Your ride videos always make me happy. But this one is the next level. Every town on the planet should be like this. Wake up politicians! You’re asleep at the wheel (of your ugly SUV). Camera work; music; super chat… all a feast for the eyes and ears. Really top notch John. Thanks for this excessively brilliant start to 2023.
So in a one hour ride I saw a ton of homes, shops, cinemas, schools, hairdressers, bike parking facilities, train stations, bridges, grocery stores, parks, bike repair shops, etc. etc. In a North American context to see as many variants of human amenities by bike would take... a day?
Yep. Land use patterns make a huge difference in the number of meaningful places one can get to within easy walking and biking distance. Where I live, near downtown Austin, TX, I can reach many meaningful places on an emerging Dutch-inspired cycle network, so I consider myself quite fortunate compared to what most people in North America must endure. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Happy New Year, and Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns Yeah, I've seen Austin is doing a great job, and I'm sure be an example for others to follow. Wish you a great new year too John, with many interesting guests and conversations to come, looking forward!
Thanks John and Geert for showing Utrecht Center and South. Nice to see al the familiar places I ride with my bike too so ones and while. We live in Utrecht since 13 years now and it became my favorite city. That's funny and weird told by a person born in Den Haag and lived there for 34 years. John, when you are back in the Netherlands ones, please allow me to show you the other side of Utrecht; Utrecht North. Plan in the Summer, so I can buy you a beer.
Thanks so much! I tend to agree, but I may be a bit biased. Hehe 🤣 I really appreciate you watching it, and feel free to share it and the Channel with everyone you know and encourage them to do the same. That should take care of it in no time. Cheers! John 😀
Greetings! Yes, it is truly a lovely city. Every time I visit, I learn something exciting and new. Thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Watching this [in Utrecht] on last day of the year, 2 hours before 2023 starting, with 16C [so even warmer then october was] kind of crazy.. Thanks for the nice videos and wishing everybody a good new year
Copy that. And we barely scratched the surface. I'll be back with another guided ride in Utrecht with a different perspective in a couple of weeks. Thanks so much for watching, I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Different trees yielding different autumn colours, planted one colour for a few blocks on a street, then another fall colour for the next few blocks, and still another a few blocks yonder. How cool is that? I would see tree windbreaks along a fence line on farms which were tall and very narrow poplars. I was told these specific trees would grow from a seedling 7 feet high every year and then top off between 50 and 75 feet in maturity. Imagine planting these in an urban environment, let the neighbours and users of the road this tree was planted on watch these trees grow that fast. The possibilities of trees and hedges and low ground covers are endless. And they fit so well with bicycling.
Yes! We most definitely need more trees, hedges, and native plants of all types to help soften many of these streets, decrease the heat island effect, and better control stormwater runoff. Cheers! John
What a nice way to open the year with a virtual bike ride of my city (happy new year to all), for sure a trip through memory lane you drove to many places my fam where born, went to school, roamed the city as kids, lived for the most part. Both grandma/pa's, parents, sister and i are from areas you probably hit within 100meters. One of the semi sad parts is that i used to talk to them about changes to the city and show them pictures or even video of things and i still have that impuls todo so but they are not longer with us. Some more background i grew up when the shopping mall was still new it was opened when i was a few years old and still part of my earliest memories it was massive and when opened the largest in europe (for a short while) it was always mixed feelings with it but most locals do use/used it as a nice way to walk from one part of the city center to other parts when its raining. Also the new part of the city is/was the biggest building area of our country (vinex area) thats how 100.000 people and expected to house 1/3 of all people in Utrecht. The plan is/was to create two city centers and connect them up and thats been going on for decades now (since the 1990's) and only now many parts are merging into one as you can see when you passed the cycle bridge. One problem was there where two barriers one was a massive highway the A2 that now is indeed below ground and when it was closed/opened? the level of sound went down massively and the canal that like the highway are very important the canal probably the most important. So the city would never really merge into one if these would not be crossable in more and nicer ways and thats ongoing. One interesting bike path you missed (on this trip) is a 5km straight bikepath through the city that starts at the end of the cycle bridge (dafne schippersbrug) that is done for a weird reason its part of a 54km path that can't be build on since below ground there are 2 massive waterpipes below ground starting at the lek and ending in the dunes for cleaning and then being transported to amsterdam for most of its drinking water. Its part of my daily ride. If you want i can add some different pictures to different parts of the video by links in the comment. Like this one when the new bridge next to the coffee bridge hanging over the farm : www.flickr.com/photos/128068908@N03/38507584401/in/dateposted/ (th-cam.com/video/fMHEorCfZJQ/w-d-xo.html) taken from the bioscoop back then still a building all by itself (www.flickr.com/photos/128068908@N03/28628719441/in/dateposted/ )
Funfact at 59:50: that building houses the city bike impound. All the bike that the city removes from the street which have been parked illegally. It is one of 2 locations where they keep hundreds of bikes.
