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When we first moved to the Netherlands, the most amazing thing to us was bicycle-only roads. Using these, we could go long distances in and out of the city without ever needing to stop, and with almost no interaction with cars.
This kind of road totally changed cycling for me, making me actually enjoy cycling, instead of just doing it because it was the fastest way to get around.
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49 Comments
If you found this interesting, I strongly recommend following it up by watching this video about how car and bicycle routes are separated: https://youtu.be/c1l75QqRR48
hi i'm here to register my complaint about your incorrect terminology
Went to Netherlands with my family and the first time I got there, I was so surprised about this. This is the reason why I love cycling in the Netherlands.
Last summer we had so much fun of cycling around the beautiful cities of the Netherlands. The cycling culture in the Netherlands is so intoxicating..
https://youtu.be/gMGmvokF-jM
Found a cycle road somewhere in the Netherlands wich crosses directly with a normal street…and motor vehicles actually have to give way to bicycles. That's unheared of in Berlin where i live lol
These are so cool, I get giddy when I see a cycle lane in my city and you guys have cycling exclusive roads
I'm gonna cry
And then there is the route I take to school: 2 km straight south, then 6 km to the west and finally choose either the long route or ride on the same roads as cars (though with a shortcut).
Love it, can’t wait to visit. Where’s a good campsite to stay, and cycle into the city, see sights and experience great new infrastructure?
I'd like to officially register my displeasure at the term "bicycle road". I'm assuming I'll get a link to some sort of form to fill out.
I'm American and I'm so used to being scared to death by suv and trucks that I get excited over bike gutters I started biking because greasy fast food was started to take a toll on my health and biking is good exercise biking in America is flat out dangerous I have no other option a cool thing is that the cars draft out and make you go faster
Man, You guys are so Lucky!!! I wish the US was more like this!
We are lucky if we have a Greenway. And they are only for recreation. They don't actually take you anywhere. Do take a bike to those places you have to risk your life dealing with cars.
Bicycle road? They are designed for higher speeds, have broad lanes, and are mostly straight. But they still have many side connections and buildings built right next to them. Clearly, these are bicycle stroads.
You made me fix up and ride my old omafiets across town, it’s been pretty nice and i can use the exercise.
Your hatred towards cars has definitely rubbed off on me, thank you for that.
When i have bad Climate anxiety i watch your Videos and i feel so much better after
Wow. Please send your country's engineers to Singapore. Singapore need bicycle roads like the Netherlands. It's stress free and enjoyable to ride in that kind of infrastructure.
Meanwhile in the United Stroads of America
In my town, Cramlington in the United Kingdom, we have these wide segregated cycle 'roads' with footpaths alongside. These can be used to go from schools and housing estates to the town centre and industrial estates with many connecting directly to bus stops before going under the road in a subway. I think a lot of Dutch incentives would work in this place.
2:28 no way the Dutch didn't seriously solve the issue of having to cycle downwind did they that is awesome because that is one of the most painful things about riding a bike
We like big fancy words in Britain if they didn’t call it a ‘super Highway’ nobody would use it 🤣🤣
you know its bizarre. i consider myself someone who rides my bike more than the average person in the UK. Now im thinking about it i have only ever used one cycle path and that was only a couple times to go to the shop. I know where there are plenty around me but they arent in useful places unless you live on the cycle path. ive seen one in the city near me but its only about 200m long and comes off a major roundabout and is inbetween two lanes which both have buses down them at least every 5 minutes so its very dangerous to use. i dont think ive ever seen anybody use it because its safer to be in the car lane
Are there many 'uncontrolled intersections' on bike paths or does one direction always have a give-way/'yield' sign?
One of the things i take for granted might be this. The infrastructure for cycling here is well executed. I sure love my country, it's sometimes sad to see how some things here are degenerating due to political decisions and bad parenting. Having said that, cycling through the greenery is very helpfull for de-stressing.
Your videos are not just good, they are awesome!
I just found out something new, I had to go to the far west of Amsterdam, from the east, and I was wondering which route the route planner would suggest, the shortest, the easiest, the fastest. And the route looked a bit odd, sending me over a narrow cyclepath alongside a main artery for cars, and when I took a closer look at the map I saw that this routeplanner takes in account all the works in progress on the roads and cyclepaths and calculates the best route!
