
Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? - jseliger
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23587916
======
avar

        > If anything, having a tatty, battered old
        > bike affords more status as it attests to
        > a long and lasting love.
    

As an Amsterdam resident: What a romantic characterization of our high crime
rates! Yes, the reason I still ride a shitty old beater of a bike is
definitely my long lasting love for that piece of shit, it's not because I
know that if I buy anything fancy I'm going to have to never take my eyes off
of it, least it be stolen in under half a minute in certain parts of town[1].

1\. [http://www.iamexpat.nl/blog/culture/amsterdam-wins-
european-...](http://www.iamexpat.nl/blog/culture/amsterdam-wins-european-
bike-stealing-championships-2015)

~~~
dankohn1
Can anyone explain why police don't do a huge crackdown on bike theft in
Amsterdam? I heard repeatedly when I was there about how bad the theft is. Is
there something stopping cops from putting out a dozen fancy bikes without
locks every day and arresting everyone who grabs one and rides off? Is the
legality of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment)
different in the Netherlands?

Because it seems like a relatively small policing effort could enable a
massive improvement in quality of life.

~~~
avar
They do decoy bikes, e.g. here's a news article about a thief being caught by
police stealing a decoy bike for the second time in 6 months published just 3
days ago (in Dutch, but it Google Translates):

[http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/207931/Fietsendief-in-
Amsterda...](http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/207931/Fietsendief-in-Amsterdam-
neemt-voor-tweede-keer-lokfiets-van-politie-mee)

The problem is that the police have other stuff to do, and they might as well
be pissing in the wind with the amount of bike theft here. They could do a
huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be
right back to the same theft rate.

Interestingly there was a case this year (currently going through appeals)
where a judge ruled that a man stealing a bicycle in a residential
neighborhood should be found not guilty because the police had created the
circumstances of the bike's theft:

[http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01/decoy-bikes-
sh...](http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01/decoy-bikes-should-not-
be-too-tempting-say-judges/)

It's unclear what that means for bicycle entrapment in general, but an article
in Parool (again, in Dutch) suggested that this may have implications for the
methods of the Amsterdam police depending on how it goes:

[http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/42...](http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/4221116/2016/01/08/Mogelijk-
einde-aan-lokfiets-als-opsporingsmiddel.dhtml)

~~~
ZenoArrow
> "The problem is that the police have other stuff to do, and they might as
> well be pissing in the wind with the amount of bike theft here. They could
> do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll
> be right back to the same theft rate."

How about using CCTV at bicycle locking points? Combined with satellite
imagery it should be a relatively non-resource intensive way to catch the
thiefs. Of course, there's still the question of whether a surveillance-based
solution is worse than the crime it's meant to address.

~~~
krageon
Let's not turn Dutch cities into another example of the horrifying panopticon
that UK cities have become.

~~~
funnyfacts365
Dude, they already are. Cameras everywhere

------
cdnsteve
Just came back from a week in Netherlands and stayed in Amsterdam. What a cool
place to hang out and take in the sights. Cycling there is huge indeed. The
big difference I noticed from Canada was the dedicated infrastructure they
have in place. Dedicated cycling lanes everywhere, it's a proper form of
transportation. As a tourist, this was weird, I nearly got mowed down a few
times but because I was in the wrong and not paying attention. You quickly
adapt and realize bike lanes are just as important to watch out for as vehicle
lanes. The people are very friendly and nearly all speak English without
issue.

I don't agree with cycling on the roads and highways here in Canada, it's
chaos and frankly, dangerous. I don't really see if implementing what they
have because it's already built in.

The thing that really jumped out at me was when I was waiting for a bus around
zaanse schans, about an hour outside of Amsterdam in the country, there was an
elementary school that just finished up for the day and every single student
came out on bicycles. Myself and a group of Canadian's couldn't believe it.
They all happily were socializing on their bikes tightly packed together while
riding on the bike path in the country to their homes. Here in Canada nearly
everyone takes a giant yellow school bus.

Very nice place, highly recommend checking it out if you have chance. Aside,
saw the outside of the Atlassian Amsterdam office too ;)

~~~
gutnor
> As a tourist, this was weird, I nearly got mowed down a few times but
> because I was in the wrong and not paying attention. You quickly adapt and
> realized bike lanes are just as important to watch out for as vehicle lanes.

You can also get mowed down in pedestrian area, on the pavement by impatient
cyclist that don't like traffic jams and custom courtesy like stopping to let
you cross a zebra crossing is non-existent with cyclists.

A definitive win for the environment, but terribly stressful with a pregnant
woman or a toddler. There is just nowhere safe at all, even between the stall
of art market.

