Always enjoying seeing your bike POV of the Netherlands and especially Delft. Great to see the converted parking lots. Keep the conversions coming Gemeente Delft! Thanks as always for sharing your rides, John.
Great video again about the town I lived in for many years. You are very enthousiastic about the Dutch public transport system and rightly so, but that functions only good in the Randstad and the centre of the country. I now live in Middelburg, the capital of the province of Zeeland and here the picture is quite different. You really need a car here. We are lucky that there is a trainline to Vlissingen with a half hour service for the stoptrain. Every hour there is an intercity which cuts traveltime to fi Rotterdam with 20 minutes, but that is only during the day and not in weekends. This service was heavily fought for by the province and only granted as some sort of compensation after a disastrous political scandal damaging the province heavily. The very necessary bus services connecting the other cities and towns on the islands are getting less and less with every new concession. An example. There were hospitals in Goes, Vlissingen, Zierikzee, Middelburg, Terneuzen and Oostburg. After a reorganization only Goes has a fully hospital hospital doubling with Vlissingen and only medical posts in the other ones. Often it is medically not possible to drive to the hospital and there is a good bus service, twice every hour with two buslines from Middelburg to the hospital in Vlissingen. In the next concession both lines were cancelled. Now the combined municipalities of Middelburg and Vlissingen demanded that at least one line should stay. I hope it will. Going to the hospital in Goes by public transport takes an hour on a half hourly schedule and by car 20 minutes. So John, maybe it is also interesting to make some videos about smaler towns in Groningen outside the city itself and the cities in Zeeland like Zierikzee or Middelburg. I will be happy to show you around.
Thanks so much! Yes, now you have piqued my interest in exploring the province of Zeeland. My mission with the Active Towns effort is to help cities see what is possible by profiling municipalities that are battling through the universal issues you have highlighted here, which can be quite helpful. I'm still determining when I will return to The Netherlands. It will depend on several factors, including my ability to raise the funds necessary for travel. Thank you for the offer to show me around. Please drop me a note when you have a chance via my website so we can establish an email connection: www.activetowns.org Cheers! John
1:49 the "Do not enter" traffic sign here does not have the 'Bicycles exempted' undersign, meaning that the street behind it is a true one way street, also for bicycles.
Yeah, that’s a great example of car-brain traffic engineering. People on bikes should not have to go the long way around just like people walking should not have to do so. They should put a bicycles exempted sign immediately.
@@ActiveTowns The point m.moolhuysen5456 seems to make is that at 1:49 you actually go against the traffic rules. I noticed this as well. While I may agree with your general point of view, I don't believe in civilian disobidience in such cases. Also cyclists have to obey the traffic rules and do not stand above the law.
Understood. I certainly don't want to go total civil disobedience on y'all. As far as the rules go, the inconsistency can be maddening. Sometimes, people on bikes can ride contra-flow, sometimes not. Sometimes, people on bikes can share space with people walking, while other times, pedestrians have exclusive use of the space. There's oftentimes no way of really knowing when until it's too late. My general rule of thumb is if it appears to be safe to do, I do it. And while doing so, I always try to ride slowly and courteously around pedestrians and other slow riders. I also try to behave in the pragmatic manner of those who live there. In my professional opinion, I fundamentally believe that people riding bikes should be allowed to take the most direct, contra-flow route by default because... One of the most important tenets of the CROW Manual Cycle Route Design is "Directness, which means offering the cyclist as direct a route as possible with detours kept to a minimum. Why is this principle relevant? Because the bicycle is human powered and we do not want to waste energy on detours. And because we want fast connections and minimize delays as much as possible in order to make the bicycle a competitive transport mode." dtvcapacitybuilding.com/blog/5-design-principles-for-successful-bicycle-infrastructure/ Thanks for your always thoughtful contributions to the conversation. 🙏
@@ActiveTowns In this case, it seems to be an argumented choice for not having a contraflow, since a parallel route is avialable on the opposite side of the canal, the streets along the canal might have a higher car trafic flow compaired to the other steets that meet at this junction, and there are no mayor destinations on this side before you reach the next bridge.
