Utility Cycling - Cycling in Amsterdam and Bogata

I just thought I'd share a couple of interesting things I've come across recently. First is a collection of photos of cyclists in Amsterdam taken by an American tourist in 2006.

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/

Things that should become fairly obvious include the fact that nobody seems to wear helmets or cycling clothing that are typical for North Americans. I could be wrong but I'm not sure I'd consider myself or those that frequent these forums as part of the "Spandex and lycra" crowd either. :D

I also read an article in the Globe and Mail about bicycling in Bogata, Columbia. I'm not sure if the article is available online but I'll try to sum up the major points.

-Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogata, shelved highway expansion plans and poured the billions saved into parks, schools, libraries, bike routes, and the world's longest "pedestrian freeway"

-School enrollment was boosted by 30%, 1200 parks built, the downtown was revitalized, and running water was provided to hundreds of thousands of the city's poor

-Gas taxes were increased and car owners were prohibited from driving during rush hour more than three times per week

-Traffic deaths have fallen dramatically during Penalosa's term and traffic now moves three times faster

-Prime space on the city's main arteries has been handed over to the Transmilenio, a bus rapid transit system based on that of Curitiba, Brazil

-Every Sunday since the 1970s, Bogata has blocked off its major roads so that citizens can jog, walk or bicycle in safety. More than two million Bogatans come to play, picnic, do aerobics, and buy food from mobile vendors

-Former mayor Antanus Mockus (could that possibly be his real name?) hired mimes to make fun of bad drivers. He also gave out thousands of coloured cars (like those used by soccer officials) so that people could express their disproval of others' driving. :eek:

-Supposedly, citizens voted to ban cars entirely during rush hour by 2015 (I'll believe that one when I see it)

The downside to all of this? Apparently only 20% of Bogatans own vehicles. However, with a population of 8 million, that still makes for 1.6 million cars.

I just thought I'd share a couple of interesting things I've come across recently. First is a collection of photos of cyclists in Amsterdam taken by an American tourist in 2006.

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/
Excellent colection of pictures of the TYPICAL Bicyclists I saw commuting in the Netherlands, and to a large degree what I experienced in Germany too. Thanks for the URL. Really you should post this in the commuting forum as it is evidence of how the Dutch bike commute, rather than "live car-free".

Nice to see that the Amsterdammers still like their bikes. When I visited, and looking at the photos I couldn't tell that they don't live car free. But apparently Amsterdammers have the same level of car ownership as Helsinkians. Even if the people in the photos all own cars and only use their bikes for commuting, it looks like the way they use bikes is entirely compatable with living car free. I'm a car free person who enjoyed seeing the pictures posted here. I really can't tell that the people in the photos own cars.

I really can't tell that the people in the photos own cars.
No more or less than you can tell about the car ownership or car free status of a U.S. resident whom you see riding a bike in the city.

I-Like-To-Bike, glad you liked the photos, I'll cross-post this to the Commuting forum. That being said, I'm really surprised no one has commented about the measures taken in Bogata. Many of us on this forum have made suggestions about improving bicycling infrastructure and attempting to move away from an automobile based society. This is what Bogata has done, or at least they attempted to engineer their city in such a way as to avoid the pitfalls of urban North America. Maybe it's much harder to take such measures here when likely 90% of people own a vehicle.

Low res film on this topic on youtube, with links to download hi res version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rwwxrWHBB8

Here's an Amsterdam Webcam

http://www.eyelogue.com/donniecam.html

Enrique Penalosa is truly a hero of the carfree cities movement, and of city planning in general. And to counter ILTB's nonsense, here is a quote that reflects Penalosa's view of what carfree means:


I have nothing against cars. I like to drive through the countryside, listening to music. But I'm really against car use during peak hours. If you want a city where everyone above 15 years old must use a car to go to work, school and everything else, you can have it. But you can't have the other things that make city life good. There is an American expression, you cannot have the cake and eat it, too. We are not talking about getting rid of cars but restricting car use during peak hours. We can't build a city to accommodate all those cars at the peak and have a city we want to live in.



This is far closer to what most of us mean by "carfree." It's quite different from the simplistic straw man arguments that ILTB is always arguing against on this forum.

I wish I had Penalosa's eloquence. You can read a nice interview with him at Planitizen (http://www.planetizen.com/node/17468). There's enough good quotes there for a thousand Tshirts and BF sigs!

Low res film on this topic on youtube, with links to download hi res version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rwwxrWHBB8

This was extrememly inspiring!!! Thank you for sharing.

quote from that website...

"One thing about the Americans: Once they have decided that they want something, there is no other socieiy in the world that is more efficient in reaching the goal that it wants."


I think America needs to realize that what it really wants is a better quality of life. There needs to be more education on possibilities. People just think a car-dominant city IS the only way. I used to... until I found this site. Until I read about other cities, etc...

