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Cycling to IKEA is (trivially) easy in Amsterdam, and cycling infrastructure in the suburbs is actually better – and safer – than near the city centre. But while that may be common in the Netherlands, it’s very uncommon elsewhere, and it has knock-on effects that increase car traffic and limit the options to people in the city. I definitely prefer the Dutch approach here.
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This video was not sponsored by IKEA. They actually got pretty upset that I was filming there. 😉
… also, this was filmed before the COVID-19 outbreak in the Netherlands, so that wasn’t a concern (or a reason for the light traffic).
Thumbnail image from Getty Images
#cycling #urbancycling #Amsterdam #Netherlands
36 Comments
"I so often here people talk about how they want the freedom to drive. But what about the freedom to not to have to drive?" This is my favorite sentence of the week so far.
Ask a person who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, I never learned to drive. We have an IKEA in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn that you can easily bicycle to, as it's not in a suburb. Additionally, there is are busses that stop in front and can take you to a subway. Additionally, the Red Hook IKEA is a short walk to one of our East River Ferries. I have taken the ferry there and brought back lamps, chairs and rugs. One can get off at the Wall Street ferry terminal and take another ferry to another part of town, or take a nearby subway. So for those of us in New York City, it's not just bikes.
I will fcking move to Netherlands if i can afford the immigration fee and housing
2:30 Really? It's how things are in Sweden, if we want to cycle in the city center it means sharing the road with cars, but out in the suburbs you can get basically anywhere on bike paths.
Even people who only want to drive, should logically encourage other people to take the bike.
It means less other cars on the road, so you'll be at your destination faster, having to account for less other traffic.
"This ride might be theoretically possible where you live" nope. Not at all. I live in middle Tennessee, the closest IKEA's are in Memphis or atlanta. It's almost a 4 hour drive to either one. Have fun trying to cycle that. God I wish this state knew how to build things other giant highways
ok im sold. how do i move to amsterdam tho
It is so frustrating that so many cities are bad at bike infrastructure and other non-car transport.
I just tried "biking to IKEA" in GOOGLE MAPS and in WINNIPEG CANADA it shows a mostly bike path / side road route I might need to actually try it some day
I mean driving to IKEA seems more practical especially considering they have lots of furniture and other large items
My nearest Ikea is in another state and about a 6 hour drive away
I've been to ikea by train/bus and brought back large pieces of furniture at least 3 times (with the help of friends). Lots of fun and would definitely recommend
I also find that argument of "but what if I need a sofa and six bookshelves" to be a weird, or even false one. If you need that, a) you already know it, and b) there's plenty of options that make plenty of sense (get it delivered, pick it up yourself if you have a vehicle that's large enough, coax a friend with a truck or van to do such with you, etc). Most people aren't going to try and bring two bookshelves home on a bike.
Ignoring just how car centric the city I live in is (Edmonton), I find it cheaper to just spend a week planning what I want to get from Ikea, ordering it all in one go, and then waiting for the two hour time window the delivery will be in a few days later, simply because to get to my Ikea it's a three hour round trip by bus. If it were closer, I'd work out a way to go there more often, doubly so since usually what I'm getting is under 5kg total and reasonably sized so I can just hop onto the bus with it without any issues…
I really do miss the freedom of a place to ~NOT~ have to drive somewhere. Really, really, REALLY miss that functionality of St. Albert and Red Deer, Edmonton's nowhere near as good about such.
I cycle to Ikea quite frequently. What, how's the infrastructure on the way there? Oh great, I only need to use roads connected directly to my country's most major motorway twice and only one of them's a stroad. And hey, the stroad has bycycle paths painted on the footpath so its not all bad. What? Safer alternatives? And go the long way around? Nah, I'm good
Hmm… I have 20 kilometres to the closest IKEA store, so it's not far. But there's absolutely no chance to go there by bike. The store is located by the 3-lane road with lot of car traffic. So you can reach IKEA only by car or city bus.
But in that case I really don't mind. How could I transport furniture by bike? 😂
Man I wish my IKEA was that accessible. I actually live pretty close to one, but it's surrounded by highways so it's clear that the main way you would get in is through a car. No way to get in there by transit, and even trying to walk there requires me to go over a large damn ass bridge that's standing over a highway with cars zipping by at 100 km/hr and the cars on the bridge zooming across at 70 km/hr, the winds being strong enough to throw you off balance.
It's so interesting to hear this because I've always hated how difficult it was to go to the IKEA without a car (for dutch standards) so I can't imagine living in a place where it's worse for almost every building.
Where the city is designed better than an IKEA shop. Man I hate ikeas layout.
You're lucky, the closest Ikea is a 4 hour drive away. There's no way I'm biking there.
I just take the tram to my next IKEA, because cycling there is…"meh" and driving only makes sense if you have to carry really heavy stuff.
Carried two office chairs on the tram one time 😀
When you say "two-way psychopath" I am reminded of my bi ex girlfriend 😆
(Just kidding. I know you're saying "cycle path")
As someone who has lived in a car dependent suburb their whole life, the more of your videos I watch, the more I ask myself "Why can't we have all this?"
I've actually been drawing some mock maps of my city, reconfiguring the streets to allow for public transportation, and for biking and walking, because I know it could be better. It's not easy but I know it can be done.
For me (Dutchman), cycling to IKEA isn't possible. The only reason for that is the distance (closest IKEA is more than 40 km from here). And if I wanted to, I'm pretty sure I could still cycle there. Because bike infrastructure is really great here and that is awesome.
To be honest it means I can drive so much easier if many people are biking lol. I would definitely bike to work if it was easier and be able to enjoy driving on emptier streets otherwise when not commuting
Ok but how do i get my couch home?
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the only thing ab Ikea is that you're trapped in there, there's only one out 😭
Can you see yourself with new furnature on a bike.
Why am I, a Dutchman, watching a Canadian cycle to an IKEA in Amsterdam? Because of the bakfiets ofcourse.
I live in Houston (west of city) I would die if I rode to IKEA here. I have to plan crazy workaround routes. A 3 mile ride ends up being 5.7 miles just to feel some level of safety.
i feel like i'm so terrified of cycling in open areas that I'll just get a standing electric scooter
Biggest problem I would have with getting rid of my car would be carrying stuff, particularly groceries. I have panniers and a big backpack on my bike, but it still is a little clumsy to carry groceries, at least compared to a car. Anything bigger than a grocery trip (like a couch or something) the store usually offers some sort of delivery service, and I still make small grocery trips on my bike, but weekly/biweekly trips to get most of my stuff each week still make driving the easiest option. Solutions? (either for me specifically or for cities in general)
I can't cycle to IKEA, (Lyssach, Switzerland, middle of nowhere), but easily take train and bus. We took my friends bed home by train with no issues.
Wow, I would really like to have a cycling path so that I can go to the IKEA which is 400 km away from me (if I count only IKEAs inside my country)
Why do you have to crap all over Canada? Holland is flatter than a pancake.
As a prisoner of car centric suburbia in Latin America, I enjoyed this video with tears in my eyes and a knot in my throat. Such a trip to a furniture or hardware store is possible here, but involves ridiculous levels of bravery, physical fitness, knowledge of traffic laws and sheer perseverance. I only went to buy pullers for some cabinet doors and some screws last month, and got hit by an aggressively driven small bus, had to fight the driver (and his assistant) who wanted me to pay for his broken headlight, and had to educate the police on Panama's updated cyclist protection law from 2021. Cops on bikes showed up and saved the day as I was trying to pull surveillance video from a nearby drugstore.