It's not been the fietsendepot since june 2021. It's going to be mixed use, and right now it's a vegan streetfood bar (recommended) and some small businesses AFAIK.
Another great installment. I understand all the Dutch love on the podcast and channel, but I'd be interested to see how other places are successful as well outside of Europe. When are you planning to interview Thomas Schlijper?
Always looking for other places to profile. I'm a big fan of Thomas' work, and it would be an honor to have him join me on the Pod. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John
Hi, Love your channel, as a Dutch person, and wanted to show you the tunnel you are cycling on around the 45 minute mark. I wrote an earlier comment, but the video went to the next one and lost my text. So, in short....I will post two video links below (in case comments with a YT link aren't allowed). The name of the first is: "A2 en Leidsche Rijntunnel" for the Utrecht tunnel, in case comments with links are removed automatically. Geert does mention Maastricht, where my sister lives (me in Hellevoetsluis near Rotterdam, for Dutch standards far away ;) ...and they had a reconstruction as well. For years it was one of the, if not THE only spot there would be traffic lights on the highway. They dug a tunnel, put a park on top. I skimmed through this video a bit and seems to show it best. Before, that highway was really a separation of two parts of the city. The name of that video is: "Compilatie A2 Maastricht in 3 minuten". Cheers! Will put both links below this comment.
You are quite welcome! Yeah, I have some wonderful episodes talking about the power of comfortable, everyday upright bikes and e-assist bikes. Check out this one with Tatiana Sales Lust: th-cam.com/video/bVrFciCwzZM/w-d-xo.html and this one with Erin Riediger: th-cam.com/video/jnabdvx3S7c/w-d-xo.html. Thank you so much for watching and I hope you continue enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
I was reading up on the new car-light development they were doing along the Merwede canal that you passed by, and it was pretty interesting. There’s a housing shortage in the Netherlands, and the location of the Merwede development is a great spot since there’s quite a lot of space and it’s close to the city center. There used to be a lot of low-value land usage there that really shouldn’t be there so far into the city, like a bus depot and old offices and factories. However the problem with developing that area was that the infrastructure of the city couldn’t really support such a large volume of additional housing there. The roads into the city are already near capacity, and if anything they want to lower the amount of cars, not increase it. So they came up with a car-light concept, where the people living there are expected to mostly rely on cycling, walking, public transport and car-share. The area is going to include a shopping area, bike parking with service areas, car-share and a limited amount of visitor parking space, as well as some additional cycling bridges over the canal for better connections as Geert mentioned. The people who are going to buy or rent a house there can live in a nice new area close to the city center, but they know it’s car-light. So if they do own a car, they need to park it in a bit further away at a P&R adjacent to the city ring highway. Living car-light is what most people in the city are doing already anyway. I have a car but it spends most of its time parked, I only really use it if I’m visiting friends in another city (when more convenient than public transport), or when picking up something heavy from the Ikea or hardware store or something like that. For going into the city center, cycling or public transport are the default, it makes little sense to go by car. So to build a new neighbourhood based on a car-light concept is not a strange idea. Several other areas that you went through also have plans for renovation of the public space and making them more pedestrian and bike-friendly, so if you would revisit the route in another 5 years from now I bet a lot will have changed. Like the area near the Vaartsche Rijn station, it’s currently a bit messy and it should become a lot nicer to get through, hopefully. p.s. It’s fun to see a channel from Texas coasting around in my “stadsie”, in areas where I live, cycle and exercise!
