trip alone to, say, a sports club or the local library? And can you get to the shops by bike or on foot in a safe way?
Here in the Netherlands, the answers to all these questions is overwhelmingly yes and kids do go out cycling alone, because their parents trust them to be safe. And the independence this gives is actually very healthy for kids mentally.
I think that whether parents allow their kids to go cycling alone is probably the best hallmark of good infrastructure, because no parent would put their children's life in danger.
All the information I get and see about the US, and I've seen a lot, is that the answers to the above questions is typically no, although quite a few cities are transitioning to encourage more bike use by creating cycling infrastructure that is actually safe to use. Maybe the US is going there, but it's clearly not there yet right now.
@@diedertspijkerboer When I was younger I used to commute on bike quite a bit because I couldn't afford a car. Unfortunately I really can't bike that well anymore due to circulation issues among other things. Roundabouts here are not that common. But they did put one in our neighborhood maybe 10 years go and pulled it right out again. Mostly because people were driving in circles for the LOLs I think. Also because the road was too small to retroactively put it in. but they did have a raised section like a little island on the corners to keep some of those issues at bay. When they pulled the roundabouts back out they left those in. The bike lanes are not raised higher than the roads. Bikes don't have separate traffic lights ... I am not sure how that would even work. I would say on high speed roads I would tend to ride on the sidewalks though you were not suppose to. Cost aside I can see raising current bike lanes to the same level as side walks. Though if a car had an emergency say like a flat tire it would cause a dangerous situation with the car having no place to get off the road. As a kid I biked all over the place. To school to the comic book store to the video arcade (I'm old so I remember video arcades fondly) so yes it was safe. Could things be safer ... possibly. Some strips of roads though not many at all didn't have a proper bike lane. Those are issues and they don't feel safe ... but they are very much the exception. Kids these days here don't bike around as much as when I was a kid that has nothing to do with biking safety ... but fear of more human predatorial issues. Also because these days we have a homeless crisis some doing drugs, camping on sidewalks etc. This didn't exist even 8 years ago. It is not that bad in reality but for parents it is very much in their minds of that worst case scenario. Here we have issues with bicyclists not being safe. Basically they are suppose to obey mostly the same laws of the road. But for some reason they blow through stop signs fairly frequently. I encounter this nearly daily. I have to cross a bike trail every day on the way to work. They have stop signs. It is very rare if they stop even though they have stop signs. I have to look 30' in both directions before I go to make sure it's safe. When I commuted on bike I never dreamed of doing such things ... mostly because I didn't want to go to the hospital injured with things broken.
This video and other similar ones tend to not be accurate in most places. Though there are some areas that are an issue. Adding safer bike lanes would help safety but some roads when during commute times would devestate the area with insane levels of traffic when it is already heavy. In this area people have to travel larger distances for work in a lot of circumstances. I have a store and I had a go I think from the UK that came in and he commented on the differences on how our public transit systems are different from what he is use to. He noted that a lot of it here seemed to be mostly for those unfortunate enough to be able to afford a car. He was mostly right. Though it is used to commute to work on light rail trains. But our system where I am isn't that great. It use to be a bit better. But given the distances to get to places you want to get to you kinda need a car.
@@ronpetersen2317 That's an interesting history that you describe. And I'm sorry to hear that you can't ride a bike anymore.
I can see why parents won't let their kids ride bikes for other reasons and that distances can be to big for bikes.
Bicycles are great to reduce traffic in towns and cities where distances that people travel are often relatively short. Bike infrastructure is cheaper and more compact than car infrastructure and bicycle traffic is way better for people who live on the streets with the traffic, with less noise being just one advantage.
Many major cities now implement infrastructure that promotes cycling, including London, Paris and New York. They all recognize that having more and more car traffic is a terrible way forward if you want to create a liveable city, whereas cycling provides a great alternative for many trips.
The change to more bicycles was just made sooner here in the Netherlands and we now have lots of experience in making cities not just more bike friendly, but also more people friendly.
