Oct 9th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
The Biking Contrast
Reader V.S. recommends this brief article contrasting the bike-commuting experience in the Netherlands from the much-inferior one here in the United States. I’m largely in agreement with the sentiments expressed therein, though I do think things are changing in many American jurisdictions. I will note, however, that geography is a real factor here — Amsterdam is a lot flatter than Washington, DC which makes it a more appealing cycling venue.
55 Responses to “The Biking Contrast”
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Abortion
Afghanistan
Basketball
Blanche Lincoln
Budget
China
climate
Congress
Crime
DC
Demographics
Economics
Economy
Energy
EU
Finance
Gender
Health Care
History
Immigration
Inequality
International Law
International Relations
Iran
Israel
Labor Markets
Media
Monetary Policy
National Security
NATO
NBA
Palestine
Political Reform
Public Health
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Russia
Sarah Palin
Sports
Stimulus
taxes
Technology
Trade
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
October 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
And the Netherlands has a lot less snow than many parts of the US, such as Michigan, northern Illinois, etc.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Amsterdam is a lot flatter than everywhere.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
If you’re such a wimp get a power boost motor on you bike for the hills. They’re a couple hundred bucks.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
That’s true in a very relative sense. But DC is still pretty flat – swamps tend not to be very hilly. The real problem in DC is the traffic and shortage of bike lanes/paths, oh, and in the summer, the humidity.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I’m there about the flatness. I just moved from Salzburg back to Maine (not Blue Hill, MY, but my mother-in-law lives in Surry…). There are a TON more hills here, and it’s a pain. We bike anyway, taking kids to kindergarten, doing easy grocery runs with the trailer, etc. But it takes an effort, and you have to plan very differently. Biking season is coming to a close, sadly. Too cold in the mornings, too much rain, all the leaves on the ground, etc.
Also, let’s not miss a point that really needs to be made. US paving quality is crap. The streets are just crap crap crap.
Oh, and SP, it’s not the wimpiness, it’s the sweat. Who wants to arrive at work smelling like a gym locker?
October 9th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Support Critical Mass!
I once got into a shouting match with some idiot driver who acted liked I was crazy for riding so far away from parked cars. He asked me if I wanted to race to or something, I said, no, i just want to live.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
DC only has a couple hundred feet of difference between Capitol Hill and Brookland. Certainly not enough to keep a healthy, vigorous yoot like yerself from pedaling your posterior all over town! Unless, of course, Manhattan’s flatness has left you quad-less?
Also, lots of the trails around here hug waterways. If you’re lucky enough to be able to stick to them, they stay reasonably flat.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Mixed feelings on Critical Mass.
But, my sentiments about biking have been strikingly similar to those expressed in the article: http://www.someofnothing.com/2008/07/its-just-like-riding-bike.html.
And it’s true that topography does make a bit of difference. But I think that difference could be pretty easily overcome.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
In defense of topography:
I used to live in Seattle, and now live in Stockholm, and both places have hills — big ones in Seattle, small ones in Stockholm. They both also have a fair number of water channels — a lot in Stockholm, a few key ones in Seattle. As a result, bridges are built, and these bridges allow for lots of grade-separation, not only between roads and water, but also between different natural elevations.
This matters for bikes because a lot of great shortcuts (and longcuts) can be made that help bike routes avoid crossing highways and arterials. Think of it as an externality, that once the arterial is lifted to go over a channel, it also lifts it high enough to create a waterfront bike path. Sometimes this makes for a longer route, but as a daily bike commuter, I find myself often choosing longer, more pleasant routes over shorter ones.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Once you realize that you have to bike up and over canal bridges every block or so, you stop thinking that Amsterdam is “flat”.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’ve noticed several of the differences the author pointed out; I’m in DC too, except for the chunk going from Dupont/Georgetown to the Cathedral DC is comparable in flatness to Amsterdam (and as humid) but “bike culture” here is basically seen as for tattooed couriers. Generally bikers are an afterthought here but the big differences I’ve noticed:
-Dedicated bike lanes. The only ones DC has are in the parks, which are there for pleasure and almost useless for commuters (especially after a rain) as they’re indirect. The best example of half-assedness is the 7th St NW “dedicated bike lane”- you share it with metrobusses, you still have a row of door-opening parked cars to your right, and since cars have to cut across it to turn, they pretty much just ignore the rules
-the culture. In Amsterdam you see people in business suits riding bikes with a 6 foot tall, blonde, supermodel-looking woman hanging on the back…sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, the stigma. There’s a negative stigma attached to biking here (”isn’t that for carless hispanics?”) that doesn’t exist there.
