Cycling is the best form of transportation within a city. It reduces traffic and pollution, improves businesses, and promotes healthy lifestyles. But cycling accounts only for 1% of all trips in the US, and Canada is not much better.
The single biggest factor for this is safety. A safe network of protected bicycle lanes is the best way to get people of all ages and backgrounds to cycle for everyday purposes.
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➜ References & Further Reading:
Micromobility is the future of urban transportation
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/future-of-mobility/micro-mobility-is-the-future-of-urban-transportation.html
Commute mode share in the US
https://www.bts.gov/browse-statistical-products-and-data/state-transportation-statistics/commute-mode
Vehicle trips by distance
https://nhts.ornl.gov/vehicle-trips
Netherlands cycling facts
https://english.kimnet.nl/publications/publications/2024/01/10/cycling-facts-2023
15-minute city
https://whatif.sonycsl.it/15mincity/15mincity.php
Waze Driver Satisfaction Index
https://web.archive.org/web/20180313015949/https://inbox-static.waze.com/driverindex.pdf
Bikeability and the induced demand for cycling
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2220515120
Bicycle Commuting and Facilities in Major U.S. Cities: If You Build Them, Commuters Will Use Them
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3141/1828-14
If You Build Them, Commuters Will Use Them: Association Between Bicycle Facilities and Bicycle Commuting
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/1578-10
Provisional COVID-19 infrastructure induces large, rapid increases in cycling
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2024399118
Bikeway Networks: A Review of Effects on Cycling
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01441647.2015.1069908
Infrastructure, programs, and policies to increase bicycling: An international review
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743509004344
Analysing the causal effect of London cycle superhighways on traffic congestion
https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.08993
Why Canadians cycle more than Americans: A comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0967070X05001381
City of Toronto Cycling Study
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/8f76-2019-Cycling-Public-Option-Survey-City-of-Toronto-Cycling.pdf
Toronto cycling commute mode share 2021 census data
https://censusmapper.ca/maps/4754#12/43.6977/-79.4222
Bike Share Growth in Toronto
https://schoolofcities.github.io/bike-share-toronto/growth
Do Bike Lanes increase EMS response times?
https://x.com/grescoe/status/1850276875781710003
Bike lanes provide positive economic impact
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200422151318.htm
Measuring the Local Economic Impacts of Replacing On-Street Parking With Bike Lanes
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2019.1638816
Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2012-10-measuring-the-street.pdf
Bloor Street Bike Lane Economic Impact Studies
Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business
Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business | Parkdale (2016) and Danforth (2014)
The Traffic Calming Effect of Delineated Bicycle Lanes
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091724000013
Cycling Injury Risk in London: Impacts of Road Characteristics and Infrastructure
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347631477_Cycling_Injury_Risk_in_London_Impacts_of_Road_Characteristics_and_Infrastructure
➜ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:33 Cycling can work in North America
3:17 Bike lanes don’t make traffic worse
6:17 Parking double standards
7:12 Bike lanes benefit businesses
8:25 Cycling can be practical too
10:07 “No one uses the bike lane”
11:43 Bike lanes need networks to work
13:54 Side street bike lanes?
14:33 Bike lane design for safety
16:25 Intersection design
18:22 Minor street design
19:26 It’s not just about bike lanes
20:33 Bike lanes benefit everyone
– flurfdesign
#bikelanes #cycling #urbanplanning
32 Comments
What we need to do is convince Trans, LGBTQ, and Feminists to come out as bike lane haters, then the Conservatives will put bike lanes EVERYWHERE.
That "Barcelona, España" might get you in trouble ; )
…once you hit one million subs, maybe? (which you totally deserve to reach, to be clear ^^ )
Like the video guys
What most people don't even realize is that car based infrastructure essentially forces everything to be marooned in a sea of asphalt, with your ship being your car. No car, and you're stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere in 95% of cases. It's so ingrained in the American mindset that cars are what give us freedom because of this, when in truth, we've created this terrible problem to sell the solution. We filled the ocean and drowned everyone who couldn't afford a boat, now we fight tooth and nail to make sure no one starts draining the water.
Cars have become so deep in American culture that what little sense we have left is drowned out in the tide of car horns and screeching tires.
Another major, near overwhelming issue is what effects replacing walking has done to the human body. The more cars you have in your country, the more car dependent you are, the fatter your country is. It's just a fact. And being overweight leads to a litany of health issues, from diabetes to heart disease. I would attribute more than HALF of all deaths from obesity to the overabundance of car infrastructure, because walking has been a part of human history since the dawn of mankind. Take away walking, and you take away what made humans so incredibly talented at surviving and thriving, and you're talking away our necessary exercise to maintain our body.
Great point about freedom of travel. In a car-dependent location, only people with money to keep a car on the road are free to plan rides at their convenience. When that car is out of service for more than a day, people scramble to get another one.
Try being poor and unable to buy or keep a car. How do you get to work, school, childcare, shopping, appointments, etc in one piece when transit is infrequent and sparse and bike routes don't go near your destinations?
Some of us who couldn't rely on slow, crowded transit and couldn't bike when or where we needed safely or punctually…we bought a car asap, right? And like you said, flurf, most of us have never lived in a city with frequent transit that goes where you wanna go, let alone bike lanes that go where you're going and won't endanger your life.
So we opt for cars because we have no idea how to get that walkable city. And when we find out we can organize so our leaders give us a better world that doesn't rely on cars, so few of us have the energy or confidence to build those organizations that we stick to cars.