Thank you so very much for watching and for your contribution to the conversation. I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy the Channel. Cheers! John
You should do a ride from town to town over the moorlands in the Netherlands too. If there one thing that puts one completely in a zen mode it is such a bike ride.
For sure! That sounds wonderful. I love riding from town to town in The Netherlands. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Nice tour of my home town Utrecht, but the boroughs Leidsche Rijn and Lunetten were not shown. Logic, there is so much to see in Utrecht. Let me know the next time you visit Utrecht, so I can show you those boroughs with all the cycling infrastructure? Leidsche Rijn has 3 cycling highways, a cycle-pedestrian loop for recreation and a business park with good cycling infrastructure. Lunetten has narrow residential streets with traffic calming. Also cyclists can take the direct route, while motorists has to take a detour.
Thanks so much! That's very kind. btw Did you see my other two Utrecht videos? th-cam.com/video/6K1bCFELjZQ/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/P-8o1U4-bV0/w-d-xo.html Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns Yes Sir, I watched your other 2 videos about Utrecht. I love to live in Utrecht city and Utrecht province, because of the nice country side and nature.
36:35 Nice example of how big and out of place an American style car is. It is my opinion that these type of cars should be banned inside the city centers.
Yes, good point, Paul. I saw a few of these vehicles during my nearly three-week-long stay, and they really are quite shocking to the senses. Thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Nice videos all the time. But i miss the mention that dutch law says that in an accident concerning a bicycle and a motorized vehicle the motorized vehicle is always at fault
Not true! Drivers are obliged to anticipate on behavior of children, bicyclists, pedestrians and old people. If they do not, they are accountable, if they do but the fault is clearly on the other party involved, they are not responsible.
Yes, there are complexities and differences in these areas as well. And in North America and many other nations around the globe, much needs to change. Cheers! John
@@dutchman7623 That's oversimplifying it as well. E.g. except specific circumstances, motorist will be at least 50% at fault for insurance purposes. But they're also the only party which is required to be insured.
@@dykam Almost every cyclist is insured as well as part of their liability insurance, that covers all damage you do, your pets, and while using a bicycle.
Cool. Looks like Geert lives a 2 minute walk from me. My home was actually in the video. 🙂
Yay! That’s always fun. Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Your ride videos always make me happy. But this one is the next level. Every town on the planet should be like this. Wake up politicians! You’re asleep at the wheel (of your ugly SUV). Camera work; music; super chat… all a feast for the eyes and ears. Really top notch John. Thanks for this excessively brilliant start to 2023.
Thanks so much, Mike. More to come... Cheers! John 😀
So in a one hour ride I saw a ton of homes, shops, cinemas, schools, hairdressers, bike parking facilities, train stations, bridges, grocery stores, parks, bike repair shops, etc. etc. In a North American context to see as many variants of human amenities by bike would take... a day?
Yep. Land use patterns make a huge difference in the number of meaningful places one can get to within easy walking and biking distance. Where I live, near downtown Austin, TX, I can reach many meaningful places on an emerging Dutch-inspired cycle network, so I consider myself quite fortunate compared to what most people in North America must endure. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Happy New Year, and Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns Yeah, I've seen Austin is doing a great job, and I'm sure be an example for others to follow. Wish you a great new year too John, with many interesting guests and conversations to come, looking forward!
I still have my verkeersdiploma from 1960 (Smilde, Drenthe). An important looking certificate in blue and yellow with gold trim and signatures..