I would recommend you to watch a vid or two from the channel not just bikes. They show how we organize traffic in the Netherlands in a way that's safe and efficient for all road users. The maker is a Canadian living in the Netherlands and he often compares North American infrastructure with Dutch infrastructure as well.
In the end, bikes are not a goal in themselves, but a means in a larger toolbox to make towns and cities more liveable for everyone.
@@diedertspijkerboer New York has an extensive transit system. Unless you are buying a grocery bag or two of groceries when you go shopping for food which is not doable for a family ... someone single ... maybe or just don't want to be all stinky when you get to the place you are getting to it is a hard sell. They stopped selling them but when I was biking I combated the stinky issue a bit when they sold these cologne single use wipes. They were great for that issue but I haven't seen them in stores in a couple decades. If you were using E bikes which I do have ... effectively a scooter of a sort or the pedal assist options which are becoming more popular nowadays then it becomes more practical. The thing I got now I could ride since it does not require peddling at all.
'Amsterdam Network''', proceeds to show a picture of the Netherlands
Haha good catch, meant to say the Netherlands.
This is a great video. I love the Vox vibes it gives off while still being your own style.
3:33 calling it Amsterdam while showing a map of the Netherlands was a but of a yikes. Good video still
The text probably predated the imagery. Things like that happen.
just made a mistake, its fine.
the average road tax in the Netherlands is USD 600 a year, while in the USA it is maybe USD 60 to 100 a year. If US car owners want to get an increase of 600%, the infrastructure might be a bit better. But there are also differences, like bicycle density in USA or the Netherlands. Its not a one on one comparison. But what to do with just one sixth of the tax revenue generated from annual renewal fees!!
That $600 barely pays for road maintenance in the Netherlands. It's all down to design using traffic standards to evolve design. US infrastructture hasn't been properly maintained in decades, simply because there's no money for it.
@@therealdutchidiot actually the road infrastructure in the Netherlands cost around USD 1.5 billion and the annual roadtax proceeds are around USD 6 billion. Its a milkcow where most is used for the general budget. But anyway, I have been the last years in the USA and I see big improvements in various states, specific the mid to mid east area states. In Nashville they started with a similar infrastructure as the Netherlands with segregated bicycle lanes between the pedestrian lane and car/motorbike user lanes. On the otherhand it is difficult to compare just a very dense country like the Netherlands with a less dense country as the USA. No one bikes there really. A better comparison is the entire of Europe with the USA. Guess Spain isnt similar as the Netherlands too. Interesting enough the richest states like California have the worst roads (well at least LA, it might be better in smaller places and areas).
@@atedejong5620 DId you know that like in the the US road tax is just put on a giant pile with all other taxes and they don't specifically pay for roads?
On another note: just the yearly maintenance is highter than $4 billion, so I'm not too sure where you're getting your numbers from.
Adam is there any books that urban planners champion on the topic of laneways and pedestrian passageways ?
You might look at the Crow manual. Basically it is the design guide what roads go where and how engineers need to build. It is from the Netherlands. Oh, and I think there is a English translation too. Not cheap though...
I have not personally read it but I follow this guys work: www.linkedin.com/posts/brommelstroet_movement-activity-6927254389220900864-NfZx?
You might also look for the ‘Handboek Rood’ (the red manual) from the city of Amsterdam, that is the specific design guide for Amsterdam streets and roads. Very detailed.
Part of the problem in North America is that governments are addicted to gasoline tax revenues (and sales tax revenues attached to maintaining, repairing and insuring cars). They are also dependent on the taxes generated by sales of cars, as well as the income taxes generated by auto industry jobs. These jobs are also used for political purposes - as in garnering votes when a new auto industry-related plant is promised to be built or, "vote for me and I will attract more auto industry jobs and this will generate spin-off employment, or use taxpayer subsidies to make sure existing car plants don't leave and take all the jobs with them."
In fairness, one reason why things work as well as they do in the Netherlands is that the cities there are much smaller than Canadian cities and hence it takes less time to get around. The Netherlands also doesn't have the huge geographic distances between cities that are common in Canada.
