I'm sad to say that a lot of Americans and Canadians watched this video and totally missed the point. I mentioned the solution to this problem, but went over the heads of a lot of viewers, because North Americans are not used to thinking about the role of public transit in a city. I talked about this at the end, but it clearly wasn't obvious enough for some people to "get it", so I've made a follow-up video that explains this much more explicitly: ua-cam.com/video/MnyeRlMsTgI/v-deo.html In short, to fix this problem, you need a good transit plan _and_ a good land-use plan.
That's actually a really great point brought up at the start of the video: unless you have a car of your own, growing up in car-hell suburbia _would_ be incredibly isolating, so _of course_ getting a car would have this enormous attachment to personal freedom and empowerment. No wonder so many Americans and Canadians are so opposed to anything that makes them feel that one thing that gives them freedom of choice in how they move around is being restricted or removed, even if the thing being proposed directly improves the quality of their driving experience.
This exactly! It's like public transportation fatalism..."we've been doing this for years & it's all we know so it's what we're mentally comforterble with & anything that goes against that makes us shiver."
I wish it was more viable to bike in American cities. I felt a comparable sense of freedom from being able to get around my city without my car. Felt like so many more possibilities open up.
As an American, while I'm completely on board with the ideas of walkable cities, public transport, and improved urban planning in the way that JNB advocates... I still feel that mentality about cars nagging at me. In my particular case, I grew up in an abusive home and had few friends or neighbors, so getting a car was my first opportunity to leave my home for something that isn't school. That freedom was incredibly important to me, and I may not have survived my situation without it. For someone like me, it's genuinely anxiety inducing to imagine being less car reliant. But... It doesn't make sense for people as a whole, or the world, for everyone to be reliant on such. My car and its insurance are a significant expense I can never let go of because it's required for me to stay employed. It's required for me to have access to amenities and shops and really anything in town. Letting go of the car mentality is hard, and I'm not truly there yet. Part of this battle will absolutely be convincing people even to just consider alternatives.
I come from a developing nation and it's sad to see other developing nations build car infrastructure and following the footsteps of North America instead of learning from their mistakes and prioritizing alternative modes of transport
Actually building a freeway network is a good start, but the next step should be to build a transit network. For the record North American countries built their trains first.
@@KRYMauL I would disagree with you in that public transit infrastructure is cheeper and therefore should be prioritized before cars as car infrastructure would encourage car use and then once transit infrastructure is put in place no one (few people) will be using it.
@@KRYMauL The US is now in a tough spot because it doesn't make economical sense to build rail because the labor and land accusation cost is too high. Prioritizing roads is the worst thing a developing country could do
@@jettbridger2358 Sure but the main two reasons to justify building either is military and exporting goods. The US destroyed most of it's transit lines because the companies saw freight as more viable and didn't want to upgrade to high speed, so it has the commuter rail that he spoke about in another episode. Realistically the best strategy is to use toll roads to build a bullet train network.
@@KRYMauL Have you ever heard of freight trains? They can carry way more cargo than a highway. Roads are bad. We didn’t have cars and roads in 1870 and shit was booming back then.
@@AB-wf8ek he is being shitty to thoose of us that like are cars and want to keep them car centric system work for the majority because no public transportion system will every be as efficient as cars for going where people want to go a car you do not have to wait before get on and you are not resticted to how many people travel with you or what you can buy you are not as depend as walking or biking on the weather
@@AB-wf8ek this video not so much, but some other videos are noticeably demeaning/aggressive towards people or things he dislikes. E.g. on the loud cars video there's a segment as follows at 15:25 - (with B roll of a guy in a convertible]) "In order to avoid be too one-sided here, what are some of the arguments against banning loud vehicles from our cities?" (speaking as if he's the convertible guy) "Me like car go vroom vroom!" [makes farting noise] You might say that's just aggressive, minus the passive, but there are plenty of other instances like that one which are more wink-wink/subtle
@@brucenadeau2172 did you miss his graphic on hourly capacity? Public transit is dramatically more time efficient, cost effective and convenient for everyday life in population centers. Cars should simply fill in the gaps that aren't covered by a transit network, or where there isn't enough density to support one in rural areas. Not Just Bikes might not like cars but he's never said they shouldn't exist. Saying there shouldn't be as many lanes on a road doesn't equate to saying we should bulldoze our street grids.
I lived in a suburb in Florida and was shocked to hear that the communities protested against public transit being put in their areas because they claimed it would devalue their property ... SMH
@@forresthodge1024 It doesn’t matter. London wanted to increase the size of the road because of the “crippling traffic” so obviously it’s dense enough to where the increased throughput of a normally designed street and not a strode would matter
"This woman is casually crossing with a cup of coffee in her hand, while I had to sprint across Wonderland road to avoid dying...." That line was hilarious to me. It's all true! What an utterly ridiculous situation that living in North American suburbia puts us in.
The first time i went to canada, those stroads made me go nuts. Looked on google maps, saw teh shops weren't far and.. as i do home, i go walking.. finding a non lethal place to cross took me more time than if i had gone by car. it's madness. Nobody even thinks about humans when doing city planning. they seem to only be interested in cars.
@@neutrino78x Notice the photo you sent is all residential. This is how North American suburbia is designed 100%. Sprawling residential neighborhoods become private islands of relative walkability with all commercial spaces completely separated along main roads that are essentially only accessible by car. The fact that you aren't "supposed to cross the road by foot" is exactly the problem. That's why North American suburbia sucks. It doesn't matter how walkable your neighborhood is if there is nothing in your neighborhood worth walking to.
@@neutrino78x I am shocked that a person such as yourself has found their way on a Not Just Bikes video. It's not worth my time explaining the sheer lunacy of justifying North American urban design when if you just watch the videos on this channel, every point you have made will be talked about. Electric vehicles are the solution...That's almost comical. Please read a book.
@@neutrino78x cross the street to... where? the businesses are zoned so far away from houses that there is nowhere to walk or bike to. walking to your friend's house is not a measure of walkability
Everything he says is true. Southwestern Ontario sucks. Kitchener-Waterloo is as bad as this, if not worse. What an awful place to live. Moved there for a job for a few years and hated every minute.
I love videos that dunk on London because I lived in this city for so long that it was the reason I moved to "high walk score" areas after living here.
Big up good city design! (also love your videos, the energy you have in them has lead to some great memories for me. And I respect the direction you've taken towards content recently, thank you for your hard work!)
As a 22 year old blue collar worker, America's car dependency has pretty much ruined my life this past month. I still live with my parents, and for the first 2 years straight out of high school I started working, all I did was save money, I had about $20,000 to my name. But then my car broke down and I had to buy a new one, that put my down to about $10k in my account. A year later, which was around a month ago as of today, I was pulling out of work, traffic was crazy and I got T-boned, luckily no one was hurt, but my car was totaled. I only had around $12k at the time, even though it had been a year since I bought the car, I had picked up some expensive hobbies over the course of that year. So this past weekend I got a pretty good deal on a car, considering how inflated the economy is right now, the car I got a year ago for $10k would cost double that right now. The new car put me down to about $2,500, I had it for a few days, parking it on the street like I always do since there's no room in the driveway, keep in mind I live in a suburb with pretty wide roads. Well this morning, five days after I bought the car, a woman hit my car while it was parked in front of my house on the street, claiming "the sun was in her eyes." I was frustrated but I stayed calm and got in touch with my insurance company AGAIN, who still haven't payed me for my last car that was totaled. I made sure to get coverage on the new car the day I bought it, I set it up using my insurance companies app. Well apparently it somehow didn't go through the system, and when I called my insurance company to file a claim, they told me the car wasn't covered, low and behold, I check the app and it doesn't show that my new car is covered. So I'm probably going to have to pay for the damages out of my own pocket. So in short, thanks to America's car dependency, I went from $20,000 to completely broke in the matter of a year, and all my hopes of having enough to get my own place, and move out of my parents house finally, have completely gone out the window for the time being.
Move to Poland for a year or two. You can just go from an office to an office and spend an hour talking with other people in English for money. It's almost no effort for you and good money.
@@neutrino78x This is a ridiculous argument. There are factors other than cost that determines how good a university is. The #5 university, Oxford, costs much less than something like CalTech, yet the latter is ranked #9. And university rankings are meaningless because it's entirely down to what your major is. If you're a comp sci person, then it's MIT or Caltech. If you're trying to get into film school, then it's a whole different list of candidates like USC, UCLA, or CalArts. You're trying to take a multi-faceted issue with varying factors and trying to condense it down into what you think is a gotcha moment against, I presume, what you believe to be a socialism discussion. And the thread OP person is broke. How will listing a number of Ivy League schools with giant tuition requirements that will chain them with student loans for the rest of their lives help them in any way?
@@player400_official(making this comment more so as info for people who aren't from the US. Using my best knowledge as someone who lives here, so anyone who knows better please feel free to correct any points, I think I have the general idea correct though.) You would think this would always be the case, but this is yet another thing the US falls short on and it's pretty awful considering we're a car centric place. If a driver hits you and they don't have insurance, they basically get a smack on the wrist from the cops and your own insurance company is responsible for covering your car IF you have "uninsured motorist coverage." Not everyone has this coverage, because most people try to save money on their insurance and end up screwing themselves. There are also loads of car insurance companies out there that are infamous for basically refusing the pay for a victim's vehicle in the event one of their customers damages their vehicle. Your options with these sort of situations pretty much become suing the person who damaged your vehicle, which costs money, and has a chance of not succeeding. To put it shortly, the TLDR, in the US the government nor your insurance company has any true obligation to actually protect you in the event someone destroys your vehicle. There isn't really any protections in place for victims of things like this. People tend to just get screwed. Car insurance in the US is basically a giant scam.
@@neutrino78x Because everybody has to have an education that sets them up to make them one of the greatest minds of our generation? Why? There are plenty of universities around the world covered by their government's subsidy or low cost loans that still provide you a good education that'll get you started and prepared for the field that you choose to go into, which is the purpose of a uni. As long as you're going to an institution that's reputable and you don't get a shit teacher, which would still be a possibility for some of the "greatest" universities out there, they'll be doing them probably at the same rate - with the differences being that the reputation of these schools kind of pre-selects certain types of people, thus making the whole reputation thing kinda cyclical. Like, not everybody needs to be an Einstein or the next Marie Curie, and not everybody wants to be them because actually getting to that level is stressful as shit and in part determined by your childhood and your capability to take in that information.
I was wondering if you could talk about Stevenage in the UK in a future video, the place that built dedicated bike paths while not giving residents a reason to get out of their cars. The six lane project really reminds me of that.
The part of this video that stuck out to me the most was that the street in Amsterdam wasn't like that just because everything's left over from medieval times in Europe or whatever. It was a recent, concerted effort by city authorities to make the place more livable. It seems like the standard defense against better urban design in North America is that America is somehow fundamentally different, and that it couldn't work here. This goes to show that that defense doth butter no parsnips - we could easily be doing this, so why the hell aren't we? To be clear, I'm definitely not saying that there aren't aspects of American city design that are obstacles to improvement, e.g. low population density making it difficult to justify the cost of projects like this. But it's not an intractable problem - there is demand for this type of living, and we can take the first steps now.
Starting with the Millennial generation and for every generation thereafter, young Americans will be interested in living arrangements that are more humble and affordable, but also still allow for human dignity (not a concrete box in the sky). Urban people genuinely want apartments with thick enough walls so they don't hear their neighbors, and preferably higher ceilings so it still feels spacious. This allows for population density with dignity, and reduces energy costs. The thicker walls insulate in winter and the higher ceilings cool the place in summer.
The fundamental difference is that the US economy is too dominated by megastores, Amazon, and the like. Cities could turn all their congested 6-lane stroads into paralyzed 2-lane streets and build the perfect walkable mixed-use retail/residential neighborhoods, but it wouldn't matter; those new retail spaces will sit empty because everyone's still driving to Wal-Mart to save $5 on their Made in China lamps or whatever.
@@anarchyorslavery1616 Nobody is saying it has to be, they're saying they should take notes from what happens over that side of the world because by and large, it actually works. Car, tyre and fuel companies had far, far, FAR too much sway over politics after the war in the US and Canada which lead to the massive dependance on cars and why so many cities and towns are built exclusively around them. There's also a stigma of public transport that it's for "poor people", classism is a very real thing in the US. Someone barely scraping by has an inflated view of themselves compared to someone doing slightly worse than they are because that's how they've been told they have to think. The "Got mine, fuck you" mentality.
@@TalesOfWar but public transport really sucks no matter where you go around the world. And it's not like you can just build a hypertrain station out in rural areas that would never work the US is already 29 trillion in debt
My father fought in World War II, drove a motor vehicle for his first and only time, then hit by a mortar, shot three times. He never got a drivers license, he walked, he ran, biked and road buses and trains everywhere his entire life. His example gave me the courage to follow in his footsteps. I started bike touring when I was 14 and it was amazing and liberating, it was all I wanted to do so I graduated high school and toured the US for starters. Unlike my father I have a drivers license and a small car but 50 years later I still put more miles on my bikes each year than I do my car and I can out climb most 30 year olds. Makes me feel sorry for all those unhealthy drivers, they miss out on on so much quality of life experiences you can’t get all comfy sitting in a car with the heater on
@@emenesu Electric kick scooter or gas scooter? Gas scooters are really fucking fun and electric scooters are only ok (the insane >1000w ones are really fun). If your only experience with electric kick scooters is with rental ones than you should know they limit speed and acceleration to make them feel as boring as possible, to discourage fucking around.
@@Cobalt985 .. "Razor a6" normal kick scooter is as fast as bicycle, really, or save energy and coast more. 15 miles per hour, no one should need to go more than 15 miles, but let's ignore solution and keep demanding a billion dollar subway I love white yuppies so dumb
Epiphany: Cars only give Freedom in Cities built like Prisons Whenever the position is expressed that cars give people freedom, it must be asked what freedom the car affords. The freedom to escape being stuck in the suburbs isn't a freedom people in car-independent cities need, they're already in walking distance of everything they need on a daily and weekly basis.
Imagine being so free that your only sensible option to get around is to buy an expensive hunk of metal that will lose its value the moment you drive it out of the garage, help you get fatter and fatter, and will make sure you spend gas, insurance, maintenance for all the time you have it. FREEDOM!
Biking definitely gave me such a freeing feeling in the city. Opened up so many places that were slightly too far away to regularly visit by foot, and annoying to get there and park with a car. I wish more people realize that being able to feasibly choose transportation that makes sense for the journey is way more freeing than defaulting to the car for everything.