@@ActiveTowns I believe this may be the fist time I fundamentally disagree with you. If I understand it correctly "My general rule of thumb is if it appears to be safe to do, I do it." You feel you are entitled to this because you are slow traffic, fast traffic should not have this 'right', since their (potential) speed makes this dangerous. This is legally a very treacherous path, which I would prefer NOT to take. My solution is much simpler: stick to the rules of traffic. The sign at the beginning of the street clearly makes NO exceptions for 'langzaam verkeer' or 'fietsers', so it's a one way street and therefore no entrance from this side is allowed for bicycles. Cars taking this street see the corresponding sign at the beginning of the same street and should be able to trust there will be no counterflow traffic. Period! If the rules of traffic get changed in your preferred direction (contra-flow slow traffic is allowed by default, which might be a sensible policy) then, and only then, the situation changes dramatically. But then the respective signs will have a completely different message. You complain that the inconsistency of the current rules can be maddening. While this is unequivocally true, to me this is no excuse for going against the rules of traffic just because you feel your behaviour appears to be safe.
The tower of the Oude Kerk started leaning during construction. The work was paused and as it stopped leaning, work was commenced and they went on building vertical. That was repeated an other time and when you look carefully, you see it is not only leaning, but also shaped like a banana. It has a very heavy bell, the Bourdon, in the carillon that causes very severe motion and figuration in the construction when ringing. It is only used during the funeral of members of the Royal Family and the motion of the building is closely monitored at that occasion.
It seems that the big space of the former hospital is somewhat intentionally allowed to go back to nature.... And at the green space shown towards the end is more of a chill out space than an activity zone. There still seem to be a lot of cars everywhere so I was very impressed by the Central square
Some more facts about Delft: behind the old church you can find the "prinsenhof" where "willem van oranje" was shot and killed. And under the "nieuwe kerk" all the Dutch royals are buried. The lean of the "oude kerk" is such that they will only rang the bell in the tower when a royal is buried. It's also the reason the market is so bare, it needs to be cleared out within days for the previous mentioned event.
The conversion you showed at 9:45 seems to have had more greenery in the form of large trees in the before shot. Looks like those trees have been cut down. That's tragic.
Yeah, I saw that mentioned in some of the online comments about the project. Thanks so much for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John
I would love your American thoughts about the parking along the canal from minute 2 till 3..😂 This is a perfect example of common sense careful parking that would probably not be possible in the US...
Yeah, parking along the canal is interesting, and you are correct it probably wouldn't work so well in the US. However, I'm not convinced this is the highest and best use of this public space. I could think of dozens of better uses that would benefit the community and society versus the long-term storage of private property in the public realm. But then again, I am not the typical American, I am a proud Shoupista: medium.com/@Isaac_Wang_For_City_Council/parking-reform-shoupista-f0fe940877ac Thanks for watching and for the question. Cheers! John 🙏
The fish eye makes the architecture a lot more exciting. I sometimes wonder what happened to all the cars after the squares were cleared of parking. I don't suppose they simply vanish in a puff of smoke, so they must have gone somewhere. P.A. I finished NaNoWriMo at 51,264 words. Now I have more free time to watch videos. Although I still have to finish my first draft.
There are two underground parking garages just around the corner there. Delft has a total of five parking garages in the center or right next to it, one of which is for subscription holders only. Surface parking is still possible but is more expensive than in a parking garage. There is still a large parking lot in the city center (though with trees), but it's in the less touristic corner, in a spot that was blown bare by an explosion in 1654.
@@ActiveTowns Still, eliminating surface parking without having an answer for where the cars will go is going to be a non-starter. Once we have a few demonstration projects finished and people see how they work, it will be easier to do the next project. Here in San Diego, the County Administration Building moved some parking underground and built a park on top. It's very nice.
And it's the church were the Orange royal family members all are buried. Starting in 1584 with William of Orange after he was assassinated in Delft by a Spanish spy.
Always enjoying seeing your bike POV of the Netherlands and especially Delft. Great to see the converted parking lots. Keep the conversions coming Gemeente Delft! Thanks as always for sharing your rides, John.
Thanks so much for watching, I appreciate the support. Cheers!
Thanks for the ride John, nice to see Delft like this.
Keep up the good work you're doing.
Yay! Thanks so much for the support 🙏
Always enjoy your bike tours.
Glad you enjoy the rides! Cheers! John
What a beautifully relaxing place to ride! Thanks for the tour. 😊
Glad you enjoyed it! 😀
We had so much fun in this area during our stay in Delft. It is fun to see it again.
It is truly a special place!
