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Nice article :) My boyfriend lives there so I go often to Amsterdam, and even though biking is becoming "fashionable" where I live (Barcelona, Spain), the diff
by arien 18y ago
Nice article :)
My boyfriend lives there so I go often to Amsterdam, and even though biking is becoming "fashionable" where I live (Barcelona, Spain), the difference in the amount of bikes between both cities is abysmal, they are way way ahead.
The Netherlands is a super flat country though, so biking there is really easy compared to my city. I use our public bike system and there are some parts of the city that are way too steep if you are not used to it.
- dcminter 18y agoAbsolutely. Not to be an ass about it, but Amsterdam is flat as a pancake and San Francisco (which he compares it with) is definitively not. Bikes are often very practical in cities but not when it's raining and not when the gradients are significant. Despite the rain and minor inclines I have a Brompton http://www.brompton.co.uk/ http://www.brompton.co.uk/ here in London and adore it.
- ichverstehe 18y agoDenmark is at least as crazy about biking as Amsterdam. In Copenhagen it's a major advantage to be on bicycle, specially in rush hour where you easily get from A to B 2-3-4 times faster than cars. Rain is not really a factor, Copenhagen is rainy all the fucking time. Steep roads definitely is. But it isn't all. In Buenos Aires, which is relatively flat, I saw maybe 3-4 bikes in as many weeks. The major factor, IMO, is presence of bicycle paths and the fact that bicycles are actually a part of the design of the 'traffic flow', which means that bikers are first class citizen in Danish cities, while I would never even fuckin' dare to ride a bike in Buenos Aires - it's simply not safe.
- gravitycop 18y agoAutomobile ownership happens to be discouraged in Denmark. Naturally, people bicycle in a nation in which it is essentially illegal to own a car. http://www.google.com/search?q=denmark+car+tax http://www.google.com/search?q=denmark+car+tax
- Retric 18y agoessentially illegal to own a car Ok, there is a 180% tax on cars. 15k Honda fit = 42,000$ (ouch), but that just makes the used car market more valuable. I had a working old Volvo that was worth ~1k and needed 1-2k of work done per year to keep on the road. So buying one of those would have cost 2.8k with 1.8k of that in tax so it's not exactly making car's illegal and keeping it on the road cost is only 200$ / month. You just need to find the loophole.
- gravitycop 18y agoThere are other taxes that make driving in Denmark expensive. http://www.skm.dk/foreign/english/taxindenmark2008/6649 http://www.skm.dk/foreign/english/taxindenmark2008/6649 Gasoline in Denmark costs around $9 per U.S. gallon. http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/show/8682935 http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/show/8682935 In the Netherlands, gasoline is around $10 per U.S. gallon. http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/8682923 http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/8682923
- eru 18y agoGas in Germany is as expensive.
- arien 18y agoI've seen them biking when it's raining as well, but I think their roads and paths are prepared for it. As in, the surface isn't as polished as the streets here, so it's much harder to slip, unless you're as clumsy as... me :( Oh and, you should have seen my dutchie friends biking on ice this winter, absolutely impressive.
- dcminter 18y agoRain is not unknown in London. But even though you can do it cycling is unpleasant when it's raining particularly when, despite the carping, the alternative of public transport is as good as it is here. The Brompton lets me make the decision at the time rather than first thing in the morning.
- mdemare 18y agoAlso, Amsterdam is sufficiently small that you can get anywhere within 30 minutes A nice follow-up to this article would be to photograph /film Dutch cyclists in heavy rain.
- potatolicious 18y agoWeather also counts. I don't think Amsterdam ever gets quite as warm as San Francisco, where I wouldn't want to be caught riding a bike on a warm day in a suit. When I was in Seattle, though, plenty of people biked to work. Yeah, we didn't have bikes all over the streets, but it was a refreshingly good start.
- jules 18y agoI lived in a not very flat part of the Netherlands and most children went to school by bike (also if you had to travel >20km/day). Now I live further north (flat) and I can certainly say that I prefer biking uphill to biking against the wind (flat => more wind).
- anthonyrubin 18y agoPeople bike in the winter here in Chicago. I can't imagine breathing in the car fumes every day though.
- bprater 18y agoI lived in Amsterdam for 3 months last year and one of the lesson I learned was this: Watch out for the trams. More important than that: watch out for the native bicyclers. The folks in Amsterdam are pros on bikes. They've been riding on a daily basis since they were just wee lads. I couldn't believe the things I saw them do on bikes. (Talking on a cell, carrying an umbrella, multiple people on one bike, dresses, suits.) So if you are heading to Amsterdam, remember this: if you see a bicycle rapidly approaching, do not alter your motion in any way. Ever. Don't dodge left or right, don't slow down or run ahead. Don't be creative. They see you and don't want to hit you. Several times early on, I nearly got creamed. Eventually, you'll resist the urge to "get the hell out of the way" and realize they will always work around you.
- djm 18y agoI'll second that - France is another place where people seem to be born with bicycle attached. I spent two months last year cycling around France and was constantly amazed at the skills employed by cyclists I saw. You see groups of cyclists whizzing along chatting as they go, effortlessly maneuvering around traffic (including you or me). It was incredible. One time I was tiring near the summit of a mountain in the pyrenees and an old man reached into the back pocket of his cycle top and handed me a sugar cube whilst overtaking me on the way around a bend. The gradient we were on was about 10-15% I think. I nearly went over the edge trying to take the cube from him.
- tel 18y ago