I think it's too late to revamp our existing cities so they function much like Dutch cities do. If we plan to start rationalizing our urban design so it more closely matches Dutch urban design principles, we are probably going to have to build new cities from the ground up that optimize and make pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes and trams priorities over cars.
Can you enhace your voice digitally?
Too many car-brains, NIMBYS/ Karens here and there will not be any decent bicycle infrastructure in the USA and Canada for several generations if at all . The temporary solution is for cyclists to ride on the sidewalk because there , excuse my grammar,
ain't no bicycle infrastructure coming .
I think the Dutch have a better learning system with how ride in traffic. From a young age we are learned how to bicycle with all the traffic signs and such. So later on as an adult you will have the benefit about how traffic moves. Even our driving exams are different. And yes, we do have a better system.
FWIW we still have commution on the highways / main roads in cities during the peak hours (around 09:00 and 17:00 mainly). But yes if you take the public transit and or bicycle, you can avoid these.
The difference I have heard from people that have lived in both places is that rush hour in the Netherlands is like 1-2hrs in the morning / evening vs. In a number of North American cities it’s 4hrs in the morning and 5hrs in the evening as people get home from work and try to get to their sports, social events, etc.
Such a flat land. That must be contributing a lot to the adoption of these designs. Free place-to-place bicycle was tried in my city, but it is hilly, its hard drive uphill. Plus weather helps? Would you want to be sweaty when you reach office?
Living in the dead center of Amsterdam, I'd say this video is pretty accurate and representative of general Dutch urban design. And so the internet is floating with videos like this. Here's the kicker though to all this Dutch design hype. There's no guarantee whatsoever that this would ever work in your average North American city. As designing streets like this would not only require a massive cultural and political change, there is a basic but huge geographical difference to overcome as well: North America is huge, the Netherlands is tiny. Good luck designing everything for public transport when that same public transport is horrible at getting you anywhere outside the city.
Some things that work on a small scale often do not work when scaled up. The population of the entire country of the Netherlands is smaller than the NYC metro area. Yes, it may seem great just to slow everyone to the same speed but when people are traveling greater distances. Additionally, the population density of the Netherlands is about 1/6 the population density of the NYC metro area. The additional population density creates issues implementing these concepts to larger more densely populated cities. The genuine answer is to apply some of these ideas to specific areas of the larger cities while improving public transportation in larger more densely populated areas. Forcing everyone (bikes, cars, pedestrians) to go the same speeds everywhere will only cause a backlash against these ideas.
You are correct that the government is trying to “nudge” car users into public transportation by lowering allowed speeds and increase parking prices in large cities. Couple of things, there is a lot of difference between the major cities and smaller cities. Public transportation in Amsterdam is great, but less dense cities not so much. Specifically trains are unreliable and *very* expensive in the Netherlands as compared to other European countries.
Still a great country to live in though!
And then at 95% autonomous adoption, traffice will grind to a halt in cities, because pedestrians will know cars will brake for them.
Oh, and if you listen to the morning radio news, you will learn that congestion hasn't been fixed at all in the Nethelrands, and the old "let's make more tarmac" is alive and well in that country as well
Did anyone notice how many of the buildings were multistory? this may seem like a side issue, but I live in a growing city and there is so much resistance to accepting that single family housing cannot accommodate public transit. But there is a transition issue in that more dense housing doesn't have parking but the transit systems are not adequate to get people around efficiently. There is the added problem that people are used to having to commute long distances and there is definitely not the public transit to accommodate that. I doubt those bike riders are going more than a few miles at most before either their destination or transferring to public transit.
We didn't have to solve anything cause we never created the problem you have in the first place.
You have designed your entire community and city planning around the car.
And that is because your country hardly even existed before the car.
So when America was founded and started growing the cars were pretty much making their entrance and everything was build around the use of it. And it became a rather strange way of life for a lot of people.