Wow! Very cool 😀
Brings back memories. 52:25 ik kan de coffee ruiken !
TH-cam is so limiting... need to work on delivering the other senses. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John
Thanks John and Geert. Really enjoyed the video.
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it. Cheers! John
Thanks John and Geert for showing Utrecht Center and South. Nice to see al the familiar places I ride with my bike too so ones and while. We live in Utrecht since 13 years now and it became my favorite city. That's funny and weird told by a person born in Den Haag and lived there for 34 years. John, when you are back in the Netherlands ones, please allow me to show you the other side of Utrecht; Utrecht North. Plan in the Summer, so I can buy you a beer.
Thanks so much, Richard! Will do. Cheers! John
This video deserves a lot more views like and reaction, its just a great video.
Great job.
Thanks so much! I tend to agree, but I may be a bit biased. Hehe 🤣 I really appreciate you watching it, and feel free to share it and the Channel with everyone you know and encourage them to do the same. That should take care of it in no time. Cheers! John 😀
I'm 6 months behind but this ride was awesome
Hehe...🤣 heck, I'm still editing content from Nov 9th, so yer all good. Thanks so much for digging into the "archives." Cheers! John 😀
So nice to see you riding through my home town. You came very close to my house. Greetings from Utrecht!
Greetings! Yes, it is truly a lovely city. Every time I visit, I learn something exciting and new. Thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Watching this [in Utrecht] on last day of the year, 2 hours before 2023 starting, with 16C [so even warmer then october was] kind of crazy..
Thanks for the nice videos and wishing everybody a good new year
Happy New Year, Tom! Thanks so much for watching and for your continued support. Cheers! John
Happy New Year John let's hope 2023 will be a great and better year😊
Keep up the great work👍
And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱 CHEERS
Happy new year! Thank you so much for watching. I really do appreciate it. Much more to come. Cheers! John
I needed this guided tour when I was in Utrecht
Copy that. And we barely scratched the surface. I'll be back with another guided ride in Utrecht with a different perspective in a couple of weeks. Thanks so much for watching, I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Different trees yielding different autumn colours, planted one colour for a few blocks on a street, then another fall colour for the next few blocks, and still another a few blocks yonder. How cool is that?
I would see tree windbreaks along a fence line on farms which were tall and very narrow poplars. I was told these specific trees would grow from a seedling 7 feet high every year and then top off between 50 and 75 feet in maturity. Imagine planting these in an urban environment, let the neighbours and users of the road this tree was planted on watch these trees grow that fast.
The possibilities of trees and hedges and low ground covers are endless. And they fit so well with bicycling.
Yes! We most definitely need more trees, hedges, and native plants of all types to help soften many of these streets, decrease the heat island effect, and better control stormwater runoff. Cheers! John
Poplars grow fast, but also die fast, and than just fall. These trees cannot be used everywhere in the city. They also destroy the pavement.
@@jannetteberends8730 Fascinating. What species of tree would be best or better?
