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sjitz t1_j63tueo wrote

Business as usual in the Netherlands. If this happened anywhere else it'd truly be uplifting.

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Randouser555 t1_j647cqi wrote

Until you find out how much money they spent on it.

Edit: all these downvoters....65 million could revamp every bike stall in the country. This is one and is a trek to and from the facility. Defeats the purpose of bike convenience.

−105

kalaminu t1_j64cbsx wrote

It doesn't matter what they spent on it. When will you people understand that doing nothing about climate change will be both more expensive and probably result in a serious case of death.

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Tophatt69 t1_j66e3bb wrote

He never said anything about doing nothing, just that it's a lot for a underwater bike garage...that seems very impractical. You can easily store bikes at home, and it allows instant access to the bike.

You can also check his edit and he clarifies his issue with it. You're just jumping to some anti climate change argument that wasnt made.

−3

SubjectiveAlbatross t1_j676p5v wrote

>just that it's a lot for a underwater bike garage...that seems very impractical. You can easily store bikes at home, and it allows instant access to the bike. You can also check his edit and he clarifies his issue with it.

Which is all complete nonsense.

This garage is not a replacement for home storage – they're not stupid. Perhaps you didn't read the article beyond the title, but this is a garage at Amsterdam's central railway station. It's intended to (1) hold one's bike when one rides to the station to take the train, or perhaps more commonly given its city-center location, (2) hold one's second commute bike. That's a thing because there isn't enough room for everyone to take their bicycles onto the train. Many people thus have one bike they keep at home to ride to their local train station, and then another at the station near their workplace to complete the commute once they get off the train.

60 million Euros is not crazy for these large and highly-trafficked facilities (underground bicycle garages of comparable sizes in Utrecht and Den Haag in less challenging geology/geography cost 30-50 million), and not even remotely enough to "revamp every bike stall in the country" when there are 23 million bikes there.

It's not "a trek" nor "inconvenient" nor "impractical", because again you're not walking from home to this garage just to ride around the neighborhood, and also because it's right in front of the station it serves, connected directly with a tunneled passage. He's fabricating drama without knowing anything about the garage or the country.

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alc4pwned t1_j64iss8 wrote

You say that as though you think cars are the primary cause of climate change. Even in a very car dependent place like the US, personal vehicles only make up like 11% of total CO2 emissions. EVs will lower that significantly. I think a lot of people are hyper-focusing on cars and ignoring many of the much bigger problems. Comfortable western lifestyles are incredibly carbon intensive in general, even in the Netherlands.

−24

SubjectiveAlbatross t1_j64u9nl wrote

It's a bit more than 15% (and probably higher once you account for all the supporting infrastructure and induced sprawl). Moreover the "it's only xx%!" schtick is itself disingenuous. I've seen an Australian argue for example that "we're only responsible for 1%, we shouldn't have to do anything!" (completely ignoring in that case their high per capita emissions), the problem being that if you take these locality/sector exceptions to the full logical extent then nearly everything is exempt and very little gets done. 15% is a significant slice of the pie, and there's very little else that's "much bigger".

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alc4pwned t1_j64wyer wrote

That’s if you use emissions from all “light duty vehicles”. They break it down further in the pdf, for “passenger cars” it’s more like 9%. I think the 11% was assuming you add some portion of light duty trucks to that as well but I don’t quite remember.

I’m not saying 11% +/- isn’t significant. But the transition to EVs and renewables is already going to dramatically reduce that number. So perhaps it would be more productive if Reddit devoted half as much energy as they do to cars to other sources of emissions.

−7

kalaminu t1_j64mexd wrote

Ofc they're not but my point still stands. Doin nothing will be more expensive in the long run, both in financial terms and human costs.

The sensible ones of us know that the real polluters and wasters is big business who have done a very effective job of convincing the public they need to recycle when we all know that waste is their #1 product. And don't get me started on the super rich buzzing around on their private jets pumping out more co2 that whole countries.