One thing I’ve observed on my bike is the number of people who turn in front of me or pass me by and floor the gas pedal, as if they have something to prove.
I’ve lived in Southern California my whole life. My Dad had a two hour commute. My wife has an hour and a half commute. I have an hour commute. We all hate it, but honestly I thought there were just too many people, and it couldn’t be avoided. This is until I found this channel. This channel has completely changed my outlook on everything. I even bought the Strong Towns book. I hope you spend more time creating awareness of the already great content, rather than making more videos (which I do also appreciate) in order to effect change. Thank you for this service.
NorCal here. I lived in SoCal for a few years and remember those grueling commutes. Unfortunately, Sacramento is following the LA path of more traffic and suburban sprawl. They have a “vision zero” and “complete streets” plan, but they rely way too much on education and enforcement, and their complete streets plan looks more like what NJB called a complete stroad!
@@AileTheAlien same. 20 mins max for me. Living I'm Albania, everyone used to live near their workplace. Sadly the demolishing of homes for stroads made our towns ugly 😕
The most astonishing thing is that it's not like North America lacks examples of cities with good urbanism. There's NYC, San Francisco, Boston, central Toronto, Montreal, central Vancouver, all of Mexico, and yet for some reason the rest of the US and Canada behave like there's nothing to learn from these places. They are right there, in their very same country!
Take your next vacation to the Netherlands to see what they have for yourself, and your mind will be blown seeing so many people live the good life by bike and foot and transit.
@@UzumakiNaruto_ But one counterpoint I have is these suburbs here have more than enough room for cyclists to use the sidewalk as pedestrian traffic is fairly light, in fact the area I live around has what you exactly described as wide dual use bike/ped mini road. However I always cyclists one the road even if this is available I never understand it and would never ride my bike on the street here. In downtown areas it makes more sense to be on the road understanbly. But at the end of the day you won't be able to balance these two perfectly and there will always be some compromise.
@@UzumakiNaruto_ My guess is that the people designing that bike lane, the politicians and citizens of the area don't bike anywhere, don't care about it and only do it to do "gReEn iNfRaStRuCtUrE"
I once saw someone drive like that, half the car was on the road the other half was on the walkway. Like how could you possibly get a driving license while driving like that???
I like that you gave London, Ontario some kudos for cancelling their planned road construction. I hope members of the city council in London are watching your videos.
I have finally managed to get my sister who is extremely car dependent hooked on this channel. I saw her watching silently your video about Houston and couldn't imagine how her city (Nairobi) is already in the process of becoming like Houston. The seed of change has been planted. Thanks Not Just Bikes
im from Texas (one of the most stereotyped american states) and ive been thinking of that stuff for the past year and everyone i knows calls me crazy for it. i hate where i live and i dislike my country all because of the poorly planned infrastructure. i hate driving. i hate transportation here. i want it to end. i want it to change. i want it to be better
I used to watch a video where someone was explaining how your car breaking down could mean you becoming homeless because you cant get to work. I was confused, why not use the bus, train, or metro? Why do you need to drive to work? My Dutch brain couldnt understand untill I saw how car dependend North America was. Lots of people who want car dependency say that owning a car means freedom. How is your car breaking down and you becoming homeless freedom? I'd say that having lots of diffrent options is freedom.
Sadly it's a mentality that big oil and car manufactures have been happy to push for decades $$$$ + people have car payments to make so they can't miss work or stand-up to shitty conditions etc which makes big business happy
I live in a European city of about 400k citizens and it was considered quite a car dependent city until very recently. Trams were completely gone until year 2000, and bike lanes weren't a thing if I'm not mistaken. And yet today, there are 5 trams lines, bike lanes just about everywhere, big separated sidewalks are present even along huge roads, and the city isn't done with the "transformation". There are people that still think this city is heavily car dependent (and it is a little, especially if you live far in the outskirts and away from trams since buses are meh around here) but compared to anything in the US/Canada, it is still somehow miles ahead. Having lived on both ends of this, not unlike you, I can also attest to the fact that even tho I like my car (sort of a petrolhead, sue me lol), it is absolutely far preferable to live somewhere that is built for me, and not for my car.
As a petrol head also, I agree. Building infrastructure centered around people is vastly better than building around cars. I think cars will continue to play a role in society for a long time, even in places where it’s not required, but eventually perhaps they will go the way of horses: used for recreation rather than necessity.
@@adammiller8133 Problem is once you have a car, and you can afford it you end up using it rather than transit because either the transit is bad or the car is right outside your door so it’s more convenient and you have your private space. In Vancouver city we have pretty good transit but people with cars hardly ever use it. Cities should charge a tax for owning a car in the city.
Remember, Dubai has enough money and power to do everything... and they decided to bury their coral reefs with sand for small private islands, they filled their country with underpaid foreign workers/ modern slaves and built the highest building in the world on a sandy coast to win a Napoleon- complex- infused weewee- measuring contest.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 Dubai is a parody and microcosm of modern day capitalism. Owners steal labor value from the desperate and poverty stricken working class and use the capital on increasingly garish and ridiculous displays of wealth while destroying the ecosystem and quality of life of the proletariat.
When I was 15 and living in Houston, people in cars were hostile towards pedestrians and anyone on a bicycle. They acted as if it was their right to run you off the road. A old woman wasn't watching the road, almost destroyed my bike, never mind that I had the right of way... did she apologize? Her reaction? Her: You scared me! WTF? I want more walkable cities, cities that prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation over cars. The American preoccupation with cars as status symbols is toxic.
"Transit should be used as a catalyst to build great places, not as a band-aid on top of car-dependent infrastructure. The city needs to build high-quality transit with its own right-of-way, and then encourage the development of mixed-used walkable neighbourhoods, around those transit lines." "Sir, this is a Wendy's..."
"Transit should be used as a catalyst to build great places, not as a band-aid on top of car-dependent infrastructure. The city needs to build high-quality transit with its own right-of-way, and then encourage the development of mixed-used walkable neighbourhoods, around those transit lines.... with fries"
I live in the US, and I have been so annoying to everyone that knows me, all I have been saying is that the suburbs suck. I always hated the way US was designed, I love cars and building them but the US took that joy away from me, yesterday I was in the car for 6 hours to travel 118 miles because of traffic. I am originally from Iraq, the US is a big upgrade, but we had stores near our houses where we didn't have to get in the car and go get some bread, Europe and Japan are like an upgraded version of Iraq, but hey 40 years of war does that.
A lot of US cities use zoning systems to prevent the building of stores near housing - they aren't allowed in the same part of the city. Much bad US urban planning has outright malicious historical roots, aimed at maintaining a sufficiently high cost of living to keep the undesirable lower socioeconomic classes out. If the city government makes sure that there is no low-cost housing in the suburbs and you can't leave your house without a car, then there is no risk of icky poor people moving in.
There’s a profound lack of foresight and political will because (many of) the people with any legislative authority benefit from this system. Lobbyists representing fossil fuel and auto manufacturing interests bride politicians to influence policymaking, politicians implement laws mostly benefiting their donors, and the cycle continues. At this point I’m saving money to emigrate from the US as I have next to no optimism this shithole country will ever improve with our present leadership.
I agree with your guys points. I have seen really really bad areas all other US, I remember one time in DC I stopped in CVS parking lot and I swear I couldn't step a foot anywhere without stepping on garbage, the rest of city was same. If US spent money on public transportation and inner cities so people don't need to spend money on cars, that would improve there everyday life. Almost every adult in household needs to have a car in the US to get anywhere, unless u live in major cities like DC, NYC etc. That's lots of money per household. And it seems like America city plans are being planned by car manufacturers and bankers to have people request for loans. Also I am not sure about moving to another country, they always say "the grass is greener on other side" but it wouldn't hurt to take long vacation and see if I like it.
What I've realized recently is that there are times when my gf and I will say "let's go for a hike" and drive over to our nearest park's trailhead...we live in one of the best "outdoor" cities in the US but despite living a mile from a park, we still drive there because the road that runs there is a nightmare to walk along and cross, especially during rush hour.
@@danieldaniels7571 I wish it were that simple. When the 'wrong' kind of people walk, the powers that be still don't care about safe pavements, crosswalks and the like. After all, *they* still drive, and don't want to be inconvenienced by not having enough lanes, and because we live in a zero-sum world (especially in their world), an extra bike lane or larger pavements would mean less room for their car. I'm afraid there's little use in trying to convince them, and forget about converting them, you need to replace the people in power with someone who does know.
Speaking as someone who’s been to many a council and board meeting, the politicians will probably be reading their phones and completely ignoring the video. They don’t care because they’re paid to not care. “It’s impossible to get a man to know something when his paycheck depends on him not knowing it.” ~Upton Sinclair
@@MrMoon-hy6pn I wish it was as simple as that. Unfortunately, the general rule in American politics is the person with the most money, and/or connections, wins. Case in point, our mayor received $200,000 in campaign contributions from the California Association of Realtors, a major developer lobby, and won the election. Pretty sure it was the backing of developers combined with the cash that did it. Case in point, our previous mayor lost favor with those same developers and got voted out and was replaced with our current mayor. I voted for neither of them because I didn’t think it would make a difference. This is what managed democracy looks like.
Trust me, every city planner out there has been _begging_ their constituencies to do this for decades, if not centuries at this point. It's the politicians who are the biggest holdup usually due to misinformation, misunderstanding, or purely voter influence. It's so, so easy as a politician to attack another candidate over "useless spending" when things don't pan out within 1-2 years.
@@ScramJett also First Past the Post election system pretty much fuels ignorance and corruption in decisions making Your opinion matters less than that you are from the "correct" party US really needs general electoral reform to get more accountability to politics.
"I grew up in a car-infested city called London." - framing cars as an infestation is honestly something I didn't expect lol I've literally only listened to the first sentence of your video and I just HAD to comment on it because I ADORE the language you use in your script.
@@dandiehm8414 1. Yes they are an infestation 2. If I'm talking about cities, then the fact you don't live in a city is completely irrelevant to what I am saying, genius. Feel free to drive if you live in bumfuck nowhere (although I have a feeling you're talking about living in a suburb 20 miles from the city you drive to work to, which means you absolutely do live in a city if that's the case)
In some towns in France, instead of widening 4-lane roads to 6-lane roads, they replace 2 of the 4 lanes by bus lanes leaving only one lane per direction for cars…and most of the time…it has reduced congestion ! The other solution I saw was to widen the road to six lanes to accommodate one lane for buses in each direction (so cars still have 4 lanes) and it works perfectly too Maybe widening some fake London’s stroads to 6 lanes to accommodate bus lanes on the center (with a physical separation not to have dumb drivers trying to drive through to turn left) could be an idea
To put those 212 millions in perspective: recently, the Mayor of Paris announced a project that would complete the temporary cyclable network of Paris. It costs 250 millions and will make bicycle more popular than cars. It is considered a bold investment there. I dont know what they are doing in London but it doesn't make sense.
Even though one would have to take a closer look on the details of the project in Paris (NJB, wink wink) and I'm not yet convinced that they'll actually manage to keep the costs at the 250 million mark; one thing is absolutely without any question: 212 million for adding lanes to an existing stroad is ludicrous. Every such project that comes up with such a cost prospect should be dead and buried the very same instant.
What I love about the street in Amsterdam is that they use the street parking to protect the bike lanes. Genius! It allows those who need vehicles to own them, while leveraging the cars as a protective barrier for those making shorter trips. I need my car to visit the rock climbing gym, to go on camping trips, and to move larger items -- all things I do often, but not every day. Plus, as somebody who enjoys driving & sports cars: living in a walkable city allows me to enjoy my car more since I don't have to deal with disgusting traffic to survive.
Very true. Sometimes the worries though of people is that cars parking would be coming in too close to the cyclists, butttt.... When you've built roads that make sure to slow cars down (because you shouldn't be going 40km/h in a city) or pace them slower compared to big, wide, multi-lane direction stroads - you don't have to worry about that.
@@jbird4478 That makes sense. Because the metal and plastic on your car is just that much more valuable than the actual flesh and bones in my actual body.
@@jbird4478 you are not sacrificing your car like that more than parking on the side of the road parking place normally though (also I do know someone who knocked a car door off on his bike by it being opened into his face)
"I do love it though when suburbanites suddenly care an awful lot about the environment- as long as the solution is to let them drive everywhere and as fast as they want."
I absolutely love your channel. I moved from Europe to US and felt overwhelmed by the way cities and towns are designed here. You neatly articulated all the feelings I had ever since I moved here. Fun fact- city council of my town (small town of approx 18k people) is wondering “how can they make business thrive here, because city center looks dead”. I said based on my intuition, that if we had denser city center with medium apartments/business buildings instead of just business buildings and huge parking lots- it would be more sustainable. The idea didn’t get traction, I don’t think anyone could even imagine what was talking about…
I live in London Ontario in a suburb and you're dead-on about how incredibly isolating it is. Whether or not a parent is using their car that day is the difference in whether I can get somewhere. These videos helped me figure out the issue. It seemed strange that I felt so resistant to a 30-minute walk to an area I need to get to, when a) the bus (with the wait for it to come) is the same amount of time and b) I walk much longer than that just wandering around the neighbourhood. It's because I need to walk along a stroad. I can't even listen to a podcast because it's so damn loud. I hate being that close to fast-moving traffic too, even though the sidewalk there is decently wide. I pass so many parking lots, too. At one point I stopped even going for walks because it's so discouraging to know that you aren't going anywhere. I know it's healthy to go for a walk, but on days when I'm feeling worst, (the days I most should go for a walk...) it's so difficult to get up the motivation to go in a circle.
I wish there were some kind of a public demand and government interest in building Dutch inspired cities in North America. Building walkable, attractive and productive neighbourhoods with closely built mid rise buildings would've ticked so many boxes such as tackling the shortage of affordable housing, labour shortage, infrastructure crisis and climate change.
There is demand, more urban-style areas are some of the most expensive in the US and Canada. The problem is that North American engineers are locked into the Municode standard and there's nothing to replace it with, so they choose it as the "safe" option and build suburban sprawl. It takes courage and exceptionalism to do something better, which is a rare quality.
@@jameshansenbc agreed. It also takes being an activist. But not all of us have the patience or energy for that. I know I don’t. I for one don’t enjoy begging politicians to do the right thing when I know they’re likely not going to or compromise it down to some kind of “complete stroad” bull crap.