What a nice way to open the year with a virtual bike ride of my city (happy new year to all), for sure a trip through memory lane you drove to many places my fam where born, went to school, roamed the city as kids, lived for the most part. Both grandma/pa's, parents, sister and i are from areas you probably hit within 100meters. One of the semi sad parts is that i used to talk to them about changes to the city and show them pictures or even video of things and i still have that impuls todo so but they are not longer with us. Some more background i grew up when the shopping mall was still new it was opened when i was a few years old and still part of my earliest memories it was massive and when opened the largest in europe (for a short while) it was always mixed feelings with it but most locals do use/used it as a nice way to walk from one part of the city center to other parts when its raining. Also the new part of the city is/was the biggest building area of our country (vinex area) thats how 100.000 people and expected to house 1/3 of all people in Utrecht. The plan is/was to create two city centers and connect them up and thats been going on for decades now (since the 1990's) and only now many parts are merging into one as you can see when you passed the cycle bridge. One problem was there where two barriers one was a massive highway the A2 that now is indeed below ground and when it was closed/opened? the level of sound went down massively and the canal that like the highway are very important the canal probably the most important. So the city would never really merge into one if these would not be crossable in more and nicer ways and thats ongoing. One interesting bike path you missed (on this trip) is a 5km straight bikepath through the city that starts at the end of the cycle bridge (dafne schippersbrug) that is done for a weird reason its part of a 54km path that can't be build on since below ground there are 2 massive waterpipes below ground starting at the lek and ending in the dunes for cleaning and then being transported to amsterdam for most of its drinking water. Its part of my daily ride. If you want i can add some different pictures to different parts of the video by links in the comment. Like this one when the new bridge next to the coffee bridge hanging over the farm : www.flickr.com/photos/128068908@N03/38507584401/in/dateposted/ (th-cam.com/video/fMHEorCfZJQ/w-d-xo.html) taken from the bioscoop back then still a building all by itself (www.flickr.com/photos/128068908@N03/28628719441/in/dateposted/ )
Yay! Happy New Year! Thank you so much for watching and for your comments. I really appreciate it. Cheers! John
Funfact at 59:50: that building houses the city bike impound. All the bike that the city removes from the street which have been parked illegally. It is one of 2 locations where they keep hundreds of bikes.
Oh wow! Cool. Thanks so much for watching and for sharing this fun fact. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
It's not been the fietsendepot since june 2021. It's going to be mixed use, and right now it's a vegan streetfood bar (recommended) and some small businesses AFAIK.
@@dykam Thanks for the update!
Another great installment. I understand all the Dutch love on the podcast and channel, but I'd be interested to see how other places are successful as well outside of Europe.
When are you planning to interview Thomas Schlijper?
Always looking for other places to profile. I'm a big fan of Thomas' work, and it would be an honor to have him join me on the Pod. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John
Hi,
Love your channel, as a Dutch person, and wanted to show you the tunnel you are cycling on around the 45 minute mark. I wrote an earlier comment, but the video went to the next one and lost my text. So, in short....I will post two video links below (in case comments with a YT link aren't allowed). The name of the first is: "A2 en Leidsche Rijntunnel" for the Utrecht tunnel, in case comments with links are removed automatically. Geert does mention Maastricht, where my sister lives (me in Hellevoetsluis near Rotterdam, for Dutch standards far away ;) ...and they had a reconstruction as well. For years it was one of the, if not THE only spot there would be traffic lights on the highway. They dug a tunnel, put a park on top. I skimmed through this video a bit and seems to show it best. Before, that highway was really a separation of two parts of the city. The name of that video is: "Compilatie A2 Maastricht in 3 minuten". Cheers! Will put both links below this comment.
Utrecht: th-cam.com/video/Mm0earoe6ko/w-d-xo.html
Maastricht: th-cam.com/video/nr4ZqXAIsOQ/w-d-xo.html
Maastricht better view park: th-cam.com/video/ELNXsCcL3-k/w-d-xo.html
Excellent! Thanks for this comment and for the links. Cheers! John
Thank you fellow Texan. Cover bikes more please. Europeans have a good idea. Good bikes make good roads.
You are quite welcome! Yeah, I have some wonderful episodes talking about the power of comfortable, everyday upright bikes and e-assist bikes. Check out this one with Tatiana Sales Lust: th-cam.com/video/bVrFciCwzZM/w-d-xo.html and this one with Erin Riediger: th-cam.com/video/jnabdvx3S7c/w-d-xo.html.
Thank you so much for watching and I hope you continue enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
I was reading up on the new car-light development they were doing along the Merwede canal that you passed by, and it was pretty interesting. There’s a housing shortage in the Netherlands, and the location of the Merwede development is a great spot since there’s quite a lot of space and it’s close to the city center. There used to be a lot of low-value land usage there that really shouldn’t be there so far into the city, like a bus depot and old offices and factories.