−3

alc4pwned t1_j6501r3 wrote

> The sensible ones of us know that the real polluters and wasters is big business who have done a very effective job of convincing the public they need to recycle when we all know that waste is their #1 product.

That’s not sensible though, that’s also just shifting the blame. Those businesses are producing goods/services for us. The emissions required to manufacture a TV you bought is a part of your carbon footprint. The emissions generated by the banking system or by Reddit servers etc are also part of our carbon footprints.

0

Minneapolisveganaf t1_j64mtle wrote

Animal production is probably the biggest and easiest thing we could do to lower the footprint.

Flying for vacations. Just don't do it.

But the problem is that basically every person who can fly or eat a mostly meat diet does. Neither of which is necessary.

−4

XKSS_ t1_j64fk67 wrote

Probably less than 1 more lane on a US highway lol

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fernser t1_j64m7tf wrote

Until you find out how much money it saves individuals and society as a whole during its use.

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SubjectiveAlbatross t1_j64n9cm wrote

€60 million is an absolute bargain for something this big, right in the heart of the city too.

Edit:

>is a trek to and from the facility

It's literally under the canal directly in front of the station square, and has a direct tunneled passage into the station. Around 150 meters center-to-center.

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TheRealMotherOfOP t1_j6584qb wrote

Free for the first 24h but 1.35€ fee a day after, it will eventually pay itself back too and that's incredibly cheap compared to car parking, hope it will promote people taking the bike to Amsterdam.

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superstrijder16 t1_j66iqmz wrote

On the other hand with the number of people who will use it as commuters it might only pay for the staff who are running security. But it's still worth it

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Randouser555 t1_j65imgq wrote

65m could revamp every bike parking in the country. This was for one facility.

−5

MaxSpringPuma t1_j65myba wrote

How else was a 7000 space facility going to be built in that area? Its sleek, modern, and hidden away as infrastructure like that should. It's a 65M investment for something that should be around for 100 years

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Randouser555 t1_j66kj3v wrote

Bike storage towers. Cheap and easy to roll out. Mass storage with no additional distance to utilize facility itself.

−3

MaxSpringPuma t1_j66q45c wrote

Yes, and then you've got a bike tower in the middle of one of the most picturesque cities in the world.

I doubt they would build a 65M underground bike park in the suburbs, but in the middle of the city it's understandable

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SubjectiveAlbatross t1_j65o4dx wrote

No it can't. Hard to find the number of parking spots in the entire country, but there are something like 23 million bicycles in the Netherlands. It's not going to be even close.

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qutaaa666 t1_j65o2ng wrote

We spent almost 4 billion euros per year on infrastructure. 65 million isn’t that much. Our infrastructure is top notch, there are very few places on earth that are comparable. That’s why our taxes are so extremely high.

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Randouser555 t1_j66kdse wrote

Yeah infrastructure, not transport. Completely different.

−1

sjitz t1_j64fh2v wrote

You've never been there with the car, huh?

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theworstsailor1 t1_j65oyu7 wrote

Clearly you've never been to the Netherlands. EVERYONE bikes, there are hardly any cars on the roads, this is how people get around and for a country the size of Connecticut they place a lot of importance on biking. So it makes sense to have a garage to try and reduce the amount of bikes. The value added for people who use this is huge

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DefinitionMission144 t1_j63rfdx wrote

Not surprising to be honest. Not a lot of cars in that city compared to most. They’re actively planning for low car usage, and have forever. It’s not a giant city to traverse. I was there a few years ago, and parking lots already look like that, just, above water for the most part.

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JamesKojiro t1_j64jq8s wrote

Actually biking-centric infrastructure is relatively new. In the 80's they were building Rotterdam to be a car-haven, but if there is one thing the Dutch hate, it's being called German. If there's a second thing they hate, it's dead children.

So, after a few kids got run over they scrapped the car-centric infrastructure for good. Whilst biking-centric infrastructure is only a few decades old, The Netherlands is still eons ahead of the rest.