Great video again about the town I lived in for many years. You are very enthousiastic about the Dutch public transport system and rightly so, but that functions only good in the Randstad and the centre of the country. I now live in Middelburg, the capital of the province of Zeeland and here the picture is quite different. You really need a car here. We are lucky that there is a trainline to Vlissingen with a half hour service for the stoptrain. Every hour there is an intercity which cuts traveltime to fi Rotterdam with 20 minutes, but that is only during the day and not in weekends. This service was heavily fought for by the province and only granted as some sort of compensation after a disastrous political scandal damaging the province heavily. The very necessary bus services connecting the other cities and towns on the islands are getting less and less with every new concession. An example. There were hospitals in Goes, Vlissingen, Zierikzee, Middelburg, Terneuzen and Oostburg. After a reorganization only Goes has a fully hospital hospital doubling with Vlissingen and only medical posts in the other ones. Often it is medically not possible to drive to the hospital and there is a good bus service, twice every hour with two buslines from Middelburg to the hospital in Vlissingen. In the next concession both lines were cancelled. Now the combined municipalities of Middelburg and Vlissingen demanded that at least one line should stay. I hope it will. Going to the hospital in Goes by public transport takes an hour on a half hourly schedule and by car 20 minutes. So John, maybe it is also interesting to make some videos about smaler towns in Groningen outside the city itself and the cities in Zeeland like Zierikzee or Middelburg. I will be happy to show you around.
Thanks so much! Yes, now you have piqued my interest in exploring the province of Zeeland. My mission with the Active Towns effort is to help cities see what is possible by profiling municipalities that are battling through the universal issues you have highlighted here, which can be quite helpful. I'm still determining when I will return to The Netherlands. It will depend on several factors, including my ability to raise the funds necessary for travel. Thank you for the offer to show me around. Please drop me a note when you have a chance via my website so we can establish an email connection: www.activetowns.org
Cheers!
John
1:49 the "Do not enter" traffic sign here does not have the 'Bicycles exempted' undersign, meaning that the street behind it is a true one way street, also for bicycles.
Yeah, that’s a great example of car-brain traffic engineering. People on bikes should not have to go the long way around just like people walking should not have to do so. They should put a bicycles exempted sign immediately.
@@ActiveTowns The point m.moolhuysen5456 seems to make is that at 1:49 you actually go against the traffic rules. I noticed this as well. While I may agree with your general point of view, I don't believe in civilian disobidience in such cases. Also cyclists have to obey the traffic rules and do not stand above the law.
Understood. I certainly don't want to go total civil disobedience on y'all. As far as the rules go, the inconsistency can be maddening. Sometimes, people on bikes can ride contra-flow, sometimes not. Sometimes, people on bikes can share space with people walking, while other times, pedestrians have exclusive use of the space. There's oftentimes no way of really knowing when until it's too late. My general rule of thumb is if it appears to be safe to do, I do it. And while doing so, I always try to ride slowly and courteously around pedestrians and other slow riders. I also try to behave in the pragmatic manner of those who live there.
In my professional opinion, I fundamentally believe that people riding bikes should be allowed to take the most direct, contra-flow route by default because... One of the most important tenets of the CROW Manual Cycle Route Design is "Directness, which means offering the cyclist as direct a route as possible with detours kept to a minimum. Why is this principle relevant? Because the bicycle is human powered and we do not want to waste energy on detours. And because we want fast connections and minimize delays as much as possible in order to make the bicycle a competitive transport mode." dtvcapacitybuilding.com/blog/5-design-principles-for-successful-bicycle-infrastructure/
Thanks for your always thoughtful contributions to the conversation. 🙏
@@ActiveTowns In this case, it seems to be an argumented choice for not having a contraflow, since a parallel route is avialable on the opposite side of the canal, the streets along the canal might have a higher car trafic flow compaired to the other steets that meet at this junction, and there are no mayor destinations on this side before you reach the next bridge.
@@ActiveTowns I believe this may be the fist time I fundamentally disagree with you. If I understand it correctly "My general rule of thumb is if it appears to be safe to do, I do it." You feel you are entitled to this because you are slow traffic, fast traffic should not have this 'right', since their (potential) speed makes this dangerous.
This is legally a very treacherous path, which I would prefer NOT to take. My solution is much simpler: stick to the rules of traffic. The sign at the beginning of the street clearly makes NO exceptions for 'langzaam verkeer' or 'fietsers', so it's a one way street and therefore no entrance from this side is allowed for bicycles. Cars taking this street see the corresponding sign at the beginning of the same street and should be able to trust there will be no counterflow traffic. Period!
