Many countries try to promote cycling and integrate in daily life but struggling. I see governments and cities around the world announcing cycling initiatives car free days, special lanes, heavy funding etc but still cycling still remains niche ,unsafe and people quickly go back to cars. But the Netherlands seems to have made cycling part of everyday life rather than a project or lifestyle choice.
I am curious:
• What did the Netherlands do and other countries are missing in their approach?
• Why don't other countries just copy the Dutch model?
Would love to hear perspectives from people living in the Netherlands or working in urban planning and sustainabilty sector.
Here is a video from bicycleDutch explaining the history of the cycle culture in the Netherlands.
How did the Dutch get their cycle paths. https://youtu.be/SYHz93HXJFQ?si=yWCc7zadkXthWys8
Another example: How the Dutch designed a biking utopia https://youtu.be/rlIqQUA2K3M?si=BFW9NZaQSFo4lcli
On YouTube you can find many more videos explaining the Dutch cycle culture. Other channels to check out are:
Not just bikes: How highways almost destroyed Amsterdam https://youtu.be/vI5pbDFDZyI?si=exdBQudAwhWmqljF
I also enjoy videos from Nic Laporte
I visited a 15 min. City https://youtu.be/kYpe2JuZdJU?si=Ph4DHJ9noA0n1BL3
There are many more examples. Just do a search on YouTube for "history of bicycling in netherlands".
Good luck.
The short answer though...is luck. I think NJB mentions this, but many of the votes in the Netherlands were won on razor thin margins. One or two votes in a different direction and the Netherlands would look not look the same.
That said, the battle is not yet over...or perhaps never will be. NJB also has videos about the proliferation of large American style SUVs which are a real risk to the cities here.
This comment right here has all the info. I particularly like the biking Utopia one, the Dutch people called the government out by saying if you don't do something you are basically murdering all our children by proxy through negligence.
Best answer
Indeed. Unfortunately most are just shallow “It’s flat” comments. Sure it helps, but we didn’t get here by virtue of being flat, far from it. There’s plenty of flat places around the world where people rarely cycle, and there’s hilly places in The Netherlands (like Arnhem) we’re cycling is just as much part of daily life as anywhere else in The Netherlands.
Also, as an added bonus; My grandpa lived in the mountains in germany and cycling was extremely normal there. He lived at over 2000m height. Just saying.
late to te show but want to add one reason i see nowhere else that is superspecific:
Pillarization!
the fact that until the 1970s, most dutch groups like protestants, catholics, liberals, socialists, baptists, etc lived very much in seperate worlds, Almost not mixed in most cases. (like the 5 pillars in front of e.g. a greek temple being fiercely apart, hence the name | | | | | _)--- those groups had their own tv, radio, church, daycare, primary and secondary schools, tax agents, doctors, newspapers etc etc etc.
this makes for distances that are way further then normally in a homogenous city/country like spain, france, belgium , USA, england or even denmark, als on innercities. e.g. your parochy is spread over 5 neiigbourhoods, , or over multiple villages, for one church, instead of whats more normal in other countries: ''''one church, doctor, school, in your neigbourhood or village and thats your kin'' --> no!
So: Bike makes a lot of sense: it is the perfect vehicle to travel your larger area for a slized up and pillarized city/society!! :)
another reason: especially the biggest religion in many places of those pillars: Calvinism (Amsterdam, Zwolle, or the bible belt, etc) likes biking, because it is something it actually very much akin to their religion: hard work, dont complain, put in effort to reach something. delayed gratifaction, movement, pick the fruit of your labor. Belgium was flat but not calvinist, but catholic instead so it didnt catch on in the crazy crazy matter it did in NL. Danmark WAS calvinist, but They did not have the pillarization so it mostly made sense in the biggest city, Copenhagen, less so in rural country.
so there it is. a reason why especially Amsterdam and NL is just even more bike crazy than all those other flat places
There was a massive campaign in the seventies to make the cities safe for cycling. This was then embedded by having cycling lessons and safety exams in primary schools.
Exactly, the "stop de kindermord" campaign.
There's a great podcast, I dont recall if it was a series or a single.episode, that covered those well.
It be flat. Wheel go zjooon zjooon.
Society much organise. Infrastructure go brrrr. Very wow.
Dutchies cheapie cheapskates. Cyclewheel no use gas.
Should be nominated for comment of the year
Then came the vervloekt Dikke Fietsen, and het doe normaal energie was annoyingly disrupted.
Question: Are there a lot of NL kids who are obsessed with doing wheelies everywhere? It seems to have become really popular where I live.
it's funny cause it's true :))
Yes that sums it up pretty much. Getting a bike for your birthday also helps.
Belgian kids get a bike, when they turn 13/14 (used to be for their H. Confirmation, but they usually get a phone, nowadays.
Belgians use bicycles a lot. Extreme left and annoying Ghent ppl make it their whole personality, using their cargo bike, electric if possible. ('Ik ben beter dan jou, want ik heb een bakfiets').