@Zaydan Naufal Walkability is a quality of life issue, not just about Carbon emissions. Cars are also harmful in many ways outside of CO2, such as pedestrian and occupant fatalities.
@@sm3675 Idk, in some respects, yes, you can run trams, streetcars, and/or bus lanes and add bike paths with room to spare. However, if you need a road instead of a street (for the higher speed connections to freeways), I don’t think there’s enough room to add side streets for the residential access without bulldozing some houses. It’s hard to tell from videos without being there, but my sense is that, if you include the width of Dutch roads, cycle paths, sidewalks and all the wide medians in between, you’re looking at something wider than the right of way of North American stroads in their respective suburbs. In fact I just confirmed this just now by looking at the with of a road in Amstelveen and compared it to a stroad near where I live. The stroad, including medians, sidewalk and the 6 lane stroad itself (the right of way) is much narrower than the Dutch road right of way.
bikes are surprisingly durable that second hand bike is not much different than new one. Unlike cars that loses 40% of it's value the moment you took it out of the dealership.
@@thestudentofficial5483 that said, buyer beware. When buying a used bike, it's good to have someone who's owned one to come along and check it out. Some people take good care of their bikes, others do not.
If you could find a Dutch style bike (grandma/grandpa style) near you odds are the only thing you're going to break is the tires every 1.5 year or so. And if you do break something, a spanner and screwdriver are everything you could need to fix it. I have had many a bike and while multi speed bikes are 20% faster and 20% easier, more moving parts equal more maintainance and more breakdowns. While also being more expensive. Unless you're going to bike for more than half an hour very frequently, I wouldn't bother.
Living in Europe now, it's clear to me that developer-centric design is miserable. The nicest places I've been in are ALL old-to-ancient cities that are great for people and bikes, and awful for cars. The absolute worst are following the typical American urban planning.
As someone who cannot afford a car, I really appreciate your videos! By necessity I am sitting on public transit even if the service is bad, and where there's no transit, I'm walking or biking even when it's dangerous. There's a blind spot of people thinking that everyone can afford a car.
@@clydelaz I've seen that too. I had a friend in school who could only afford a used car that broke all the time. As soon as she finished paying off one round at the mechanic, something else would break. She was forced to pay for her car rather than go to the doctor or dentist.
I live on the coast of Mid Wales in the UK. I don't run a car however outside the railway station,there are eight different bus stops serving buses going in all different directions. Being over 60 I have a bus pass so all bus journeys within Wales are free and a Railcard which gives me a third off all rail fares. I used to do a lot of cycling, particularly when I lived near London.
@@grahvis It sounds like we are in similar situations. I also am over 60 and get trains and buses for 1/2 price. My city of Newark which is just outside New York also has a plethora of trains and bus lines. I usually have to choose which transportation method to use as there are several options going to my desired destination. I am the exception in the U.S. Most of our nation has no reliable public transit. Except for a handful of large cities most of the nation is car dependent.
"When you grow up in suburbia, you're pretty much stranded until you can drive." PREACH! I grew up in Manchester NH, had the good fortune to go to college in Boston and never need a car the entire time, then moved back to NH and thought, "I can't believe I used to live this way. It's insane!"
I went to college in downtown Manchester and even though it's not the best place, I miss it now that I've moved back hometo rural NY. The ability to walk to restaurants, cafés and some small grocery stores is something I miss dearly.
It's funny, I had never really thought about it that way before. I grew up in suburbia, and it's true that getting my drivers licence was the ticket to freedom. Now I live downtown. I have almost everything I need within a few blocks. We regularly go for walks in the evening, to see what's happening. There was really nowhere to walk to, where I grew up.
absolutely 100% similar experience. Virginia Tech campus is the same--entirely bike and bus focused. Never needed a car. Everything is walkable. It really changes one's view of the suburbs
@@zjunk4877 lol "but crime" is the same argument every suburbanite makes. You realize there have been serial killers in the suburbs, right? Cities don't cause crime; people cause crime. There will always be some crime wherever there are some people. That's the cost of coexisting. But by your logic, you should not even be in the suburbs--you should move to the countryside where there are even less people. Less crime. Think of the kids. There's no question which is better. But actually, by that logic, you should not even be in the countryside--you should move out to a desert where there are no people. Zero% crime! After all, think of the kids. There's no question which is better. If your only argument is crime, that sounds more like anthropophobia than a real argument. Also, we're gonna need a citation on "they barely report murders anymore." You don't have to like the city. But you need substantial arguments instead of spreading exaggerated or false information. The "crime" argument is like saying: fluoride is a toxic chemical; therefore we should avoid all toothpaste. Doesn't make sense
@@zjunk4877 You dare mention kids? Do you know what stranding them in islands completely sealed off with the outside world does to Kids growing up? If you knew, or better yet if you chose not to ignore, *then* you could say what is or isn't a question anymore
I see fake London also uses those deceleration lanes on stroads as well. These are commonly implemented as a way to increase carrying capacity temporarily. The down side is they make all pedestrian crossings at least one lane wider further discouraging people to walk/bike, and thus the cycle continues. We are currently fighting these as the go-to solution in the city I live in.
Yeah, we have these on our 7 lane stroads. It makes crossing terrifying because the drivers are looking away from you. They’re looking to the left for other car traffic and naturally assume no one is crazy enough to walk across a 7 lane strode. I once proposed roundabouts for our major intersections. The feedback I got was that our intersections were “too small!” Imagine that! The intersection of two 7 lane stroads is “too small” for a roundabout! I mean, it’s so unbelievably and ridiculously insane!
If you don't include the deceleration turning lane, the painted bicycle gutter takes that role, even when it's about 1/3 as wide as your f350 super duty 4 rear tires commuting truck.
I assume you mean turning and merging lanes for people looking to enter or leave a parking lot entry. Those make a lot of sense for merging as they will allow space for cars at different speeds. Pedestrian crossings are a big no along these roads anyway, so just remove them. Get an overpass at the intersections and grade separate the pedestrians and cyclists from the cars, done. Might be expensive, but less expensive as rebuilding the entire area with wider roads just so you can get pedestrian islands in there. You'd also have to signalize the crossings anyway, which on a major road with so much merging traffic is just insane and will tank traffic flow.
Hey. I just want to say your videos have changed how I see the urban landscape around me. I recently went back to my home town (population of just under 100k) and I was really shocked. This is a town where a good 40% of the town makes under £15k a year and I was shocked that it was so difficult to walk there or even use what little public transport connections there were. I tried cycling there but the only cycle lane I found was less than 100m long and was just a painted bicycle gutter. It reminded me of that line you had in one video about how bicycles are considered something for children in most car dependant places. Most of the roads were stroads and it felt safer cycling on the pavement. The downside to that was the pavements are all cracked and sometimes just randomly stop and you'll have to walk 100m or so in grass. When I lived in this place, I was always annoyed when I needed to go anywhere but never understood why. Now I do and can make a list of points to give to the local council for them to ignore
Yes, we have similar issues with our politicians here too. They just ignore us or complain about not having enough money as they drop hundreds of millions in more stroad construction.
Me before discovering this channel: "Boy I sure love driving, I've never even cared a single damn in my life about how roads and infrastructure work!" Me after discovering this channel: *Professional public transportation, street maintenance, and infrastructure expert after watching one NJB video.*
@@jasonriddell I love cars, I'm a car guy. But I absolutely hate our US infrastructure. People should absolutely NOT be forced to drive for basic transportation needs. Not everyone is able to or even wants to drive, and turning every single person in our population into a large metal box on the road is absolutely awful for the environment and everyone else around. My hope really is that channels like NJB will spread around and more people, especially the large percentage of our population in the US who think cars are the only answer, will realize how ass backwards our infrastructure is. If the majority of the population realized how stupid our infrastructure was, then change could actually start happening for the better. And a global shift away from car-centric lifestyle would probably solve a LOT of environmental issues without all the crazy new technology and resources.
I grew up in the northeast riding trains to and around NYC, Philly, Boston and DC. I thought we knew what we were doing until I joined the military and saw how other countries built their transit systems. Now I just look at our run down mess and hang my head in shame.
I love how this channel gives me the words to back up how I’ve felt about living in the suburbs of Australia! Walkability is something I really miss about living on campus at uni
Mate, I live in Heliopolis Neighbourhood, Cairo, Egypt. We used to have a tram network that used to be there for more a hundred years and main streets used to be 3 lanes in each direction. 2 years ago, the central government, as we do not have effective local government, decided to split the neighbourhood into two, consume the tram right-of-way, cut down around 3000 trees, and remove around 90 acres of green space in what was essentially the middle of the city, not to mention a designated heritage area. They did all this to widen the roads from 3 to 6 laners in each direction! No pedestrian crossing or even traffic lights were installed until around 30 people were run over by speeding cars. No the streets are wide enough to land an small jet if it weren't for the occasional bridge at every intersection. I think you are doing quite well in Fake London.
Found myself complaining yesterday that my bus was stuck waiting for 10 minutes waiting on a sewer-cleaning truck blocking the street in my small Dutch hometown, on my way to Uni. Now my 10KM drive took me 30 minutes instead of 20. Meanwhile in suburbia: ''What's a bus?''
i literally have to control how many of your videos i watch, because oh my god they make me so angry! not at you! at car dependency 😫 i’ve lived in a very car dependent area my whole life and seeing how different it can be is infuriating!
No one is car dependent. Walk 3 miles in hour, or bike 10. That's what we did til 1920 then people started to think they're important idiots who need to zip across metro for brunch and idiotically don't live near work.. I don't have to pay taxes for people thinking they deserve what no one had in 1920. Cell phones and music make walking awesome, makes people less fat. Google how long a walk or bike to work, is it under 1 hour, yes or no??
@@mostlyguesses8385 Depends on the city you live. Bikes aren't off the hook either. I grew up in a small town in Florida, where the vast majority of the state is car dependent. Many residents would have to drive up to an hour, sometimes longer, to get to work. Biking would not be feasible or safe. And for those who do use bikes usually go on short trips or downtown where a lot of activities are.
@@wturner777 ... I would push against some of your claims, ha, we're all sorta soft and brainwashed by cars. At start of COVID I walked a lot, and it was hard but doable. At 20mph most workplaces are 5 miles are bikeable!!! At 3 mph ok walking is limited to say 2 miles.. I'm a fatso so I feel fine walking listening to audiobook 1 hour to library. . . The problem is unlike in 1920 when people would walk 40 minutes daily, now that is seen as impoissible and demand govt fix their choice to live 10 miles from work, haha.... My point is, maybe 50% could force themselves to bike or walk... I sorta think it's financially wise too, a car is pretax $10000 a year so at $20 gotta work 500 hours to support it, all to not walk say 1 hour for 250 days, so work 500 to save 250 hours of nice waking listening to music.... I am totally cherry picking and assuming, but mayby 50% are 2 miles from work or 10 miles by bike..... I cld be wrong ,ha.. PS I'm from MN and in comparison Texas and Oregon are veryyyyyyy walkable nice and warm and dry...
Whats crazy to me is the looks and reactions I get when people find out I don't have a car at 27 and take the bus or walk everywhere. My town isn't very walkable so a lot of errands take all day with multiple bus transfers which sucks, but does it ever occur to people that I don't want a car because I'd prefer not the contribute to the pollution and take transit and walk while I can instead of being another car on the road and taking up space to park it. People think we who take the bus as adults are either poor or can't drive due to DUIs or a disability. One person even asked if I was Amish. And don't get me started on walking on the busy strode and having EVERY car rubberneck to look at you like it's an alien sighting to see someone walking instead of driving. I wish people would just mind their own business and stop acting like someone walking down a sidewalk is a production put on for their entertainment.
So you choose to take all of the hard options (using inefficient mass transit, walking when it isn't practical or where it isn't safe, not moving to a place that meets your desired lifestyle, etc.) and don't expect people to look at you crazy?
@@0008loser honestly that's a good example of why you don't want to drive, because you might end up with the same shitty life that causes drivers to yell at random pedestrians 😂
"Why did (London) think it needed a six lane road for a city of only 400,000?" Oh, man, I'm on the floor laughing. Grand Junction, Colorado, where I currently live, a town of just 62,000, is in the process right now, as we watch this, of expanding a four lane stroad to six lanes!. Worse this six lane stroad blasts right through the middle of the downtown area even though a bypass was built around downtown just a decade or so ago. It's completely brain dead stupid. But, they sure love their cars here (actually, usually SUVs and really, really big pick up trucks, it is Colorado after all).
and how will the town pay for the maintenance of that 6-lane road? are they going to increase taxes? Make the road into a toll road? I guess the current officials just consider that a problem for the future and they'll be gone by then...
@@Robbedem Thanks for asking. In what I suspect is a common situation in small towns, especially in the western U.S., the road through the middle of town isn't under the jurisdiction of the town itself; instead it's considered part of the state highway system and is the responsibility of the state department of transportation, in this case the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). For much of this town's past the only highway went right through the middle of town, which was common for many small towns and still is. In the 1960s and '70s, a major interstate was built around Grand Junction but CDOT retained 'ownership' of the road through the middle of town (actually a couple roads). A major drawback to this arrangement, which is painfully obvious at times like this, is that the state department of transportation, who are experienced at building highways and interstates, then make decisions that affect the entire urban area. Not only does CDOT seem to have limited experience designing for urban areas, they seem to have even less motivation to create designs with 'liveability' in mind. Their mindset seems to be purely 'moving cars as rapidly as possible'. Had the City Council opposed this project, I don't know that it would have made much difference (as it was, the City Council overwhelmingly endorsed it...of course). From experience, I can tell you that concerns voiced to CDOT by local residents nearly always fall on deaf ears; they are a state agency completely lacking in ties or accountability to the community. To address your question, though, the plus side (if there is one) is that CDOT assumes responsibility for most of the maintenance. I don't think this means *all* of the maintenance though, as I have see the city doing maintenance on other stroads that ostensibly belong to CDOT. There's also the distinct possibility that once this work is done CDOT may offer to "give" this six lane stroad to the city, and we very easily could have a city council who is just dumb enough to accept it. One way or another, and more likely in more than one way, the locals are going to get screwed by this.
i live in denver and am from fort collins, which are two of the best cities in colorado for alternative transportation (though the bar is low, theyre not that good compared to europe) so i think oh colorado is just better! but then i remember grand junction, like no hate to the people who live there but the city is designed horribly! i hate it so much! its so bad! rip
What's the point of sidewalks if it is almost impossible or outright suicidal to cross such a stroad almost anywhere? I am also not quite sure how those cyclists are addressing that question without a deathwish.