However the problem with developing that area was that the infrastructure of the city couldn’t really support such a large volume of additional housing there. The roads into the city are already near capacity, and if anything they want to lower the amount of cars, not increase it. So they came up with a car-light concept, where the people living there are expected to mostly rely on cycling, walking, public transport and car-share.
The area is going to include a shopping area, bike parking with service areas, car-share and a limited amount of visitor parking space, as well as some additional cycling bridges over the canal for better connections as Geert mentioned. The people who are going to buy or rent a house there can live in a nice new area close to the city center, but they know it’s car-light. So if they do own a car, they need to park it in a bit further away at a P&R adjacent to the city ring highway.
Living car-light is what most people in the city are doing already anyway. I have a car but it spends most of its time parked, I only really use it if I’m visiting friends in another city (when more convenient than public transport), or when picking up something heavy from the Ikea or hardware store or something like that. For going into the city center, cycling or public transport are the default, it makes little sense to go by car. So to build a new neighbourhood based on a car-light concept is not a strange idea.
Several other areas that you went through also have plans for renovation of the public space and making them more pedestrian and bike-friendly, so if you would revisit the route in another 5 years from now I bet a lot will have changed. Like the area near the Vaartsche Rijn station, it’s currently a bit messy and it should become a lot nicer to get through, hopefully.
p.s. It’s fun to see a channel from Texas coasting around in my “stadsie”, in areas where I live, cycle and exercise!
Thank you so very much for watching and for your contribution to the conversation. I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy the Channel. Cheers! John
You should do a ride from town to town over the moorlands in the Netherlands too. If there one thing that puts one completely in a zen mode it is such a bike ride.
For sure! That sounds wonderful. I love riding from town to town in The Netherlands. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
16:40 It's row houses
👍
Rijtjeshuis in Dutch
The Romans named it Trajectum 2000 years ago and that became modern day Utrecht
Interesting! Thanks so much for watching. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Nice tour of my home town Utrecht, but the boroughs Leidsche Rijn and Lunetten were not shown. Logic, there is so much to see in Utrecht. Let me know the next time you visit Utrecht, so I can show you those boroughs with all the cycling infrastructure?
Leidsche Rijn has 3 cycling highways, a cycle-pedestrian loop for recreation and a business park with good cycling infrastructure.
Lunetten has narrow residential streets with traffic calming. Also cyclists can take the direct route, while motorists has to take a detour.
Thanks so much! That's very kind. btw Did you see my other two Utrecht videos? th-cam.com/video/6K1bCFELjZQ/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/P-8o1U4-bV0/w-d-xo.html Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns Yes Sir, I watched your other 2 videos about Utrecht. I love to live in Utrecht city and Utrecht province, because of the nice country side and nature.
Yay! Thanks so much. 😀
36:35 Nice example of how big and out of place an American style car is. It is my opinion that these type of cars should be banned inside the city centers.
It's like driving around on a tractor in a playground.
Yes, good point, Paul. I saw a few of these vehicles during my nearly three-week-long stay, and they really are quite shocking to the senses. Thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John
Nice videos all the time. But i miss the mention that dutch law says that in an accident concerning a bicycle and a motorized vehicle the motorized vehicle is always at fault
Not true! Drivers are obliged to anticipate on behavior of children, bicyclists, pedestrians and old people. If they do not, they are accountable, if they do but the fault is clearly on the other party involved, they are not responsible.
Yes, there are complexities and differences in these areas as well. And in North America and many other nations around the globe, much needs to change. Cheers! John
@@dutchman7623 That's oversimplifying it as well. E.g. except specific circumstances, motorist will be at least 50% at fault for insurance purposes. But they're also the only party which is required to be insured.
@@dykam Almost every cyclist is insured as well as part of their liability insurance, that covers all damage you do, your pets, and while using a bicycle.
Liable, not at fault necessarily. Liable because car drivers have mandatory insurance. (Idiots excluded of course)