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I live in Utrecht. During peak hours there are so many bikes on the street that small traffic jams form near traffic lights. I cannot imagine the disaster if al
by A_No_Name_Mouse 7y ago
I live in Utrecht. During peak hours there are so many bikes on the street that small traffic jams form near traffic lights. I cannot imagine the disaster if all these people would have taken their car instead. It simply wouldn't fit.
I also love the fact that in most parts you could still take your car. But most people don't, as taking the bike is the faster and more convenient option.
- llamathrowaway 7y ago> that small traffic jams form near traffic lights The fact that a traffic jam of bicycles is perceived as exceptional really tells how we have moved past the acceptance phase of the cancer that is automobile congestion. > I also love the fact that in most parts you could still take your car. This is an excellent rebuttal to the opinion 'but what happens when I need to move furnitures/go camping/<do some other activities that really requires a car>': these activities are not a part of people’s daily routine. If people stop unnecessary driving such as sending their children to schools ten minutes of walk away in an SUV, then it actually makes it easier for everyone else who does need to drive.
- KeAShizuku 7y agoDutch cities were not made for cars. Cars are the guests. Thats the difference between the US and the Netherlands: by the time Dutch people started to buy cars in the 1960s cycling had been a popular means of transportation for half a century.
- philmander 7y agoThis isn't accurate. They were not made for bikes. Is was only in the 70s and 80s when there was a revolution in the introduction of cycling infrastructure. https://www.google.com/amp/s/bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/how-the-dutch-got-their-cycling-infrastructure/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011...
- speleding 7y agoThe parent post was claiming the cities were not made for cars, and that is accurate. Dutch cities grew organically over the centuries, if there was any design it would have been for pedestrians, horse drawn boats and carriages.
- philmander 7y agoI should have said "misleading"
- AlecSchueler 7y agoThat's actually not accurate. The Dutch were as car mad as anywhere between 1950 and the 1970s. The cycling culture that developed subsequently was hard fought for by activist groups throughout the late 60s and 70s, before being implemented across the country by various city councils in the 1980s and then developed further with national level infrastructural improvements in the 1990s. There's lots of good documentaries on YouTube about the change, highly recommended if you're interested in urban planning or in the possibilities for introducing cycling infrastructure. In Utrecht one can see many roads which have multiple cycle lanes and pedestrianised parks along the middle. These roads were originally developed as 4 lane highways for automobiles before modernisation.
- dep_b 7y agoIt's still true people were using a lot of bicycles even when there were a lot of cars in city centers. They were just more prone to get an accident with a car as cars were allowed to drive faster and basically could come everywhere. We got the bicycle amenities not because we wanted to stimulate people using them but because too many people (especially kids) died riding them.
- bogomipz 7y agoMight you or anyone else have a good link for one of these documentaries that you might recommend? Cheers.