The Netherlands are full of bikes. In fact there are more bicycles in the Netherlands than residents – and in huge cities like Groningen, Utrecht or Amsterdam up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike. While in other countries like Germany riding a bike is always some kind of a near-death experience, the Dutch created a casual biking culture with a vast network of clearly marked and huge cycle paths. But how? Let’s find out.
A film by Matthias Schwarzer.
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Intro Music:
MÆT – Start Again
Music:
Ain’t No Rich Girl – Aesyme
Analogue – SINY
Backlash (Instrumental Version) – Sam Kramer
Boooom – Aldous Young
Canada – Cushy
Conflicto – Timothy Infinite
Death on Mars – Etienne Roussel
Mercedes – Aesyme
My Jam – Aesyme
Night Stalker – Wave Saver
#Netherlands #Biking #Bikes #Bicycles #BikingCulture #Nederland #Holland
46 Comments
Thanks for watching! Here's more you might like:
▪ Weird Border: Is this Germany or the Netherlands? https://youtu.be/jATA_9A-fWE
▪ Why there are weird slow Cars all over Sweden: https://youtu.be/dkpVglZfeF8
▪ How Malta lost its Bus Culture: https://youtu.be/Yg1TIDkjOmM
As a result of this network of cycle paths, local destinations can be reached more quickly by bike than by car. A daily example for me is the cycle path between our house and my child's primary school. It is 1 km by bike or 3.2 km by car. On the cycle path you only meet other cyclists and pedestrians, no cars. Both my children got a balance bike (bike without pedals) when they were 2 years old and their first normal bike when they were 3.5 years old.
Wir im Westen haben uns oft das Beispiel von Ländern genommen, in denen die Menschen nicht glücklich sind
und in denen das Bruttosozialprodukt als höchstes Gut gilt.
In Bhutan hat man Bruttosozialglück und glücklicherweise beginnen wir zu verstehen, dass eine Gesellschaft nicht nur eine wirtschaftliche Sache ist.
Radfahren gehört dazu und macht eine Gesellschaft sozialer und stellt das Menschliche vor das Unpersönliche.
In diesem Video zeigst du wirklich die schönsten Orte, aber so rosig ist es natürlich nicht überall in den Niederlanden.
Es ist wichtig, dass die Bemühungen der Gesellschaft und der Regierung das Glück der Menschen an die erste Stelle setzen, und ich denke, dass in 50 Jahren ein großer Teil Europas diese Denkweise übernehmen wird.
Because it's flat and tiny.
You will find the bench three hundred meter after you took the break at the grass because there was no bench for kilometers.
Is this a reupload? I know I remember this.
I hope you don't cycle that much coz you will ruin your knees with the saddle that low. It also ruduces your speed with about 16%.
Why did we do this has a very short answer, kids where dying, over 400 a year.. (1970's), sadly last year it seems 14 kids lost their lives in traffic but it is a far cry from those 400+
Edit ah…. you literally mention it at 5:55 lol
I remember the oil crisis very well. We had "Autoloze Zondagen" (Carless Sundays), days when it was possible to bike and rollerskate on the highways. Dutch of my age (let's say 50+) probably also remember Farce Mamjeur's song Kiele Kiele Koeweit that was about said oil crisis
its so funny how foreigners always try to explain how the Netherlands works
Almere – Hilversum – Almere was my training round by mountainbike when I was a teenager. Nice route. 😊 At 3:20 you can see the ruïnes of a castle by the way, which is weird because Almere was reclaimed from the sea only 50 years ago, but someone really wanted to build a castle and ran out of money and it has been standing dilapidated for 20+ years now.
5:06 that is the beach near my home. weoften go there for a beer and some sun. its called: Stichtse strand
Isnt this a repost? I am like 99% sure it is and has been posted about a year or so ago.
Matthias, you showed us not the biggest towns and their cycling infrastructure.
Amsterdam has cycling paths next to roads and there the busiest crossing is at Mr. Vissersplein near Waterlooplein just before the Municipality Building and Opera and Ballet House.
Lots of car traffic and lots of bicycles.
But also the Law is adjusted. A car-driver is automatically responsible when a bicycle or pedestrian is part of an accident. Burden of proof is with the driver of the car. This to protect the weaker parties (flesh against steel).
There is a directive how the roads should look like, from highways (upto 130 km) , roads transporting large volumes of cars into cities (50 km), acces roads to neighbourhoods and smaller neighbourhood-roads (30 km).
Car-roads are black asphalt, bike-lanes are red asphalt or bricks and sidewalks for pedestians are grey-tiles. So everybody knows on what kind of "road" they are.
Also as most car-owners also have a bicycle they know what to encounter on the road.
Hast du ein sehr schöne Video gemacht von Holland natürlich und dein Englisch ist auch sehr gut. Ich wohne in den Süden von Limburg es stimmt aber sind nicht soviel Couch ist für unterwegs aber das heißt dass du vom Punkt A nach . B wenn wir irgendwo unterwegs wegen zu Urlaub oder so etwas besitzen dann die mehren Decke mit viel Spaß nächstes Mal in Holland😊😊😊 probier mal ein faltfahrrad bromton 😂
Comparing a street in a city centre with a route in a rural area seems a bit silly. There are quite some crossings in Dutch cities that look quite a lot like the German ones you showed. Still some work to do to omprove city cycling infrastructure
good video man, and for some reason your face is very charismatic
Yeah .. me owning 3 bikes contributing. One for work one for rec, and the other i have no idea .. think someone left it at my place.
Gooimeer, spring, white t-shirt .. hahaha. At least you are wearing glasses. (hate those bugs)
Almere – Hilversum 90 minutes ? Depends on route … and pace .. 30 kms, good pace on a regular bicycle is about 60 minutes.