-Car-centric mentality. The author covered this but it really is bad, I’ve had cars yell at me to “get on the sidewalk!” because THEY cut ME off in traffic, not to mention the cell-phone talkers, non-traffic-checking door openers, and people who just generally don’t give a fuck (Bob Novak)
Would also like to mention that the half-assed approach to bike rental here is likely doomed to failure and will probably be used as an example of how DC “isn’t ready” for bikes rather than pointing how how poor Clear Channel’s implementation is.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
One way to deal with the hill issue is to put bike racks of buses. You can take the bus for the uphill runs and ride your bike on the flat and downhill runs. We do it here in Boulder, and we have some hills. The key is to integrate the bike system with the rest of the transportation system.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Matt, London would be a good example that DC could use, massive investment in cycle lanes and promotion.
Cycling in London is up 91%, and increasing with the credit crunch, and London isn’t flat in anyway.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
DC Metrobuses all have bike racks — that’s not an issue. The hilliness of the city isn’t as bad as Matt implies. It’s pretty flat south and east of Florida Ave. When you start heading further north there’s a hill, but then it plateaus again.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Man! Biking in DC is dream compared to Pittsburgh, PA. They are building bike trails including those leading to the semi-famous Pixburgh to DeeSea route but you still need to climb intense hills to get to/from them.
Hopefully I’ll be moving back to the DC area soon and will remember not to bitch so much when I have it so easy there (bicycling that is.)
October 9th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Having lived in DC for now 5 years, I found that biking to work was the fastest way to go. After doing it for 4 years, I have found fewer and fewer excuses not to take the bike. It only takes a little committment.
Summer heat? What do I care, I’m southern. Buy some lightweight wool dress pants.
Rain? Get a set of fenders and a decent rain jacket.
Sub-freezing temperatures? It was a problem at first (I’m southern, remember), however with the proper gear (long johns, good gloves, etc.) it’s not an especially insurmountable problem.
Snow/Ice? That’s where I draw the line.
Other commenters have noted the concerns about biking with other traffic. Dooring and right hooks can be a issue, but you just have to be aware. The largest concern I have had recently has been cars who did not see me and pull out in front or across my path. Even in the middle of the afternoon with hours of daylight remaining, it happened over and over again. My successful solution was to get a really bright bike light (the amazing Planet Bike 1 watt Blaze). On the “blinky” setting, everyone now notices me.
It only takes the right commitment and a few accessories.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
“Snow/Ice? That’s where I draw the line.”
That’s a good place to draw it. Unless you have a dedicated bike path separate from the roads that gets plowed regularly. That’s pretty rare in most cities.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Amsterdam is a lot flatter than Washington, DC which makes it a more appealing cycling venue [for pussies, and no environmental/economic/national security measure is going to succeed if it doesn't accommodate pussies].
October 9th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
My sense from talking to other DC bike commuters is that the overall grade is not as felt as, say, the big hill at Florida and 13th NW that leads into Columbia Heights. There are alternate routes, sure. But the people who are on the fence about bike commuting are going to be put-off by the perception of hilliness, even if in terms of actual geography DC has nothing on San Francisco. Getting the fence-sitters to get on their bikes is as much about overcoming the perception of excessive discomfort and inconvenience as it is about other improvements.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
DC’s plenty flat. The real problem is that we allow people from Maryland to drive within our borders, which is kind of the transportation equivalent of giving a chimpanzee a hammer.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I was stationed in the Netherlands for three years back in the early 90’s.
I remember completely tripping out when I would go into town on the weekends and see totally hot looking women riding their bikes into the Centrum for a night out on the town… what’s even more amazing was that many of them had their boyfriends perched on the back of the bikes. Can you imagine asking a girl out, telling her you were taking a bike, and then telling her she had to pedal.
I also remember dating this girl from Utrecht. One night we were walking back to the Canal where she had parked her bike, and there were literally thousands of them chained up everywhere, and to me they all looked the same. I told her that all the bikes look the same and it must be hard for her to find her bike. She looked at me with a deadpan face and said “Ney, my bike is blue.” as if she had the only blue bike in the whole city.
I miss Holland.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The real problem in DC is the traffic and shortage of bike lanes/paths, oh, and in the summer, the humidity.
You obviously haven’t spent much time in Amsterdam! Between the cars, the buses and the trains it’s a cluster f@ck.
But when you’re walking down the street and hear that bike bell ringing behind you, get out of the way.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Re: US paving quality is crap. The streets are just crap crap crap.
That’s mainly an artifact of the climate: the freeze-thaw cycles most of the US experiences every winter busts up the pavement big time.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
The thing about arriving sweaty … a long time ago, in a society far, far away, this thing called a “shower” was invented. Working for an Australian University, there was a shower in every office building that I worked in.
But coming back to the US and lacking such modern conveniences, taking it easy, using low gears, and those portable wipes work reasonably well. Plenty of opportunity to pedal hard on the ride back home.
