Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#291

Post by virtualwhys » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 4:44 AM UTC

hk__2 wrote: post #221

ack wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal: I've had more cars than bikes stolen (6 cars, two bikes if you include my daughter's).

I found some data for the UK: each year, ~2.7M cars are sold [1], and ~70k stolen [2]. In the same time, 3.5M bikes are sold [3], and 400k stolen [4]. In France, there are ~1.8M cars sold [7] vs ~110k cars stolen each year [5]; 2.8M bikes sold [7] vs. 400k bikes stolen [6]. Meanwhile, in Montreal, half of all active cyclists have their bike stolen [8]. [1]: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38516247 [2]: http://www.te…

Lived in Montreal off and on over the years, mostly summer. 4 bikes stolen, the first two were pretty nice road bikes; lesson learned. Now I just pick up a beater off of Craigslist along with a thick chain link lock.

If you leave a bike out over night there's a good chance it will be gone in the morning.

Great biking city, however.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#292

Post by dredmorbius » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:02 AM UTC

s73ver wrote: post #176

DavideNL wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everything's so damned spread out that bicycling is very impractical. The solution: e-bike. Where i live in the Netherlands many people use them (not just elderly.) Just this week i saw a 15 year old kid drive back home from school on an e-bike. If you have to drive a long distance, an e-bike eases makes it much easier/faster...

E-Bikes are a good idea, but they're pretty expensive. Like, you could buy a car for the cost of one.

Cars have exceptionally high ownership costs: parking, licensing, maintenance, fuel, insurance.

Even an expensive bicycle pencils out very quickly relatively.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#293

Post by TeeWEE » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:07 AM UTC

Its a combination of reasons:

- Netherlands is compact (10km from town to town, bikable)

- Netherlands is flat

- Cities are old, and are not easy to navigate with cars

- Cars are expensive

- Infrastructure is in place (everywhere!)

- Bikes are cheap

- Biking is healthy

- Biking is often faster in cities for Note: If you want bikelanes in your city/country: Just start biking, the more and more people are biking, the more politics is forced to build infra. This is happening in Paris, Latvia, and more!

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#294

Post by ramonakira » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:14 AM UTC

chrisper wrote: post #201

InitialLastName wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's raining or snowing too hard to be able to ride a bicycle (with appropriate clothing, i.e. the appropriate clothing to be outside in that weather anyway), it's probably also worth reconsidering operating the 3000lb wheelchair.

Roads are cleared of snow way before sidewalks / bicycle lanes are.

Who cares! Just bike on the main road. Cars will adjust their speed.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#295

Post by kalleboo » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:22 AM UTC

mercer wrote: post #106

ocschwar wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Japanese have the perfect answer. They don't zone by use. They zone by nuisance level. You can build whatever you want in the cement-plant-district. But you have to deal with having that kind of nuisance nearby. You can also build whatever you want in the no-nuisance district. But you can't impose any kind of nuisnace.

How do they deal with the tension of having bars/clubs in residential areas? Or do these areas just not exist in Japan?

I live in a "small" Japanese city (pop 300,000). I've only seen clubs in the central entertainment district. There are lots of small neighborhood pubs interspersed among houses though, but they don't cause any nuisance.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#296

Post by markvdb » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:25 AM UTC

avar wrote: post #47

> If anything, having a tatty, battered old > bike affords more status as it attests to > a long and lasting love. As an Amsterdam resident: What a romantic characterization of our high crime rates! Yes, the reason I still ride a shitty old beater of a bike is definitely my long lasting love for that piece of shit, it's not because I know that if I buy anything fancy I'm going to have to never take my eyes off of it,…

Obligatory classical film reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_Thieves

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#297

Post by honestoHeminway » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:53 AM UTC

mercer wrote: post #98

ramy_d wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it - that competition is of bike thefts for unguarded and _unlocked_ bikes. Surely it means nothing. Do people not buy bike locks in those regions? Is it typical for a 13mm+ Ulock in Amsterdam to get broken?

I've had three bikes stolen in about three months time. Each time, I used what was considered a high-end lock. I was usually more bummed out at losing the lock because they cost me more than the bike. The best strategy, I find, is to avoid leaving the bike in theft 'hot spots', especially in the weekend. If that can't be avoided, make sure to put the bike behind another bike, preferable a fancy one or one with a shit…

Create bike Safezones, by adding a small plasti foil bag with fish-oil beneath the saddle, which rips if not removed at ride-start. Even bike-thiefs do not want to stink.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#298

Post by honestoHeminway » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:56 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #200

collyw wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that work? And what do you mean by cold spray exactly? Ralgex?

If it wouldn't work I wouldn't write it. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cold+spray+bike...

Second to that. Metall becomes brittle at -20. Bing.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#299

Post by honestoHeminway » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 5:57 AM UTC

chmod775 wrote: post #147

ramy_d wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't leave your bike unlocked anywhere. Ever. At anytime. How come this isn't the initial reasoning? In fact, you can't leave anything unattended or not secured. This goes for cars, bikes, luggage, homes, i don't know what else.

There's still quite a few places on this earth where people don't even bother to lock their front doors, or don't worry about leaving their bike lying around somewhere unsecured. What you said is mostly for true for major cities though.

Places where paranoia is still a disease..

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#300

Post by advanderveer » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 6:07 AM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #181

the_gastropod wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20km is ~6 miles each way. Unless there are significant obstacles (hills, many stoplights, etc), an hour to go 6 miles seems excessive.

I read it as 20km each way, 40km total. I agree that a 10km each way trip is far more reasonable. In fact that's only slightly longer than my 5 mile bike commute, and I bet they have fewer 90F (32c) and 80% humidity days than we do here.

I ment 10km each way, 20km each way would feel excessive to me as well. For those cases (in dutch rural areas) there would almost always be some kind of bus service to take kids.