American Reacts to Ghent, The Belgian City That Removed Cars

American Guy Reacts to The Innovative Way Ghent, Belgium Removed Cars From The City
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#americanguyreacts #americanreacts #itscharlievest #reactionchannel #reactionvideo #americanreaction #reactionvideos #ghent #belgian #belgium #innovation #infrastructure #cycling

[Jamiro_Van]

I notice that you often refer to the "Dutch way" of cycling and bike lanes. But remember: the bicycle is not a Dutch invention. Here in Belgium we have had bike lanes for many years and people all over the country already go to work by bike (you even get paid by the employer obliged by the state to go by bike in Belgium) The Netherlands is not the only one that is bike oriented haha

[Ennello]

The Dutch biking philosophy is very much the same as the Belgian biking philosophy. It's used for recreation as well as commuting.

[SariTheOneAndOnly]

I'm from Belgium and other cities are trying to be more bike friendly like Leuven en Mechelen. Public Transport and bikes are used all over and we have bike highways or 'fietssnelweg'. Those roads are build so we can go relatively fast and safely from one city to another, mostly for work. I used to do 64km per day for work using those highways.

[dannyverhamme]

I lived in Ghent all my life, i can assure you .. The ring road is a disaster, constant traffic jams. The city center is now car-free, but the around the ring road people can suffocate from the smoke of all the cars.

[crashtestdummy]

I'm from Belgium and it's good for people who live where they work. On the other hand if you need to get in and out of Ghent for work it's a fucking disaster. And our public transportation sucks ass

[misakiwakahisa]

They just removed the problem from inside the city to outside the city. A lot of shops (family shops) closed because of the circulation plan (and sometimes together with corona) it was too much. Now we have a lot of shops in Lochristi while before it was a flower village. It’s also very dangerous to ride the bicycle on the main road, Antwerpsesteenweg, because there are the shops but also a lot of cars, even though we have a cycle path but some people only have a bicycle and don’t have a car or can’t take the bus. A lot of people are also angry at Filip Watteeuw, because now he even made circulation plan for other places, outside Ghent but are sub municipality from Ghent. A lot of people need to ride a lot more with the car causing more emissions and they want less emissions 🙃 Also some changes are even more dangerous for bicycles than before the change. And a lot of bicycles near and in Ghent don’t give priority when they need to give it to the cars or to people who are crossing over the pedestrian crossing, in my opinion they think that they are the Kings/Queens on the road but they are not. Everyone needs to learn the road code not only mopeds, motorcycles, cars, trucks, ... and use it but this is just my opinion. Change is good but not always. I’m happy that a lot of people can now ride the bicycle safer but it also has its cons. From someone who live near Ghent.

[SgtKelly]

I lived in the city centre for 15 years. When they implemented this plan I moved out. It's great if you live near where you work. But if you live in the city centre and have to get to work outside the city by car it's a nightmare. I lived near that bike highway (Coupure) and had to cross it in order to get out of the city in the morning (going the other way wasn't possible anymore). It was just impossible. You would be stuck there forever as bikes streamed by in both directions without interruption. Also the roads in and out of the traffic-isolated neighbourhoods are still small narrow streets. Truck delivery ? Stuck ! Idiot parked too close to the tram tracks ? Stuck ! I didn't mind parking 1km away from where I live but losing an extra hour every day to get in and out of the city made me leave.
Not complaining, just offering a different perspective.

[LineauC]

I'm belgian and live half an hour from ghent. It's the biggest city in my area so I go there a lot, almost always with car. Personally I really like the current transportation plan. You do have to be a bit strategic about how to go where but it works and is pretty efficient even for cars. The city is also a lot more enjoyable from the moment you car is parked and you stroll through the center. I have to say Ghent is not a huge city (pop. ~350k) so everything being pretty close together definitly helps in making all this work.

[Frahamen]

Belgium has quite a few people who uses their bikes for general use. Everyone has a bike and everyone uses it at least sporadically, just less so than in the Netherlands. Sure we have recreational and sport cycling too, but that's just a hobby some people do.
There's also significantly more hills and bumps here in parts of the country than in the Netherlands, so before electric bikes where a thing that was quite a big disadvantage. Also roads aren't as save as in the Netherlands for cyclists, although rather recently that's getting much better and fast too. Here in Ghent there was already a decent, base to build on, but even in Brussels things are changing quit rapidly. Ghent is also a student city and student city universal are more bike oriented than other cities, also most big to medium size cities do have a car free centre.
And yes, the circulatieplan is pretty controversial, and a lot of people hate it. I personally see it as a great benefit, but there are quite of few people, who hate it and are very load about it.
The ringroad is quite busy, it was especially bad the few couple of years, but once people realise it was a bad idea to drive through or to the centre, the number of cars there decreased. There are traffic lights but you can get over and under the ring pretty easy by bike. If you want to go by bike from outside de ring to an other part of the suburbs, you can also avoid them by driving away from the city and take the R4, the outer ring, for instance.
The canal got filled up to use as parking lot. Now they changed it back to canal.