Bicycles were the biggest disappointment of visiting Amsterdam.

~~~
belorn
This fear of cyclist seems very odd from my point of view since I often see
strollers on bike lanes with parents that have no problem that bikes has to
stop and go around them. I occasionally also see people in wheel chairs using
the bike lane.

The fear would make sense if all that caused yearly deaths by cycling crashing
into toddlers and people, but its is surprisingly rare. I have yet to hear
about a single case here in Sweden, and we are almost as happy to use bikes as
those in the Netherlands. The only thing that explains it is that the
statistical risk of taking a stroller and walking against bike traffic seems
similar to being in the park in a lane where joggers are running. The speed
that people bike in a city is so low that they can react and slow down,
similar to a jogger who is running. In contrast, cars driving on the road is
going much faster and as such, it is significant more likely to be hit by a
car than a bike. I would take a guess and say that it is even true in the
Netherlands.

~~~
gutnor
Is lethality the only criteria that can justify fear ? My cyclist colleagues
are constantly afraid of pedestrians ( reverse problem than Amsterdam, in
London, where infrastructure is inconsistent and pedestrian quite oblivious of
cyclists ), they drive on the open road and regularly reach 20 mph speeds. The
assumption that because they are cyclist they can brake instantly is the main
cause they bump into pedestrians. There are very little genuine accident (
like wet road marking ) with pedestrian, always problem that could be avoided
by not stepping in front of a 90 kg mass cycling at over 15 mph.

Amsterdam was supposed to be the example of integration (pedestrian / cyclist
/ car ) done right. It wasn't, just that the position of power between cyclist
and pedestrian was reversed compared to London: instead of entitled mum with a
stroller in the bike lane, you get entitled cyclist that blaze through a
pedestrian area ringing his bell and shouting rather than controlling his
speed.

~~~
belorn
20mph is an interesting speed since a electric bike here in Sweden would be
illegal if it reached those speeds. And as a owner of a legal electric bike I
can say that regular bikes do not pass by at 20mph in the city. Even 15mph,
which happens to be the legal max speed for a electric bike, would be unusual
to see for a regular bike. Of course an open road would be different but
pedestrian that walk against traffic there has a much bigger problem than the
few cyclists that can reach 20mph unassisted.

Lethality is not the only criteria but accidents between pedestrians and
cyclist is exceptional rare in relation to all the fear people feel towards
cyclists. The opposite is true for cars. Ironically the fear towards cyclists
seems to go down during winter (since bike lanes tend to be more free from
snow and ice than the side walks) so during the time when the bike lane is the
most dangerous it is also the time when most people are walking on them. There
is thus a strong correlation between fear of bikes and lack of conveniences.

------
jmcphers
One thing the article doesn't mention is how _long_ the bicycle trips are.
Surely the relative compactness of their cities are a major contributing
factor!

I live in America and commute on my bicycle almost every day. For me the
biggest obstacle isn't the hills (which there are plenty of) or even sharing
the road with cars (which is admittedly extremely unpleasant) but the fact
that in the quasi-suburban area in which I live, everything's so damned spread
out that bicycling is very impractical.

~~~
kough
> The famously flat Dutch terrain, combined with densely-populated areas, mean
> that most journeys are of short duration and not too difficult to complete.

> Few Dutch people don lycra to get out on their bike, preferring to ride to
> work, the shops or the pub in whatever clothes they think appropriate for
> their final destination.

> Of course, the cycle paths lend themselves to sauntering along in summer
> dresses in a way a death-defying, white-knuckle ride in rush-hour traffic
> does not. It is also partly because of this that people don't need showers
> at work to be able to commute by bike - it's a no-sweat experience.

So, reading with some context clues, the answer is "not long enough to work up
a sweat."

~~~
dtech
People usually bike quite leisurely in the Netherlands. You can easily bike
10-15km in reasonable time without sweating, especially if you're used to
riding a bike.

~~~
analog31
One difference between the NL, and most US cities, is climate. There's a large
portion of the US that gets much hotter, and much colder than Amsterdam. My
town gets 10 degrees F hotter, and 30 degrees F colder.

I ride in regular clothes during the summer, but it takes some planning,
notably starting early in the morning and riding slowly.

------
mmjaa
I've always enjoyed my cycling trips when I've been in the Netherlands - its
just so calming and relaxing, and good for me - but without much stress. There
aren't many hills, its for the most part very safe and bicyclists have a place
in the transit system that feels very comfortable and, indeed 'right'. There
really is something quite right about the feeling - you are getting fit, and
going somewhere, and .. well, its just so easy to ride around.

