Bicycling In Your City

[Slartibartfas]

Originally Posted by Suburbanist

The bike network in The Netherlands is due to is flat terrain. On some hilly cities like Heerlen, Venray, Maastricht and Kerkrade, bike use is far lower than in the rest of the country.

I cycle often, usually daily provided it isn't raining, for sport/training purposes only. Otherwise, I use other forms of transportation. The helmet mess my hair, it rains a lot and I can get to places in other ways.

Flat terrain is an advantage but it is definitely not a precondition at all. Many swedisch cities or towns are all but flat but full of cyclists.

[erka]

Just some usual cycling in my home city:



An American who gets a culture shock:



And an bicycle-freeway, that I am cycling myself every day

[erka]

Another thing thats shocks foreigners in the Netherlands is that at some intersections, all bicycles have green light at the same time. But accidents almost never happen.

[desertpunk]

I can only imagine someone trying that in the US: crash! boom!

[redbaron_012]

I like bikes.....and know it is easy in the Netherlands.....but when you finish work and time to go home.....how do you find your bike ? ( outside the main rail station in Amsterdam.


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[redbaron_012]

In Australia bikes are encouraged but to make it safe you have to wear a helmet and bright clothing......often other road users think you are going to the mardi gras and because a person has to walk in front with a red flag you find it hard to peddle and wobble on your 4 hour ride to work.... heee

[wc eend]

Originally Posted by Wapper

I think Belgium and the Netherlands must be the cycling centres of the world. I guess almost everybody here owns a bike and uses it often. I must admit that infrastructure in the Netherlands is much better than in Belgium. In the Netherlands they have broad and good cycling roads everywhere. In Belgium, we also have a lot of cycling roads, but often they are dangerous and not in good shape. There are also some regional differences. Some places are bike friendly, while others are less bike friendly.

Remarkable to me, is that people mostly don't wear helmets or yellow vests (I don't know the exact englisch name), despite all the efforts of government to encourage it. In other countries, for example England, it looks like every biker wears these for his safety. I think it is because in the low countries we have a longer tradition of driving bikes than in other countries. We are just used not to wear these attributes. Most people don't think it is necessary and everybody thinks it looks ridiculous.

Brussels is one of those less bike friendly places, but hte mentality is slowly changing. With its inner-city highways it's even quite dangerous to cycle. Moreover it's hilly. Modal share is 1,5% and it is still seen as a political statement to cycle. Few people, however, don't seem to simply realise that in a congested city as Brussels it's definitely the fastest way to get from A to B.

[castermaild55]

Originally Posted by redbaron_012

I like bikes.....and know it is easy in the Netherlands.....but when you finish work and time to go home.....how do you find your bike ? ( outside the main rail station in Amsterdam.


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around most station in japan like this


new technology for parking bicycles


tokyo bicycle parking tower

[De Magellaan]

Originally Posted by redbaron_012

I like bikes.....and know it is easy in the Netherlands.....but when you finish work and time to go home.....how do you find your bike ? ( outside the main rail station in Amsterdam.

Most people don't seem to have a problem with this although there a lot of bikes that just sit there while the owners never collect them. So I guess there are still a significant amount of people who lose their bikes. I've had trouble finding my bike in the larger parking garages too on several occasions.
Now I just park a couple 100 meters from the station and walk the last bit, it's more convenient. Bike parking is a real issue here, something you might not expect as bikes are so much smaller than cars. There never seems to be enough parking space around the train stations.

[Slartibartfas]

Originally Posted by wc eend

Modal share is 1,5% and it is still seen as a political statement to cycle.

Wow, thats really bad.

[diablo234]

I already posted this here on SSC but here are some examples of ome bike paths in the Denver area. More bike paths are continuously being added throughout the metro area. There is also a bike sharing program in place as well where you can rent bikes for a certain period of time.

[Wapper]

Also remarkable is that outside the benelux people only seem to use mountainbikes or racebikes.

[Clone]

Originally Posted by Wapper

Also remarkable is that outside the benelux people only seem to use mountainbikes or racebikes.

Not in japan from what I see.

[flyinfishjoe]

In India, there are a few cycle lanes in Delhi and Bombay. Unfortunately, many of them don't work too well:



This one is a little better:

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by Wapper

Also remarkable is that outside the benelux people only seem to use mountainbikes or racebikes.

So true. I think it's an ego thing. Over here, an old school bicycle is regarded as a "girl's bike" and mainly women ride them...except for a few lonely hipsters!

image hosted on flickr

biker dudes with baskets by serlingrod, on Flickr

[desertpunk]

In the US, the best city for bicycling is probably Portland:

[castermaild55]

in tokyo.
Imperial Palace Cycling Route

Where in Tokyo can you borrow a bike for free, spend a pleasant Sunday morning cycling around a loop with your family in scenic surrounds away from traffic? The Imperial Palace Cycling Route, thats where.

Each Sunday between 10am and 3pm Uchibori-dori in front of the Imperial Palace gardens is closed from Iwada Bridge to the Hirakawa Gate creating a 3 kilometer cycling loop surrounded by the castle moats and pine trees for all to enjoy. While you'll see some sporty types on the course they're vastly outnumbered by families, children and couples out for a leisurely ride.

http://www.tokyobybike.com/2009/08/i...ing-route.html
http://cycle-tokyo.cycling.jp/course.html



Tokyo river side

bike models are changed to sports mode..

[Jonesy55]

Cycling is fairly well developed by UK standards here in my town, though nowhere near the levels of the Netherlands.

Modal share for commuting is about 8% which is higher than the UK average but less than the leading cycling cities such as York or Cambridge (modal share is over 25% in Cambridge)

Cycling network map

http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/ass...etwork_map.pdf

Typical Facilities

http://www.cycleshrewsbury.co.uk/gal...-cycle-routes/

[erka]

From my experience, compared to the Netherlands, the only parts of the world that come reasonably close are NW-Germany (cities like Bremen, Münster) and Denmark (especially Copenhagen). There, cycling is not only something recreational or experimental but used for daily commute with normal bikes, just like in the Netherlands. They have quite a lot of free bicycle lanes too.
I can't compare with China and Japan because I haven't been there.

[redbaron_012]

Ok ride to work...but that's not the whole story....Do you wear your suit / work clothes...do you sweat ? Does your workplace provide shower change rooms. Whether men or woman...do they have hair that they don't want to squash under a helmet? If a helmet is mandatory ....There is more to a culture and what is acceptable in many countries.....Bikes are great but everything has to grow with that culture.