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I have owned a car, but that was twenty years ago. I do have a four year old kid, but it's not an issue having him in a seat on the back of my bicycle (or my wi
by Freak_NL 3y ago
I have owned a car, but that was twenty years ago. I do have a four year old kid, but it's not an issue having him in a seat on the back of my bicycle (or my wife's bicycle), and he's getting near the point where I'm comfortable training him to cycle on the road next to us on his own bicycle (he's been riding it since 3½ on the sidewalk).
Hurray for Dutch bicycle infrastructure.
Financially owning a car makes no sense for us living in a medium sized city in the Netherlands. The author of the opinion piece lives in London, where it makes even less sense to own a car.
- drukenemo 3y agoJust a bit inconvenient when needing to go grocery shopping for more than two days supply, and when it rains, which happens very often in the NL.
- zzbn00 3y agoI've got a 3-seater bakfiets and it will take a weeks worth of groceries for a large family.
- piva00 3y agoI do grocery shopping for a week's supply on a bike and a large cargo backpack [1], you just need a large backpack to enable most of these "too much to do on a bike" situations. I have carried even some small furniture like coffee/side tables with it. Ceiling and standing lamps as well. If you don't want the weight on your back, paniers are your friend. [1] https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack https://chromeindustries.com/products/barrage-pro-backpack
- mcv 3y agoWe have our week's groceries delivered these days. Although personally I have no problem walking to the supermarket every day if I have to. Or I take the cargo bike, of course. There's also a rental electric cargo bike in my street for those who don't have one of their own. A great idea.
- Freak_NL 3y agoA total non-issue in most cities where supermarkets are never far. Temperate climate, so rain is hardly an impediment; just dress accordingly.
- honzabe 3y agoI do all my grocery shopping online - I have not been to a supermarket in years. I can specify time between 6am and 11pm and have it delivered at that time, for free (there is some minimal amount I have to buy to get free delivery but it is so small that I always get over). I am one of those people who never owned a car and grocery shopping was a bit inconvenient years ago (although for me mostly because I hate standing in lines even if it's just for 45 seconds - there was always some decent store close enough even before online grocery shopping was a thing). Nowadays I would not bother going to the store even if I had a car that runs for free.
- moffkalast 3y agoThe Netherlands really has the traffic systems figured out in general, not just in terms of bikes. Intersections have more throughput because they actually react to traffic, light timing is based on proper science and not rule of thumb, etc. Makes me really want to tear down the rest of Europe's half assed traffic infrastructure and rebuild it in the same style haha.