How to get 12.500 bicycles off the street: Thought it was fun to show how we store our bicycles in main cities in the Netherlands. I always wonder where my tax money goes :sm04:...

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

Thought it was fun to show how we store our bicycles in main cities in the Netherlands. I always wonder where my tax money goes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuUX32PYEI

I'm a big bicycle fan and I'm not alone. 23 million bicycles for 17 million people...

ItsJim

Fabulous! A city/nation that has some respect for bicyclists and their bicycles. Here in Southern California we have plenty of cyclists, but motorists like to use us for target practice.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

That's beautiful. Funny? story. I worked for a Dutch electronics firm for some years and visited The Netherlands several times. Once while in Nijmegen several of us went out for drinks, where a co-worker told this story.

"When I moved to Amsterdam I lost six bikes to theft. Now, I have one good touring bike I keep at home, and if I need to get around town I go to the train station and steal one."
Hard to steal a bike from your bike garage, I'd wager.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Amazing place. When I was on holiday in Amsterdam I was told the locals only use old bicycles in the city, because they know they will be stolen at some time, and if that happens they will just take the nearest bicycle to them....swings and roundabouts come to mind?

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

We noticed that clearly on a visit, to include the 'stop sign' effect, for pedestrians.

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

Haenzel wrote:

Thought it was fun to show how we store our bicycles in main cities in the Netherlands. I always wonder where my tax money goes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuUX32PYEI

I'm a big bicycle fan and I'm not alone. 23 million bicycles for 17 million people...

Wow amazing video. Thanks BE SAFE!!

Tom

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

When I lived in Tokyo many years ago, I soon realized that nearly everyone uses bicycles to get around. Most workers have two bikes, one at their home train station and one at their office station. They ride from home to their local train station and then pick up their other bike when they get off in downtown. But they don't seem to mind using any bike available since they just lean the bike up against the wall or another bike. After about 3-6 months, some government entity has to come by and gather up all the bikes and haul them off somewhere. There are just too many bikes abandoned at each train station. I don't know if this is still true or not since I haven't been back since the early 90's.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Beautiful!

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

ItsJim wrote:

Fabulous! A city/nation that has some respect for bicyclists and their bicycles. Here in Southern California we have plenty of cyclists, but motorists like to use us for target practice.

I"ve seen that behaviour on YouTube...Strange behaviour!!
It is a pity bicyclists aren't separated from motorists.
In the Netherlands cyclists are protected by law. If there is an accident between a car and a cyclist 9 out of 10 times the driver of the car is held responsible....

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

Doddy wrote:

Amazing place. When I was on holiday in Amsterdam I was told the locals only use old bicycles in the city, because they know they will be stolen at some time, and if that happens they will just take the nearest bicycle to them....swings and roundabouts come to mind?

True...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Haenzel wrote:

Thought it was fun to show how we store our bicycles in main cities in the Netherlands. I always wonder where my tax money goes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuUX32PYEI

I'm a big bicycle fan and I'm not alone. 23 million bicycles for 17 million people...

That's very impressive. Kudos to your country for using so many! Bikes work great in a land with lots of flat, level terrain. It's much more of a challenge to sell them to people who live in hilly or mountainous areas.

By the way, 12.500 in the USA is twelve point five, or twelve and one half... We use a comma when we mean twelve thousand, five hundred. I read your title as "How to get twelve and a half bicycles off the street". (Is that 12 bikes and a unicycle?)

Canisdirus

Love the Nederlands...been there a dozen times or more...nice central location filled with fun loving practical people...and good soups in the winter :P.

They pull bikes off better there because of saturation.
You would notice right away that not too many helmets being worn...different attitude about bikes...a better one.
Plus, pretty much every motorist there is a bike rider as well...so there is much more empathy from the vehicles as compared to the US. Big difference...

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

burkphoto wrote:

That's very impressive. Kudos to your country for using so many! Bikes work great in a land with lots of flat, level terrain. It's much more of a challenge to sell them to people who live in hilly or mountainous areas.

By the way, 12.500 in the USA is twelve point five, or twelve and one half... We use a comma when we mean twelve thousand, five hundred. I read your title as "How to get twelve and a half bicycles off the street". (Is that 12 bikes and a unicycle?)

Should have realized that...Have had lots of troubles with software not functioning properly due to UK keyboard rather than US keyboard settings...

Yep, flat as a pancake, however I do like to ride in southern Germany. With e-bikes there is no mountain high enough...

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

Canisdirus wrote:

Love the Nederlands...been there a dozen times or more...nice central location filled with fun loving practical people...and good soups in the winter :P.

They pull bikes off better there because of saturation.
You would notice right away that not too many helmets being worn...different attitude about bikes...a better one.
Plus, pretty much every motorist there is a bike rider as well...so there is much more empathy from the vehicles as compared to the US. Big difference...

I can only confirm this. There is hardly any person that was raised without a bike. At the age of 3 my kids started to ride a bicycle. At the age of 7, 8 they rode to school on their bicycles, alone.... That says something about trust in other road users...Of course this is depending on the local situation. A small town is very different from a big city...

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

Haenzel wrote:

Thought it was fun to show how we store our bicycles in main cities in the Netherlands. I always wonder where my tax money goes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVuUX32PYEI

I'm a big bicycle fan and I'm not alone. 23 million bicycles for 17 million people...

A-Maze-ing. I just wondered about the 5 o'clock rush.