Netherlands Most Car Friendly City? | Bike Trip, Day 3

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On day three of my bike trip across Holland I start in the lovely town of Delft. The first leg of the day takes me to Rotterdam, a city that I have since fallen in love with, even if it it has a car centric history. From Rotterdam, I head to Gouda of cheese fame though something sweet catches my fancy instead. For good measure, You are Not made of sugar.

0:00 Cycling around the Netherlands
0:27 Delft school runs
1:11 Bike paths and farms fields
2:12 Is Rotterdam car friendly?
4:47 McDonalds in Holland
5:02 Edge Lane Road
6:28 Biking in the rain
8:10 Riding to Gouda

[jasper]

Rotterdam was not flattened _prior_ to the German invasion. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite: the Germans invaded and when that didn't go as smoothly as planned, they bombed Rotterdam as a way to force surrender. The damage that was done reflects this: it was a show of force and destruction, a display of what they could do to the entire country, not a strategical move to support the invasion.

[rikschaaf]

6:20 Contrary to popular belief, that is not a bike lane. These are called suggestiestroken (suggestion strips).
It's just the way that 60km/h roads are demarked. The lines are there to make the road feel narrower, reinforcing the mental image that this is a 60km/h road, not a 80km/h road.
For it to be a bike lane, there actually needs to be a bike symbol painted on the road (at the start of the bike lane and at every intersection). The color of the strip doesn't actually matter. Sometimes the suggestion strips are colored red, sometimes they aren't colored. This is true for bike lanes as well.

[TheDutchMitchell]

my favorite new series on YouTube! Can't wait for you to reach Utrecht, my home town.

[mavadelo]

Sir, the Stroopwafel is a Gouda original. Kamphuisen Bakery made the first ones 214 years ago. It IS the best invention ever made in Gouda imho. For the foreigners confused why Gouda cheese isn't made in Gouda the following. Gouda cheese is not named Gouda because they made Cheese, it is called Gouda as that was the central point in the area so there the cheese market was located. Cheese sold in Gouda therefor got the monnicker "Gouda Cheese". Now, I am sure there will be people in Gouda making Gouda cheese but that doesn't make those cheeses any more Gouda than the cheeses made in Haastrecht or Stolwijk.

It seems you are heading towards my hometown soon, as for the pronunciation of Utrecht, I found your first try very acceptable. As for the pronunciation of Gouda... try "cow-da".. it still misses the gutteral G but it is the closest you will get to the actual name.

[bli]

ah, you saw "kabouter buttplug" (according to the maker it's Santa Claus with a christmas tree), but we know better

[PimH]

To me, Eindhoven could be named one of the most car-friendly cities in the Netherlands. It has a ring road right around the centre, with roads like John F. Kennedylaan which gets cars from the A2, A50 and northern parts of the city straight into the centre without much delay. Many people choose to drive into town, park their car in a parking garage and walk from there. It has only two train stations, of which one is very small and offers no onward connection to local public transit. Eindhoven Centraal boasts a big bus station, but the transit network is a hub and spoke model, where travel within the city almost always has to be done with a transfer at the central station, which just wastes a lot of time. They have started building some dedicated bus lanes to specific parts of the city, but the transit network is truly subpar for a city of its size, and it is just so much easier to drive anywhere, especially outside the city centre.

[rikschaaf]

Rotterdam isn't the most car-friendly. It's the most car-centric. It's actually kinda ironic that most cities that are less car-centric are more car-friendly.

[elkevangeelen]

Loverly video. Nice that you showed the monument " City without a heart". Luckely the hearth of Rotterdam is back.

[eeshtarr]

It's maybe good to know that, by law, if there's an accident involving by a car against a cyclist (or pedestrian) that, at least for terms of _insurance_, it's always the driver of the car that's liable (even if the traffic rules would say that it's not the car driver's fault) ... it's ehm ... monetary incentives ... like this that really work well in the Netherlands.

[z.b.]

The fourth viral video in a row. Congratz Nic! You earn this.

[josephinem.]

Thanks for visiting "my" city 😁 and mad respect to you cycling on that bike! Someone comment on your other video called it rightfully a "barrel". 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[edouardschneiders]

Rotterdam is definitely the most car friendly city in the Netherlands for me. I live there and it often frustrates me, having lived in Amsterdam and Delft before. But I still love Rotterdam for it's lively and more down to earth vibe!

Fun to see so many familiar places in your videos! And great video! It's videos like yours that make me appreciate my home country more!

[fabadam]

I suspect Almere in Flevoland may be more car friendly than Rotterdam. It is w very new city (building started in the 1970s) and has several different cores connected by wide roads. It also has lots of space. Overall it has a feel closer to American cities, but still the various "downtowns" don't have much car traffic

[TakanashiYuuji]

7:50 yep, if you're on a road like that, you probably missed the turn for the bike path somewhere :P

[TheBsss]

Lol as soon as you Said "this is the first road ive come across without any biking infrastructure" my first thought was "you probably missed it"

[gvg]

specifically, only mopeds (40km/h max. speed) are allowed on the cycle path, not all motorcycles. And only when indicated on the signs.
Edge lanes with a bicycle on them are, legally speaking, cycle lanes. The ones in the 60km/h zones rarely have the bicycle pic on them and as such are not cycle lanes. The 'edge lanes' in the 60km/h zones are meant to make the road appear smaller, so ppl slow down.

[DenUitvreter]

Actually when the Netherlands was still going full on cars and highways, government decided against big box stores at cities edges to protect the liveliness of city centres. This decision has worked out great for cycling including being in proper country side right outside the city but was not taken for it's benefit.
Rotterdam has only been a normal Dutch little city until the mid 19th century, when it started digging waterways and connecting those the big rivers further inland to become the huge sea port and a big city it never was. So it boomed and grew quite sudden and late like many American cities. So also before the bombs is quite different.

[CanyonWanderer]

Yet another great video and again a feast of recognition! Tomorrow I'll be cycling on the path @3:37🙂, loving this series, glad you like our country!

[frdml]

I have lived in Rotterdam since 1970 and you won't believe how much it transformed from car friendly into more bike, pedestrian and public transport friendly since then.
Many main roads, that used to by four lanes (2 by 2) have been reduced to two lanes. Even the main street in Rotterdam center, the "Coolsingel" has been transformed from a car friendly road into a bike and pedestrian friendly road.
BTW, Nineteenth century Gouda is the origin of the stroopwafel, often referred to as Goudse stroopwafel.

[Adzeable]

Love your biking trip video! On 7:20 you are cycling over a "zebrapad". That's dutch for a pedestrian crossing. You have to yield to pedestrians. The look on that ladie's face... ;)