After a month in the Netherlands, I always feel like going back to a car-based
society is a huge step backwards. Like, there is a wall of concrete and
asphalt and metal and fumes and busy-ness, and we're all just so trapped in
it. Like prisoners.

~~~
icebraining
I agree completely. I didn't even ride a bicycle there (I only learned how to
ride recently), yet simply walking the streets of Amsterdam felt so right that
I've decided to move there at least for a year. A decently-sized city without
many cars is fantastic.

------
chrismealy
I had watched about a million Dutch cycling videos before I went to the
Netherlands, but it's even better than the videos make it out. Cycling in the
Netherlands is safe, easy, and fun. I rode around with a four-year-old and an
almost-two-year-old in a cargo bike and not for a second felt any stress or
fear (and my kids absolutely loved it as well, fresh air and no carseats). I
can't go half a mile in Seattle without worrying about getting run over. I
basically gave up on cycling in America because I can't handle the adrenaline
hangover anymore.

One more thing, as great as cycling is in Amsterdam, from what I can tell, it
might be the least best place to cycle in the Netherlands, so if you only
cycle in Amsterdam you're not even getting the best experience.

~~~
mercer
Cycling in Amsterdam is fun in a sort of stressy rollercoastery way. Utrecht
is even worse.

If you're in the area though, I can highly recommend taking one of the many
bike routes, in particular one that leads to the dunes near Amersfoort. From
Amsterdam/Utrecht it's a perfect distance for a day trip and really beautiful.

~~~
chrismealy
The only stress I had in Amsterdam was "There are a lot of bikes here" and
"Hard to pay attention to the road with all the great architecture." None of
the "OMG that guy honking is going to murder me" stress you get in America.

I biked with the kids from Haarlem to Bloemendaal aan Zee. It was the best!
Took me a while to figure out Bloemendaal aan Zee and Bloemendaal are
different places, so there were some wrong turns, but it was fun all the way.

------
htaunay
Why wouldn't it be?

It's faster than the tram; a bike is cheap and cycling is free; its way easier
to park than a car; its healthy; there are cycle paths everywhere (inside and
between cities); and everyone else does it, so you usually have company.

~~~
giobox
While cycling is obviously much, much cheaper than a car, I'd argue its a myth
to say it's 'free'. Start commuting a _reasonable_ distance regularly by bike
and you are going to incur running costs, as well as often not insignificant
investment in essential accessories you might need depending on where you live
- clothing, panniers, lights, helmets, locks...

There's a fair amount of things on a bike that, like many other mechanical
things, can need looking after to keep running well - new tires and tubes, CO2
cartridges if like me you are too lazy to manually pump, chains, cassettes,
lubricant, wheels (eventually), brake pads/discs. If you don't have
maintenance skills for adjusting things like derailleur cable tension/brakes
you will probably need to budget for shop servicing too. It's often
considerably more than non-cyclists expect, and often scales with use. If you
ride regularly in foul weather, many of these items need attention much more
often - there's nothing like road salt to prevent ice for causing just about
everything on a bicycle drive train to rust if not cleaned off.

Not doing essential maintenance like chain replacements usually just increases
costs in the long term - worn chains in turn accelerate wear on the cassette
etc.

~~~
lucb1e
> essential accessories - clothing, panniers, lights, helmets, locks, new
> tires and tubes, CO2 cartridges, chains, cassettes, lubricant, wheels
> (eventually), brake pads/disks.

Mine came with a lock and lights. Tires last 10 years and aren't that
expensive. Pumping tires has to happen a few times a year, come on. Never
replaced a chain before the rest of the bike was due for replacement anyway.
Never heard of anyone replacing cassettes. Lubricant is not expensive for how
much it's needed (a euro a year maybe). New brake pads aren't expensive and
they last years, disks last decades no idea how expensive they are (my bike
from high school still doesn't need to have them replaced). Never used a
pannier. Never wore a helmet that I can remember (I've had this discussion
before here... I don't know anyone who wore one, nor anyone who sustained
serious injury due to not wearing one). And special clothing, huh? What's
wrong with the clothes you're wearing?

You're _greatly_ exaggerating. The only expensive part is buying a good one
when it's new.

~~~
giobox
You've edited my post rather substantially to suit your own end in your
"quote" \- at no point does my original post describe that entire list as
essential - I merely gave examples of the kind of things that _can_ need
maintenance.

> Tires last 10 years and aren't that expensive

> New brake pads aren't expensive and they last years

Ride 20 miles a day and lifespans like these are nigh on impossible.
Especially if you have inclement weather to deal with.