Cycling to work over ten miles in Ohio in December, last year, sure, for snow on the ground you have to drop your tire pressure, but snow on the road just slows you down … its freezing rain that is the royal headache. I’m still looking out for the chance to get studded tires and set up an ice bike for when there is ice on the road.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Well that’s just nonsense really because the bike culture in the very hilly Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands is just as large as in the flatter parts of the country if in fact not larger due to the age distribution.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
http://www.copenhagenize.com/
October 9th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
DC hilly? You must be joking. Go buy a pair of legs and stop whining!
October 9th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Why copy Amsterdam when you could copy a successful American bike city, like Davis, or Berkeley, or my beloved Portland, OR? Plenty of hills, not so many separated bike paths, a fair number of bike lanes, and bike boulevards (side streets designed to discourage car use that bikes can feel safe on), but most important, it’s led to a bike culture, which feeds on itself to make for the utter normalcy of biking, which allows more people to think they too can do it.
I also think our excellent beer has a lot to do with it.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
This whole flatness thing gets vastly overplayed. If you don’t have any up, you don’t have any down, and if you don’t have any down you don’t have any whee!
I commuted for years to a place I could get to on the flat and it was so boring I started leaving early to climb a hill and speed back down it. Really sparks up the morning.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Hey, Matt, considering your interest in this crap, you might want to take a look at http://www.livablestreets.com/ a network of local “livable streets blogs,” such as this one for Washington DC: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/
October 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I don’t agree at all! The hills are what makes cycling fun.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
While watching Religulous, I noticed that Amerstdam has a very clever bike lane solution. The cars were parked about 4 feet from the curb and the bike lane was between the parked cars and the curb. That’s a cheap solution for a safe, separate bike lane.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Mpls is up to almost 4% of commuters who now bike. The network of bike trails combined with recent street and light improvements plus more people discovering cycling is drawing people out. I’m waiting for the relatively soon day when a few US big cities (like Portland, Mpls, Seattle and even DC) hit 5% bike commuting levels and then 10%.
On the current trajectory, its going to happen. People are being released from the stigma – and they’re biking in work clothes and doing it because its the easiest, most enjoyable and healthiest way to commute. In Portland and Mpls, its much easier to get around on bike than on transit, and sometimes by car as well. In DC, it is the easiest way to get around.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
So much of this depends on where you’re located. Here, in the south SF Bay Area, its a bit harder, because Santa Clara County is very, very spread out. You have to usually tie it into public transportation somehow, and the 4, 6 lane suburban roads that characterize this area aren’t that great for bicyclists.
Also, San Jose is much, much warmer than fogged in SF. Coming to work smelling like a sweaty UC Santa Cruz student might work in Santa Cruz (and does) but not here. Seriously, how many peopel commute on their bikes in suits and go to work in those clothes, in hot weather and over long distances? Not every city is compact.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:27 am
You must be very brave to cycle anywhere in Hancock county Maine.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Michael in Maine, I feel for you. I’ve ridden my bike in almost half of the US states, and Maine had the worst riding conditions. No shoulders, horrible paving and (in the summer at least) busy roads. Maine is beautiful, but not fun for bike riders.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:25 am
The other slightly odd Dutch innovation that helps Amsterdam cyclists is a little clause in Dutch tort law that says that in an accident between a bicycle and a car, the car driver is automatically at considered at fault unless there is overwhelming evidence that the cyclist was totally to blame. So even hitting a cyclist who has no lights at night when he’s drunk and has jumped a red light will probably be considered the driver’s fault, especially in the absence of witnesses. This makes drivers more careful.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I am from San Francisco (now THERE are some hills), but currently am living in Amsterdam.
The infrastructure in Amsterdam supports bicycle commuting They have separate bike lanes – in many places the bike lanes are totally removed from car traffic, in others they are next to the car lanes but are separate lanes with separate traffic signals, etc. In places I’ve lived in the US that even begin to offer similar amenities (Eugene, Oregon for example) bike ridership is not considered “strange”.
On the other hand, in Amsterdam you have to be afraid of bicycles. A Scottish guy I know here says he was hit (as a pedestrian) by bicycles 3 times his first year here. The next two years he was just hit once each year. Bicycle evasion skills do improve with time, if you concentrate. But the sense of entitlement of [some] Dutch bicyclists is something to behold. I’ve seen them clip people in wheelchairs more than once- even when the wheelchair-bound person has the right-of-way. I guess majorities (whether car or bicyclist or whatever) often develop a sense of entitlement …
October 13th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Perhaps cycling’s image needs a makeover the world over. While some countries need to produce cycling heroes of the celebrity kind, other countries need to produce cycling heroes of the working-class kind, namely dhobhis (laundry man) and doodhwallas (milkman).
February 17th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
In searching for sites related to web hosting and specifically comparison hosting linux plan web, your site came up.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 am
levitraIt is the coolest site,keep so!
March 11th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 14th, 2009 at 5:53 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
xanax
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:32 am
tramadol
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
buy viagra online
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:44 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I rarely comment on blogs but yours I had to stop and say Great Blog!! viagra