In the Netherlands, almost all train stations have bicycles for rent for 4.15 euro per day. You have one in minutes (uses the same card as paying for the train does). And there are bicycle paths everywhere. No need to take a taxi after taking a train.
In the Netherlands and Denmark, it's not unusal to cycle to a bus stop or railway station, lock the bike there, take the bus/train, and walk at the other end.
Or, to own a second bicycle and leave it at the other end.
In London small, folding bicycles serve the same purpose, but they're much more expensive.
Oh that's interesting. I'm speaking mostly from travelling in Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and Germany, all of which allow bicycles on most regional train services (perhaps with needing to buy a bike ticket).
As an American living in Germany I bike to work every day, even in the snow in winter. There are dedicated bicycle paths which are free from obstruction where I can commute, get groceries (I have a special trailer for heavy items), and enjoy a weekend with the family. I can cycle between cities, all the way to the Netherlands, which has even better dedicated cycling routes.
Should I choose public transport, it is ubiquitous and very cheap (even free for some people). Fast and slow trains, streetcars, some subways and buses, but most importantly frequent and with total coverage by law if I remember correctly, no one can be more than 500m from a public transport stop. Even in the countryside you can take public transport everywhere: I have visited rural areas entirely by train and even a farmhouse by bus with a short walk. This is typical European lifestyle at least for the wealthier northern continental countries.
There is a downside, however. Everyone - that is everyone except the very rich and those in the countryside - lives in an apartment. An apartment which, even by lower class American standards, is tiny, dark, grungy, often ridden with mold, and with non-existent amenities. For the price I pay in rent, including exorbitant utility costs, I could get a much nicer place anywhere outside the coastal elite urban cores. My fellow software developers, who are paid far above average for German engineers (or even doctors here) are in the same boat. Tiny and grimy is the norm:
What I wish I saw less of in the car/transit debate was moralizing, and what I wish I saw more of was engineering tradeoffs. You can try to have cars and houses and transit and high salaries and (relatively) low taxes and what you get is NYC or SF - a playground for the rich and a dystopian hellscape for the average middle class worker. If you make transit ubiquitous and affordable with affordable housing and restrictions on cars you get everyone in tiny accommodations, the kind of mass single family home communities and even NYC townhomes and billionaire skyscrapers would never be approved by German town planners. Engineering tradeoffs, which can mean many tiny cars you never see sold in the USA:
Let's have more discussion on the tradeoffs, and maybe we can find solutions of which Larry David would say:
"You're unhappy. I'm unhappy too. Have you heard of Henry Clay? He was the Great Compromiser. A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied, and I think that's what we have here."
I’m in Hamburg Germany right now and it’s pretty wild to see just how bike friendly everything is. Commuters to work this morning were like a school of fish.
Nah, cycling is virtually nonexistent outside of the Netherlands and Denmark. E.g. Finland sees it as a hobby more than a transportation method, Germany doesn't see it at all. A train station just across the border in a town where most people work in the next city over (namely where that train goes) has three loops as their main bike parking and on a regular working day there is an average 0.5 bikes making use of it.
From what I see and hear about being your kids' taxi until they get a driver's license (at 16yo already), I'd assume the difference is pedestrians. I'm nearly 30 and never owned a car, coming from a village and living in a town. Shops are walking distance, I take the bus to work (non-covid times) for environmental reasons, and I think a small majority of people I know do the same (most of my friends/acquaintances are in NL).
Germany is already quite car-centric by my standards, yet they have the most contributors. There's still a lot of pedestrian traffic for the short distances inside of towns and cities, just no medium-distance cycling traffic. So why do they have the most contributors?
Living in Germany, the mentality is different. I have been trying unsuccessfully for three years to find a good definition or concise explanation. There's something that drives use of Threema (paid), PGP and Linux (relatively hard to use), and OpenStreetMap (when sugar daddy Google gives you free maps already). Certainly Google's map here is worse than in their home market, but it's not bad either.
Everyone in Germany will tell you that by the end of secondary education, they're just so done with the whole hitler thing. It's a huge topic throughout the educational system. So I guess morals and things like why privacy matters gets ingrained as well? But that doesn't hold for other European countries, in NL the Linux/Threema/OSM/PGP usage is similar to what I hear on HN.
So a combination of factors, with as biggest common denominator probably pedestrians, plus the mindset in Germany, and maybe a tiny fraction the cyclists (which is literally everyone in NL, by the way, it's not a subgroup but a state of being, or at least I learned that "cyclists" is a laden term in North America from someone who is from there and moved here, but anyway OSM contributorship in NL isn't that huge).
"you cannot get on a bus or a subway train with a bicycle."
Most European cities allow that. There may be some restrictions. I.e. Limited to certain cars, or banned during rush hours and, dependent on the city, you may have to buy a ticket for your bike.
But seeing bikes in buses, subways, or trams is perfectly normal in most European cities.
Also practical though. If you live in Utrecht actual, you wouldn't want the municipality to give you a car which you may not be able to park where you live or, if you can, need pay quite a bit of money for the parking
Driving a bicycle to your place is always practical, also considering most of the city is within 3km of the town hall (~10 minutes cycling) and the worst terrain you'll encounter is needing to get over/under a canal
Same is true where I live (just north of Frankfurt Germany). Problem solved by aquiring a Bakfiets (cargo bike). I now cycle my boy to school and back, which is just below 50km/day. Lots of cycle paths here make this easy, although no where near the quality the Netherlands have. The only wait I experience is waiting for the odd S-Bahn at a rail crossing.
Indeed, cycling and public transit go hand in hand. Even in the Netherlands, people don't ride bikes exclusively. For longer distances, they may ride their bikes to the train station, then take transit to the city center, or something like that. This makes it a lot easier to live without a car.
Actually the Netherlands already offers an alternative of a bike that is cheap that you can rent at most train stations by swiping your travel card. Usually very fast and simple. And also people who commute constantly like this can leave a bike locked at the station they commute to.
The key point is (while avoiding as much inconvenience as possible) - that everyone should be able to complete the journeys they need to complete - the fact you need to move luggage / a bike / a pram... That shouldn't be an exception / excuse / reason for car or taxi.
My favorite part of the Netherlands bike on trains system, is the ticket for your bike is more expensive than renting one of theirs at a station. That is deliberate. Reduce bikes on trains, but not the option of biking the last mile.
I've rented bikes very easily as a UK tourist. All you need is cash in Euros or a credit card.
Disagree about parking, at least what I've seen in Amsterdam city area. You have to use an app and pay for parking. There are patrol cars that will dish out fines if you are caught. There are blue zones in suburbs which are free but it's mainly for visitors/residents.
But that's exactly what you're missing. Hopping on a Dutch bicycle in a dutch city is like walking, but better. No helmet required. No hassle of dealing with cars trying to kill you. No pain from hunched over road bike posture. Just unlock your bike and go.
The Germans are slowly taking over the North so mabe ;)
Bikes are well used here and 3-4 km is no problem to bike on flat land, not even if you're untrained. Bike roads are usually straighter to goal and plenty of parking in front of all doors.
Dutch train stations have cheap parking for bicycles to solve that problem. Works great. I've had four different jobs over the years where I commuted by train (to four different stations) and used my bicycle on the office side for the last bit.
There are also rental bicycles for 4 euro / day to use on stations where you don't have your own stored.
If you visit Amsterdam or Copenhagen, you know what I mean. The happiness of the people, clear streets and less noice is something you can't explain, but it's better what you can imagine.
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