> Never heard of anyone replacing cassettes.

Cassette lifespan is entirely dependent on maintenance, but if you abuse your
bike you will find the derailleur starts 'jumping' on shifts after 400-600
miles or so. For me, this is every 3 or 4 months. They are designed as
consumable parts, not unlike car brakes. This is one of several reasons why
single speed bikes make great commuters if you can push a reasonable sized
gear.

> And special clothing, huh? What's wrong with the clothes you're wearing?

What you are wearing is often not great if cycling in rain, snow or ice.
Sitting at my desk in rain drenched, puddle stained clothing is never much
fun. Similarly, many people understandably don't want to wear the clothes they
sweated in for 10 miles on the way to work for a full day at the office...

~~~
mercer
I think the issue here is that other posters are describing things that I have
no doubt are factually correct in Holland or wherever they're from. Your
perspective is biking in a broader sense, and I have no reason to believe
you're wrong about that. It's just very different from the specific situation
in Holland: we rarely have snow or ice, and while it might seem like a rainy
country, it's usually rain showers interspersed with dry periods. We take that
into account in our bike rides, just as we do the public transit timetable.

------
teekert
I recently bought an electric "bakfiets" [0], While in the city I never use
the car anymore, the bakfiets is faster (24 kph + bike routes are always
shorter in the city), can carry all groceries and 2 kids (1 in a Maxi Cosi)
and I'm outside getting some exercise. It gets about 100 km on 1 charge (the
less lazy you are the more km you get) and I can park it anywhere for free. It
also lets me bike with my 4 y/o anywhere, when he gets tired he and his bike
go into the bakfiets easily. These things are getting insanely popular
nowadays, for good reasons. Now if only I would pay car taxes based on my
mileage (kilometerage) instead of the weight of the car it would be a nice
financial solution as well.

[0] [https://www.keilerfietsen.nl/product/keiler-
bambini/](https://www.keilerfietsen.nl/product/keiler-bambini/)

------
TeeWEE
Its a combination of reasons:

\- Netherlands is compact (10km from town to town, bikable)

\- Netherlands is flat

\- Cities are old, and are not easy to navigate with cars

\- Cars are expensive

\- Infrastructure is in place (everywhere!)

\- Bikes are cheap

\- Biking is healthy

\- Biking is often faster in cities for <10km distances (better routes, no
searching for parking place)

Note: If you want bikelanes in your city/country: Just start biking, the more
and more people are biking, the more politics is forced to build infra. This
is happening in Paris, Latvia, and more!

~~~
misja111
The climate is pretty convenient as well. No snow storms or heat waves, you
only need a good rain suit :)

~~~
Cthulhu_
There's a heat wave happening right now though, 30 degrees+ (celsius) and
damp, really not pleasant weather to go cycling.

------
Fricken
Bicycles are an amazing transportation tool. Why are they so _unpopular_
everywhere else?

~~~
hamstercat
There are many factors, but IMO it has a lot to do with urban sprawl. I'd
never consider living somewhere where I'd have to own a car to be able to do
my groceries and to go work. In the same idea, I'd never take a job that
requires me to do more than a 30 minutes commute by public
transportation/biking distance. That makes me a perfect candidate for biking,
unfortunately I'm more of an outlier. Most people, including my own family,
would think that this way of thinking makes no sense. They all own a car (or
two) and have an hour commute each way to be able to afford a bigger
house/different lifestyle than they could in the city. Just look at any
suburbs: the inhabitants clearly disagree with me.

~~~
ashark
> Just look at any suburbs: the inhabitants clearly disagree with me.

Some of us just have kids and have noticed that all the city housing is either
incredibly expensive or in slums, _and_ the schools in the city proper are
dangerous and terrible so we'd also have to pay for private school[0]. And
we're not made of money.

I'd much rather live in the city—I _hate_ the car-centric lifestyle—but living
there if I have enough money _not to_ but _not_ enough money to also pay for
private k-12 schooling would be irresponsible. Plus there's the issue of
having to balance commutes for two people in a dual-income household—one of us
would almost certainly need a car anyway.

[0] This is true for my city at least. YMMV.