We have the "problem" with narrow streets in city centers and quirky winding roads which aren't ideal for cars. That has been a small disadvantage for cars but it meant we still used alternative means of transportation and we are not fully addicted to the car.
At least that's my theory 😂
Nice but you equal The Netherlands to Amsterdam. Other cities have introduced more and more intelligent traffic solutions. Second trip dor you maybe?
Amazing video!
Do you know any book/website I can read to understand the whole Dutch street design? Thanks beforehand!
3:20 there's a lot of subtlety here in the Dutch law. One of which is that pedestrians are considered a lane of traffic. That means that the van turning right up the ramp is crossing a lane to turn and must give way to it. That is, they are obligated to wait for the pedestrian to cross. Second is that down-ramps like the one shown here act as yields.
3:36 that is not Amsterdam. That is the hole fricking country. Showed the wrong map or said Amsterdam instead of the Netherlands
Good catch! I said Amsterdam instead of the Netherlands! The Netherlands is a little larger than the great Toronto area.
If your country is as small as the Netherlands and as densely populated you have to stretch the available space to its limits. Willing to change and creativity is important. It took our country over 50 years and alot of money to achieve this
Shared streets are really easy to mess up. If you just put them all together you'll end up with a big mess. It only works if you have first diverted almost all car traffic to elsewhere and made sure that driver prefer to drive in the other place. The few people who then still need to be in the shared space will have to use it as an end destination, not for shortcuts or through traffic. Shared space can only be installed correctly in very specific situations or they will just be very dangerous places for the more vulnerable road users.
I’ve been to Amsterdam a few times - bicycles are everywhere, and there’s something to note about this - The Netherlands is extremely flat. You don’t have to contend with hills on a bike or foot.
The thing is, because its so flat its also extremely windy. Hills break wind. So biking around the flat countryside costs about as much effort as biking in a hilly region.
Also, the east and south of the country has hills, its just the north and west that are flat.
there are E bikes nowadays, so this remark is over.
you said “the Amsterdam network” as reference to the country. Please! even myself as an American we should be more cautious. It may not be a big deal to you but bare in mind others!
This would only ever work if they implement it state by state, America is too egoistic in its thinking that they already have the best way which makes that they wont even try other ways.
Only if they see it already work in a state, they might wanna try it themselves.
Could you list in the description the papers you mentioned toward the beginning?
I think the music was too loud and drowned out your narration a bit. At least, for your personal style of narration. I hope that helps.
Amazing video! Considerably better than NotJustBikes ones
Thanks! Appreciate the comment!
As a dutch I learned something new too.
But here is it perhaps a lot better then many other coutries even in the EU. It is not perfect !!
Amazing what you can do when the politicians use data, science, and they actually give a damn.
4:42 'You have priority at intersections' - proceeds to show an intersection where bikes do not have priority
(not saying the infrastructure is bad, but in reality, you don't always have priority as a cyclist)
In Amsterdam the speed is down to 30 kph!!And many cities will do the same..
Just stumbled across your channel and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this video. If I could make one suggestion it would be to speak more clearly and louder - getting more air into your lungs will avoid the “vocal fry” sound.
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely try to fix the narration audio for the next video!
_Speak up! I can’t hear you_
Haha thanks for the feedback, will fix for the next video!
"look at the Amsterdam transit network" *shows a map of the Netherlands*
Nice item, pity you speak with your mouth closed......
music is too loud and ruins this video... stopped watching..
Adam, you talk about The Netherlands, but only show Amsterdam. That said, the conclusions would be the same if you'd shown other Dutch cities or towns.
In America, everything is ruled to make money. Car makers, oil producers etc. Authorities work for them, not for people. They do not want people to live comfortable also without car
In other words, this doesn’t benefit the average Joe.
But cars are status symbols. How does that factor in?
The maps of bike lanes in the Netherlands is incorrect, it should entirely be blue in the west of the country, bikelanes are everywhere, it should be uncountable in a map of the country.
That map is just of the official long distance bike routes, you know the ones with the numbered signposts.
