12 votes

The Dutch hardly bike at all

5 comments

  1. ibis
    Link
    Difficulty biking is just one of many inefficiencies/problems of low density housing (ie suburban sprawl). I don’t know about the US, but Australian planning authorities have recognised this and...

    Difficulty biking is just one of many inefficiencies/problems of low density housing (ie suburban sprawl).
    I don’t know about the US, but Australian planning authorities have recognised this and are trying to increase density and make services local again. They call them “20 minute neighbourhoods” (because the goal is to have neighbourhoods where people can meet all their needs within a 20 min walk from home).

    6 votes
  2. skybrian
    Link
    From the article: [...]

    From the article:

    Dutch biking rates are highest for trips of about 1 mile, and when trips get longer than three miles, bike trips start to fall sharply while car trips rise.

    [...]

    By making streets safe, comfortable and intuitive to bike on, we can and should boost biking among the 38 percent of U.S. trips that are four miles or less. But it will be much, much harder to increase the percentage of U.S. trips that are four miles or less. That’ll require nothing less than the gradual redevelopment of most of the buildings in almost all of our cities.

    4 votes
  3. [3]
    DonQuixote
    Link
    The Dutch bike all the time. They use it as basic intercity transportation. They're obviously not that interested in longer trips on bikes. It's called a cultural thing. Conversely, in U.S cities,...

    The Dutch bike all the time. They use it as basic intercity transportation. They're obviously not that interested in longer trips on bikes. It's called a cultural thing. Conversely, in U.S cities, everyone uses a vehicle. Or public transit, depending.

    3 votes
    1. [3]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. [2]
        aymm
        Link Parent
        Hm, whenever I visit my parents I go by bike (it's only 20km one way), or friends over the next city, which is roughly 12km. I get that it's not something most people do. Surprisingly, on neither...

        Hm, whenever I visit my parents I go by bike (it's only 20km one way), or friends over the next city, which is roughly 12km. I get that it's not something most people do. Surprisingly, on neither of those trips I'm that much slower than with public transportation. (That changes compared to a car, but I don't own one). To my friends the public transport connection is pretty crappy so I'm usually faster on my bike. And the route to my parents tends to have pretty bad traffic, and I need to change busses during it, so I'm only slightly slower on my bike where I don't care about traffic and can take the direct route without waiting for the next bus

        1. bbvnvlt
          Link Parent
          According to the third graph in the article, around 15% of 20km trips are done by bike. That seems plausible. And it's still a lot of biking. The title is grade-A clickbait BS, imho. Other graphs...

          According to the third graph in the article, around 15% of 20km trips are done by bike. That seems plausible.

          And it's still a lot of biking. The title is grade-A clickbait BS, imho.

          Other graphs rely a lot on averages. Average distance per person per day is going to be low if you include everyone.

          1 vote