~~~
InitialLastName
That's a chicken-and-egg problem too... inner-city schools suck because
everyone with money took their taxes to the suburbs (for better schools).

~~~
ashark
Well, more to the point they took their bound-to-be-good-students-on-average
_children_ to the suburbs. If you do it right ( _i.e._ you don't make a bad
choice and get ripped off) you're buying your kids' _peers_ more than anything
else by paying to live in more affluent districts or (more directly) by paying
private school tuition. This is why pouring money into poor districts rarely
does much to educational quality—the money's _coincident_ with other factors
that make rich(er) kids easy to teach and relatively unlikely to seriously
disrupt class on a regular basis, miss large numbers of school days, _et c_ ,
and just giving the schools more money doesn't fix all that other stuff.

So it's still a chicken/egg problem but a much tougher one to resolve than if
schools having too little money were even _a large part_ of the trouble. It's
even a shitty situation for people who can afford to get their kids into
better schools because there's pressure under this system to spend absolutely
as much as you can on these things, because you will _definitely_ be improving
your kids' chances in life by doing so.

It's a craptastic coordination problem that's _so bad_ things would _kind of_
be better if we just assigned schools based on some combination of parental
income and education level, since that'd put most kids more or less where they
are when we use willingness-and-ability-to-spend-money as a proxy for those
things ( _i.e._ the current system) while keeping everyone from having to
waste tons of money competing over blessed zip codes or paying private school
tuition.

~~~
InitialLastName
That's a well-put perspective.

... however...

I can't even picture the political shitstorm that would happen if someone
suggested (openly) segregating schools by parental income and education level.

~~~
ashark
Oh, I know it's not politically feasible and is fairly horrible. It's damning
of our current system, though, that it's _de facto_ very nearly the same thing
_and also incredibly expensive /stressful_.

------
raidoxim
I'm Dutch, but think we tend to underestimate the impact of the flatness of
our country, and the size of other countries especially the States. I've
cycled on my normal 7-gear bicycle (and that might be considered fancy) from
Newcastle to Carlisle. Which is quite flat. I had to walk so much up hill as
it was utterly impossible to climb 40 meters.

In the Netherlands quite a lot of people do live in a 50 km radius of their
workplace. And 50 km would be a distance you'll travel by train or car. A
daily comute of more then one hour in the Netherlands might be considered
'quite a while' but I guess this is different in the USA.

~~~
jdietrich
The three-speed hub gears that are typical in the Netherlands are practically
unknown over here in the UK. Even the cheapest bicycles will have a 27-speed
triple setup with an extremely low bottom gear. Mountain bikes completely took
over the market in the 1990s, with a lasting legacy for almost all styles of
bicycle.

A couple of cities are extremely challenging for cyclists (most notably
Bristol) and we do have a few genuinely idiotic roads [1] but the hills aren't
a huge obstacle for most cyclists on most routes. As long as you're cognisant
of the need to slow down and pace yourself, the gearing does all the work for
you. A moderately steep hill is no harder than a flat road when you're in a
suitable gear, it's just slower.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEgjKpFqIJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEgjKpFqIJ0)

~~~
revelation
That's not because the UK are so extremely hilly and adverse mountainous
terrain (it's not) but because in car centric countries, shitty bike shaped
objects sold in shops like WalMart dominate the market and what sells best to
that audience that doesn't really actually use a bicycle? Cool looking
mountain bikes with useless shocks and all the bells and whistles.

~~~
jdietrich
The mountain bike boom gave us the hybrid, which is an extremely useful
bicycle - an upright bicycle with a rigid frame, wide-range gearing, efficient
low-pressure slick tyres, plenty of clearance for mudguards and pannier rack
bosses. It's a much more useful style of bicycle than the boom-era ten speed.
The bike-shaped object is still around, but we now have a generation of much
more savvy bike buyers.

------
Theodores
From having completed the London to Brighton bike ride at the weekend I have a
good idea of what really makes the difference and that is having roads closed
to motor vehicles. The London to Brighton route is closed to traffic and some
of the rural stretches are as wide as a Dutch bike path. Up until now I have
believed sharing the roads is how to go but now I know that cycling
infrastructure is needed. It is the experience that matters and cycling away
from the cars is a totally different thing to dodging traffic. It makes
cycling more like walking in a park.

As an aside, I have thought about putting money down for an electric car but
then I look at electric bicycles and finally settle for a normal bicycle. I
hope more people question why the big box and get a two wheeler powered by a
5kg battery or their own oomph.

~~~
chrisper
How are you going to get to places in heavy rain or snow?

~~~
TulliusCicero
Oh no, not snow!

> Not many cities can boast 27 percent of cyclists continue using their bikes
> several times a week all year-round, especially not in cities with eight and
> half months of winter or an average of 256 days of thermal winter and snow.
> Oulu, Finland (population 191.000), however, is no ordinary town. It is a
> town where 98 percent of the cycling network is maintained all winter and
> all routes have street lighting.

