Rush hour in Holland

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  • November 25, 2011 at 1:59 am #932960
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Watching this video is oddly hypnotic; like watching fish in a fishtank.

    It’s interesting to note how very few personal cars you see even though it is rush hour. Just bikes, buses and trams. The way it should be! I did count two scofflaw cyclists.

    I got my first set of grocery panniers yesterday – can’t wait to try them out. I’m dutch in spirit ;)

    November 25, 2011 at 4:46 pm #932962
    eminva
    Participant

    My brother moved to the Netherlands 10 years ago. He was just visiting us last week and was admiring my road bike, but said he couldn’t justify owning a road bike because it is perfectly flat where he lives. He gets around on an old workhorse bike. He does have a car because apparently IT jobs come with cars and his commute is very long. So there are some personal vehicles out there.

    The first time I visited him my son was in a stroller, and I was amazed that they don’t really have mixed used paths. There are separated paths for bikes as well as sidewalks for pedestrians. No jockeying for space along with dog walkers, joggers with earbuds, etc. And it is incumbent upon the pedestrian to make sure the way is clear when crossing a bike path becuase the cyclist is not expected to look out for those crossing the paths.

    I don’t spend much time thinking about how green the grass is on the other side of the fence, but I was slackjawed at one bicycle bridge over the equivalent of an interstate highway. I took a photo of it and if I can find it, will post it later.

    Liz

    November 25, 2011 at 5:15 pm #932963
    Greenbelt
    Participant

    What I like about the video is that even the trams and buses don’t seem too crowded. If you give people safe, convenient infrastructure to bike on, many will choose to ride! And that takes pressure off congestion and crowding of other modes. I’m always amazed at how many people ride in Montreal — it’s literally thousands and thousands of bikes, just like this video, except for during in the coldest months of winter. (And even when it’s below zero, some of them still ride!)

    November 25, 2011 at 5:32 pm #932964
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The DC area is slowly moving in that direction. If you look at another video on that person’s YouTube page, the Netherlands was car-dominant in the 1950s and 1960s too. Maybe we don’t move all the way to the Dutch model, but I wouldn’t mind even a few separate cycletracks. 15th St. is a start but I like the Dutch cycletracks better, at least from what I see on the video.

    As Capital Bikeshare keeps expanding and growing in popularity, there may be more of a broad push to build better bike infrastructure in the area. A personal dream of mind is to have a true bikeway between DC and Baltimore that doesn’t rely on long stretches of car roads.

    November 25, 2011 at 6:52 pm #932965
    JeffC
    Participant

    What I would not give to have a bike’s only W&OD and Custis Trail. It has gotten to the point where in the spring, summer and fall, I largely take the streets (albeit not heavily trafficked) in the afternoon, rather than the socalled trails because they are so crowded and I find myself having to stop so frequently. All the onus is on the bikers to be alert.

    Most sidewalks/paths in Germany are also divided between sections for peds and bikes. I was in Boulder, CO last summer and saw the same thing there, just not quite yet here. If all the infrastructure in Virginia were like the new stretch of westbound 66 in Arlington, it would be amazing–took that last night for the first time with my family after dinner, it’s flawless for a highway.

    November 25, 2011 at 9:52 pm #932969
    eminva
    Participant

    Couldn’t find digital of my photo, so here are a couple of links to (much superior) pictures of the bridge I was referring to in the Netherlands:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/29280372@N08/4825075558

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/71504466@N00/1902242847

    That center support is shaped like a tulip, natch.

    Liz

    November 25, 2011 at 11:25 pm #932973
    mrkenny83
    Participant

    J’adore Amsterdam! I love that no one wears helmets, and everyone uses gigantic industrial-chain bike locks. I also love that you’ll see 3 people on one bike… and one of those people is holding a sleeping baby over their shoulders.

    No rules, just right – ya know?

    November 26, 2011 at 1:31 am #932974
    dbb
    Participant

    The rider “towing” a spare bike at 0:32 was pretty good. Does he get to use the HOV bike lane?

    November 26, 2011 at 3:39 am #932975
    Riley Casey
    Participant

    That bridge was just for bikes?!?! The concept of a government that can commit those sorts of resources to bikes without a snarling, vociferous backlash from conservative ” only cars count” commentators is genuinely stunning.

    November 26, 2011 at 4:26 am #932976
    KLizotte
    Participant

    With the advent of Capital Bikeshare on the Mall I think the National Park Service will finally be forced to do something about segregating peds/bikes along the Mall’s multi-use trails. Since most of the MUTs are very wide, I think painting one side for “bikes only” would be the cheapest, most efficient way to segregate traffic. Of course training the legions of ped tourists to stick to their side of the MUT will be a challenge….

    November 26, 2011 at 4:32 am #932977
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @Greenbelt 11239 wrote:

    What I like about the video is that even the trams and buses don’t seem too crowded. If you give people safe, convenient infrastructure to bike on, many will choose to ride! And that takes pressure off congestion and crowding of other modes. I’m always amazed at how many people ride in Montreal — it’s literally thousands and thousands of bikes, just like this video, except for during in the coldest months of winter. (And even when it’s below zero, some of them still ride!)

    A big incentive for people to ride bikes in places like the Netherlands are the exceptionally high costs of owning a car (much higher fuel costs, taxes, etc compared to US). Also the Netherlands is as flat as a pancake and has a very temperate climate year round. Let’s face it, pedaling up big hills here in August requires quite a lot of dedication.

    I wish I could remember which European country it was, but I recently read that the national government has a policy that whenever a road gets refurbished they take out the side parking on one side and put in a bike lane (despite any local screaming).

    November 28, 2011 at 3:24 pm #933020
    pfunkallstar
    Participant

    I was in Sweden recently and couldn’t stop staring at all the bike infrastructure just lying around: dedicated bike lanes (lights), free air pumps all over the place, polite drivers, and of course the svelte Swedes themselves. Coming back to work today I asked myself “What would the Swedes do?” at every awkward encounter, which led to the following list:

    1. Separate bike/pedestrian lanes.
    2. Avoid or redirect bike/car crossings.
    3. Dedicated lanes on bridges for bikes.
    4. 100% more respect from both bikers and drivers.
    5. Delicious mulled wine and cookies for all.

    November 28, 2011 at 7:56 pm #933044
    zanna_leigh
    Participant

    Speaking of Dutch biking infrastructure….the Sierra Club posted this video up on facebook today

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o&feature=youtu.be

    here’s the link to the blog post about it too

    http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-dutch-got-their-cycling.html

    November 28, 2011 at 8:02 pm #933045
    Dirt
    Participant

    No wonder it is such a cycling-based society. They’re dang fast! I’d have a heck of a time keeping up with them on my race bike and they’re all riding townies. ;)

    November 29, 2011 at 4:39 am #933062
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @zanna_leigh 11331 wrote:

    Speaking of Dutch biking infrastructure….the Sierra Club posted this video up on facebook today

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o&feature=youtu.be

    here’s the link to the blog post about it too

    http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-dutch-got-their-cycling.html

    Great links. Makes me realize how much more “forceful” we’ve got to be to get our voices heard. There was a million man march, how about a million bike ride?

    I’m impressed that the Netherlands moved their country from cars to bikes in only 40 or so years. That’s amazing.

    Perhaps a more expedient tact bicycle organizers should take is the line about protecting children. No one can really come up with a good argument against protecting kids and it ties in well with anti-obesity efforts. I really hope it doesn’t take a highly publicized accident (e.g., GW crossing) to wake people up though.

    I wish there were reliable stats somewhere showing the % of people who go on to buy their own bike after trying bikesharing.

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