Yet it's not really seen as our culture (other than fir the obnoxious Ghent ppl)
Mijn god <> goodness. Correct comment
r/eliasi explain like i'm a shiba inu
This is my favorite comment of this month
Nederland is wonderful. But 8 months of winter.
Cycling in a dark, cold, windy, rainy day much worse than San Francisco, despite the hills.
Uncalled for in this sub, but Explained Like I'm 5 years old nonetheless.
Well done.
Iirc there was also an oil crisis that even led to national car-free days to save on fuel. Combine this with pre-existing protests, and finding a fuel-free alternative becomes a reasonable idea
People.were riding bikes as their go-to means of transportation way before these events. The Dutch people only got to be able to afford cars en masse right after WW2. Car ownership exploded as did car infrastructure (highways, parking lots etc)
From the 70s people started realizing all the bad effects car-centrism had and the movement to put focus back to bike riding started.
I feel like a lot has been said already, but I'd like to add the short distances. Hypermarkets were forbidden in the Netherlands for a long time. Even nowadays, municipalities often simply don't allow them. They want to keep supermarkets within walking/cycling distance so that cars aren't required for that.
It's not the main reason why people are cycling of course, but it does keep people out of their car. If you never quickly need to jump into your car to go wherever, it doesn't become your main mode of transportation.
This podcast goes through every stage of it:
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/99-invisible/id394775318?l=en-GB&i=1000607443059
Very insightful, also Roman Mars has a lovely voice.
It is of course never just one thing you can pinpoint to. There are a multitude of factors that led to the wide adoption of bikes.
Don't forget that it's dirt cheap, creates safe streets, creates no pollution (neither air nor sound), involves no traffic jams or parking problems, and has amazing health benefits
In major cities cyclists are the key danger to pedestrians, not cars. Actually, the crossing near Leidseveer/Vredenburg in Utrecht is probably the most dangerous crossroads in the country, thanks to cyclists.
This simply isn't true. In major cities, people on bikes interact with pedestrians more often than cars...but the danger is relatively low. If you get hit by a bike, you have a bad day, if you're really unlucky, you might even end up in hospital, but if you get run over by a car _especially an SUV_ you will end up in the hospital for sure, and maybe even the morgue.
Flat earth.
👆This.
We're all flat-earthers here.
And we're naturally running on cheese wheels!
There is a comment with a bunch of videos, probably the best example of how and why the Dutch have the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure they do now. As far as why other countries can't just copy their model. Its highly political meaning that someone somewhere in power is getting money from the auto industry and in order to keep money in their pockets they must promote pro car roadways. There are quite a few places in the US that were looking to make more pedestrian friendly routes both walking and cycle paths but changed when they were told their federal funding would be pulled if they proceeded with the plan. The reason given is because it impacts cars too much.
If you’re not from Europe, it’s probably worth noting that the bicycle was invented in Europe (developed largely in France and the UK, in various steps) and was quite popular in the late 19th century in different parts of Europe and North America (there was already a decent Dutch bicycle industry and local market in the 1890s), and in Europe it didn’t decline in popularity (and possibly became more popular) in the early 20th century (unlike, say, in the USA) because cars were too expensive for locals and settlement density was well-compatible with travelling by bicycle. Immediately after WWII, among the poverty and destruction, bicycles were highly valuable and popular; look at the classic 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thieves, in which the plot is that a poor family sells part of the couple’s dowry to buy a bicycle because it’s needed for a job for the man (and it gets stolen on the first day, and father and son try to retrieve it).
Then there was the massive post-war economic growth of the 1950s and 60s, the spread of cars in Europe, the international oil and economic crisis of the 1970s… and this is where paths start to diverge between the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. The pro-safe-street activism of the 1970s Netherlands coincided with a period of difficulty affording and fuelling cars and happened in a country in which bicycles had long been popular and that was geographically well-suited for bicycles and could afford good bicycle infrastructure, and which started to realise the spread of cars threatened to cost too much and make streets too unsafe. It didn’t happen out of nowhere. Then, yes, there was half a century of policy, investment, engineering and cultural development to get to the present-day situation.
There have been whole books written on this topic - I recommend Pete Jordan's.
I read alot on google/wiki and all are just referring good infra ,safe and all generic policy povs. Governments in other countries invested millions to develop good infra and provided all facilities ,organised awareness campaigns and still people are not open to adopt. I wanna know pov of local person what they think and how this habit is passed on to next generation and specially in todays world where people say they “don’t have time”?
How did the Dutch get their cycle paths?
Actually designing our streets with cycling in mind instead of it being an afterthought. That's literally it.
Why others won't follow? (Mostly) right wing governments letting themselves get lobbied by the car and fossil fuel industry.
The bicycle is the most democratic means of transport, the Netherlands is a very flat country, the stop kindermoord campaign after World War II.
Being a flat country with a relatively high population density provided a good base for being cycling minded. Coupled with the relatively low costs and no prohibitive laws regarding cycling compared to for example the need for having a driving license thus resulted a lower threshold to cycle.