@@sagichnicht6748 Especially if that is an area not use to high speed vehicles traveling against the flow of traffic on the sidewalk. The most dangerous thing about cycling in the bikeline is the right hook from people underestimating how fast you are traveling. Going on the sidewalk along a stroad and going where people won't even see you as they look left to see when they can turn right to get onto the stroad is more of a suicide wish than riding in the stroad going the correct direction.
@@KekusMagnus personally i think if a busy road has a sidewalk or bikelane it should have a button to cross for both independently. For the biker give 3 so they can pick which way to go, and then the lights incorporate this into the cycle and give the bikes and walkers protected use of the intesection where cars are allowed in directions that wont affect them. (Both go straight, both turn left, ect) This amy sound expensive but it really shouldn't be that much worse than maintaining a 6 lane stroad with lots of accidents. (The widest a stroad needs to be is 1 lane each way with a suicide lane, sorry "shared turning lane". These are proven safer than 2 lanes each way, also provide proper turning lanes at intersections and you shouldn't notice congestion. Obviously its preferable to have other modes of travel but build this so called diet road and put big trees between it and the sidewalk&bikelane and have lighted crossings and it suddenly becomes a usable street. The worst commercial place I've been to is the Berlin turnpike in CT, its a 4 lane divided highway with lots of intersections to turn into strip mall plazas, its peak car dependecy and terrifying to use. Comercial areas should not be on "arterial roads".
400.000 people!? Even on the largest race track on earth, aka germany, they would have tram lines and bus lines! And not just two but a dozen or so. Car centric design is bad, I never hear someone say "ah, I had so much fun driving to the mall/to work today!". It supports an activity that people don't want to do in the first place. Good to see that the city is stepping on the brakes, now they have to make a u turn and conver these stroads back into streets and roads.
London in particular is an excellent example of how neglecting proper infrastructure and transit causes lots of problems. The city, for example, refuses to build any sort of LRT or rapid bus transit. Given how large this city is that's quite strange. Nearby Region of Waterloo has already built an LRT of their own and the Region of York near Toronto has developed mass bus rapid transit. Even historically London has failed at developing infrastructure, they turned down provincial funding to build a freeway back in the 1960s and because of that they went all in on stroads, furthering the problem.
I do appreciate North America though. "Let's call this place London"... "Okay"... "And this can be Oxford"... "Yep, this is a good theme we've got going, what's next?"... "Wonderland".... "Perfection".
I just bought the books Strong Towns, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, The High Cost of Free Parking, Walkable City, The Smart Growth Manual, Crabgrass Frontier, Big Box Swindle, and a few others. This is so fascinating to me.
I have no interest in becoming an engineer or city planner but for some reason, this has become my favorite channel over the past year. Love your content, keep it up.
From watching your videos and Strong Town's, I think one of the biggest problems with our road design is the clear zone. It encourages people to drive faster, creates a nice clear space for a car to fly off the road into a pedestrian or cyclist, and wastes a lot of space. We won't be able to build proper streets again until the current clear zone requirements are removed.
@@interesting9688 A row of trees in between the street and the bicycle lane/sidewalk is definitely a plus. Not only do they provide shade against sunlight or rain, but they also protect the vulnerable traffic from the cars, as well as inducing the car traffic to drive slower.
You and eco gecko changed my entire life lol I'll never see the world the same way again. I always just had the feeling that something was wrong, and now being able to pinpoint what's wrong feels amazing.
Same, I've always had a feeling something was off, I've always found it nicer being in other places where I could move on my own and always found it kinda depressing returning home afterwards but i never knew why and watching these videos makes me realise there is a good chance it's because of personal freedom, something i get elsewhere and the freedom i don't have at home Like at home despite being an adult i have no freedom, public transport straight up doesn't even exist here, it is impossible to leave this town without a car (it's a shame, it's small enough it wouldn't even be that bad on the walkability scale if you could at least leave without a car), versus in other places I've stayed for some days on trips while also very car dependent i at least did get some freedom to roam on my own, and while i couldn't explain it i definitely felt the difference Unfortunately knowing about it doesn't help me much, I'm still stuck here and i don't have the money to escape
so that is 25.000$ per meter. the cheapest estimate I have seen so for for streets for cars was 5.000€. The most expansive I have seen for bikepaths (you know the really good ones) was 100 €.
To be fair, and working in bike-infrastructure, we used to measure €345 per meter (including engineering etc) as a general rule and that number is rising due to increased wages and, at the moment increased costs of construction material. Than again, the same applies to every other type of road, of course.
i grew up in fake london too and now am a urban planner/pedestrian advocate in boston. on one hand it was nice to get an update on my hometown, but on the other hand terrified by hearing the mere possibility of widening wonderland rd (also lol at the sidewalk widths basically staying the same). i also commend you and your bravery by attempting to cross that monstrosity of a stroad!
Was fan of the channel since it has only a few thousand subs. Glad to see it grow and become more popular. Very informative. Perspective changing videos.
Tried riding my bike to work the other day (24km) spent 10km on stroad gutters and 14km on the side of the highway. Can not believe I am still alive really disappointed that is the only option as I try to reduce car dependency in my life . Thank you for your informative videos and hopefully we in Canada can figure out how to build nicer cities
The guy that used to ride to my work got hit by cars like 7 times in a few years and had his arm broken twice during that time. He was only once delibrately rammed that he knows of. This is why I don't ride to work :(
@@Commander_ZiN This is so sad . We live in a society where people feel invisible behind the wheel I hope to find alternative routes but any I have found are more bike gutters and the ride climbs from 24- 35 km . Stay safe out there and remember to have your voice heard when development is proposed
@@derekmiskiman1847 I live in Australia, it's a lot better it seems than other places, except if there's any shared usage areas there's always someone that doesn't show cyclists respect.
@@Aisakdik69 just because not everyone wants to ride or walk, does not mean you shouldn't make it safe for those that do. Less cars on the road is a good thing if you ask me, whether you're a motorist or something else.
This channel, City Beautiful, and a few others have had me thinking, but some of these problems seem hard to unwind - the most rigidly designed suburbs would take decades of gradual redevelopment to reach practical, sustainable densities, a lot of stroad sections seem terminally stroad-like. Some of the stroads in my city have sections that could be turned into road sections by cutting off a handful of turnoffs but some sections are too stroad-y to become streets, with large set backs and massive parking lots. I've seen a lot of content on how to fix highly urban stroads, roads, and streets, and but nothing on what we do about terminally stroad-like stroads and suburbs.
It's never going to be easy, but with respect to parking lots and setbacks, consider these shops in Fake London: maps.app.goo.gl/z91YwuuMRRirLqtz8 This is not a good development, because the shops still face into the parking lot, but it gives you an idea of how you could turn the stroad into a street. Beyond that, pick up the book "The Sprawl Repair Manual". It's great.
Here in Sweden buses have the right of way, so when they blink to leave a bus stop traffic from behind must stop to let them. And we have special bus lanes and even bus only streets. I would love too see a video about optimizing public transportation.
A lot of places in the UK have bus only lanes, and people tend to let them go anyway because bus = crushed car if you don't let them. Bus drivers tend to have no fucks lol. We have a few guided bus roads too but most of them just share the same road and lanes as all the other traffic. More and more cities are implementing more mass transit like trams too but the car is still king in most places. We built a LOT of motorways in the 60's and 70's (I'm sure Secretaries of State for Transport who owned road building companies had nothing to do with that... especially nothing to do with the axing of 2/3 of the railways under the Beeching Axe... nope, can't be anything to do with that).
Seems as though every "solution to the problem" is mired in politics and a constant bias against rapid transit. Governments of all levels are made of wealthy people who drive cars.
Yep. Here in California, Governor “Gabby Nuisance” just vetoed two bills that would’ve made walking and biking safer and easier. One would have legalized the so-called “Idaho stop” that lets bikes treat stop signs as yield signs. The other would have decriminalized jaywalking. Both vetoed by a guy that gets chauffeured everywhere in a limo and has probably never even touched a bike, let alone ridden one.
And I bet they are chauffeured, so the politicians sit back in their Mercedes Benz or whatever, while the poor chauffeur has to endure sitting in that long traffic from their mansion to the capitol building.
I just wanted to say that I am very glad to have found this channel. Prior to discovering this and subsequently adam something and a few others, I honestly had not really thought much about city and road layouts at all. It's one of the few channels that has dramatically reshaped my thinking of a basic element of every day life, so just wanted to say thanks.
That's great to hear! I really wish I had learned all of this earlier myself. Be sure to check out City Beautiful, Eco Gecko, RMTransit, and Alan Fisher, too.
@@NotJustBikes these kinds of channels also changed my views on what is going on in Vancouver with bike lanes a bit. However, being an adult with real world experience, I remain apprehensive. These projects depend on two crucial factors. 1. Trust that the final vision will result in something actually better, and is not just a "we built you a bunch of bike lanes, leave us alone now". And 2. That vision will be actually realized. However, I fear we'll just end up with a bunch of missing car lanes, a bunch of disjointed bike lanes no one cares to use, and little alternative transportation options, leaving us worse than when we started. Becauss that's how these things go.
Funny thing is that our busses in the Netherlands have a lot od dedicated bus lanes, where it's illegal to drive your own private car. + there are special static or moving barries to prevent ppl (ab)using the bus lanes. Thus lowering the chance the bus get's stuck in traffic...because it doesn't share the same traffic lane.
@@NotJustBikes might as well just make it a regular lane and have a high speed limit, it would move the same amount of people. The problem is not the individual masses of cars, but the very low speed limits. pedestrians and cyclists don't need to cross such large fast highways, with dedicated barriers and crossing lanes etc. tunnels and bridges are better and safer.
@@anarchyorslavery1616 America's city speed limits are already really high and cause a lot of accidents and deaths, so the solution is to... make them even higher?
Growing up in New York City I was allowed by the time I was 13 to navigate the city by myself and with friends by walking or public transportation. Biking in NYC is still not as safe as is should be. Many strides have been made but I gave up biking to my job which is just two miles away because it became too stressful. For now, walking the city is the best alternative to cars and public transportation.
Seems like a solution could be actually take away one of the lanes for dedicated transit (and maybe protect the bike lane in the process). People would lose their mind about it though, induced demand is such a hard concept for people to grasp. They'll say "nobody takes the bus we already have!", but that's solved by induced demand too. A good (dedicated line) transit system would be nicer to use.
Hi there , I grew up on that awful stretch of wonderland, I never knew anything other than sirens and car accidents at riverside and wonderland, I’m so glad the city decided to not widen.
We have the same problem in Germany. 5 years ago, i moved from my hometown Kassel (200 000 pop.) to Bremen (500 000 pop.). City structure in germany is strongly shaped by how the cities were affected by WW2 bombings. And Kassel is probably the worst example of how to rebuild a city. It´s exactly like in "Fake London", everything is build around cars. In fact, the city was so badly destroyed that the entire structure was rebuilt differently, which resulted in the city looking completely different after the war than before. Kassel has also the same traffic issues like you described it, on every rush hour there is MASSIVE traffic jam. Public traffic is just awful, always too late, many times cancelled and are overloaded with people. Bremen on the other hand (many northern german cities too) is very similar to dutch street design. I lived on a street that looks almost like in 5:12, with 2 car lanes, a tram in the middle, and a safe bike lane. And it works so much better! The annoying thing about car-centerd cities is not that they car centered, but that people there seem to be the most passionate car drivers and won´t accept any change in street design. Especially generations older than 40 are completely reluctant, and in germany - THE country of cars - a huge part of the economy relies on that. A contradiction that is not easy to solve.
Most german cities are car friendly but not car dependent, that means you have the alternative not use a car. Kassel is even one of the more transport friendly cities as having not just a tram network but also tramtrains for the region around. The Country of cars kept more public rail transit than any other western country (im excluding the east), Germany is just bad in rebuilding the networks and lines which were lost. The problem with the so called "change" most local politicans want to sell is, that they purely focus on cheap things like putting flower pods on street parking spaces or paint on the streets for bus lanes but on the necessary things like building expensive infrastructure. Even if a project is clearly able to federal founding, they delaying like hell because they fear losing voters when messing with the nimbys. Forcing drivers to accept flower pods on parking spaces makes it harder to get those lanes back that used to be tramlanes or to get a trainline back in service that could mean waiting at a level crossing.
The eye-opening thing for me about a cycling trip in the Netherlands was that they even have great cycling infrastructure in the countryside! Nice safe routes where you can bike peacefully along to the next town, without worrying about getting smashed by a car. I'm so sad that this really doesn't exist in Ontario. There's good choice of hiking trails now, in many parts of Ontario. But very few rural places to bike. Especially not with a kid.
There are people pushing back against reconnecting my hometown to the regional tram network... saying if we need a tram we'll also need a yacht harbour on our tiny river People don't know what's good for them sometimes
I gotta say, I love your videos and I wish everyone in the US and Canada would see ALL of them. THIS is the kind of thing we should be teaching in Social Studies classes in high school. If everyone coming out of school had a good grasp of city planning and how the car-dependent paradigm is terrible for everyone, getting public support for transit and other modes of transportation. Honestly - I own a car and I drive, but only because I feel like I have to. I hate having to spend money buying and maintaining cars, I hate having to drive to get places [because feels super unsafe when I'm sleep deprived, feeling shitty, etc, or just during rush hour, and I know it really is unsafe], I hate having to worry about where I'm going to park, I hate how isolating it is [you can strike up a conversation on transit or walking, but in a car? nope], I hate how terrible it is for the planet, and most of all I hate how the city planning decisions of the past and present [strongly influenced by the damn automobile companies, now that's a conflict of interest if there ever was one] force me and everyone else into it. If I can just walk, cycle, or get on a bus/train, then I do. It feels so much healthier and safer, every single time. I couldn't tell you how many interesting conversations I've had (and friends I've made) taking public transit or walking, it's a great way to connect with people while you're going about your day-to-day life. At no point have I felt my life was in danger on public transit to the same degree I have while driving. The fact of the matter is, even if you're afraid of strangers for some reason (and you shouldn't be - treat them with care and respect and in 99.99% of cases you will have a positive interaction) you're not in nearly as much danger around them as you are on the road. Everyone around you when you're on the road is driving what is basically a deadly weapon. The same can't be said when you're on a train. Oh, and if you're super worried about COVID, there are ways to protect yourself above and beyond your standard mask. You could wear an (admittedly probably doomed to be large and bulky) actively powered "mask" that passes the air through the output of a UVC sterilising lamp, for example, which will destroy any viral particles trying to pass through - if that kind of mask isn't for sale, there's nothing stopping you from building one. It's still going to cost far less than a car, and although it might be a little bit uncomfortable / get you some funny looks, you sure as heck won't get sick. Alternatively, you could wear a valveless respirator with cartridge filters, which will also get you funny looks but definitely keep you safe.