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Yungsleepboat t1_j64o3zg wrote

Also, driving a car in downtown Amsterdam is so, so much better than driving a car in Rotterdam despite their intentions

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Reddit-runner t1_j657ry1 wrote

>despite their intentions

No. BECAUSE!

getting cars off the streets creates better driving experiences for the cars/drivers remaining on the street.

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Yungsleepboat t1_j65ctj5 wrote

I mean despite Rotterdam's intentions. I love using my car in Amsterdam, parking is a bit expensive but traffic is good. In Rotterdam you have many lanes but still end up waiting 5 minutes at a red light.

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RisingPhoenix92 t1_j64peay wrote

huh i thought it was their response to the oil crisis and then kept with it

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CeeMX t1_j6536ef wrote

When I went there we did everything by foot. The only time I was in a train was from the airport to the city. It’s really good sized

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[deleted] t1_j63t5ci wrote

[deleted]

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RedditOR74 t1_j64bpq3 wrote

>This is such a cool thing. I can only hope the US can create infrastructure like this in my lifetime

There is not much of a chance. DFW is 75 miles across east to west and that is just the heavily developed portion. US cities incorporate much more private housing and as such have a much larger footprint. As much as efficiency is a goal, not many of us want to give up a home and private residence in lieu of an apartment. There are some, but definitely not the majority.

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King-of-Mars t1_j64wzg6 wrote

it's very doable, suburban sprawl costs local governments more to upkeep than it would to develop more dense housing. Just think of all the needless tarmac and intersections and carparks that need to be continually maintained. Not from the US but from what I understand, many, many young people over there want to live in apartments which are in mixed urban centres. There is a reason why they are so expensive right now.. The problem is lack of zoning for mixed low rise, and commercial. You don't need to drive 75 miles across the city if your work, shops, bars etc are a mile away. If zoning was changed, with improvements to public transport and road design (less lanes, no stroads, more pedestrianisation etc) US cities could change in a couple of decades.

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alc4pwned t1_j64htpk wrote

Not to mention the fact that, unlike most of the US, the Netherlands is extremely flat and has a pretty mild climate.

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Fetty_is_the_best t1_j64t38b wrote

California has a dozen cities just like that, aside from SF which is hilly (amazing climate though.) California’s three largest cities have some of the best weather in the US and all of them are mostly flat in the densest areas. They would be perfect.

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CityHawk17 t1_j651vbm wrote

Ok, and the other 49 states? Lol we are not just California.

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Fetty_is_the_best t1_j653wwy wrote

Uh, the US is massive so these types of things are generally state issues, not national ones. Urban California and rural Mississippi have very different needs. Having a national pro-biking policy would never work. Heck, this is more of a city issue than a state one to be honest. I never stated this is a national thing. Some places will never have proper biking infrastructure by default.

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CityHawk17 t1_j654w6r wrote

So, original comment mentioned the "US".

You narrowed it down to California for your point, but now it's the entire US? Well which is it? I'm confused.

I can tell you this would never work country wide. Hence my comment. In some states, maybe. Not as a country though. Too big. Basically, pick the big cities that stay warm, those are potentially your only options.

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Fetty_is_the_best t1_j656owz wrote

I merely used California as an example of where biking could work . I’m aware that in much of the US it wouldn’t work. Biking will never be a viable form of transportation in low density/low population areas. But in regions where a huge percentage of the US lives, it absolutely would work. Your last paragraph is my point, we are in agreement. I think rather than just looking at the US as a whole, individual regions should be the focus for these kinds of things.

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CityHawk17 t1_j65dkq1 wrote

>Your last paragraph is my point, we are in agreement.

Absolutely! Sorry for my confusion.

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DeTrotseTuinkabouter t1_j686xle wrote

The fact that California hasn't done it goes to show that it's not just a matter of climate.

For a lot of the other States better bike infrastructure and public transport are possible too I reckon. Especially with the popularity of e-bikes.

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Reddit-runner t1_j658bn7 wrote

Then tell me why Finland has amazing bike infrastructure even close to the Arctic circle?

And it's well used all year round!