If the rules of traffic get changed in your preferred direction (contra-flow slow traffic is allowed by default, which might be a sensible policy) then, and only then, the situation changes dramatically. But then the respective signs will have a completely different message.
You complain that the inconsistency of the current rules can be maddening. While this is unequivocally true, to me this is no excuse for going against the rules of traffic just because you feel your behaviour appears to be safe.
Living at that second green space, behind the cut through, is good for mental health.
Yes, I would think so. 🙌
The tower of the Oude Kerk started leaning during construction. The work was paused and as it stopped leaning, work was commenced and they went on building vertical. That was repeated an other time and when you look carefully, you see it is not only leaning, but also shaped like a banana. It has a very heavy bell, the Bourdon, in the carillon that causes very severe motion and figuration in the construction when ringing. It is only used during the funeral of members of the Royal Family and the motion of the building is closely monitored at that occasion.
Wow! Thanks so much for this fascinating background information. 🙏
It seems that the big space of the former hospital is somewhat intentionally allowed to go back to nature.... And at the green space shown towards the end is more of a chill out space than an activity zone.
There still seem to be a lot of cars everywhere so I was very impressed by the Central square
Yeah, contrary to what some believe, cars do still exist in Delft, they’re just no longer dominant. Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers! John
And the name of the building is De Zuster, which in Dutch both means sister (like vs brother) but also nurse in the medical sense.
Cool! Thanks 🙏
The topline on the plaque read The oldest hospital of The Netherlands from 1252 to 1968a long time
Some more facts about Delft: behind the old church you can find the "prinsenhof" where "willem van oranje" was shot and killed. And under the "nieuwe kerk" all the Dutch royals are buried. The lean of the "oude kerk" is such that they will only rang the bell in the tower when a royal is buried. It's also the reason the market is so bare, it needs to be cleared out within days for the previous mentioned event.
Yes it was clear that there was something here quite large that was torn down....
Indeed a long time! 😀
5.25.There was a place of the oldest hospital in the Netherlands according to the text. NEW church,build in 1496......
Thanks! 🙏
The conversion you showed at 9:45 seems to have had more greenery in the form of large trees in the before shot. Looks like those trees have been cut down. That's tragic.
Yeah, I saw that mentioned in some of the online comments about the project. Thanks so much for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John
I would love your American thoughts about the parking along the canal from minute 2 till 3..😂 This is a perfect example of common sense careful parking that would probably not be possible in the US...
Yeah, parking along the canal is interesting, and you are correct it probably wouldn't work so well in the US. However, I'm not convinced this is the highest and best use of this public space. I could think of dozens of better uses that would benefit the community and society versus the long-term storage of private property in the public realm. But then again, I am not the typical American, I am a proud Shoupista: medium.com/@Isaac_Wang_For_City_Council/parking-reform-shoupista-f0fe940877ac
Thanks for watching and for the question.
Cheers!
John 🙏
The fish eye makes the architecture a lot more exciting.
I sometimes wonder what happened to all the cars after the squares were cleared of parking. I don't suppose they simply vanish in a puff of smoke, so they must have gone somewhere.
P.A. I finished NaNoWriMo at 51,264 words. Now I have more free time to watch videos. Although I still have to finish my first draft.
There are two underground parking garages just around the corner there. Delft has a total of five parking garages in the center or right next to it, one of which is for subscription holders only. Surface parking is still possible but is more expensive than in a parking garage. There is still a large parking lot in the city center (though with trees), but it's in the less touristic corner, in a spot that was blown bare by an explosion in 1654.
That’s always the joke/mystery… where did all the cars go?! They seemingly just disappeared. 😆
@@ActiveTowns
Still, eliminating surface parking without having an answer for where the cars will go is going to be a non-starter.
Once we have a few demonstration projects finished and people see how they work, it will be easier to do the next project.
Here in San Diego, the County Administration Building moved some parking underground and built a park on top. It's very nice.
Je trapper loopt aan
😀
The “new” church was built only 4 years after Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492
New indeed …. 😀
Yes, new indeed! 😆
And it's the church were the Orange royal family members all are buried. Starting in 1584 with William of Orange after he was assassinated in Delft by a Spanish spy.