• A cool video spotted by Buzzfeed shows a city in the Netherlands that has made bikes a transit priority. Find the full video here.
• A columnist examines possible streetcars in Washington, D.C. (WashPost)
• What would a watery New York look like and how would its infrastructure change? (NYT)
• Ray LaHood visited Japan recently (maybe he got the idea from us?) and saw how their bullet-trains are an example of how the U.S. should approach train travel. (NYT)
• China is doing great work in high-speed rail. (WashPost)
• A profile of a solar power pioneer. (NYT)
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Tags: Bicycle Rush-Hour, High Speed Rail
Look at all those poor people, extending their life expectancy while commuting to work, what a sorry bunch of socialists!
Very cool.
I was in the Netherlands last summer in Nijmegen, Utrecht, S’Hertogenbosch, and Amsterdam. The bike infrastructure was extensive and amazing. And it wasn’t only on the streets – the train station in S’Hertogenbosch had an enormous bike parking garage underneath that just blew my mind and a wonderful example of integrating modes of transportation.
Want to see bike rush hour, just check out Seattle the last few days. A combination of incredible weather, bike to work month, and Seattle’s growing bicycle culture has literally produced bicycle traffic jams during rush our on major bik streets and trails around the city.
Here’s a clip of bike traffic moving through a roundabout (a bike circle in local parlance) at U.C. Davis where I went to school. Bike traffic in a couple of locations in the city (mostly at the campus/city interface) is similarly heavy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acjIRMkVvVA&feature=related
An addendum to my last post: this is actually rather light traffic for that circle. It often handles about 3 times as many bikes.
Wow! I didn’t realize that bikes are capable of stopping at red lights. I guess there is a first time for everything. Although they appear to also have the idiots that jump the sidewalk when it is convenient for them.
@ chuckles. Yes it happens, usually when cyclists are provided for and have lights that they know are on a cycle that will allow them through without issues. Many of the infractions by cyclists in the states, sidewalk riding, red light riding, salmoning seem to be related to cycling infrastructure (or lack thereof) there have been some studies in Portland and in Cambridge (MA) that show that providing infrastructure reduces lawlessness. Roads are not infrastructure for cyclists, unless the road speed is 20kpm or less.
Its a good video I though, one notice is how quite it is, rarely any bells ringing, everybody going to their job or school or wherever, quickly, quietly, and efficiently
Love the…
0:16 kid on the back of the bike.
0:24 ooh, motorized scooter. Legal?
0:30 goin’ to pick up the wife at the train station, maybe? I have to confess I crashed once like this. Tricky business.
People of all ages, casual wear to suits, different races. So nice!
notice how skinny everyone on these bikes is… really makes you wonder what Americans could look like.
It isn’t just Utrecht that has made biking a proper transport option it’s the whole country.
More info to go with the video: http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2010/05/cycle-rush-hour-in-spring-in-utrecht.html
Mark Wagenbuur, the maker of the video has several other bike(infrastructure) related videos. http://www.youtube.com/markenlei
@Alexei: Some bike paths in the Netherlands are open to both cyclists and motorcyclists and some are exclusive to pedal-powered transport. There was, I believe, a change in the law stating that all motorcyclists have to use the street within the city limits though many scooterists are either ignorant thereof or just don’t care.
@Chuckles: Plenty of cyclists in the NL are perfectly capable of ignoring red lights and zooming out onto the street. The national Cyclists’ Union researched that if a cyclist has to wait more than 30s at a light they will simply pass through it. Right now the national average is down to 40s but in more an more places you’ll see countdown clocks and lights that automatically change when cyclists approach. Still as the Dutch say: doe maar gewoon (just be normal), ie. if it’s too hard (to wait for a red light), don’t bother to try.
@Alexei:
1.Passengers on bikes is quite normal in The Netherlands. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindcaster-ezzolicious/sets/72157622885589032/detail/
2. It isn’t a motorcycle but a moped(bromfiets/brommer). Mopeds can’t have engines bigger than 50cc and aren’t allowed to go faster than 45Kph. Max speeds in cities 30Kph on cycle paths 45Kph on the road. Outside cities road 45Kph cyclepaths 40Kph. In cities mopeds are supposed to use the road with cars and outside they are supposed to use the cyclepaths unless signed to do otherwise. Minimum age for using a moped is 16 and one has to take a theoretical exam. The moped has to be licensed and insured. Helmet use is mandatory unless one uses a snorfiets wich has a topspeed of 25Kph.
Funnily enough there are no max.speeds for cyclists. So cyclists on rural cyclepaths can outspeed mopeds. http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2008/09/speed.html
3. trickiest part of doing that is starting and stopping. When the bike is at speed it keeps itself upright. Cornering isn’t to hard.
I loved this. The only problem that I saw in this video was no one was wearing a bike helmet. I’m a big advocate of the bike helmet.
The only Dutch cyclists wearing helmets are the racers(roadies) who go highspeed on the rural cyclepaths. For all other riders cycling is safe enough not to need them.
http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2008/09/three-types-of-safety.html
[...] Infrastructurist by way of Buzzfeed comes this video of bike commuters in Utrecht. With a population of around [...]
Is that the little guy from The Hangover?
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