That article wants me to move to Amsterdam. Or Bogata. I haven't been to this site for awhile... after I got my Xtracycle I felt like I was doing what I could do for this movement. But its depressing when it seems your going against the entire world. I tried getting involved in bicycling committees, etc... but it seemed no one really wanted real change. I was living in Tucson, AZ. I just graduated from there... and now I'm out and about in the real world, so to speak.

Anyways, I hope America can change. But until then maybe I'll just move to a saner place. Are the Netherlands capitalistic? I guess I'll have to find out..

Enrique Penalosa is truly a hero of the carfree cities movement, and of city planning in general. And to counter ILTB's nonsense, here is a quote that reflects Penalosa's view of what carfree means:
...
This is far closer to what most of us mean by "carfree." It's quite different from the simplistic straw man arguments that ILTB is always arguing against on this forum.

I wish I had Penalosa's eloquence.
You are right, you sure don't have his eloquence; nor do you know what you are talking about. The nonsense talk is your own; NONE of the ideologues on this Forum has ever restricted their evil cager/anti car culture/anti materialist simple life ranting to "only" the use of motor vehicles during "Peak Hours." No one on this list, has ever defined their car free life lifestyle or aspirations for a car free culture in terms of simply restricting the use of privately owned motor vehicle during "Peak Hours."

ILTB... hey I don't know you or have read your stuff... but do you really think a car-free culture is possible? Do you think its possible we are shooting ourselves in the foot by making our goal purity? Purity meaning...no cars at all?

ILTB... hey I don't know you or have read your stuff... but do you really think a car-free culture is possible? Do you think its possible we are shooting ourselves in the foot by making our goal purity? Purity meaning...no cars at all?
Yes I believe such a "Purity goal" when associated with bicycling advocates or bicycling advocacy, is extremely counterproductive to creating any positive impression about bicycling to the general public.

Those who extrapolate their own personal goal/accomplishment/satisfaction with a car free lifestyle to a goal for converting everybody else regardless of vastly different circumstances make themselves out to be at best dreamy ideologues, at worst, counter culture dropouts without a clue about anyone but themselves. Anything sensible said about the benefits of bicycling is lost in the static and noise of the culture purifying pitch.

Yes I believe such a "Purity goal" when associated with bicycling advocates or bicycling advocacy, is extremely counterproductive to creating any positive impression about bicycling to the general public.

Those who extrapolate their own personal goal/accomplishment/satisfaction with a car free lifestyle to a goal for converting everybody else regardless of vastly different circumstances make themselves out to be at best dreamy ideologues, at worst, counter culture dropouts without a clue about anyone but themselves. Anything sensible said about the benefits of bicycling is lost in the static and noise of the culture purifying pitch.

Wise words, ILTB, in the final analysis the only person we can hope to change is ourself. Material conditions will determine the rest. The best we can do as individuals is to be an example.

I wanna move to amsterdam, my sister went and took a picture of a parking garage full of bikes. It was such a trip to see, a parking garage full of bikes not cars, and how anyone could find their bike again was beyond me. I am going to try to find the picture. Cool pictures.

I wanna move to amsterdam, my sister went and took a picture of a parking garage full of bikes. It was such a trip to see, a parking garage full of bikes not cars, and how anyone could find their bike again was beyond me. I am going to try to find the picture. Cool pictures.
You mean the garage across the street from the Centraal Train Station? This picture is from about 2001:
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/316/bikeparkingcentraalstationamst.th.jpg (http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bikeparkingcentraalstationamst.jpg)

or maybe in Leiden:
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6366/frame0024sy.th.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frame0024sy.jpg)

or maybe parking like this in front of the Heidelberg, GE train station, my bike in foreground:
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6848/hdbahnhofmybikeinfront9hl.th.jpg (http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdbahnhofmybikeinfront9hl.jpg)

You mean the garage across the street from the Centraal Train Station? This picture is from about 2001:
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/316/bikeparkingcentraalstationamst.th.jpg (http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bikeparkingcentraalstationamst.jpg)

or maybe in Leiden:
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6366/frame0024sy.th.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frame0024sy.jpg)

or maybe parking like this in front of the Heidelberg, GE train station, my bike in foreground:
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6848/hdbahnhofmybikeinfront9hl.th.jpg (http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdbahnhofmybikeinfront9hl.jpg)

Not the same one but just as impressive, don't see this happening in my hometown anytime soon.

Yes I believe such a "Purity goal" when associated with bicycling advocates or bicycling advocacy, is extremely counterproductive to creating any positive impression about bicycling to the general public.

Those who extrapolate their own personal goal/accomplishment/satisfaction with a car free lifestyle to a goal for converting everybody else regardless of vastly different circumstances make themselves out to be at best dreamy ideologues, at worst, counter culture dropouts without a clue about anyone but themselves. Anything sensible said about the benefits of bicycling is lost in the static and noise of the culture purifying pitch.
This is ILTB's straw man argument in a nutshell. Other than in ILTB's weird posts, I have NEVER read on this forum people saying that everybody must or should become carfree. This is an invention of ILTB's own fevered imagination.