[istoppedcaring]

allright, historian (allmost) here.

the cannals of Ghent were largely covered up during the mid-late 19th century as they were in Brussels and no doubt many other european cities. The reason for this is that they then doubled as open air sewers and by that point had lost their logistical/trade infrastructure roles.

they were uncovered during the last quarter +-of the 20th century though i'd have to look it up, they were then turned into places for leasure and relaxation for citizens and tourists.

The decision to cover them up was somewhat justified offcourse but around the same period the city walls were demolished and the gravensteen fortress was allmost torn down for the sake of more worker housing (small houses for factory labourers, nothing social about it either, it was all for liberal(libertarian+-) profits, the demolition of the city walls and ditches facilitated easier travel, an end to tolls and the construction of the later ringroad yet i can't imagine anyone even considdering doing the same today.

[gabbathehut]

I grew up, and still live in the heart of this City. I started riding a bike to school when I was 12, and have always used a bike to get to work. I'm now 34 and have never in my entire life owned a car. all my friends who life and work in the city don't have one either. When i step outside of my house it's all cobblestone, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[marcbroeckx-hmit]

Charlie, Ghent is a very dynamic city with a lot of history and an old university and art education. The digital gaming industry such as Bulder's Gate is world renowned, has a lively nightlife, an example is “The Ghent Festivities” starts this weekend and is a 10 day event with 700 bands spread across the city and largely free. Many Dutch people then also head to the city center. The rest of the year there are many concerts and exhibitions, a rich nightlife with clubs and bars, cheap restaurants because of the many students. A few years ago, a train of Parisians came to the city every week for the nightlife. I don't know you but I think this is really a city for you. The cycling culture was already there but has now been strengthened by the new circulation plan, but because it is a very old city with many narrow streets it was so easy. Regards.

[Lotfec]

I live in Brussel. They transformed a little part of the historic center into a pedestrian zone. For years we heard the shop owners of the area complaining : "it will kill the center of Brussel, it will become a desertic place if customers cannot come with their car", blah blah. I've never seen so many people in the area, pedestrian area is way more enjoyable than before, is always crowded and I do hope the city planner expand it.
Bussel is expanding rapidly the number of cylcling roads as well and that's really enjoyable when you live in the city. People living outside of Brussel but working in the city are not so happy with the suppression of car lanes though.

[mrsqueak]

Much respect to you for trying to pronounce the names of the places in the local language, even for Ghent/Gent is which known internationally and basically also has an English way of saying it.
When you tried to say the names after hearing it, I was surprised by how close you are to pronouncing it perfectly. You have excellent hearing and pronunciation!

[johncrwarner]

The city of Ghent has three spellings:
Gent (for the Vlams speakers)
Gand (for French speakers)
Ghent (for English speakers)

plus the historic English name Gaunt as in John of Gaunt.

The sound of a g does change in the Dutch speaking areas
The further south you are in the Dutch speaking lands the more like
an English hard G is the sound.
In the middle and north of the Netherlands the g
has moved down the back of the throat
and approximates to a throaty H sound.
So the man from Utrecht says "Hent"
and the Belgians say "Gent"

[tristanhenderick]

I lived in Ghent my whole life.
The street where i grew up is now one of the streets with the red stripes you can't drive through anymore.
It's so much nicer there now that there are no more cars passing through.
People who live on that street can still pass with a permit so they can bring groceries up to the front of the house with the car for instance.
It used to be a very busy street traffic wise, now it's completely quiet, it makes living there so much nicer.

There were, and still are, people who are very vocally against the circulation plan.
Some people even insanely so.
Those people can go live in suburbia.
If you live in a city like Gent you understand it's so much nicer without the cars.

[corjp]

8.35 My compliments Charlie for you trying to pronounce the cities correctly, you were almost spot on.

[irissupercoolsy]

Yesss, Ghent! I live and have worked in the middle of the city centre. It's dear to my heart. Happy you got a look into it.

[carolinenagel]

In Belgium/Flanders more and more people use their bike for utilitarian reasons: take the kids to school, go towork, go to the shops, and, yes, also for leisure. More and more people get rid of their car and use bikes, public transport, or use a shared-car service.

[MrEvers]

6:06 It used to be a little river, but it was dirty and polluted, so they filled it up and put a parking lot on top in the 60s. Then in the late 90s plans were made to reopen this waterway. It actually got a lot of delays, so in 2014 I had a viral campaign on facebook "if this gets 1000 likes, we'll dig it open ourselves", got 3000 likes in 2 days, and we had a small gathering the next week, where we symbolically dug up some dirt. It put it back in the news and on the agenda, but then it took another couple of years before it was finally finished.