[https://wintercyclingblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/oulu-
finl...](https://wintercyclingblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/oulu-finland-
winter-cycling-capital-of-the-world/)

With the right infrastructure and services, snow is no obstacle.

~~~
antisthenes
This is especially ironic in lieu of the fact that southern US loses their
minds when a few inches of snow falls there, with people being equally unable
to get anywhere by _car_ until the roads are plowed as they would be on a
bicycle.

------
mc32
Southeast Asia is heavy on bikes, and used to be more so than now, and they
didn't have infrastructure or culture --it was need. Japan is heavy into bikes
too, and there aren't dedicated lanes, not that I'd object, but it's not
necessary to make it popular.

The one thing in Japan, where accidents aren't as regular as in southeast
Asia, is that both bikes and cars obey traffic signals --I think that helps a
lot. Also many, many streets ate narrow, so everyone slows down, and aside
from bosozuku, you don't have people going 40km/h down streets.

~~~
TulliusCicero
Right, in Japan you don't need dedicated lanes quite as much because of the
narrowness of the streets, plus it being accepted to bike on the sidewalk when
there's room. And of course density being high in Japan helps.

~~~
ghaff
>accepted to bike on the sidewalk

When I walk on the sidewalk in Tokyo i'm always waiting to be clipped by a
bicycle because I changed direction too quickly. You see people riding bikes
through shoulder to shoulder crowds.

------
vdijkbas
The nice thing about having many cyclists is that there's a high demand for
cycle parking spaces which means you can run a good business guiding cyclists
to available space. This is what we do at LumiGuide. See:
[https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/bicycle-
parkin...](https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/bicycle-parking-
guidance-system-in-utrecht/)

------
djhworld
The Netherlands had the opportunity to hit the reset switch in the 1970s with
public support, that pushed through the changes in infrastructure and culture
to foster a cycling centric society.

I'm wondering if that could ever happen today, I think the motoring/oil and
road lobbyists are so well entrenched and organised in governments across the
world, I highly doubt it.

I live in London and would never dream of cycling here, I'd be too nervous to
do it.

~~~
Symbiote
I cycled in London for several years, before I left.

Don't consider the route you drive, or that the bus takes. That's the awful
main road.

Look on opencyclemap.com or similar, and see where there are quieter routes.
Many areas of London block off residential roads with bollards, which let
bikes through. Over half my commute to work was along the Thames Path, and
most of the remainder along a road so narrow most cars avoided it, with these
bollards in the middle.

------
outside1234
Amazing infrastructure for cycling (at least in Amsterdam).

Its also pan flat, so it is very practical to get anywhere by bike, in the way
that San Francisco's hills makes it very impractical.

~~~
TulliusCicero
And yet it is one of the highest bike rates for a major city in the US (having
fairly good weather for biking certainly helps). So far, more and better
infrastructure has led to more biking, just like you'd expect.

Plus, with the steady rise of ebikes, hills are only going to matter less and
less over time.

~~~
internetionals
Hear hear. And bikes reallybare a better sollution for traffic density (when
possible) than counting on people carpooling.

------
mfoy_
I wish more cities would push for the infrastructure and culture required for
this to work... in my city there are few bike lanes (and not all
interconnected, so you have to switch between bike lane and normal traffic
lanes) and both cyclists and motorists are equally ignorant of how to behave
around each other. (At least in enough quantity to make it a problem)

------
mbritton72
I think the superiority of the Netherlands when it comes to cycling is pretty
clear, and has been for a long time. What bothers me about this superiority is
the perceived need to point it out on a fairly regular basis.

It's very easy to look at one's fortunate circumstances and wonder why others
can't replicate them, so why the constant incredulousness around how the
Netherlands stands as an example that should be followed?