BTW: I bet we'lll STILL hear "just one more lane" when everyone's driving EVs.
We definitely need more bike lanes. Roads are used for cars and sidewalks are used for people walking, there is no in between.
I sold my bike never ever ride again because all the roads in my quarter of city have seen a massive increase in car on bike fatalities. The main reason is road rage against bikers. They have become primary targets. I lost one of my neighbors to such an assault. Biking is one of the most unhealthy, high risk activities you can Engauge in because Edmonton, is a war zone for bikers
thank you for your great informatio and the wonderful video – here in Germany we have known all your arguments for decades – but nobody wants to change anything – because it is not about life and health – because the priorities are distributed different – that is the real problem and we should work on that
Amazing video! perfect pacing, perfect editing and perfect research
why Nederland
Here in Canada we had people arguing that bike lanes were ableist and ageist…neglecting that 1) the overwhelming majority of people who are disabled in a manner which impact their freedom of movemeng can walk but can't drive, not the other way around, and 2) bike lanes decrease car traffic, freeing space for the people who absolutely must drive, benefiting even them.
These are two Dutch concepts missed in this video:
1) Even if there were just cars, multiple lanes in each direction is mostly pointless in non-rural contexts. I recommend watching 'Shutup About Road Capacity' for this.
2) As far as I understand, it is standard now to build new collector and arterial roads without destinations on it for any mode. Building cycleways there then becomes a question of 'Is this a very useful ROUTE in the network'. Sometimes there is already a dense network of quiet main routes nearby, and the noise pollution might outweigh any benifit. I think this is called 'fully disentangling' or something like that.
Also, I'm not 100% sure about using cycleways for width-reduction of residential streets in most cases. Would make sense, tho, if you wanted better wayfinding and had a main cycling route down it (tho different sections might look different. A cycling street design would work better when it becomes narrow). Or if the street was a busway too.
There are other things that can be done like rain gardens, raising the parking so it narrows the road visually, etc. This second one is another common thing in NL.
beautiful fit man
I would want to use them, but there are none and the closest idea to one is the "painted gutter" with no separation from the cars. I will get hit eventually, since I may not be biking fast enough for people especially in the beginning of getting into shape with all of the exercise I would be doing.
Bikes are for children, men with DUIs, and derelicts needing a getaway "vehicle" from their garage B&Es. They have no business sharing roads with vehicles. And chewing up MV space to give them to bikes is insanity.
Seeing the large amount of people biking in protest in Toronto was nice to see.
You and me baby aint nothing but middle aged men in lycra, so lets cycle like they do on the eurosport channel
I live in Britain and to be honest I was a die hard car driver and motorcycle rider until I had my second stroke at 50 years old, 18 months ago. Due to the loss of vision in the right hand side of both eyes I lost my driving licence. Today my vision has returned to a point that I could technically get my licence back but I've come to love just riding my bicycle and walking everywhere. I still hate the buses and will happily ride 10-15 miles each way rather than catching a bus.
The dedicated cycle lanes are beautiful and I am appreciative of the extra freedoms that bicycle riders are experiencing around our cities and towns. I can ride from my town to another local city and hardly ride on the road, that's a win as far as I'm concerned. Build it and they will come.
Who is the intended audience for this video? I'm an avid cyclist and agree with everything said. Though the sarcasm and snark will enrage anyone that needs to be convinced. I would never share this video with a non-cyclist. It would be counterproductive. It would make them more entrenched against cycling infrastructure.
I hate that common sense, reasonable solutions, and empathy have become politicized
From Amsterdam here- nice video. I fully agree haha. And thankfully as great as Amsterdam is, new cycling streets and walking promenades are still being made (at least 6 major ones under construction atm)
Love this 🙂
Pls come to the Netherlands, I'll show you around! It's awesome here for people that love people-oriented design!
"recently the Ontario government announced they will ban bike lanes…." hahahaha you sure that isn't the Gujarat government? Canada is cooked.
I can spend more money on businesses because my bike consumes zero gas and I dont have to pay car insurance
I love the "cyclists are dangerous people so they should not have bike lanes" argument. Because giving dangerous people cars is going to make it better. Give reckless riders an elevated feeling of safety and a many times more dangerous vehicle is just what a city needs to do.
I cycle commute and take a ferry in Vancouver and it is quicker than driving and I don’t need a car now
People can't even stay in their own lanes walking through the grocery store let alone behind the wheel of a tank.
I don’t bike anywhere, only walk or drive. But even I support more bike infrastructure. Well built and well maintained. I cannot put enough emphasis on that last part.
Agree with everything here but sadly you are preaching to the choir. The way I always try to explain it to my friends (who only drive everywhere because they grew up in suburbs) is that every single person taking train, bus, or bike means less people in a car so less traffic. I think it would take a generational shift for people in suburbs to warm up to cycling for work and chores.
I lived in Holland for 15 years. The Dutch did not end up with bike lanes because they wanted bike lanes, they ended up with bike lanes because they wanted safer streets.
I'm writing a letter to Doug Ford for a school project about the bike lanes (and other issues) lmao
If only this came out before I had to turn it in 😭😭😭
Very well made video. I'm all for bike lanes, slower traffic and more bike infrastructure. I do hope that America one day accepts this and lets people freely choose their method of commuting
You see the world one way when you're viewing it from the window of a car. You see it quite another from the window of the F train