Bikes in the Netherlands
Have you seen this video yet? It’s of an intersection in Utrecht in the Netherlands, and it’s exactly what I imagine for future of transport in Australia.
(Sorry, people who are reading this via email or RSS – I suspect the video won’t show up for you, you’ll have to visit the site to see it. Please do, it’s pretty interesting.)
Isn’t it great? People, buses, trams or light rail all over the place, with just a few cars here and there. People in suits, in dresses, bringing an extra bike to a friend (at 0:30), with kids on a back seat, with cargo trailers. Apparently one-third of all trips are made by bicycle, and I’m guessing quite a lot via public transport too.
How do they do it? Partly it’s because they’ve got a bike culture that assumes everyone aged 8 to 80 will be riding. Partly it’s good urban planning for mixed-use city centres, and good transport infrastructure that’s not built on the assumption that everyone will drive cars. And partly it’s because they’ve got nice flat land to ride on!
Although the weather looks nice in the video above, the one below shows that it’s not essential. These people are out riding even in the snow! Makes a drizzly Perth day seem pretty good by comparison…
About the 2:40 minute mark, you can see a bicycle ‘car-park’ near a train station where people can leave their bikes for the day.
As I always say, we already have what we need for a bright green future – we just need to get it done. If these people can do it, so can we.
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I like that top video… esp. the guy riding holding another bike! There seems to be some various interpretation of the rules!
Gosh that other video looks so cold! Guess you’d warm up by riding home…
I can hardly believe all that snow! I can barely stand to go outdoors when it’s a bit windy, I guess it’s what you’re used to.
At the cross roads of Utrecht, http://tinyurl.com/2vsd4oz
Yes it is busy and it is green, one not so nice point is that i need at least 2 locks http://tinyurl.com/22n9l8n when leaving my bike in an city center.
And an other minor point is parking http://tinyurl.com/3495jwg
When your bike is not in a clamp, means sometimes the council will take your bike away (local/council law) and you can get it back when paying an amount.
So every thing has its pro and ….
Almost 18/20Deg back here, T-shirt weather
, so whats that in Perth, sweater on?
LOL, yes it’s 20deg here today and I’ve got a big woolly jumper on! As you say, everything has it’s pros and cons. It’s nice to see such an organised system for bikes though, I’d be happy to have the cons instead of the car-filled city we have now.
Some more pro’s
. Answer of my aunt on the question, is this picture taken in winter or summer, Winter i have my jumper on.
Taking my son (4) to school http://www.funtrailershop.de/gb/ or to the city center (when he does not want to go on his own bike). Or what about the “fashionable” http://www.bakfiets.nl/eng/ (yes almost no hills over here).
Something different then biking the road from Maddington to Vic park (been there).
The woolly jumper is an known problem over there
Our surrounding area (center of the map our house) http://tinyurl.com/35jp85n , see the bikepaths when the roads become a bit more main road, or on the bigger local roads the striping on the side of the road (suggested bikelane)