I always felt the main reason for Stroads in smaller cities is highways. People run into too much traffic on the highway and decide to cut through the "backstreets" as a faster option. So the city gets more through traffic, decides to build more roads, wider roads etc. Making the city an even more desirable bypass to the highway system and so on. Thus you get roads like the one in the video. Thousands of people use it every day, most of them likely from out of city.
For people that compulsively read signage: LCBO is Liquor Control Board of Ontario (maybe comparable to bevmo but definitely the thing you're looking for if you want spirits)
@@fnyquist8779 yes in Ontario you buy booze only from the LCBO. Beer you usually get at the Beer store but recently they've finally started selling beers in some grocery stores.
Why do Canadians invest so much in car infrastructure, when it snows for half the year. This makes drive ng insanely dangerous and the frost pretty much fucks up road infrastructure.
I live in Europe, way, way more north than the Londons and Torontos of southern Canada. I would never take my bike anywhere outside of the warmest, driest months of the year. It's either walking, or taking the bus, subway, tram or train. I really don't think a bicycle is a good way to move around in cold and snowy countries. Then again, I hated driving in the winter months, too. Maybe an e-bike with really wide tires could do the trick.
Because people can idol their cars on a timer before they leave for work, and their cars are so warm and potect them from a blizzard! Even heated seats that keep you so very cozy as you squint through the storm trying to glimpse the car ahead of you! God forbid I have to put a scarf on properly before I go to work in the morning in the Great White North. Proper winter attire is for snowmobilers or something... Idk.
I've been pleasantly surprised that over the past ten years, the city planners have chosen to narrow the main street through our downtown area, reduce the speed limit, widen sidewalks, and add bike lanes (some protected, some not), benches, better pedestrian crossings, and other nice things for people who aren't in cars. All the businesses along the street claimed they would immediately go out of business but until the pandemic hit, the restaurants and shops were doing just fine and it's so much more pleasant to walk and even drive through there.
As someone from a town surrounding London, it brings me joy every time I hear it have the piss taken out of it. As someone currently living in Ottawa, I'd love to hear a take on the new plan to promote walkable neighbourhoods and if there's really anything of substance there. Great video as always!
A massive stroad very similar to this exists near where I live. It also has a bus line that nobody uses, interestingly. After watching many of your videos, I have thought a lot about what I could do to help improve it someday. This video helped me a great deal with that process. Thank you for putting out such excellent, thoughtful, and engaging content.
I will have to start using that phrase, Complete Strods! This is so accurate. I live in Cambridge MA and just came across the other day a new redevelopment project of a stroad in the nearby town of Watertown. A complete stroad is exactly what they are going to make of it but I think the reason here is that it's designed by the state DOT. The right adjacent stretch of the same exact road which is in Cambridge jurisdiction is also being redesigned to be a real complete street, with separated bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes etc. Such a trivial and obviously needed design for the whole stretch but such a poor and sad outcome.
At least the Cambridge part is doing it right. If you're lucky, someone responsible for that project will one day be with the state DOT, to avoid future failures.
A few words on this. 2:10 I have to be honest if that is what rush hour looks like I don't really see why the road needs to be widened, yeah it's busy, but nowhere near the state that I would think more lanes is necessary. 2:27 and 2:51 where the heck would the city even get the space to put two more car lanes and keep everything else, like the bicycle gutter and the sidewalk at that section of the road, will the people that have homes/buildings there need to give up some of their front yard in order for sidewalks to be put on them? Or will they be stepping right into the bike gutter when they step out of their house? 5:45 same question here, where would the new car lanes go? They already got rid of the bike gutter so at least they don't need to worry about that, are they just going to replace the bridge just to create more room or dig some tunnels into the base of the bridge and the dirt it's sitting on? There is a lot of traffic but nowhere near as much that you need to give them more room, just give something like 1/3 of those people other options and that alone should reduce the traffic to more manageable numbers. 0:59 I was trying to think about what the equivalent of that freedom feeling would be for a kid growing up in the Netherlands and I suppose to closest thing that comes to it is when they get a scooter? But even then, scooters don't give you any more mobility and freedom than a bike does, so there is nowhere near the same amount of excitement, anywhere that your scooter can get you your bike was able to get you, the scooter just allows you to get there faster. So I would say the real closest thing is when the child is around 10-12 years old when they are allowed to bike pretty much everywhere in their neighborhood/city without supervision. So Dutch children get that freedom and that excitement that 16 year olds get when they get their license much earlier in life
The plan involved buying (and bulldozing) several properties, though yes, some people would just lose their front yard. The rail bridge would need to be replaced and that was part of the cost estimate. And yeah, the traffic is really not that bad, and it's confined to about one hour of the day, but Fake London will bend over backwards to service the desires of the middle-class white collar worker who commutes 9 to 5.
@@NotJustBikes Of course bulldozing homes is the solution, something that didn't even cross my mind but for car centric places like this is just the cost of doing business.
@@NotJustBikes I really do no like to take Wonderland and thankfully I rarely have to. It is the only serious way to get from North to South in that area and Wharncliffe and Hyde Park can be just as bad. Similarly Oxford from Richmond to Wonderland gets ugly in rush hour but pleasant at most other times. The only real solution is a proper isolated mass transit system.
It looks okay when it's moving. It's at its ugliest around 5 when you have to wait through a couple lights to get through some of the more congested intersections.
@@kristenl2367 So the road can handle the traffic, but the lights get in the way of it being done efficient? In that case it seems like the problem is the lights and possible lack of communication between them to get a lot of traffic going at once. Which to me seems like a much more cost effective and efficient solution.
Are there other examples of cities that managed to turn these car sewers into good streets? And are there any temporary measures that can be done to improve the situation? Since physically removing lanes, adding trees, density etc. takes time and needs bigger investment.
I'm currently in Tallinn and the stroad situation here is really bad. They go straight to city center, 3-4 lanes each direction. Cars are going fast, crossing them is dangerous and walking around feels stressful. So I'm wandering what are the options for fixing this in practice :)
This! Around here, the department of transportation sets up trucks firing high-powered strobe lights and it replacing all the traffic lights so they'll have flashing lights enfilading the whole stroad. I have to take longer and longer detours to get anywhere.
My city is widening a street... to put in bike lanes! Its a tiny little stretch and it really doesn't lead anywhere significant. But I think it's a step in the right direction, possibly. It certainly shows that more people are rethinking this whole "car" thing.
Having a 6 lane road without dedicated bus lanes looks so weird. Also slapping a bike lane directly at this road instead of the "sidewalk" and to see people actually cycling there is mindblowing.
The only time I used the bus every day was in high school. It took an hour to get to school by bus or 5 minutes by car. So actually the bus was creating more pollution than the car by being totally inefficient. The bus route was the problem, not the bus. Thank you for reading my boring comment.
@@neutrino78x 1: are you cgp grey 2: electric cars have a MASSIVE carbon footprint, they just produce it before they actually hit the road. Building electric cars, particularly their batteries, is devastating to the environment
Yeah, the freedom to only have mobility through expensive car ownership. I'd rather pay the taxes, cause than I dont need the car and can actually choose the form of transportation I want.
Also, Public Transit in London, On. is one of the most frustrating things. I actively stopped working in London to work in a small town because I didn't want to deal with London anymore.
Growing up in the U.S. I remember watching the news and being taught to fear public spaces and public transportation because it is where I could be robbed. I was taught that having a car kept me safe and "free" But since leaving the U.S. I see that I was lied to!! Public transportation is great and public spaces are great! I just can't convenience anyone else. They all are looking after #1 thinking cars are safer and "freer". It's going to take a lot to change the culture of the U.S. but I'm here for it! Great video!! Love your stuff!!
@@LSJR1738 then you could get a cab or Uber... Or knowing you'll be out late you could drive yourself... Who says that implementing public transportation will get rid off cars? It's not a battle against cars it's opening up the possibilities of transportation. (ua-cam.com/video/uxykI30fS54/v-deo.html) Where I live in the U.S. the only possible way to get around is by car and it causes enormous traffic problems. I once locked my keys in my car here and I was stranded with no buses or reliable foot paths to get me home. I had to get an Uber to go from my locked car, to my house, and back to my locked car because there was no other way. All I'm saying It'd be nice to have more than one mode of transportation. So, when you're out late at night you don't have to take the bus... But at least you'd have the choice to. I understand your concern, it can be dangerous to be alone at night. Thank you for your reply!!
Just want you to know that you have had the biggest impact on the way I think in the last year. I always disliked driving and felt unsafe, but I assumed something was just wrong with me until I started watching your vids.
![The Wrong Way to Set Speed Limits [ST06]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bglWCuCMSWc/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm sad to say that a lot of Americans and Canadians watched this video and totally missed the point. I mentioned the solution to this problem, but went over the heads of a lot of viewers, because North Americans are not used to thinking about the role of public transit in a city. I talked about this at the end, but it clearly wasn't obvious enough for some people to "get it", so I've made a follow-up video that explains this much more explicitly: ua-cam.com/video/MnyeRlMsTgI/v-deo.html
In short, to fix this problem, you need a good transit plan _and_ a good land-use plan.
That's actually a really great point brought up at the start of the video: unless you have a car of your own, growing up in car-hell suburbia _would_ be incredibly isolating, so _of course_ getting a car would have this enormous attachment to personal freedom and empowerment. No wonder so many Americans and Canadians are so opposed to anything that makes them feel that one thing that gives them freedom of choice in how they move around is being restricted or removed, even if the thing being proposed directly improves the quality of their driving experience.
Yes. I think this would be a very interesting topic for a video, or maybe a longer form interview with an expert on thee subject.
in the same manner one can feel attached to a gun if the enviroment one lives in is violent. However, without violence it is no longer needed
This exactly!
It's like public transportation fatalism..."we've been doing this for years & it's all we know so it's what we're mentally comforterble with & anything that goes against that makes us shiver."
I wish it was more viable to bike in American cities. I felt a comparable sense of freedom from being able to get around my city without my car. Felt like so many more possibilities open up.
As an American, while I'm completely on board with the ideas of walkable cities, public transport, and improved urban planning in the way that JNB advocates... I still feel that mentality about cars nagging at me.
In my particular case, I grew up in an abusive home and had few friends or neighbors, so getting a car was my first opportunity to leave my home for something that isn't school.
That freedom was incredibly important to me, and I may not have survived my situation without it. For someone like me, it's genuinely anxiety inducing to imagine being less car reliant.
But... It doesn't make sense for people as a whole, or the world, for everyone to be reliant on such. My car and its insurance are a significant expense I can never let go of because it's required for me to stay employed. It's required for me to have access to amenities and shops and really anything in town.
Letting go of the car mentality is hard, and I'm not truly there yet. Part of this battle will absolutely be convincing people even to just consider alternatives.
I come from a developing nation
and it's sad to see other developing nations build car infrastructure and following the footsteps of North America instead of learning from their mistakes and prioritizing alternative modes of transport
Actually building a freeway network is a good start, but the next step should be to build a transit network. For the record North American countries built their trains first.
@@KRYMauL I would disagree with you in that public transit infrastructure is cheeper and therefore should be prioritized before cars as car infrastructure would encourage car use and then once transit infrastructure is put in place no one (few people) will be using it.
@@KRYMauL The US is now in a tough spot because it doesn't make economical sense to build rail because the labor and land accusation cost is too high.
Prioritizing roads is the worst thing a developing country could do
@@jettbridger2358 Sure but the main two reasons to justify building either is military and exporting goods. The US destroyed most of it's transit lines because the companies saw freight as more viable and didn't want to upgrade to high speed, so it has the commuter rail that he spoke about in another episode.
Realistically the best strategy is to use toll roads to build a bullet train network.
@@KRYMauL Have you ever heard of freight trains? They can carry way more cargo than a highway. Roads are bad. We didn’t have cars and roads in 1870 and shit was booming back then.
I never understood why "jaywalking" was such a huge issue in America. I was literally too European to understand.
i love how passive aggressive these videos are
Canadian rage mode. :) "Hey there fellow!"
@@AB-wf8ek Do not dare to contradict the checkmark, you pawn! See how many likes he has?
@@AB-wf8ek he is being shitty to thoose of us that like are cars and want to keep them
car centric system work for the majority because no public transportion system will every be as efficient as cars for going where people want to go
a car you do not have to wait before get on and you are not resticted to how many people travel with you or what you can buy
you are not as depend as walking or biking on the weather
@@AB-wf8ek this video not so much, but some other videos are noticeably demeaning/aggressive towards people or things he dislikes. E.g. on the loud cars video there's a segment as follows at 15:25 - (with B roll of a guy in a convertible])
"In order to avoid be too one-sided here, what are some of the arguments against banning loud vehicles from our cities?"
(speaking as if he's the convertible guy) "Me like car go vroom vroom!" [makes farting noise]
You might say that's just aggressive, minus the passive, but there are plenty of other instances like that one which are more wink-wink/subtle
@@brucenadeau2172 did you miss his graphic on hourly capacity? Public transit is dramatically more time efficient, cost effective and convenient for everyday life in population centers. Cars should simply fill in the gaps that aren't covered by a transit network, or where there isn't enough density to support one in rural areas. Not Just Bikes might not like cars but he's never said they shouldn't exist. Saying there shouldn't be as many lanes on a road doesn't equate to saying we should bulldoze our street grids.
I lived in a suburb in Florida and was shocked to hear that the communities protested against public transit being put in their areas because they claimed it would devalue their property ... SMH
Americans ☕ SIPS TEA
"This street carries almost 3 times as many people... while also being better in every way."
Yeah, that about sums it up.
North Americans: *Sad Car noises* :^(
@@cameron7938 Europeans: *superior bike chime noises*
Yeah, but those people aren't riding around in personally climate controlled 7-ton pedestrian death machines. Two points if you hit a granny!
Kind of an apples to oranges comparison. What's the population density like between the two areas being compared?
@@forresthodge1024 It doesn’t matter. London wanted to increase the size of the road because of the “crippling traffic” so obviously it’s dense enough to where the increased throughput of a normally designed street and not a strode would matter
"This woman is casually crossing with a cup of coffee in her hand, while I had to sprint across Wonderland road to avoid dying...." That line was hilarious to me. It's all true! What an utterly ridiculous situation that living in North American suburbia puts us in.
