
A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself for Cycling' - hollerith
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/10/tour-whole-country-has-transformed-itself-cycling/7333/
======
URSpider94
I spent three weeks in the Netherlands with my family this summer. The cycling
experience is truly magical. To add to some other comments made in this
thread:

\-- Roel appears to have knowledge in this area, so I don't want to contradict
him, but it does seem that the Dutch went at least part-way down the path
towards a car-focused society and successfully pulled back. Read
[http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/netherlands/](http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/netherlands/)
for more history.

\-- The "bike path" in my town that we celebrate as amazing would be derided
as complete crap in Holland. It's too narrow, not well paved, not lit at
night, and it's mixed-use, which means you have to dodge pedestrians, roller
bladers, dog walkers, etc. Bike paths in the Netherlands are BIKE ONLY. Not
only are you separated from cars, but also from pedestrians. One of the worst
crimes as a pedestrian (and a sure sign of a tourist) is to _stand in the bike
lane_.

\-- Cycling is not just a fair weather activity. Nearly all bikes are equipped
with dynamos to power lights, which are legally mandated for riding at night
and are useful in the fall/winter fog and gloom. Yes, people ride in the rain,
and even in the snow. For most people, biking is the one and only way to get
around, so it's not an option, it's a requirement.

\-- It's hard to comprehend how thoroughly bikes are integrated into society.
Every office has a bike parking shed with racks and locks. Apartment buildings
have storage rooms in the basement, with special ramps built into the
stairways so you can roll bikes down the hill. Train stations have _massive_
bike storage areas, and most stations have both bike rentals and also repair
stations. For an extra 6 Euros, you can take your bike on the train with you
to go anywhere in the country, and if you have a folding bike (very common),
you can take it on the train for free.

\-- Cycling is integrated into daily life. No Lycra and clipless pedals -- you
cycle in street clothes. Bikes are upright and comfortable. Nobody wears
helmets, even kids (our kids went nuts because we made them wear them ...)
People ride at a good clip, 10-12 mph, fast enough to get there, but not so
fast that they get sweaty or out of breath. When you run across a friend or
co-worker on the bike path, you'll typically pull up next to them and ride
two-abreast (the paths are wide enough) so that you can talk and ride.

My favorite thing: you'll often see older couples riding side by side holding
hands.

Man, I would love to see this take hold in the US, but it will take a major
change not just in public opinion, but also in city planning and
infrastructure investment.

~~~
slimbods
The lycra thing is important. When you've only got keep fitters in lycra
riding bikes, it seems to de-normalise it for everyone else.

------
roel_v
Actually we haven't transformed, we've never accomodated cars much at all. A
big difference.

~~~
Someone
That is not quite true. In some cases, the idea of building for cars was
abandoned before it got fully executed, but that didn't always happen.

Examples:

In Amsterdam, the Vijzelgracht was turned into a highway into the centre of
town (it's hard to imagine, but about half of Amsterdam's waterways have been
filled in to make room for traffic (much of this predates car traffic). Even
as late as the '50s, there was a plan to fill many canals to make room for
parking garages).

Utrecht had plans to fill its outer moat to make room for a ring road. Part of
the Catharijnesingel was filled in 1970 or thereabouts to build 'the shortest
highway in the Netherlands', but afterwards, the plan was luckily abandoned
(the Catharijnesingel will be dug again in a few years)

Residential neighborhoods built in the '60s were designed first for cars
([http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/making-a-1960s-...](http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/making-a-1960s-street-
grid-fit-for-the-21st-century/))

Rotterdam, after the bombing in 1940, rebuilt its city plan to accommodate for
cars.

~~~
roel_v
Yes I know, of course, and obviously there are ways for cars to get to places,
but the mere fact that you can name specific counterexamples confirms my point
that in general most places were not designed around wide spread car ownership
and -use, and car use was retrofitted where needed.

Not to be an asshole about it but I'm a Dutch planning professional, I've
lectured and published about the effects of transport infrastructure on urban
planning.

~~~
URSpider94
Roel, since you're an expert -- can you help shed light on the history? From
what I've read, other demographically and geographically similar countries in
Europe have much lower rates of cycling. These other countries were
undoubtably also not designed for cars, they were designed for horses and
pedestrians (as I can attest from having driven in Europe). The source
materials that I've read suggest that there was a major inflection point in
the 1970's where bike transport share stopped declining and started
increasing, and also that the linear miles of bike path have increased
dramatically (3x?) in the past 20 years.

~~~
Someone
That's from
[http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com](http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com)
([http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/index-by-
theme](http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/index-by-theme) is an excellent entry
point, too)

My layman's view is that both sides are right. Most city centers date from
before 1900, so they weren't designed for cars (Amsterdam wasn't even designed
for carriages). Up to ~end of World War two~, cars weren't common enough to
build 'cars first; all others enter at your own risk' neighborhoods (for
example, the first river car tunnel, the Maastunnel in Rotterdam
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastunnel)),
built in 1937-1942 has separate tubes for cyclists and pedestrians. Traffic
jams formed at its escalators in the fifties)

After World War Two, there was a period when the USA seemed to show the
future. That led to ideas that cities such as LA were the future of city
building. Some ideas/attempts to reshape cities were formed/made, but those
were abandoned or at least seriously adjusted really soon. For example, the
Bijlmer (1968;
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmer))
was designed as a paradise for cars, but also as one for pedestrians. In the
same period, Ommoord also is very car friendly. Yet, its neighborhoods also
have the typical dead end streets that make streets safer for kids to play in,
and it has a metro connection to the center of Rotterdam.

Almere (1978;
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almere))
already shows a trend away from 'cars first'. Later, we got Houten
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houten](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houten))

So, yes, there was a trend towards 'cars first', and there was a turn, but
that turn was made very early. That made the turn relatively easy. Changing LA
into a 'cars are guests' city would be a challenge on a different scale.

------
VeejayRampay
The Netherlands are at the forefront of thinking for a lot of different
social/environmental issues and everybody recognizes that in Europe, but the
funny thing is that the Dutch I've talked to have a hard time recognizing that
themselves.

