Who Are These People? Who Chooses to Bike?

I have shown MUCH about the Netherland’s bike infrastructure. However, I haven’t shown many of the people biking around.

35% of the trips in the Netherlands are made by bike. 35%………That is a lot of people! More women bike than men – 55% Women / 45% Men. This is rare – extremely rare! How come these people are the way they are? How come their lives are drastically different than ours? I think my previous posts of how the Netherlands approaches transportation partially answers that question quite well.

Here is a random sampling (probably not ‘scientific’, as I chose the fun ones…) of bikers on a typical sunny/rainy day in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I love what they have accomplished…

The 'Unicycle' Rider

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on September 1st, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Final Days … Exploring Transportation

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently in Portland – but am just about to wrap up my remaining pictures from the Netherlands. These next few pictures are from around the country, when I had a bit of free time to go out and explore the land.

I can honestly say, the Netherlands continues to amaze me – to this day. The bike infrastructure was so enjoyable, it was really just common sense. We need as many people to see pictures like these, to show them that the change currently happening in today’s American cities isn’t really that bad. The changes to make more of a ‘complete street’ may catch some off guard, but I swear, it is going towards something AWESOME.

All you have to do is see these pictures to understand why…enjoy!

Bike Parking Outside of the Train Station

This bike parking facility attached to the train station is functional art at its finest. The apple shape helps lead to a spiral along the inside of the walls, allowing you to bike the spiral from the top to the bottom, in order to find a bike parking spot. No need to walk your bike up/down stairs! This also provides a connection to the train platform above, as well as the bike lanes underneath the train platform on the ground level. There is so much good about this bike parking! (Found at the Alphen aan den Rijn train station.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on September 1st, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Fun of Bike Research in the Netherlands

Ok, I have been back in Portland for just over a month now after visiting the Netherlands to research their transportation infrastructure for grad school. However, I still have a backlog of some fun and amazing pictures from their country – so stick with me while I have a few more posts related to the Netherlands. Pictures are always fun, even when they are old, right?

These few pictures were taken from when I went out with a fellow student to research specific areas in the Netherlands that focused on neighborhood greenways. Our research led to this report that I had highlighted in a previous post.

Look at this Bollard!

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on August 31st, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Remember Houten? Here are the Results!

(This post is a ‘chapter’ of a larger project – Sustainable Transportation in Houten)

Remember a couple weeks ago when I discussed how Houten, Netherlands was quite possibly bicycle heaven? Well, if you want some juicy details about the biking statistics, and how they planned their city the way they did, then you have come to the right place! A few of us worked together to create the following report.

Results of Houten’s Design (PDF)

Enjoy!

(This post is a ‘chapter’ of a larger project - Sustainable Transportation in Houten)

PS – New pics will be up soon, so I can grab your attention again after these last two ‘technical’ posts.

Written on August 3rd, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Bicycle Heaven in Houten

Recently, we made a trip over to Houten, which is a suburb of Utrecht. The planners of Houten laid out the city in such a way that it made travel by bike extremely enticing and safe. Their goal was to create a family friendly city for the suburban folk.

They achieved this through the work of creating a ‘Ring Road’ surrounding the city so cars can get places, all while having the inner roads only acting as neighborhood roads, with very few connections between neighborhoods. However, for bicycles, they have MANY bike highways throughout the city, creating a superb network. Many of the trails had parks alongside them. It was beautiful.

Was it impressive? Oh, yeah!

Is this something we can do to our big cities back home? No…not really.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on July 14th, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
It’s A Pijnacker Pancake Picnic

A couple days back we biked off to see the new development of Pijnacker. It was a beautiful sunny day, with lots of new discoveries. And pancakes at the end!

The days are flying by! So, let’s jump to the pictures.

Bike Highway

This is a bike highway going underneath one of the main highways for the region.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on July 8th, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Time To Be With the Locals

The weekend arrived, and a trip was planned to bike an area just north of Amsterdam. Via train, we arrived nearby Amsterdam and found the free ferries to get to North Amsterdam.

Free Ferries!

The one on the left is just taking off, and the one on the right is just getting in.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on July 6th, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , ,
So much to be learned…

The 7 of us PSU folks joined forces with 20 Northeastern students the other day. From there we made our way over to Delft, where we would be based for the next 2 weeks. We have learned so much in such a short amount of time. Let’s get to the pictures!

Imagine that this could be your life, as long as we begin planning our cities in a direction similar to this. Here is a day in the life of the typical Holland university student.

My House

This is where I live. The architecture makes me happy to be living in a unique environment, even if it was the cube. Notice the door on the left side of the building, that is the bike parking garage. Also, take note of the sidewalk on the right – we’ll be zooming in on those!

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on July 3rd, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , ,
OH…MY…GOSH! These people know exactly how to do it right.

Wow, I am absolutely blown away. Amsterdam is sure a city that knows how to be constantly moving – and to be extremely efficient while doing so. Let’s get right to those pictures, as these concepts are SO foreign, you really need to see it to believe it. Look carefully, and it might just make perfect sense for how all of our city streets back home should be. PS – They don’t have a special map just for the bike routes, they don’t need such a thing, as ALL of their city streets accommodate bicyclists. I think I am in love.

Bikes EVERYWHERE!

It may appear that people leave their bikes laying out in the open ready for thieves to grab and bike quickly away with, however, all these bikes are locked up. It is standard to have a lock connected to the rear wheel, so that when you run your quick errand, you take the key out of your bike, and the lock snaps shut – immobilizing the bike. The problem they have in Amsterdam is that there are SO many bikes, there is not enough bike parking for them – so the quick rear wheel lock is the answer.

And, to get my biased opinion out there – these bikes probably tipped over because they were resting on their kickstands, and we all know how unstable kickstands are…

Read the rest of this entry »

Written on June 30th, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
But before assisting Portland, here comes the Netherlands!

Sitting in the Portland airport, waiting for the plane to depart to Amsterdam, I am beginning my 2 week adventure to study the transportation network of the Netherlands.

Biking is a major player in their transportation, and I am thrilled to be able to study from the country that does it best in the entire world. I know they are fond of their red bike paths – and I am sure it will feel like being on the ‘red carpet’ for bicycling. Beyond that, I do not know exactly what they have to offer in terms of all their other transportation choices. I plan on taking ALL of this in, as I know it is going to be a special time.

Part of my assignment will be to blog about my daily experiences. So, come back here for more about the transportation of the Netherlands in the next couple weeks!

Written on June 29th, 2011 , Netherlands Transportation Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pedal Portland Blog is proudly powered by WordPress and the Theme Adventure by Eric Schwarz
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

Pedal Portland Blog

We get you PSYCHED to ride your BIKE!