Well, one of the big reasons for that in the netherlands is they don't build places to live. Take a look at the satellite view of amsterdam. Huge cycling town,

Well, one of the big reasons for that in the netherlands is they don't build places to live. Take a look at the satellite view of amsterdam. Huge cycling town, you'd expect everything within a 5 or 10 mile radius of the central rail station to be built up pretty well to maximize the bikeshed, right? Nope. Medieval low rise apartments that are illegal to replace, and protected agricultural lands within 5 miles just to rub salt on the wound that the farmer's tractors harvesting crops for export in zunderdorp have better transit access than you, a rent burdoned low income worker central to the amsterdam economy.