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Graega t1_j648xz6 wrote

That won't happen. "But mah lifted 20" truck with custom rims and paint job 47 trump bumper stickers and a jeebus fish!" is the next thing out of the yokels' mouths, right after, "But mah freedumbs" when anyone mentions gun control, separation of church and state, or gender reveal parties not killing the parents and 18 guests plus four bystanders who just happened to be in the area.

Our great great grandchildren won't even have a cycle culture at this rate.

−6

gertalives t1_j64ak3j wrote

Let’s zoom out and then back in a little on the US. It’s an enormous country, and a lot of those yokels live where it’s many miles between anything of interest. Those folks still don’t need lifted trucks in most cases, but bikes aren’t a viable solution. If we look at dense cities, absolutely, bikes and public transit make a zillion times more sense than a sea of individual autos clogging the roads. Those cities are where the infrastructure push makes sense.

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AccordingLifeguard49 t1_j64cqh8 wrote

Hard to ride a bike in 4 feet of snow at -31. In addition some cities & towns are just too darn big for this to work. There are a few chuckle heads with lifted trucks and stickers of course. However, bike travel only works like 3 months out of the year in MT. And I've seen I snow in July. I dont know of many towns where bike travel is so feasible they could restructure for it.

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azimir t1_j64gr8p wrote

And yet, Finland has managed to do just that: bike in the snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU

It requires cities to build and maintain bike infrastructure and not just hope that people manage to bike over snowplow drifts.

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feauxtv t1_j652gqq wrote

That was a very enjoyable video to watch!

*A Texan that recently moved to Amsterdam and now only owns a bike and LOVES it!

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InGenAche t1_j65j510 wrote

Yeah but I bet you have that bike jacked on monster wheels and rims right?

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feauxtv t1_j65kclj wrote

Hahaha, no. It's a beater bike, all rusty and has several working/non-working lights, and a kid seat in the back that we wipe down with a wash cloth when it's wet - cuz that's whatya do.

There is a big F150 truck in our neighborhood and we just laugh at thinking about them trying to find parking. And it's only a 150. Doofus.

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azimir t1_j65bhr9 wrote

Do you have a pile of spare bedrooms for a visiting family? :-)

I'm glad that you've found a great place. My visits to Amsterdam have been very nice and it looks like the city is continuing to invest in positive change over time.

The Not Just Bikes YouTube channel has lots of great material on cities and city design. He's got a great one on why he's not a fan of Houston.

−2

feauxtv t1_j65fkmu wrote

Haha, we live in the city so definitely no "piles of spare bedrooms." 😅

The kiddo loves it and is a fully Dutchy now, so we're sold. And yeah, we ended up watching a few of his videos, they were great! I'm from Dallas, so no real love for Houston from me either. 😜

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alc4pwned t1_j64i63j wrote

I'm sure you can do it. I just don't want to lol. I'm guessing not many people in the US would choose the bike over a warm car during the winter.

−1

ObsceneGesture4u t1_j65375m wrote

And this is why things never change and we’ll be the deaths of ourselves

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alc4pwned t1_j65kj97 wrote

Because we don't want to bike in the snow? That's a bit sensationalist.

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ObsceneGesture4u t1_j65mked wrote

Is it? We’re currently in the midst of a climate crisis because people refuse to make changes that are inconvenient to them.

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alc4pwned t1_j65nxku wrote

You have made those changes though? Do you eat meat? Live in single family housing? Spend a meaningful portion of your income on nonessentials? Have energy intensive hobbies such as PC gaming?

Those are the kinds of sacrifices I'd expect someone who is saying "not wanting to bike in the snow will be the end of us" to have already made.

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XKSS_ t1_j64fron wrote

It surely never snows in Finland huh.

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Guson1 t1_j64i803 wrote

I can see why you’re in uplifting news because it seems pretty miserable in that box you’ve put yourself in, but please don’t drag the rest of us down with you.

−2

DanYHKim t1_j65v96v wrote

I live in the United States. It is hard enough to find a bicycle rack in front of any kind of building except at a university. And even then, the rack might be kind of inadequate.