Perhaps shrinking every nation to the size and geographical structure of the
Netherlands would help. Other nations could also raze their suburbs and
reconstruct into quaint little villages with great respect for cyclists.

~~~
ljf
It wasn't always that way...
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-
bic...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-
capital-world-transport-cycling-kindermoord)

------
bane
Having spent a little tiny bit of time in the Netherlands in both Amsterdam
and The Hague, I suspect it's simply the combination of a flat landscape
combined with comfortable weather for strenuous outdoor activity and most
people living in pre-car cities which are sized about right for pedestrian
activities which fed into a virtuous cycle that both recognized these things
and then built legal and physical infrastructure to support them, which in
turn made cycling easier and more convenient and so on.

It's very hard to conveniently cycle around many other cities due to not
having one or more of the three foundations needed to kick off the cycle. Even
in non-optimal cities, putting a cycling infrastructure in place doesn't
necessarily result in lots of cyclists and doesn't necessarily determine cycle
usage.

For example, the entire U.S. state of Florida might be an ideal biking
location. It's flat after all, but most of the state was built to support
cars, and the weather can be mighty hot. It also has the highest cyclist
fatality rate in the U.S. with Orlando specifically often called out as one of
the worst cities in the world to cycle in.

------
jondubois
I've been living and working in The Hague for about 3 months.

Here there are bike paths everywhere (pretty much alongside every road) and
they're quite wide. Bikes have their own set of traffic lights.

If you manage to get your hands on a yellow public transport card (ov-
chipkaart) then you can even rent a bike from the train station (some train
stations have a separate section where they keep the bikes) and it only costs
about 3 Euros per day.

------
jjawssd
Because cars are so extremely expensive here in the Netherlands.

The fact that the bicycle paths here are amazing in most of the country is
secondary.

Bicycles are at extreme risk of theft in major cities. There is nothing to
romanticize about crappy bicycles. People do not ride garbage old bikes by
choice, but out of necessity. People ride garbage on rusty wheels because they
have been burned by theft multiple times.

Criminals with trucks in Germany and the Netherlands routinely roll up to
train stations and steal dozens of bicycles at a time, take them to get
resprayed in Poland, then resell them.

If you chained your bicycle to something in a way that isn't aesthetically
pleasing, the government will steal your bicycle and you will have to retrieve
it at a cost plus your expensive lock will be destroyed. This assuming you can
find your bike.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is bicycle utopia. You are only less
likely to get killed by a car. This is a huge plus. But the rest of the story
is bleak.

And now for your amusement...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ay3r5Kpio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ay3r5Kpio)

------
Radle
Thanks for asking BBC.

Here are some answers: -The Netherlands are flat. -Bikes only use renewable
energy. -Riding a bike is healthy. -There is a lot of supporting
infrastructure. -Car drivers are well trained, so that they don't impose as
much of a risk as car drivers in other countries. -In stark contrast to other
countries especially but not limited to the United States. In the Netherlands
everything is reachable by bike. For example but not limited to: Workplace,
school, kindergarten, grocery shop, shopping district, cinema.

------
kps
It's mild and flat.

~~~
accountyaccount
The US has mild and flat cities; none of them touch the Netherlands when it
comes to cycling support.

~~~
pbh101
I think it needs to be mild, flat, and _dense_. And then AFAIK the government
made a concerted effort to exploit those traits by building good cycling
infrastructure.

~~~
accountyaccount
We have mild, flat, and dense. Boston and NYC, for example.

I think the only missing piece in many cities is funding and prioritization.

~~~
pbh101
NYC is not mild compared to Amsterdam. According to this source (admittedly
just the first I Googled), Amsterdam is on average 13F cooler in the summer,
which IMO makes a huge difference when relying on it for your daily commute.

[1] [http://www.amsterdam.climatemps.com/vs/new-
york.php](http://www.amsterdam.climatemps.com/vs/new-york.php)

~~~
zurn
There are many cycling-happy cities in Europe with different weather and
geography[0]. Barcelona is pretty warm, for example.

[0] [https://www.wired.com/2015/06/copenhagenize-worlds-most-
bike...](https://www.wired.com/2015/06/copenhagenize-worlds-most-bike-
friendly-cities/)

------
Buetol
I just want to add that the Netherlands can afford those nice infrastructures
in part because it's a tax heaven since the 70s [1]

Also, please make the bay bridge have a bike path...personally I would just
ban all the cars during the day but to each his solution.

[1]:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax_in_the_Netherl...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax_in_the_Netherlands#Tax_haven)

~~~
kalleboo
How does not charging tax give the country public money to build
infrastructure with?

~~~
Buetol
When you're a tax heaven your attract all the companies and they pay their
taxes in your country instead of where they really operate. See Ireland also
(most big tech companies have their headquarters there).

see
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_competition](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_competition)

leading to
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom)

------
vondur
Aren't cars _really_ expensive to purchase in the Netherlands? Also, pushing
biking at the expense of cars certainly helps. People in the US would go nuts
if the Government starting reducing car lanes to install dedicated bike lanes.

~~~
LeonM
Depends on your definition of "really" expensive, but as a Dutch citizen I can
tell you that:

\- On average new cars are about twice as expensive compared to the USA,
mostly due to tax. (A Mustang GT starts at 119.500 EUR, about 133k USD).

\- Insurance is mandatory

\- For each car you own you pay a monthly road tax (between 30-100 euro per
month, depending on the car)

\- fuel prices are also quite high (~6,5USD per US gallon)

\- parking can also be very expensive in some regions (I pay 115 euro/month
for my parking space)

Despite all that, most Dutch people still own a car, for practical and status
purpose. However, due to the cost involved (fuel and parking) many Dutchies
will prefer a bike if the trip is not that far.

