New NJB: 5 Years in the Netherlands

I guarantee you this is because the Dutch idea of "unsafe in traffic" is totally different than other countries in Europe. I've had people seriously tell me that a loose tile on the bike path is a "very dangerous situation".

Not Just Bikes

Hey Jason, what exactly is the problem in Amsterdam? People don't feel safe in traffic? Amsterdammers voelen zich onveiliger in verkeer dan andere Europeanen - https://nos.nl/l/2489387

I just moved to Culemborg in the Netherlands, and would highly recommend you check it out! It's a super small town, one of the oldest in the Netherlands, and while not the best cycling infrastructure, most of it is so chill that it doesn't need it, the roads are heavily traffic calmed.

Thanks for the message. Sadly your story is way too familiar; I've heard this kind of thing from all over the US and Canada. :( Have you joined your local Strong Towns group ("local conversation")? They're doing some good work in the US.

Not Just Bikes

Yes, that's a very different discussion that what happens in Canadian small towns, where the discussion revolves almost entirely around parking. 😢

Not Just Bikes

I served on the city council of Uden a few years ago (Uden, 40K people, no train station) and one of the main issues we had was the lack of bicycle infrastructure. There are places where we didn’t have dedicated bicycle infrastructure- so it was a political point to provide it. Point I’m trying to make: for me, NOT being able to go somewhere on your bicycle feels like a ridiculous very much unwanted situation here in the Netherlands. Our default is that if you can get somewhere by car, you should be able to get there by bike too. If not, local government has failed.

Counter Surprise

Yet another terrific video. And it just destroys me as lifelong advocate in the USA. Your 5 years in the Netherlands ruined you to returning to NA - our 10 days last year did the same for me except we were tourists and for a lot of reasons are stuck here in the USA, mostly family and work that can't be moved. I am so angry every single day just trying to navigate around. And that is in our relatively leafy mixed use mixed density/housing types historic remnant neighborhood within walking & biking distance of everything we need. Its just a car-dominated hellscape though (loved your call-out of our SLC orange ped flags, which are proliferating despite your vid ;) ) Just spent last evening at a Planning Commission meeting about an adaptive reuse project around the corner from us in our historic neighborhood to very low income housing. Guess what many neighbors were complaining about? You got it - car parking. With free on street car storage in excess all around, even if maybe not all the time in front of their houses. Oh, and our transportation department failed to do the mandated and super basic complete street 4-3 road diet with painted bike gutters here a couple years ago because neighbors and a major employer nearby complained, violating the city ordinance but oops, they can't fix it now and wrote a CYA memo belatedly "justifying" their bad decision. So we get a fairly weak complete streets ordinance passed and can't even expect them to follow through with the mandated bike gutter. So it goes. I used my 2 minutes to challenge motonormativity and car dependence and support the project. And also to their credit at the prior community meeting enough of my progressive neighbors came asked about green design, bike facilities, open space, less parking, which the design team found refreshing and unusual and our board (I am a member) sent a letter of support. Luckily the PC voted in favor despite the last minute parking complaints (they are building over the minimums already, 1 stall / unit I said was expensive and unneeded). But I am so very tired of this and do not have enough years in my life to see any significant transformation, despite trying to be cheered by John S at Active Towns. Keep up the great and inspiring work so I can live vicariously. Can't wait to get back for another visit to the Netherlands next spring.

Jen C