The whole idea that someone would invest the money to build an actual structure to hold parked bicycles is just mind-blowing

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Juub1990 t1_j68e63s wrote

There’s a reason your average American is grossly overweight.

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barsoapguy t1_j6do9fr wrote

I was just thinking of ways to get around their bike centric culture . I bet nice comfortable fast mobility chairs would sell well over there .

They could probably go in any lane a bike could .

1

NotTakenName1 t1_j68h2nr wrote

Not someone, the municipality of Amsterdam thought it was a good idea to invest this money for the wellbeing of its citizens...

(sorry but i saw someone in another reddit post ridicule the fact that it won't be profitable for at least 10/15 years or so)

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Baldandblues t1_j6a9fr4 wrote

Pretty much every station has some facility to park your bike. Sure sometimes it's just a rack or an oversized shed, but bikes are definitely encouraged.

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grumble11 t1_j642ht2 wrote

Amsterdam (and the bulk of the Netherlands) is almost perfectly flat, so biking is easy, the cities and towns are older, so densely built which makes biking convenient, and the weather is milder, without extended periods of heavy snowfall. Does rain and does get cold, but people in Copenhagen are crazy like that and will bike through it.

For this to happen elsewhere like in NA you need an urban redesign to cram a lot of people into much smaller spaces. Which I’m somewhat game for

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komt20 t1_j64gspp wrote

I love the seamless transition from Amsterdam to Copenhagen (the capital of Denmark)

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grumble11 t1_j64gxf7 wrote

both cities are known for biking but only one is known for bad biking weather!

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azimir t1_j64i222 wrote

> Amsterdam (and the bulk of the Netherlands) is almost perfectly flat, so biking is easy

Definitely a win for biking there.

> cities and towns are older, so densely built which makes biking convenient

So why don't we build our cities more densely? Often because we've put laws in the US to block it, but those should be changed:
https://youtu.be/bnKIVX968PQ

> and the weather is milder, without extended periods of heavy snowfall.

True, but Finland still manages to ride bikes all year in many places:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU

> Does rain and does get cold, but people in Copenhagen are crazy like that and will bike through it

More often because the bike infrastructure is cleared and is built for bikes (not cars where there's a snowplow'd pile of snow in a bike gutter).

>For this to happen elsewhere like in NA you need an urban redesign to cram a lot of people into much smaller spaces.

Yes. Our cities have a much too large footprint to be sustainable. They're essentially all insolvent and they shall all eventually have to shrink their square miles by abandoning the sprawl. The economics of our post WWII city designs just don't work once you start having to do maintenance on the car infrastructure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SXXTBypIg&list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN69ehUTVa

The Strong Towns book lays it out reasonably clearly. We're going to have to shrink our car infrastructure, build denser cities, and construct serious public transportation to serve the core, not stroad-based big box stores and low density suburbs.

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AftyOfTheUK t1_j64p3gm wrote

>We're going to have to shrink our car infrastructure, build denser cities, and construct serious public transportation to serve the core, not stroad-based big box stores and low density suburbs.

I would have agreed with you a few decades ago, but with the advent of all-electric self driving cars, many of the negatives associated with high levels of driving will not be of concern anymore. Being driven is more relaxing, less susceptible to whether, more productive (you can take calls, work or read while on the move) and more private.

America's poor choices for the latter part of last century and the early part of this century are about to be partially undone. There will still be heat islands and lack of biodiversity because of the larger amounts of concrete, but over time that can be reduced as cars don't need to park (like a taxi, they just move to the next job) and fewer lanes will be needed (because the cars themselves can safely travel more quickly, and in more dense road-trains)

−5

superstrijder16 t1_j66j8n4 wrote

The main costs in his link are from building lots of asphalt and longer eg. Sewer lines because of the extra space use, not the actual cars

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alc4pwned t1_j64j4lx wrote

> For this to happen elsewhere like in NA you need an urban redesign to cram a lot of people into much smaller spaces. Which I’m somewhat game for

I think the vast majority don't want to give up their personal space.