~~~
gaius
The Dutch are relaxed about sex and drugs, but they are actually a very
conservative people with deep and cherished traditions. It's only in America
that "conservative" implies prudish, everywhere else it just means that people
want to go on living the way they always have.

------
arbuge
Dallas, where I live now, is about as far away from this as one can imagine.

For that matter, so is the European country I'm originally from (Malta). My
brother is an avid cyclist there and gets sneered at by local-redneck-
equivalent motorists pretty much everywhere he goes.

~~~
doorhammer
I used to do the wind/rain/snow type commuting, and I probably should again,
but your brother's experience in Malta is similar to mine in the US. You're
definitely doing something that most people regard as a nuisance. I've heard
of other cities where it's not like that, but I've just never ridden in them.
I live in Atlanta now, and it's almost suicidal riding a bike. Obs my sample
size of cities is small, but hey, there it is for what it's worth.

The video also made me think, "Man, I'd love to cycle in the places, but I'd
have to seriously rearrange my US cycling survival skills and attitude toward
a less hostile environment."

------
pontifier
I was there in June, and I have to say that riding around on a bike there
really changed my perspective. Riding there was a joy. The "Share the Road"
programs here in Utah are a joke.

The bike lanes there were amazing. Most roads I saw there were dark brick, the
"lines" were usually white bricks, and the bike lanes were red brick and were
wide where they weren't actually separate altogether.

The other best part? There were no angry SUV drivers swerving around you at 60
MPH. People were courteous.

------
babesh
What do people do when it rains or snows? Do people walk instead, take mass
transit, or drive?

I think the reality of what people are arguing for is for people to live more
closely together. That makes biking, mass transit, and even walking more
viable.

Some people like it, some don't. Part is what you are used to. People coming
from rural areas think that the Bay Area is crowded but the East Coast is more
crowded, parts of Europe are more crowded still, and then parts of Asia are
more crowded still.

~~~
MattLaroche
Put on some fenders, rain pants, a rain coat, and ride! Or take transit.

Living closer together is great, but cycling infrastructure matters too to get
people onto bikes.

~~~
arethuza
That's a new difference between US and UK English for me - "fenders" here are
things that are used to stop boats/ships bumping into things, across here we
call them "mudguards".

Having said that, I know some people who could benefit from fenders (UK) on
their bikes...

------
slimbods
It is ace, but I wonder if you'd get cycling as mainstream anywhere else. That
country is almost uniquely and famously flat.

~~~
Pxtl
_sigh_

Every time people post about great cycling cities, the immediate reaction is a
pile of reasons why it would _never_ work here because I live in a place
that's completely different and special.

There are challenges in every task. Either you overcome them or you wimp out.
These are not unsolved problems. Montreal literally means Mount Royal - it's a
city built around a mountain. They manage to have great cycling
infrastructure.

Even worse is the moaning about winter cyclists - almost every one of the
great cycling cities have bitter winters.

You're always going to have an excuse _not_ to do something.

~~~
slimbods
I'm not looking for an excuse not to cycle, I'm a pretty fit cyclist and spend
at least 10 hours a week on a bike. I'm saying that holding this up as an
example that others can follow isn't ideal as they have a big natural
advantage over practically anywhere else. Unless you can overcome the issues
of terrain and climate, it's just not going to become mainstream like it has
there. Look at the bikes they're riding, big heavy comfortable clunkers. Most
people simply couldn't get those up the hills surrounding my town, they'd have
to push.

~~~
Segmentation
I think the ultimate solution long-term are assisted electric bicycles. They
aren't fully electric, you always have to pedal, but when you're going up hill
you can enable the assistance to help you go up the hill faster.

Think of it like gym bands to aid you doing pull ups.

If the bike could charge itself through pedaling that would be a double plus.

A lot of people don't cycle because it's slow, and they may not care about the
exercise benefits. If commuting they don't want to wear special attire or be
sweaty when they show up to work. However, they would probably be cool with an
assisted electric bicycle if they could get up hills faster without breaking a
sweat.

~~~
slimbods
Perhaps, but it's a tough sell to get someone to ride a £2k electric bike
instead of buying a car.

------
bane
Almost seems utopic. Rather than look for excuses as to why it won't work in
the U.S., what would it take (years, dollars, planning, infrastructure) to
convert a reasonably sized (large, but not top 10) American city built for
cars (say Austin, Indianapolis, Columbus, Denver), into a cycling focused
city?

------
wolf550e
Is there car access to the houses? for emergency services for example?

~~~
hengheng
Yes. In the Netherlands for example, bi-directional bike paths have to be 4
meters wide, which is sufficient for emergency vehicles.

------
Nux
This is pretty, pretty awesome!

------
coldcode
That would work really well here in Texas. My job takes me nearly an hour to
reach by car. You can basically fit all of Europe in Texas with a little
rearrangement. Scale matters.

~~~
mjn
Even places of similar scale and population density in the U.S. fare poorly.
New Jersey is half the size of The Netherlands, with a similar population
density, but is very car-oriented anyway.

~~~
Pxtl
Shh, you're interfering with their wimpy excuses that they use to conceal the
fact that they just really don't like cycling.