Having the latest and greatest car would spiral you into major debt though.
We do have an auto industry
Spyker is just way to exclusive and Daf only does trucks nowadays
Would love to commute to work in a DAF. Will put those RAMs and F150s in their place
Get one of their military projects those cars are way to small and old
Stop de kindermoord
Make driving extremely expensive. Getting a license cost 3000 euro, monthly car taxes at 80 euro. Most expensive gas of Europe.
No hills and mountains.
Driving in dutch cities is annoying. Driving outside Dutch cities is boring.
And here we are.
Stop de kindermoorden movement that came in the seventies I think
I'm pretty sure they had kids killed but I don't think anyone would care and change to cycling culture if kids got killed in UK
Calvinist culture. The more you suffer being alive, the more you will enjoy living in paradise.
It is a flat country with small cities and reasonable weather all year round.
Reddit is not an encyclopedia. Do you expect people to take the time to type long answers you can easily find elsewhere?
Some extra Google search terms: Stop de Kindermoord CROW richtlijnen Schater spaces Houten Culemborg
Good luck!
Can't buy a cheapskate, but you can be one! But seriously, I think with most people it's opportunity. The streets are safe enough and it costs nothing. Plus Calvinist culture dissuades decadence like short car rides and promotes the 'hard work' of cycling. Also probably the reason why there wasn't a thing like a 'luxury bicycle' until recently.
scientific method applied to how mobility drives wellbeing.
enabled by a political system that funtions well.
flat and no harsh winter that makes biking impossible.
comparing to other european countries with even milder winters - being flat becomes the key differentiator.
You forgot the geographic factors: the country is flat and rarely snows
Someone told me, it was some form of independence, especially for women, back in the day, you could not travel much without being dependent on a horse or carriage.
Bicycles are cheaper to maintain and give you way more freedom.
Infrastructure is linked to national policy. This is due to our watermanagement system. We are used to implement large projects on a large scale. Everything is centrally organized. For centuries, water management needed to be coordinated between all the municipalities. You couldn't opt out, as dikes only work when the system is closed and consistent on all parts. You know, water always find it's way at the weakest link. There are even democratic separate water municipalities as we cannot afford this technical necessity to outsource to commerce undertakings.
Hence, the biking system was an easy way to implement on a large scale with the infrastructure system as well from an early age on, from the 50ties. The land is flat and people were poor, so the bike had been essential for the freedom of movement to all classes.
The Netherlands are FLAT and also small and well organised. Simple as that
Money and very limited space, what else?
It's really well documented and and not very complex.
It was necessity, like how most things came to be.
Necessity turns into culture.
It’s also a cultural thing. A couple of decades ago not all people could afford a car. But everyone could get a bike to get around.
Very flat land makes bicycling really easy, is my guess.
The east of England is generally very flat too, but barely anyone cycles there because of the transport infrastructure.
True being flat helps. But flatness alone doesn’t seem to explain why cycling became so embedded in daily life. Was there any leader who pushed this from strong policy to school curriculum.
Just watch the videos I posted earlier. It will explain the history and the motivation of why we have an extensive bicycle network.
Try promoting and encouraging cycling in cities with very different elevations like Malaga or Lake Como, cities with vast distance like Tokyo or Istanbul, cities that have barely any biking infrastructure like Kuala Lumpur or Hanoi, or cities that are extremely dense like Hyderabad or Hong Kong.
No amount of promotion or campaign will ever convince a person to pick up cycling as a standard form of commute more than if cycling being a genuinely convenient mode of transport over using vehicles and/or public transportation, which it isn't in many parts it the world.
Netherlands is just one of those few places in the world where cycling is generally convenience across the whole country because of how flat the whole country is, how it's cities and towns are very well designed to cater cyclist (either by coincidence and/or modern strategic planning), how safe it is for a person to cycle around daily and how cost effective it is even when compared to public transportation. Not many countries or places in the world have all these ideal conditions together.
TBF, I've seen locals just bike to work in Bangkok and Phnom penh.
Yea, and some people commute to and from work via a bike ride from Butterworth to Penang Island. Not saying it's impossible, but answering to OP why biking culture isn't more commonplace elsewhere like it is in NL.
Cheapskates
Yeah, buying an 'another one size larger' new wardrobe every couple of years is indeed expensive (compared to buying and using a bike).
Never mind the savings on healthcare
Cheapskates, meaning a more higher intelligent culture who does not make the Oil and Motor industry more richer by buying over sized cars that waste so much petrol and making it dangerous for everyone around them.
Yeah you are correct.
At least in the rural parts kids are pretty independent at a very young age (and like cycling as it is faster than walking), so that's what they use to go places until they are 16 and can 'motorize', and by then they have 10+ years experience and cycling is just a part of daily life.
Also: they start with an 'omafiets' and not a racing bike.
Edit: dropping the kid off at school
expensive car ownership and 15 minute cities infrastructure