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DeTrotseTuinkabouter t1_j6871iu wrote

Our new towns, cities and neighborhoods also have great biking infrastructure. So nothing to do with being old.

As for happening elsewhere: it doesn't have to happen everywhere. But there are tons of places in the world that are perfectly suitable for biking and have very lacking infrastructure. Heck: even if it is just for the months without snow.

1

Roccet_MS t1_j641x3j wrote

Wtf that looks futuristic. The bike "garage" in my city, at the main train station, fulfills several purposes such as being a shelter for birds and a big toilet for a few people that don't like normal toilets.

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Dijkdoorn t1_j65ss0w wrote

You should look up the one in Utrecht. 12.500 spots as opposed to the 7.000 in Amsterdam. It's just not under water (yet).

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vox_popular t1_j678q9d wrote

In my first ever trip to Europe, I hit about 5 countries, including the Netherlands. Apart from the cool things Reddit assumes about the country in terms of its green and athletic approach to getting around, the people were truly amazing. First evening in Amsterdam and we hit a restaurant for dinner, and my wife and I were invited to sit with another couple at the restaurant and we spoke for 2-3 hours.

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ramriot t1_j64fhh7 wrote

That is so interesting, it make a change from how they usually use the canals for this.

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Blockadiddy t1_j64g733 wrote

Don't drop the anchor too fast now.

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durgadas t1_j64kniy wrote

I think I need to move there.

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mikepictor t1_j652tij wrote

That’s what I did last fall.

It’s great!

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strraand t1_j68cbt3 wrote

I’m moving to Amsterdam in a couple of months, just accepted a job offer yesterday. You don’t happen to have any tips to share?

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mikepictor t1_j68cyzn wrote

Finding an apartment is hard. Do some research before coming. Do you have a service to help you apartment hunt? I’m recommend it, but also don’t purely count on them. You need to be ready to jump on any viewing, and if you like it, offer that same day.

I love everything about being here, but finding an apartment took two months and was super stressful. Get a very clear picture in your head of your must-haves, and your wants, and what you can concede on, and really be honest to yourself about it.

Where are you coming from? You’ll need things like a raincoat, waterproof bag, depending on what kind of lifestyle you’re leading. Wind and rain is common, but its not usually THAT cold (depending on your perspective)

1

strraand t1_j68e3oq wrote

Really appreciate this, thank you! Didn’t even know there where services for helping you hunt for apartments, definitely gonna look into that.
While it of course would be nice to live in Amsterdam, the company also recommended Haarlem as a lot of their expats move there apparently.

I’m moving from Gothenburg, Sweden, so the weather won’t be an issue at all lol.

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mikepictor t1_j696pks wrote

Haarlem is absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous town. I did get a place in Amsterdam in the end, but I looked in Haarlem, Zaandam, Weesp and even Almere.

Yeah you’ll be fine with the weather at least. Bring your bike of you have one, buy one if you don’t.

Welkom bij Nederland

1

anObscurity t1_j65wy0s wrote

Honestly would love to but I have a kid and all 4 grandparents live in California =[

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Aramira137 t1_j64qk2t wrote

I absolutely love this. But I do wonder how cities like Amsterdam are for disabled people (and parents of babies for that matter). Are people who cannot bicycle just left out of society? Do they have to exclusively take taxis?

3

MadKerbalScientist t1_j65j70b wrote

My mom had to spend some time in one of those mobility scooters after surgery here in the Netherlands.

Praised the bike infrastructure even more than she did on a bicycle.

You can ride your mobility scooter on the bike lane, where you're not held back by people walking slowly on the sidewalk, nor in danger of being hit by a car on the road. Bike paths are wide enough for cyclists to go around the mobility scooter and the vast majority won't mind doing so.

As for babies, we often put them in special seats on our bicycles, or use a so called "bakfiets" which has a nice big cargo area for the kid to sit in. These are also great for cargo in general, I've transported 19" servers in one before. For longer distances you can use the train, or of course a car.