~~~
cr0sh
A basic Mustang GT is only about 40k USD - so you're talking about 3-4x as
expensive...?

~~~
kabes
A GT would set you back around $60k in the US, which is the v8 5 l which
LeonM. The 2.3 ecoboost would cost around $60k usd in the Netherlands.

~~~
LeonM
I was indeed talking about the 5.0 V8. Since the F series trucks are not sold
in europe through the ford dealerships (only specialised import companies) I
had to find an example of a car that it both sold in the USA and the
Netherlands.

------
vegasbrianc
I moved to the Netherlands from the US and lived there for almost 8 years. I
completely adopted the bicycle lifestyle and would love to see more
cities/countries adopt the bicycle priority.

------
joeyo
Grade separated bike lanes.

~~~
ricardobeat
Most of them have no grade, and the ones that do are very low height. The
safety feeling actually comes from sharing spaces, and not from being shielded
- a result of road design, parking spaces and general city/street layout.

~~~
TulliusCicero
Sharing spaces works fine when speeds are low and streets are relatively
narrow. It's still important to have physical separation for arterials,
though.

------
doug1001
i was in Amsterdam seven years ago for work; the folks at the local shop i was
there to do business with asked me to stay on an extra day and they would take
me on a tour of Amsterdam.

we decided on a bike tour so we walked to a place where i could rent a bike.
Of the 50 or 60 "top bar" (men's) bikes, every one was too big, even if they
collapsed the seat post, the frames were still to big. (I'm 175 cm, or 5'9"?)
I had to settle for a ladies' step-through.

------
skdotdan
Netherlands is flat. A friendly reminder to some politicians.

------
iRobbery
i cant seem to find any references to the 'no need for a parking place, no
need for gas, brings two people at least, police not that much of a hassle
when you cycle drunk (and if you really drank too much, you cant cycle...),
usually in a city 10x faster due to one-way traffic etc'

And plenty of (serious) accidents happen here too involving cyclist. Though
indeed, car drivers are generally in fear of hitting one for legal and
insurance reasons.

------
leke
Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

I stopped cycling in the UK when they forced me to share the bike paths with
cars. I then (eventually) got the fuck out of the UK.

------
jshelly
Barrier to entry is low

Easier to own/maintain/productively use a bike in a location like the
Netherlands

------
expertentipp
Because the taxes when buying the car, cost of the maintenance and of the
insurance are outrageous in the Netherlands. They use bicycles because
oftentimes that's all they can afford.

------
pjc50
A couple of other factors; I don't think the Netherlands has ever had more
than a tiny car or oil industry.

~~~
ocschwar
Oh, they had a big oil industry. So much so that the term "Dutch disease"
refers to what happens when oil dominates an economy.

~~~
wbl
That was natural gas from the Groningen fields, but Rotterdam has a giant
refinery.

------
censoredforlife
To celebrate Bicycle day since Amsterdam is all about getting high.

~~~
cr1895
>Amsterdam is all about getting high.

A tired, unclever and ignorant stereotype.

~~~
censoredforlife
It was a joke - jeez! I have lived there, and I know it's a stereotype.

------
rollingpebbles
I did a casual bike tour through hundreds of miles of Netherlands and Belgium.
We wore helmets, obviously.

Not wearing a helmet is inconsisent with having many standards for reflectors
and traffic planning. Although someone maybe slightly more careful, falling on
a bicycle means a risk for head injuries. Why not take reasonable precautions,
including instructing people that helmets do not add safety to anything
besides head injuries? They're not a panacea, but protect against certain
classes of injuries.

Anecdotally: When I was a kid, an obscured oily patch of road contributed to a
fall to one side, head first, and slide for about 10 feet and the helmet I was
wearing cracked instead of my skull. Road rash but didn't die or end up with
traumatic brain injury.

~~~
revelation
Well you can just as much slip on that oil patch and crack your head open as a
pedestrian.. Of course those scenarios are very far removed from what actually
causes injuries and death.

The Netherlands has a much much lower incidence of head injuries not because
they wear styrofoam hats but they realized it's better to stop the trucks and
cars from driving into people than in vain trying to soften the impact.
Creating secure bike routes just has a tremendously higher return on
investment compared to convincing people to wear helmets that bringing them up
just labels you a shill in many peoples eyes, a concern troll distraction.