That would be really nice. The problem is in places like Houston Texas in the U.S. is many times it is 95 degrees Fahrenheit with 95% humidity AND it could take 1 to 2 hours to get somewhere. You would need a shower and change of clothes. Perhaps in some planned communities within or near some larger cities, there may be some practical benefit for bicycle transportation.
What were the wiggley upy downy bits at the beginning of the video?
and here I am hugging de side of a highway having cars highspeed by my side because bike lanes are non existing in my city
*Cries in londoner cyclist
This is what makes me love cycling. There are places I used to go to with my family in the Netherlands where you could specifically rent bikes to enjoy comfortably cycling through woods and the landscape without a car around for miles. It is so peaceful, and such a great day out. That is the pinnacle of enjoying cycling for me
oh man, such a lovely place! So calm and beautiful. 😊
BICYCLE TRAIL CROSSING
is a part of the road surface intended exclusively for cyclists.
“Cycle Superhighway” makes me think of a multi-lane bicycle path with complete grade-separation from all other traffic. That’s, at first sight, a good idea but London has very few bicycle paths that are sompletely separated from cars, and only ONE underground cycle path (whih isn’t even multi-lane).
This is by far the biggest issue with bike paths in Winnipeg. Instead of taking you directly to useful places, they take you on circuitous routes through residential neighbourhoods where there is nothing useful aside from maybe parks. I mean, I get that riding through neighbourhoods is pleasant, but I also want to be able to ride my bike to the cinema or the bank or the grocery store or any other place I visit in my daily life without having to risk said life on the murderous Winnipeg streets.
Do bicycle roads have names? like you would for a motor vehicle road?
Gosh, I wish we had these in Zuric to connect the different sectors of this large city (well, large by Swiss standards anyway). Crossing even half of the city is really annoying on a bicycle.
But it would require taking away a car lane in a lot of tight & critical places (or building expensive over- and underpasses) so it seems to me that politicians are unwilling to even talk about it for fear of backlash. Instead, they come up with concept after concept and small pilot projects. Most of which have a timeframe of 5-10 years. A proper network of physically separated bicycle paths is not even discussed publically in concrete terms (apart from outside of the city). Like you would need to get cycling to work in Zuric. You need a complete concept, not just isolated solutions or small branches to us cyclists. At the same time, everyone seems to complain about traffic and how much driving a car around Zuric sucks. So the way it currently is, it sucks for BOTH cyclists AND cars! Why can't we implement with a better solution??!
Bicycle porn is detrimental to my mental health.
The fact that such cycling-based lifestyle, which makes so much sense, is so rare in the world is yet further proof of common sense being the less common of all senses.
Bicycle stroads are the only acceptable stroads. If you could call them that.
I wish that there was something like this where I am in the U.S.!
Looks like heaven. Hopefully one day I too will get to experience bike infrastructure as great as this.
What are the little mini washboards in the bike road?
Way to go!
dude I went to Netherlands 2 months ago to the Hague and man its just so different there, I didn't even know such approaches were used by people to urban planning, though I stayed only a week I loved it and could also easily get a bike with my friends at an affordable price.. because of this, we would go around the whole city so conveniently, oh and dutch plan are nice man
@NotJust Bikes: In Germany we have always again and again and everywhere the discussion if it is better to asphalt or not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv2-iMJIKYw
It's nice to see your videos on Dutch urban bicycle roads, but I think you should pay attention to the recreational bicycle network as well. We have, all over the country a long distance bicycle network. You need a map, but in principle you just follow the signs. There also is the knooppuntennetwerk (bicycle node network), which consists of number signs showing you the way to nearby nodes. At each node you should find a map, so you can find your way. Dutch maps targeting bicycles always will show these nodes. If the weather is good, you will see lots of Dutch people cycling just for fun, and not to ride at the highest speed possible to enjoy the beautiful Dutch landscape.
Such a well explained video, so much insight, thanks!!
Such a well explained video, so much insight, thanks!!
There mustn't be much police presence on these roads so I suppose you get attacked quite often on these roads. It would be safer to bike on car roads