The argument of the carfree city movement is that our communities, particularly the cities and suburbs, should become considerably less dependent on cars. In practice, this means that community planners should design "cities for people" rather than cities for cars. When cities are sensibly designed for people, many individuals will choose to become carfree. This is already happening in places like Bogota and Amsterdam, and one can even see beginnings of it in car-heavy cities like Lansing, Michigan.

Many cities around the world--including many here in the midwest--ban motor traffic from certain sections of the city. But this is FAR different from banning individuals from owning cars. Again, I have never read anybody on this forum who advocated the prohibition of car ownership. The very idea is absurd in a democratic country that is still set up for the automobile, and where the antiquated infrastructure still makes it difficult or impossible for some people to survive without cars.

Obviously, many members of this forum have nothing to do with a carfree cities movement. As individuals, they are carfree or carlite for their own reasons. And more power to them! There is certainly some overlap between carfree cities activists and carfree individuals, but they are two separate phenomena. I think the Enrique Penlosa interview gives a good overview of the carfree cities movement, and so do the links provided by the OP and others on this thread.

Another puzzlement, ILTB, is your bizarre equation of cycling advocacy with this subforum. I think you're familiar with the "Advocacy and Safety" subforum. This is the "Living Carfree" subforum. Two different things. Very different, in fact.

Yes, the POINT of this forum is living WITHOUT cars.

Here's an Amsterdam Webcam

http://www.eyelogue.com/donniecam.html

Ya had to go and post that....oh well I can think of worse things to waste time on:D

BTW Thanks I have been keeping it running in a small window just to remind me there is hope for cyclists somewhere. Amsterdam has long been on my lists of places to visit.

Aaron:)

This is ILTB's straw man argument in a nutshell. Other than in ILTB's weird posts, I have NEVER read on this forum people saying that everybody must or should become carfree. This is an invention of ILTB's own fevered imagination.
My response: You better get your eyes checked.:rolleyes: You seem to have a problem reading posts that don't synch with your vague agenda/passing wishful thoughts.

Ya had to go and post that....oh well I can think of worse things to waste time on:D

BTW Thanks I have been keeping it running in a small window just to remind me there is hope for cyclists somewhere. Amsterdam has long been on my lists of places to visit.

Aaron:)
I watched for about 3 minutes and noted:
1. No Hummers.
2. Bike heaven.
3. I should take the trash out 'cause I have way too much time on my hands.

[QUOTE=wahoonc Amsterdam has long been on my lists of places to visit.

Aaron:)[/QUOTE]

A few days in Amsterdam triggered my personal experiments with bike transportation. One succesful bike experiment led to another until I became car free. The visit was in March so the weather was off and on cold rain with occasional wet snow mixed in. The still photos don't do justice to how comfortable the Amsterdammers are with bikes. I remember hitting one of the steeper bridges over a canal as a cold rain /snow mix began. As I got out of the saddle to power up the bridge a woman dressed in skirt and overcoat and high heels passed me still in the saddle. She didn't just pass me. As she passed me she reached into her handbag and pulled out a collapsing umbrella and opened it to keep the rain off. She reached the crest of the bridge ahead of me holding the open umbrella over her head. I was talking with a Dutch girl in one of my classes and she claimed her home town, a university city in the north is more of a bike town than Amsterdam. I think it was Groningen.

Would bike available in North America would be close in style to the Dutch bikes shown on this website (like this (http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/po0b_amsterdam_bicycle_many.jpg))??

We've got a shop in Portland selling these now.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u94/donnambr/595154299_2629bb81a1_m.jpg

Would bike available in North America would be close in style to the Dutch bikes shown on this website (like this (http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/po0b_amsterdam_bicycle_many.jpg))??
They are available in Euro style. I got one made by Trek through a local bike shop. I had to talk them into ordering it. Also look at:

http://www.dutchbikes.us/

We've got a shop in Portland selling these now.

Looks awesome! What kind of bike is this?

A city bike imported from Holland. I'm not sure which brand.

You can also get an Electra Amsterdam (http://www.electrabike.com/06_new/flash_index.html) and yes they are in the shops! I actually saw a couple of them the other day!:D

Aaron:)

It's very funny that the writer of this page talks about "15$ worth bikes" while he's oh so wrong.

The first pic is of a Gazelle bike, which is a very popular brand in the Netherlands. It's almost sure that this bike has 3 or 7-8 speed geared hub.

So what he calls crappy bikes, well they could often run at around 500 euros new. Someone I know who lived there for roughly 30 years tells me the average cost for a bike might be around 700 euros, which is roughly a US grand.