You are absolutely right. But how is it that avery video were the netherlands is better then anywhere else they always look at Amsterdam. Our little country is way bigger then that international hub. For internationals amsterdam is great, for natives Amsterdam is i think the least dutch like city
Amsterdam has the worst road infrastructure of any city in the Netherlands that I have visited, and I've been to most of them. Never going back there. What a horrible place.
If you are by any chance still in the Netherlands, go to the city Almere close to Amsterdam. The city is much younger and had much less constrictions for planning there infrastructure. I believe not just bikes still hasn't made a video about that city.
Showing how the old cities work is nice to show that even badly designed American cities still can be fixed, but showing Almere really shows how infrastructure of a city can look like.
@4:00 as a Dutchman I can 100% tell that that clip not shot in the Netherlands. The signs, the pavement/sidewalk, the asphalt/brick combination in this particular street, the houses. It's amazing how all these details instantly subconsciously tell me what and what isn't the Netherlands.
Edit: my best guess this clip is from Germany
And the downwardslope of the road. It indeed seems very German, including the white numberplate
And the paint color of both houses near each other is very German, in the Netherlands you wouldn’t see that! I live only 1 km of the German border in The Netherlands!
The sign says "Gjaldskylda", Google seems to think it's Iceland. Certainly not the Netherlands.
It is from Iceland on the blue parking sign is written: GJALDSKYLDA that is icelandic for owed (verschuldigd)
Als Nederlander ben ik voor 100% zeker dat deze clip WEL in Nederland is opgenomen, nml. in Amsterdam.
As a dutchie visiting LA I’m always so shocked how everything is car based and a simple 5 km on a freeway can take so long. But with no alternative what can you do but get in the car? But things will only change if the great big car lobby will ease but that is not gonna happen any time soon.
It still baffles me to see that such a small and dense populated country, where every inch has to be used, can make it happen but a country with so much more space simply can not.
Interesting point! And I agree.
The Netherlands is, by it's nature, a historically highly planned country (as early as the 11th century) . Most other countries start planning only when people move into an area, but the Dutch usually planned first and populated after. After all, reclaiming land and planning it's use goes hand in hand.
I think having a lot of space is a hindrance. Look at how spread out US towns and suburbs are. It makes public transport unprofitable and walking and cycling unappealing. Then logically people will want to drive in(to) cities as well. On top of that there's also the silly strict zoning, the "American freedom" ideology which car companies have carefully baked car centrism into, conservative politicians that resist change, and those that are sponsored by big oil, car companies etc. I takes a lot of time and effort to go against all of that.
We have to make transport efficient precisely because we dont have space. There is no other option, so we have to spend the time and money to maximize throughput and minimize disruptions. Americans can just...build another lane. We cant. We dont have the space for more lanes.
Everybody wants to do it like the Dutch.Makes me proud as a Duchie...
Haha
We even have roads that litterally say: Cycling road , Cars are guests, so basicly Bikes etc have full priority and are litterally king of the road in those streets.
Amsterdam network? 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Also the picture from the airport when taxing is obviously not Schiphol! When does it end? I am halfway the video @AdambYates
@04:00 that's a danish road sign I think..
And we Dutch have no traffic jams what so ever 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂.
Try driving in Texas
Why de noise in the background
I refuse to share the streets with drivers, even at low speeds, they are far too dangerous to be trusted.
Also NJB recently went on a tirade freak out and said the US was doomed all the while he historically ran away to a country where all his problems were already solved.
NJB is a moron. And quit being scared
@@night6724 Oh stop trolling, you are dumber than a rock.
Bro the thumbnail we are not Americans we are Canadians FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE FIX THIS
3.36 That is NOT Amsterdam.
I am from Amsterdam and this does make me proud to be Dutch citizen. Although not all shown in this video is fully accurate, the majority is correct and efficacious in safety. Main reason though is that biking in the Netherlands is a deeply CULTURAL thing. Everyone has a bike or multiple bikes. We all learn how to ride a bike at age asap. And not as a game but as a way of transportation.