Originally Posted by
Pedaleur
Not bad, except for
#3 . Yes, Holland is small, but few people anywhere regularly travel distances where the size of the country matters. It's more the density and layout, so I would add that Dutch urban planning is more conducive to making places where cycling is convenient (less sprawl, for example).
While I do agree with your statement... in that few people commute or shop from town to town even in the US of A, the reality is that since our towns are laid out with autos in mind, even intracity travel in the US can involve more distance than that in towns in the Netherlands.
My typical bike commutes to work across San Diego over the years (to different employers) has been at least 6 miles one way and as much as 30 miles one way, quite often near 10-12 miles. I think you may find that distance halved in the Netherlands.
Remember less devotion to the auto means smaller streets, less wide arterial roads and highways and smaller parking lots... all told, less space over all between things. We devote an awful lot of empty space to the care and feeding of the automobile in the US... huge amounts of land actually.