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Alexanderdaw t1_j64ydvn wrote

There's a government service where they pay 3 Euro to go somewhere. Works all around the country, it even fits your walking machine or elderly scooter.

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Frifelt t1_j650m5g wrote

I live in Copenhagen which is very comparable to Amsterdam. We have great public transport with busses, trains and metro so it’s easy to get around even if you are not biking. There’s space in all of these for prams and wheelchairs. More importantly, obviously people can still take their cars. These cities are not car free utopias. I have lived here for more than 20 years and I’m in my 40s. I’ve never owned a car nor do I miss having one, but it’s not uncommon to own a car and a lot of carowners will still frequently bike or take public transport as it’s just easier and faster.

2

alisdairmills t1_j6564ws wrote

You will often encounter mobility scooters on the bike paths so guess it is quite a plus to have such an extensive and connected network of segregated bike paths to use to independently navigate your city. There's also very good public transport and car infrastructure too. As for babies - they just go on the bike as the other reply said.

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Aramira137 t1_j65t2z2 wrote

That's wicked. I've been to a few pedestrian heavy places which were just awful for anyone with any kind of mobility issue (or who were pushing strollers).

1

mikepictor t1_j683dsh wrote

Bike paths can be used by mobility scooters and mini cars (literally one-seaters). It actually has excellent mobility options for the disabled.

Access to stores is tougher because lots of buildings (mostly in the centrum) still have narrow stairs and narrow doors.

2

DeTrotseTuinkabouter t1_j687rnl wrote

I'd say it differs. First of all: you don't have to bike. We stil have cars. We have buses. We have trams. Etc. Thinking that you are left out of society if you don't bike is a very odd notion. Biking is simply nice and convenient.

In terms of accessibility the Netherlands is not as good as for example the USA is in some matters - their disability act is really great. Having said that: one benefit in Amsterdam is that it's a compact, walkable, bike-friendly city. And I reckon that often lends itself well to being disabled. You don't have to worry about driving somewhere, you can just walk (or roll) to the supermarket. But no personal experience!

For parents it differs what they do! Often they'll still have a car for some stuff (cars in general are common, just less necessary). But you can also put your kid on your bike with you, there are special bike seats for kids that you can put on your bike, very akin to a car seat. And bakfietsen (bin bikes) are very popular for parents with young children. You just put the kids in the bin. Kids also learn to bike from a young age.

2

Fothermucker44 t1_j6454jz wrote

Breathing angry in german right now

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dulli97 t1_j651a2o wrote

That's what happens when the auto industry doesn't have a hand in it

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qutaaa666 t1_j65ojo3 wrote

Pretty normal for the Netherlands.

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10-10-2022 t1_j6804t4 wrote

Imagine having a black or blue bicycle and forgetting where you left it.

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AutoModerator t1_j63pcr3 wrote

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kiss_a_hacker01 t1_j687l0v wrote

I'd argue that their river holds way more bikes underwater than this parking garage will ever hold.

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Weatherman_Phil t1_j653pzl wrote

If it can fit 7000 bicycles, it can certainly fit some cars.

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kytheon t1_j65zjks wrote

There’s no way to get to it with a car.

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Weatherman_Phil t1_j661ano wrote

Thanks, that was the motivation I needed to read the article. Kinda cool, I ride my bike to work.

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AllanCottontail t1_j658hdv wrote

So you bike to lot and pick up your other bike to go to work. Most people keep their bikes at home.

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hwknd t1_j67apij wrote

Person lives in location A. Takes the train to location B every day. Needs to travel from train station in B to school/work in B. Easiest to do by bike, but super inconvenient to drag a bike along on the train each day.

So that person keeps a second bike (usually an older crappier one) in location B and stores it in the bike parking lot at the train station.

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logosmd666 t1_j646mfg wrote

I am pretty sure I could fit my car in there somewhere, sounds like a failure of imagination if you ask me!

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AftyOfTheUK t1_j64oj3y wrote

That's smart thinking - when it floods every month at high tide, the bicycles can be dried off and ridden away, whereas cars would be ruined.

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