The first time i went to canada, those stroads made me go nuts. Looked on google maps, saw teh shops weren't far and.. as i do home, i go walking.. finding a non lethal place to cross took me more time than if i had gone by car. it's madness. Nobody even thinks about humans when doing city planning. they seem to only be interested in cars.
@@neutrino78x Notice the photo you sent is all residential. This is how North American suburbia is designed 100%. Sprawling residential neighborhoods become private islands of relative walkability with all commercial spaces completely separated along main roads that are essentially only accessible by car. The fact that you aren't "supposed to cross the road by foot" is exactly the problem. That's why North American suburbia sucks.
It doesn't matter how walkable your neighborhood is if there is nothing in your neighborhood worth walking to.
@@neutrino78x I am shocked that a person such as yourself has found their way on a Not Just Bikes video. It's not worth my time explaining the sheer lunacy of justifying North American urban design when if you just watch the videos on this channel, every point you have made will be talked about.
Electric vehicles are the solution...That's almost comical. Please read a book.
@@neutrino78x cross the street to... where? the businesses are zoned so far away from houses that there is nowhere to walk or bike to. walking to your friend's house is not a measure of walkability
Everything he says is true. Southwestern Ontario sucks. Kitchener-Waterloo is as bad as this, if not worse. What an awful place to live. Moved there for a job for a few years and hated every minute.
I love videos that dunk on London because I lived in this city for so long that it was the reason I moved to "high walk score" areas after living here.
I grew up in Sarnia. Trust me, there's worse than London.
Big up good city design! (also love your videos, the energy you have in them has lead to some great memories for me. And I respect the direction you've taken towards content recently, thank you for your hard work!)
@@DustinOutCamping I grew up in Stratford. Trust him; he speaks the truth.
Haha 'dunk on' 😄. Perfect phrasing, you played high school basketball didn't you?
Seeing this comment hit me with so many emotions at once
"A developed country isn’t a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation." -Gustavo Petro
That sounds clever. But, its not really true. That would make the United States, Canada, and Great Britain not developed.
@@Sewblon That's the point.
@@Sewblon I believe that’s the point
As a 22 year old blue collar worker, America's car dependency has pretty much ruined my life this past month. I still live with my parents, and for the first 2 years straight out of high school I started working, all I did was save money, I had about $20,000 to my name. But then my car broke down and I had to buy a new one, that put my down to about $10k in my account. A year later, which was around a month ago as of today, I was pulling out of work, traffic was crazy and I got T-boned, luckily no one was hurt, but my car was totaled. I only had around $12k at the time, even though it had been a year since I bought the car, I had picked up some expensive hobbies over the course of that year. So this past weekend I got a pretty good deal on a car, considering how inflated the economy is right now, the car I got a year ago for $10k would cost double that right now. The new car put me down to about $2,500, I had it for a few days, parking it on the street like I always do since there's no room in the driveway, keep in mind I live in a suburb with pretty wide roads. Well this morning, five days after I bought the car, a woman hit my car while it was parked in front of my house on the street, claiming "the sun was in her eyes." I was frustrated but I stayed calm and got in touch with my insurance company AGAIN, who still haven't payed me for my last car that was totaled. I made sure to get coverage on the new car the day I bought it, I set it up using my insurance companies app. Well apparently it somehow didn't go through the system, and when I called my insurance company to file a claim, they told me the car wasn't covered, low and behold, I check the app and it doesn't show that my new car is covered. So I'm probably going to have to pay for the damages out of my own pocket. So in short, thanks to America's car dependency, I went from $20,000 to completely broke in the matter of a year, and all my hopes of having enough to get my own place, and move out of my parents house finally, have completely gone out the window for the time being.
Hey. Shouldn't the one who caused the accident pay for the damages?
Move to Poland for a year or two. You can just go from an office to an office and spend an hour talking with other people in English for money. It's almost no effort for you and good money.
@@neutrino78x This is a ridiculous argument. There are factors other than cost that determines how good a university is. The #5 university, Oxford, costs much less than something like CalTech, yet the latter is ranked #9. And university rankings are meaningless because it's entirely down to what your major is. If you're a comp sci person, then it's MIT or Caltech. If you're trying to get into film school, then it's a whole different list of candidates like USC, UCLA, or CalArts. You're trying to take a multi-faceted issue with varying factors and trying to condense it down into what you think is a gotcha moment against, I presume, what you believe to be a socialism discussion. And the thread OP person is broke. How will listing a number of Ivy League schools with giant tuition requirements that will chain them with student loans for the rest of their lives help them in any way?
@@player400_official(making this comment more so as info for people who aren't from the US. Using my best knowledge as someone who lives here, so anyone who knows better please feel free to correct any points, I think I have the general idea correct though.)
You would think this would always be the case, but this is yet another thing the US falls short on and it's pretty awful considering we're a car centric place. If a driver hits you and they don't have insurance, they basically get a smack on the wrist from the cops and your own insurance company is responsible for covering your car IF you have "uninsured motorist coverage." Not everyone has this coverage, because most people try to save money on their insurance and end up screwing themselves. There are also loads of car insurance companies out there that are infamous for basically refusing the pay for a victim's vehicle in the event one of their customers damages their vehicle. Your options with these sort of situations pretty much become suing the person who damaged your vehicle, which costs money, and has a chance of not succeeding.
To put it shortly, the TLDR, in the US the government nor your insurance company has any true obligation to actually protect you in the event someone destroys your vehicle. There isn't really any protections in place for victims of things like this. People tend to just get screwed. Car insurance in the US is basically a giant scam.
@@neutrino78x Because everybody has to have an education that sets them up to make them one of the greatest minds of our generation? Why? There are plenty of universities around the world covered by their government's subsidy or low cost loans that still provide you a good education that'll get you started and prepared for the field that you choose to go into, which is the purpose of a uni. As long as you're going to an institution that's reputable and you don't get a shit teacher, which would still be a possibility for some of the
"greatest" universities out there, they'll be doing them probably at the same rate - with the differences being that the reputation of these schools kind of pre-selects certain types of people, thus making the whole reputation thing kinda cyclical.
Like, not everybody needs to be an Einstein or the next Marie Curie, and not everybody wants to be them because actually getting to that level is stressful as shit and in part determined by your childhood and your capability to take in that information.
Not Just Bikes is the goat
These are the crossovers I look for. ┌(・。・)┘♪
Right behind you and occ😍
Totes
I knew I recognized who was voice over quoting in the video ;)
Sheesh it's just a goat party in here who let the rams out??
I didn't see Alice or the White Rabbit. I think they got run over.
They were in their f150 going 30 over the posted limit
I was wondering if you could talk about Stevenage in the UK in a future video, the place that built dedicated bike paths while not giving residents a reason to get out of their cars. The six lane project really reminds me of that.
I ate a fish and I think I’m dead now
@@zokpls8712 Yeah, if you look closely at 10:28 you can spot them.
@@peterbelanger4094 No one shits on America more than America.
The part of this video that stuck out to me the most was that the street in Amsterdam wasn't like that just because everything's left over from medieval times in Europe or whatever. It was a recent, concerted effort by city authorities to make the place more livable. It seems like the standard defense against better urban design in North America is that America is somehow fundamentally different, and that it couldn't work here. This goes to show that that defense doth butter no parsnips - we could easily be doing this, so why the hell aren't we?
To be clear, I'm definitely not saying that there aren't aspects of American city design that are obstacles to improvement, e.g. low population density making it difficult to justify the cost of projects like this. But it's not an intractable problem - there is demand for this type of living, and we can take the first steps now.
Why does North America urban design have to be exactly like Europe? Why so much bias?
Starting with the Millennial generation and for every generation thereafter, young Americans will be interested in living arrangements that are more humble and affordable, but also still allow for human dignity (not a concrete box in the sky). Urban people genuinely want apartments with thick enough walls so they don't hear their neighbors, and preferably higher ceilings so it still feels spacious. This allows for population density with dignity, and reduces energy costs. The thicker walls insulate in winter and the higher ceilings cool the place in summer.
The fundamental difference is that the US economy is too dominated by megastores, Amazon, and the like. Cities could turn all their congested 6-lane stroads into paralyzed 2-lane streets and build the perfect walkable mixed-use retail/residential neighborhoods, but it wouldn't matter; those new retail spaces will sit empty because everyone's still driving to Wal-Mart to save $5 on their Made in China lamps or whatever.
@@anarchyorslavery1616 Nobody is saying it has to be, they're saying they should take notes from what happens over that side of the world because by and large, it actually works. Car, tyre and fuel companies had far, far, FAR too much sway over politics after the war in the US and Canada which lead to the massive dependance on cars and why so many cities and towns are built exclusively around them. There's also a stigma of public transport that it's for "poor people", classism is a very real thing in the US. Someone barely scraping by has an inflated view of themselves compared to someone doing slightly worse than they are because that's how they've been told they have to think. The "Got mine, fuck you" mentality.
@@TalesOfWar but public transport really sucks no matter where you go around the world. And it's not like you can just build a hypertrain station out in rural areas that would never work the US is already 29 trillion in debt
My father fought in World War II, drove a motor vehicle for his first and only time, then hit by a mortar, shot three times. He never got a drivers license, he walked, he ran, biked and road buses and trains everywhere his entire life. His example gave me the courage to follow in his footsteps. I started bike touring when I was 14 and it was amazing and liberating, it was all I wanted to do so I graduated high school and toured the US for starters. Unlike my father I have a drivers license and a small car but 50 years later I still put more miles on my bikes each year than I do my car and I can out climb most 30 year olds. Makes me feel sorry for all those unhealthy drivers, they miss out on on so much quality of life experiences you can’t get all comfy sitting in a car with the heater on
@@emenesu Electric kick scooter or gas scooter? Gas scooters are really fucking fun and electric scooters are only ok (the insane >1000w ones are really fun). If your only experience with electric kick scooters is with rental ones than you should know they limit speed and acceleration to make them feel as boring as possible, to discourage fucking around.
@@Cobalt985 .. "Razor a6" normal kick scooter is as fast as bicycle, really, or save energy and coast more. 15 miles per hour, no one should need to go more than 15 miles, but let's ignore solution and keep demanding a billion dollar subway I love white yuppies so dumb
My guy, its a video about roads. Tf are you doing starting a comment with "My dad fought in WWll"
Epiphany: Cars only give Freedom in Cities built like Prisons
Whenever the position is expressed that cars give people freedom, it must be asked what freedom the car affords. The freedom to escape being stuck in the suburbs isn't a freedom people in car-independent cities need, they're already in walking distance of everything they need on a daily and weekly basis.
Imagine being so free that your only sensible option to get around is to buy an expensive hunk of metal that will lose its value the moment you drive it out of the garage, help you get fatter and fatter, and will make sure you spend gas, insurance, maintenance for all the time you have it. FREEDOM!
Biking definitely gave me such a freeing feeling in the city. Opened up so many places that were slightly too far away to regularly visit by foot, and annoying to get there and park with a car. I wish more people realize that being able to feasibly choose transportation that makes sense for the journey is way more freeing than defaulting to the car for everything.
As I've said before, I enjoy having the freedom to not to have to drive. Car-dependency is the opposite of freedom.
@@Noah-dy8ii freedom has always been about those who can afford it for them. Also see having a lawyer to sue people.
One thing I’ve observed on my bike is the number of people who turn in front of me or pass me by and floor the gas pedal, as if they have something to prove.
I’ve lived in Southern California my whole life. My Dad had a two hour commute. My wife has an hour and a half commute. I have an hour commute. We all hate it, but honestly I thought there were just too many people, and it couldn’t be avoided. This is until I found this channel. This channel has completely changed my outlook on everything. I even bought the Strong Towns book. I hope you spend more time creating awareness of the already great content, rather than making more videos (which I do also appreciate) in order to effect change. Thank you for this service.
Good gravy! I've only got a 30-40 minute commute, and still want it shorter. :|
NorCal here. I lived in SoCal for a few years and remember those grueling commutes. Unfortunately, Sacramento is following the LA path of more traffic and suburban sprawl. They have a “vision zero” and “complete streets” plan, but they rely way too much on education and enforcement, and their complete streets plan looks more like what NJB called a complete stroad!
@@AileTheAlien same. 20 mins max for me. Living I'm Albania, everyone used to live near their workplace. Sadly the demolishing of homes for stroads made our towns ugly 😕
The most astonishing thing is that it's not like North America lacks examples of cities with good urbanism. There's NYC, San Francisco, Boston, central Toronto, Montreal, central Vancouver, all of Mexico, and yet for some reason the rest of the US and Canada behave like there's nothing to learn from these places. They are right there, in their very same country!
Take your next vacation to the Netherlands to see what they have for yourself, and your mind will be blown seeing so many people live the good life by bike and foot and transit.
The car at 7:21 is making sure he kills everyone in the bike lane.
That driver is the example that was mentioned earlier of why the bike lanes on the road are suicide
@@UzumakiNaruto_ But one counterpoint I have is these suburbs here have more than enough room for cyclists to use the sidewalk as pedestrian traffic is fairly light, in fact the area I live around has what you exactly described as wide dual use bike/ped mini road. However I always cyclists one the road even if this is available I never understand it and would never ride my bike on the street here. In downtown areas it makes more sense to be on the road understanbly.
But at the end of the day you won't be able to balance these two perfectly and there will always be some compromise.
@@UzumakiNaruto_ My guess is that the people designing that bike lane, the politicians and citizens of the area don't bike anywhere, don't care about it and only do it to do "gReEn iNfRaStRuCtUrE"
Aww cut them some slack. They probably had to look down at their phone to change the song... /s
I once saw someone drive like that, half the car was on the road the other half was on the walkway. Like how could you possibly get a driving license while driving like that???
I like that you gave London, Ontario some kudos for cancelling their planned road construction. I hope members of the city council in London are watching your videos.
I hope all politicians in North America listen to him.
I have finally managed to get my sister who is extremely car dependent hooked on this channel. I saw her watching silently your video about Houston and couldn't imagine how her city (Nairobi) is already in the process of becoming like Houston. The seed of change has been planted. Thanks Not Just Bikes
Don't come in discussion with garbage cities in Africa.Thank you.
im from Texas (one of the most stereotyped american states) and ive been thinking of that stuff for the past year and everyone i knows calls me crazy for it. i hate where i live and i dislike my country all because of the poorly planned infrastructure. i hate driving. i hate transportation here. i want it to end. i want it to change. i want it to be better
same!
