Comment by adrianh
3 days ago
I moved from the U.S. to the Netherlands nine years ago, and I can attest that the bike infrastructure is amazing and has an outsized impact on your quality of life and general happiness.
Being able to bike everywhere — safely, quickly, without any cultural baggage of "being one of those bicycle people" — is a total game-changer.
It's one of those things that sounds kooky to people who haven't actually experienced it. When American friends and family ask me what I love most about living here and I say "the bike infrastructure," reactions range from a polite smile to eye-rolling.
On paper it doesn't sound particularly sexy, but in reality the impact on your day-to-day life is immense. Your health, your connection to the immediate environment, your cost savings, your time/stress savings, your sense of freedom of movement.
1000% agree. We moved 7 years ago and now have 4 kids. It is so valuable that my preteens can bike to tennis, friends, etc safely, even at night. Or that you can pop a toddler to childcare without a car seat and parking. Last year we finally got a car. I hardly ever use it.
And remember, the bike infrastructure was only built in the past 30-40 years. Before that, the Netherlands had a super car-focused infrastructure. It was only after the “stop murdering our children” political campaigns that the car focus shifted. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/20/the-origins-of-hollan...
> "being one of those bicycle people"
What really amazes me is motorists' dislike of cyclists (common here in Ireland, also). If that cyclist you see wasn't cycling, they'd be in a car in front of you, and your traffic queue would be worse. Every cyclist is doing every motorist a favour.
Here in town, there is a place where cyclists cross the oncoming lane to enter a bike pathway. The cyclists go downhill and thus have quite some speed. For the cyclists, they are catching a gap between cars. No big deal. From the perspective of a car driver, you have oncoming traffic in the same lane. Bonus point if the cyclist didn't signal their left-turn. I'm sure this location alone is producing a dozen of cyclist haters every day. I think the cyclists lack awareness that cars are bulky and heavy and thus require some free area ahead of them for breaking.
The underground (plus partly underwater) bicycle parking garage at Amsterdam Centraal is also pretty amazing to experience. So much nicer than the old outdoor one.
I live in Amsterdam. The freedom to do all your errants and entertainment by bike or walking is amazing. I can literally walk to the zoo, walk to the market, and walk to endless bars and restaurant.
The things is this is not some liberal, 15 min city conspiracy. This is how life has always been…
If find it hilarious that 'conservatives' made up this '15min city conspiracy' when traditional actual conservative cities, before the 60s were exactly those kind of 15min cities.
But somehow the bullshit built in the 60s is 'the true national expression' or whatever.
> without any cultural baggage of "being one of those bicycle people"
Arguably you technically do have that cultural baggage, it's just that it's a core part of the Dutch national identity so it doesn't stand out ;)
I have some American "bicycle people" as colleagues, and most Dutch people certainly aren't "bicycle people" like they are, even if they cycle every day, just like how people just driving a car aren't necessarily "car people".
Ah, those kind of "bicycle people". I suppose survivor bias makes that kind of inevitable. The bicycle people who aren't scared off by environment that is extremely hostile to bikes and pedestrians are more likely to be really into bikes.
> When American friends and family ask me what I love most about living here and I say "the bike infrastructure," reactions range from a polite smile to eye-rolling.
I get the same eye rolling when people ask me what I like most living in the centre of a major urban metropolis (Toronto) and I respond with "not having to own a car". Having everything (work, my daughter's school, groceries, cultural amenities, etc) within a 15 minute walk is fantastic and there's ample car-sharing for occasions where a car is required. People think I'm this eccentric hippie or something when I just don't want to spend time in a car on a daily basis.