Note that there are a bit more to it than just bike lane network and history. Car total-cost-of-ownership is relatively expensive in the NL. . Bikes are often also the last mile of public transport., and this combination reduces specially the second car of households.
This was an amazing video. I would love to also ride the same route. Can you perhaps share the route details somehow? And may we know which company you used for the bike hire?
The Netherlands has an excellent cycling infra structure, and cycling culture. De cycling culture did never really disappear after the 50's. Everyone had to go to secondary school by bike. Distances up to 15 km were not exceptional. The Netherlands is a very flat country, so when you are young 15 km is doable. So cycling became a normal way of transport and even a way of recreation. This is why the cycling infrastructure immediately became a succes.
In other countries there are more hills and distances between communities are bigger. Now we have e-bikes and even cargo-bikes it is much easier to cycle up a hill or a bigger distance. More and more cities and even countries have discovered the bicycle and e-bike as a convenient way of transport and there is a demand for a save infrastructure. In the border region with the Netherlands there are created more and more separate bike lanes. The Dutch "Fietsknooppunten netwerk" (bicycle point-to-point network) is extended well into Germany. Even in some other regions point-to-point networks are created. Germany is just at the beginning of creating a cycling culture. The Netherlands are just 50 years ahead.
The Netherlands in not the only country with a good infrastructure for cyclists. Denmark, parts of Finland and Sweden have it too.
You cycle on a bench all the time
ha ha sorry for the flies 🙂 Great video and glad you liked (cycling in) the Netherlands
This is why escooters are banned there is downsides about being a bike culture country with good infrastructure escooters are a threat to bike culture according to the bike union which is also in the government
I believe our proportional representation election systems are at the core of many differences between the Netherlands and many other countries.
Our politicians are more beholden to the desires of the voters.
We are not any different, but our system is.
Culture is a big word, it's more just a bunch of right decisions been made throughout the decades. Other places can decide to do the same at any time 🙂
I have 4 bikes
90 miniutes is a car distance in the nestherlands. We use the bike mainly for short distance, if you have tp 30+km but alwats rather lower.
Cycle 200km to visit family on the other side of the country and measured roughly 20 km of shared road space with motorized traffic. Most of which slow town centers and occasionally the required crossing of roads, the Ketelbrug and the Hollandse Brug, although most motorists opt to cross those on the highway. That leaves 90% of the journey cycling at my leisure without bothering other traffic and without traffic bothering me. (Least of all also saves me over 120 euro’s a trip)
It takes a German to think that speed limits on the highway are something special.
I was like what, here is he going??….oh Hilversum…..Wait I Live there D:
11:25 I do realize I'm saying this from my own perspective, but I find it very interesting to learn how such things are perceived in different ways by people with different backgrounds etc. What might play an important role here is Dutch people on average are quite confident cyclists, often learning to cycle at a very young age (as you mentioned as well). If I try to picture my own cycling behavior, I like to be very fluent and focussed on what happens around me, estimating future situations given my speed and that of other people / vehicles, the overall experience going quite "automatically", not resulting in too much cognitive load.
In some situations I see the need to slow down, which tend to do as gently as the situation allows. And in any case I try to anticipate and make clear what my intentions are, aiming to avoid surprises. How well this works in the end depends for an important part on how well everybody involved is able to "read" each other. Best case, it has the benefits of better predictability if people keep in a relatively consistent flow, but worst case I can imagine it could be intimidating or difficult to process if you don't have much experience with these kind of traffic situations and as a result both have a hard time predicting each other's actions.
Nice Video I Create Cycling Videos in the Netherlands since this year the Netherlands is just easy and beautiful🚲🚲🚲
There are no benches, people usually want to go to their destination asap. If you really want to rest just improvise and sit in the gras
"A good man" – let's not forget that all of these people are violent criminals. 😉
Dankjewel
your completly overlooking the role protests played in this
One little correction. The oil crisis of 1973 didn't hit The Netherlands harder than other European countries like you seem to suggest. Not even close. The oil crisis was wide spread all over Europe and hit many European countries exactly the same!!! Only The Netherlands reacted VERY DIFFERENT to that crisis than any other country did. The Netehrlands has always been unique in many ways. Also in political views on cannabis and gay marriage etc. The Netehrlands have always been far more free, pragmatic and democratic than other countries surrounding them. The cycling culture that gives people freedom to choose safely between modes of transport is just one of many ways this liberal attitude became implemented in Dutch everyday life.
Your reaction to your first e-bike ride was the same as mine! "Oh! Ooooh!! This is great!!!" Mine was a Paris city bike (Vélib') e-bike, so it wasn't even a very good one, but I was hooked haha. Anyway, I love visiting the Netherlands partly because it's so great cycling there. Grüße aus den USA!
Here in the U.S. we should model after Holland. So the air can be cleaner to breathe per se.
Ok but how do I start a bike culture?
Well, it does help that riding a bicycle isn't an excessively taxing experience physically in the Netherlands because of that country's mostly flat topography (the same applies for Denmark). Mind you, I'd like to know how well are bicycles accommodated on Nederlandse Spoorwagen and Arriva Netherlands, the two largest passenger rail operators in the country.
This was an awesome video. The one thing I found hard to understand is why a German would need to rent a bike in the Netherlands.
00:12 There are more bikes in the Netherlands than grains of sand on the Earth and stars in the Milky way.
Hey, don't forget Denmark. Our biking culture is very like that of the Netherlands
(though I will admit that the Dutch bike infrastructure outside citites is better).
Germany also has a powerful car lobby and very bad laws against corruption in politics. Thats how they prevent changes
Yo this is a really well made video!