I used to watch a video where someone was explaining how your car breaking down could mean you becoming homeless because you cant get to work. I was confused, why not use the bus, train, or metro? Why do you need to drive to work? My Dutch brain couldnt understand untill I saw how car dependend North America was. Lots of people who want car dependency say that owning a car means freedom. How is your car breaking down and you becoming homeless freedom? I'd say that having lots of diffrent options is freedom.
My car broke down a month ago. I’m on my way to becoming homeless.
@@danieldaniels7571 I'm sorry about that. You deserve better transit, having a home shouldn't mean having the obligation to have a car.
@asdfasdf They shouldn't be important, too much attention is put on cars in US society and you suffered because of it.
Sadly it's a mentality that big oil and car manufactures have been happy to push for decades $$$$ + people have car payments to make so they can't miss work or stand-up to shitty conditions etc which makes big business happy
I didn’t choose for our cities to be shit
I live in a European city of about 400k citizens and it was considered quite a car dependent city until very recently. Trams were completely gone until year 2000, and bike lanes weren't a thing if I'm not mistaken. And yet today, there are 5 trams lines, bike lanes just about everywhere, big separated sidewalks are present even along huge roads, and the city isn't done with the "transformation". There are people that still think this city is heavily car dependent (and it is a little, especially if you live far in the outskirts and away from trams since buses are meh around here) but compared to anything in the US/Canada, it is still somehow miles ahead.
Having lived on both ends of this, not unlike you, I can also attest to the fact that even tho I like my car (sort of a petrolhead, sue me lol), it is absolutely far preferable to live somewhere that is built for me, and not for my car.
As a petrol head also, I agree. Building infrastructure centered around people is vastly better than building around cars. I think cars will continue to play a role in society for a long time, even in places where it’s not required, but eventually perhaps they will go the way of horses: used for recreation rather than necessity.
What city is that exactly?!?! If you're comfortable in sharing that is...
@@sm3675 I don’t get why people get uncomfortable sharing cities in the comments, am I missing something?
@@adammiller8133 Problem is once you have a car, and you can afford it you end up using it rather than transit because either the transit is bad or the car is right outside your door so it’s more convenient and you have your private space. In Vancouver city we have pretty good transit but people with cars hardly ever use it.
Cities should charge a tax for owning a car in the city.
I'm also curious what city this is? Should be somewhat anonymous to share it in a city of 400k.
When this is someone's idea of wonderland, I'm amazed things aren't worse than they already are...
Remember, Dubai has enough money and power to do everything... and they decided to bury their coral reefs with sand for small private islands, they filled their country with underpaid foreign workers/ modern slaves and built the highest building in the world on a sandy coast to win a Napoleon- complex- infused weewee- measuring contest.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 Dubai is a parody and microcosm of modern day capitalism. Owners steal labor value from the desperate and poverty stricken working class and use the capital on increasingly garish and ridiculous displays of wealth while destroying the ecosystem and quality of life of the proletariat.
Presumably they tried to make things worse but ran out of money
It is a prophecy. The wonder has still to come. On every full moon it changes a little bit and the cars wiil shrink 1%.
Wonderland, it's when you wonder what the f happened to the land
When I was 15 and living in Houston, people in cars were hostile towards pedestrians and anyone on a bicycle. They acted as if it was their right to run you off the road. A old woman wasn't watching the road, almost destroyed my bike, never mind that I had the right of way... did she apologize? Her reaction? Her: You scared me! WTF? I want more walkable cities, cities that prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation over cars. The American preoccupation with cars as status symbols is toxic.
i use the bike in the stroads, i don't have much problems because i only stay in the right side and i'm almost 14
"Transit should be used as a catalyst to build great places, not as a band-aid on top of
car-dependent infrastructure. The city needs to build high-quality transit with its own right-of-way, and then encourage the development of mixed-used walkable neighbourhoods, around those transit lines."
"Sir, this is a Wendy's..."
It's actually a bubble tea shop now.
@@NotJustBikes "Sir, this isn't a Wendy's anymore..."
"Transit should be used as a catalyst to build great places, not as a band-aid on top of
car-dependent infrastructure. The city needs to build high-quality transit with its own right-of-way, and then encourage the development of mixed-used walkable neighbourhoods, around those transit lines.... with fries"
Just pay for your double latte grande, and move along...
@@NotJustBikes Hey not just bikes there are subway underground crossing in India Kolkata
I live in the US, and I have been so annoying to everyone that knows me, all I have been saying is that the suburbs suck. I always hated the way US was designed, I love cars and building them but the US took that joy away from me, yesterday I was in the car for 6 hours to travel 118 miles because of traffic. I am originally from Iraq, the US is a big upgrade, but we had stores near our houses where we didn't have to get in the car and go get some bread, Europe and Japan are like an upgraded version of Iraq, but hey 40 years of war does that.
A lot of US cities use zoning systems to prevent the building of stores near housing - they aren't allowed in the same part of the city.
Much bad US urban planning has outright malicious historical roots, aimed at maintaining a sufficiently high cost of living to keep the undesirable lower socioeconomic classes out. If the city government makes sure that there is no low-cost housing in the suburbs and you can't leave your house without a car, then there is no risk of icky poor people moving in.
Personally I think building a car would be fun, but they should be taken to a raceway to be driven.
There’s a profound lack of foresight and political will because (many of) the people with any legislative authority benefit from this system. Lobbyists representing fossil fuel and auto manufacturing interests bride politicians to influence policymaking, politicians implement laws mostly benefiting their donors, and the cycle continues. At this point I’m saving money to emigrate from the US as I have next to no optimism this shithole country will ever improve with our present leadership.
I agree with your guys points. I have seen really really bad areas all other US, I remember one time in DC I stopped in CVS parking lot and I swear I couldn't step a foot anywhere without stepping on garbage, the rest of city was same.
If US spent money on public transportation and inner cities so people don't need to spend money on cars, that would improve there everyday life. Almost every adult in household needs to have a car in the US to get anywhere, unless u live in major cities like DC, NYC etc. That's lots of money per household. And it seems like America city plans are being planned by car manufacturers and bankers to have people request for loans.
Also I am not sure about moving to another country, they always say "the grass is greener on other side" but it wouldn't hurt to take long vacation and see if I like it.
@@vylbird8014 broken windows policy. They believe that by simply regulating being poor out of existence they won’t have to see them.
What I've realized recently is that there are times when my gf and I will say "let's go for a hike" and drive over to our nearest park's trailhead...we live in one of the best "outdoor" cities in the US but despite living a mile from a park, we still drive there because the road that runs there is a nightmare to walk along and cross, especially during rush hour.
That's the absurdity of car dependent urban design.
That makes y’all part of the problem
@@danieldaniels7571 they aren't part of the problem, their city planners are. Don't blame them when they have no choice.
@@sudo4598 They have a choice. Only when people actually start walking will city planners have a reason to accommodate them.
@@danieldaniels7571 I wish it were that simple. When the 'wrong' kind of people walk, the powers that be still don't care about safe pavements, crosswalks and the like. After all, *they* still drive, and don't want to be inconvenienced by not having enough lanes, and because we live in a zero-sum world (especially in their world), an extra bike lane or larger pavements would mean less room for their car. I'm afraid there's little use in trying to convince them, and forget about converting them, you need to replace the people in power with someone who does know.
I feel like I should FWD this channel to every single town and city in the entire country.
Speaking as someone who’s been to many a council and board meeting, the politicians will probably be reading their phones and completely ignoring the video. They don’t care because they’re paid to not care. “It’s impossible to get a man to know something when his paycheck depends on him not knowing it.” ~Upton Sinclair
@@ScramJett I guess it's time to vote them out?
@@MrMoon-hy6pn I wish it was as simple as that. Unfortunately, the general rule in American politics is the person with the most money, and/or connections, wins. Case in point, our mayor received $200,000 in campaign contributions from the California Association of Realtors, a major developer lobby, and won the election. Pretty sure it was the backing of developers combined with the cash that did it. Case in point, our previous mayor lost favor with those same developers and got voted out and was replaced with our current mayor. I voted for neither of them because I didn’t think it would make a difference. This is what managed democracy looks like.
Trust me, every city planner out there has been _begging_ their constituencies to do this for decades, if not centuries at this point. It's the politicians who are the biggest holdup usually due to misinformation, misunderstanding, or purely voter influence. It's so, so easy as a politician to attack another candidate over "useless spending" when things don't pan out within 1-2 years.
@@ScramJett also First Past the Post election system pretty much fuels ignorance and corruption in decisions making Your opinion matters less than that you are from the "correct" party US really needs general electoral reform to get more accountability to politics.
"I grew up in a car-infested city called London." - framing cars as an infestation is honestly something I didn't expect lol
I've literally only listened to the first sentence of your video and I just HAD to comment on it because I ADORE the language you use in your script.
And i detest it. Cars are not an infestation. Not everybody wants to live in a city.
@@dandiehm8414 1. Yes they are an infestation
2. If I'm talking about cities, then the fact you don't live in a city is completely irrelevant to what I am saying, genius. Feel free to drive if you live in bumfuck nowhere (although I have a feeling you're talking about living in a suburb 20 miles from the city you drive to work to, which means you absolutely do live in a city if that's the case)
@@dandiehm8414 boohoo, obviously infestation does not apply to the countryside where people have no choice but to use cars
@@dandiehm8414 the vast majority of humans in developed nations live in urban areas, pretending otherwise is silly and statistically false.
@@dandiehm8414 rural towns don't have to be car infested. What do you think they were like before cars?
In some towns in France, instead of widening 4-lane roads to 6-lane roads, they replace 2 of the 4 lanes by bus lanes leaving only one lane per direction for cars…and most of the time…it has reduced congestion !
The other solution I saw was to widen the road to six lanes to accommodate one lane for buses in each direction (so cars still have 4 lanes) and it works perfectly too
Maybe widening some fake London’s stroads to 6 lanes to accommodate bus lanes on the center (with a physical separation not to have dumb drivers trying to drive through to turn left) could be an idea
It makes sense. Induced demand works in reverse too. In general removing lanes makes traffic better. In general.
To put those 212 millions in perspective: recently, the Mayor of Paris announced a project that would complete the temporary cyclable network of Paris. It costs 250 millions and will make bicycle more popular than cars. It is considered a bold investment there. I dont know what they are doing in London but it doesn't make sense.
Even though one would have to take a closer look on the details of the project in Paris (NJB, wink wink) and I'm not yet convinced that they'll actually manage to keep the costs at the 250 million mark; one thing is absolutely without any question: 212 million for adding lanes to an existing stroad is ludicrous. Every such project that comes up with such a cost prospect should be dead and buried the very same instant.
$200 million for the officials and their friends in construction. $12 million to actually widen the road.
Real Paris, and not fake Paris that is like an hour down the highway from fake London?
Also worth noting is that 1 CAD = 0.7 euros.
..I think a few "euros" will no doubt find its way into the truser-pockets( pantalons) ...nudge, nudge , say no more .....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 💜 NUDE.SNAPGIRLS.TODAY/barbie 💜 PRIVATE S*X
LET'S MAKE LOVE HONEY 💜
#ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！１#万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！#今後は気を付けないとね5). .
!💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！（ #笑）#垃圾
What I love about the street in Amsterdam is that they use the street parking to protect the bike lanes. Genius! It allows those who need vehicles to own them, while leveraging the cars as a protective barrier for those making shorter trips. I need my car to visit the rock climbing gym, to go on camping trips, and to move larger items -- all things I do often, but not every day. Plus, as somebody who enjoys driving & sports cars: living in a walkable city allows me to enjoy my car more since I don't have to deal with disgusting traffic to survive.
Very true. Sometimes the worries though of people is that cars parking would be coming in too close to the cyclists, butttt.... When you've built roads that make sure to slow cars down (because you shouldn't be going 40km/h in a city) or pace them slower compared to big, wide, multi-lane direction stroads - you don't have to worry about that.
@@jbird4478 You don't like sacrificing your car to protect some cyclist??? WTF? Are you for real? Car drivers are the worst humans.
@@jbird4478 That makes sense. Because the metal and plastic on your car is just that much more valuable than the actual flesh and bones in my actual body.
@@jbird4478 you are not sacrificing your car like that more than parking on the side of the road parking place normally though (also I do know someone who knocked a car door off on his bike by it being opened into his face)
@@jbird4478 "Sacrificing your car". Bruh, are you for real?
"I do love it though when suburbanites suddenly care an awful lot about the environment- as long as the solution is to let them drive everywhere and as fast as they want."
I absolutely love your channel. I moved from Europe to US and felt overwhelmed by the way cities and towns are designed here. You neatly articulated all the feelings I had ever since I moved here. Fun fact- city council of my town (small town of approx 18k people) is wondering “how can they make business thrive here, because city center looks dead”. I said based on my intuition, that if we had denser city center with medium apartments/business buildings instead of just business buildings and huge parking lots- it would be more sustainable. The idea didn’t get traction, I don’t think anyone could even imagine what was talking about…
I live in London Ontario in a suburb and you're dead-on about how incredibly isolating it is. Whether or not a parent is using their car that day is the difference in whether I can get somewhere. These videos helped me figure out the issue. It seemed strange that I felt so resistant to a 30-minute walk to an area I need to get to, when a) the bus (with the wait for it to come) is the same amount of time and b) I walk much longer than that just wandering around the neighbourhood. It's because I need to walk along a stroad. I can't even listen to a podcast because it's so damn loud. I hate being that close to fast-moving traffic too, even though the sidewalk there is decently wide. I pass so many parking lots, too.
At one point I stopped even going for walks because it's so discouraging to know that you aren't going anywhere. I know it's healthy to go for a walk, but on days when I'm feeling worst, (the days I most should go for a walk...) it's so difficult to get up the motivation to go in a circle.
I wish there were some kind of a public demand and government interest in building Dutch inspired cities in North America. Building walkable, attractive and productive neighbourhoods with closely built mid rise buildings would've ticked so many boxes such as tackling the shortage of affordable housing, labour shortage, infrastructure crisis and climate change.
There is demand, more urban-style areas are some of the most expensive in the US and Canada. The problem is that North American engineers are locked into the Municode standard and there's nothing to replace it with, so they choose it as the "safe" option and build suburban sprawl. It takes courage and exceptionalism to do something better, which is a rare quality.
@@jameshansenbc agreed. It also takes being an activist. But not all of us have the patience or energy for that. I know I don’t. I for one don’t enjoy begging politicians to do the right thing when I know they’re likely not going to or compromise it down to some kind of “complete stroad” bull crap.
@Zaydan Naufal Walkability is a quality of life issue, not just about Carbon emissions. Cars are also harmful in many ways outside of CO2, such as pedestrian and occupant fatalities.
These big Stroudsburg are perfect for conversion!!! Imagine all the space for bikelanes and bus only routes!!!
@@sm3675 Idk, in some respects, yes, you can run trams, streetcars, and/or bus lanes and add bike paths with room to spare. However, if you need a road instead of a street (for the higher speed connections to freeways), I don’t think there’s enough room to add side streets for the residential access without bulldozing some houses. It’s hard to tell from videos without being there, but my sense is that, if you include the width of Dutch roads, cycle paths, sidewalks and all the wide medians in between, you’re looking at something wider than the right of way of North American stroads in their respective suburbs.
In fact I just confirmed this just now by looking at the with of a road in Amstelveen and compared it to a stroad near where I live. The stroad, including medians, sidewalk and the 6 lane stroad itself (the right of way) is much narrower than the Dutch road right of way.
7:05 "Voted 9 to 5" Not necessary, not expected, but definitely appreciated.
Same. I didn't expect to crack up laughing randomly while watching an infrastructure video on youtube, but here we are
@@Oltoir lol. I just hope I educate as well as I entertain. 🎤
At least 9 people with a brain (Or they secrectly watch Not Just Bikes).
@@NotJustBikes honestly, you are the closest thing there is to a John Oliver for city planning and infrastructure!
@@ScramJett john Oliver does have at least one segment on infrastructure. Turns out he gets turned on about bridges not collapsing.
I just found Not Just Bikes a few days ago and this channel already has me going crazy trying to find a good priced used commuter bike in my area 😅🚲
bikes are surprisingly durable that second hand bike is not much different than new one. Unlike cars that loses 40% of it's value the moment you took it out of the dealership.
Buy a dutch grandma bike. It'll outlast you
@@thestudentofficial5483 that said, buyer beware. When buying a used bike, it's good to have someone who's owned one to come along and check it out. Some people take good care of their bikes, others do not.
If you could find a Dutch style bike (grandma/grandpa style) near you odds are the only thing you're going to break is the tires every 1.5 year or so. And if you do break something, a spanner and screwdriver are everything you could need to fix it.
I have had many a bike and while multi speed bikes are 20% faster and 20% easier, more moving parts equal more maintainance and more breakdowns. While also being more expensive. Unless you're going to bike for more than half an hour very frequently, I wouldn't bother.
@@tieman3790 or get one for free, in the amsterdam canals!
0:40 Didn’t expect to see a boba tea shop from Taiwan in this channel😂
It's not the only one in my videos. I used to live in Taiwan and I love boba tea. 😉
野生啾啾鞋！
欸幹 啾啾鞋欸
Living in Europe now, it's clear to me that developer-centric design is miserable. The nicest places I've been in are ALL old-to-ancient cities that are great for people and bikes, and awful for cars. The absolute worst are following the typical American urban planning.
As someone who cannot afford a car, I really appreciate your videos! By necessity I am sitting on public transit even if the service is bad, and where there's no transit, I'm walking or biking even when it's dangerous. There's a blind spot of people thinking that everyone can afford a car.
Most people cant afford a car but won't admit it. Instead they strap themselves financially and do without things that would make their life nicer.
@@clydelaz I've seen that too. I had a friend in school who could only afford a used car that broke all the time. As soon as she finished paying off one round at the mechanic, something else would break. She was forced to pay for her car rather than go to the doctor or dentist.
I live on the coast of Mid Wales in the UK. I don't run a car however outside the railway station,there are eight different bus stops serving buses going in all different directions.
Being over 60 I have a bus pass so all bus journeys within Wales are free and a Railcard which gives me a third off all rail fares.
I used to do a lot of cycling, particularly when I lived near London.
@@grahvis It sounds like we are in similar situations. I also am over 60 and get trains and buses for 1/2 price. My city of Newark which is just outside New York also has a plethora of trains and bus lines. I usually have to choose which transportation method to use as there are several options going to my desired destination. I am the exception in the U.S. Most of our nation has no reliable public transit. Except for a handful of large cities most of the nation is car dependent.
everyone can afford a car, it's called getting a job
"When you grow up in suburbia, you're pretty much stranded until you can drive." PREACH! I grew up in Manchester NH, had the good fortune to go to college in Boston and never need a car the entire time, then moved back to NH and thought, "I can't believe I used to live this way. It's insane!"
I went to college in downtown Manchester and even though it's not the best place, I miss it now that I've moved back hometo rural NY. The ability to walk to restaurants, cafés and some small grocery stores is something I miss dearly.
It's funny, I had never really thought about it that way before. I grew up in suburbia, and it's true that getting my drivers licence was the ticket to freedom. Now I live downtown. I have almost everything I need within a few blocks. We regularly go for walks in the evening, to see what's happening. There was really nowhere to walk to, where I grew up.
absolutely 100% similar experience. Virginia Tech campus is the same--entirely bike and bus focused. Never needed a car. Everything is walkable. It really changes one's view of the suburbs
@@zjunk4877 lol "but crime" is the same argument every suburbanite makes. You realize there have been serial killers in the suburbs, right? Cities don't cause crime; people cause crime. There will always be some crime wherever there are some people. That's the cost of coexisting.
But by your logic, you should not even be in the suburbs--you should move to the countryside where there are even less people. Less crime. Think of the kids. There's no question which is better.
But actually, by that logic, you should not even be in the countryside--you should move out to a desert where there are no people. Zero% crime! After all, think of the kids. There's no question which is better.
If your only argument is crime, that sounds more like anthropophobia than a real argument. Also, we're gonna need a citation on "they barely report murders anymore."
You don't have to like the city. But you need substantial arguments instead of spreading exaggerated or false information. The "crime" argument is like saying: fluoride is a toxic chemical; therefore we should avoid all toothpaste. Doesn't make sense
@@zjunk4877 You dare mention kids? Do you know what stranding them in islands completely sealed off with the outside world does to Kids growing up? If you knew, or better yet if you chose not to ignore, *then* you could say what is or isn't a question anymore
I see fake London also uses those deceleration lanes on stroads as well. These are commonly implemented as a way to increase carrying capacity temporarily. The down side is they make all pedestrian crossings at least one lane wider further discouraging people to walk/bike, and thus the cycle continues. We are currently fighting these as the go-to solution in the city I live in.
Yeah, we have these on our 7 lane stroads. It makes crossing terrifying because the drivers are looking away from you. They’re looking to the left for other car traffic and naturally assume no one is crazy enough to walk across a 7 lane strode. I once proposed roundabouts for our major intersections. The feedback I got was that our intersections were “too small!” Imagine that! The intersection of two 7 lane stroads is “too small” for a roundabout! I mean, it’s so unbelievably and ridiculously insane!
A stroad in my city has a wide shoulder that acts as a deceleration lane.
If you don't include the deceleration turning lane, the painted bicycle gutter takes that role, even when it's about 1/3 as wide as your f350 super duty 4 rear tires commuting truck.
I assume you mean turning and merging lanes for people looking to enter or leave a parking lot entry. Those make a lot of sense for merging as they will allow space for cars at different speeds.
Pedestrian crossings are a big no along these roads anyway, so just remove them. Get an overpass at the intersections and grade separate the pedestrians and cyclists from the cars, done. Might be expensive, but less expensive as rebuilding the entire area with wider roads just so you can get pedestrian islands in there. You'd also have to signalize the crossings anyway, which on a major road with so much merging traffic is just insane and will tank traffic flow.
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#ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！１#万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！#今後は気を付けないとね5). .
!💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！（ #笑）#垃圾
I can't believe both of those roads are 30 meters wide. The one in Amsterdam looks so much narrower due to the trees separating the sidewalk and road
i just think it’s awesome how there’s not a single bad video in this channel
Hey. I just want to say your videos have changed how I see the urban landscape around me.
I recently went back to my home town (population of just under 100k) and I was really shocked. This is a town where a good 40% of the town makes under £15k a year and I was shocked that it was so difficult to walk there or even use what little public transport connections there were. I tried cycling there but the only cycle lane I found was less than 100m long and was just a painted bicycle gutter. It reminded me of that line you had in one video about how bicycles are considered something for children in most car dependant places. Most of the roads were stroads and it felt safer cycling on the pavement. The downside to that was the pavements are all cracked and sometimes just randomly stop and you'll have to walk 100m or so in grass. When I lived in this place, I was always annoyed when I needed to go anywhere but never understood why. Now I do and can make a list of points to give to the local council for them to ignore
The other downside to pavements is the it's an offence to cycle on the pavement in the UK, so PC Plod may have a chat with you about it.
Yes, we have similar issues with our politicians here too. They just ignore us or complain about not having enough money as they drop hundreds of millions in more stroad construction.
The people around you probably also didn't know. Illuminate them before fighting the system. Grow the ranks and let the mass do the work!
I love the irony of it being named "Wonderland Road"
Ontario has a disney style amusement park called "Wonderland".
Canadian humor is something that you don't typically get elsewhere in the world... lol
It's named after an old dance hall.
Hopefully, a good graffiti artist will turn it in "Wonder ... Why?!?"
@@johnfitzgerald7618 that Guy Lombardo apparently played at.
I remember getting my license in Los Angeles and driving to Toys R Us. What a thrill.
Exciting shit. Even better than Wendy's.
I love that the US gives driving licenses to children
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#ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！１#万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！#今後は気を付けないとね5). .
!💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！（ #笑）#垃圾
@@yewnew 16 and on the road. How else can I get to high school??
@@Scohen415 the school bus?
Me before discovering this channel: "Boy I sure love driving, I've never even cared a single damn in my life about how roads and infrastructure work!"
Me after discovering this channel: *Professional public transportation, street maintenance, and infrastructure expert after watching one NJB video.*
a LOT of people that "love" driving I bet HATE "COMMUTING" driving @ 15 KPH in bumper to bumper if nobody's idea of "fun"
@@jasonriddell I love cars, I'm a car guy. But I absolutely hate our US infrastructure. People should absolutely NOT be forced to drive for basic transportation needs. Not everyone is able to or even wants to drive, and turning every single person in our population into a large metal box on the road is absolutely awful for the environment and everyone else around. My hope really is that channels like NJB will spread around and more people, especially the large percentage of our population in the US who think cars are the only answer, will realize how ass backwards our infrastructure is. If the majority of the population realized how stupid our infrastructure was, then change could actually start happening for the better. And a global shift away from car-centric lifestyle would probably solve a LOT of environmental issues without all the crazy new technology and resources.
Please use the death note to make this better I beg of you Light
I love cars but they are OVERPRICED
Exactly I felt the same way.
I grew up in the northeast riding trains to and around NYC, Philly, Boston and DC. I thought we knew what we were doing until I joined the military and saw how other countries built their transit systems. Now I just look at our run down mess and hang my head in shame.
I love how this channel gives me the words to back up how I’ve felt about living in the suburbs of Australia! Walkability is something I really miss about living on campus at uni
Mate, I live in Heliopolis Neighbourhood, Cairo, Egypt. We used to have a tram network that used to be there for more a hundred years and main streets used to be 3 lanes in each direction. 2 years ago, the central government, as we do not have effective local government, decided to split the neighbourhood into two, consume the tram right-of-way, cut down around 3000 trees, and remove around 90 acres of green space in what was essentially the middle of the city, not to mention a designated heritage area. They did all this to widen the roads from 3 to 6 laners in each direction! No pedestrian crossing or even traffic lights were installed until around 30 people were run over by speeding cars. No the streets are wide enough to land an small jet if it weren't for the occasional bridge at every intersection. I think you are doing quite well in Fake London.
Gotta love the casual power line pole right in the middle of the new bike lane at 7:45
Hydro pole.
@@NotJustBikes Had to look up what that was, seems the only thing they don't have on them is a water supply.
Found myself complaining yesterday that my bus was stuck waiting for 10 minutes waiting on a sewer-cleaning truck blocking the street in my small Dutch hometown, on my way to Uni. Now my 10KM drive took me 30 minutes instead of 20.
Meanwhile in suburbia: ''What's a bus?''
i literally have to control how many of your videos i watch, because oh my god they make me so angry! not at you! at car dependency 😫 i’ve lived in a very car dependent area my whole life and seeing how different it can be is infuriating!
No one is car dependent. Walk 3 miles in hour, or bike 10. That's what we did til 1920 then people started to think they're important idiots who need to zip across metro for brunch and idiotically don't live near work.. I don't have to pay taxes for people thinking they deserve what no one had in 1920. Cell phones and music make walking awesome, makes people less fat. Google how long a walk or bike to work, is it under 1 hour, yes or no??
@@mostlyguesses8385 Depends on the city you live. Bikes aren't off the hook either. I grew up in a small town in Florida, where the vast majority of the state is car dependent. Many residents would have to drive up to an hour, sometimes longer, to get to work. Biking would not be feasible or safe. And for those who do use bikes usually go on short trips or downtown where a lot of activities are.
@@wturner777 ... I would push against some of your claims, ha, we're all sorta soft and brainwashed by cars. At start of COVID I walked a lot, and it was hard but doable. At 20mph most workplaces are 5 miles are bikeable!!! At 3 mph ok walking is limited to say 2 miles.. I'm a fatso so I feel fine walking listening to audiobook 1 hour to library. . . The problem is unlike in 1920 when people would walk 40 minutes daily, now that is seen as impoissible and demand govt fix their choice to live 10 miles from work, haha.... My point is, maybe 50% could force themselves to bike or walk... I sorta think it's financially wise too, a car is pretax $10000 a year so at $20 gotta work 500 hours to support it, all to not walk say 1 hour for 250 days, so work 500 to save 250 hours of nice waking listening to music.... I am totally cherry picking and assuming, but mayby 50% are 2 miles from work or 10 miles by bike..... I cld be wrong ,ha.. PS I'm from MN and in comparison Texas and Oregon are veryyyyyyy walkable nice and warm and dry...
Whats crazy to me is the looks and reactions I get when people find out I don't have a car at 27 and take the bus or walk everywhere. My town isn't very walkable so a lot of errands take all day with multiple bus transfers which sucks, but does it ever occur to people that I don't want a car because I'd prefer not the contribute to the pollution and take transit and walk while I can instead of being another car on the road and taking up space to park it. People think we who take the bus as adults are either poor or can't drive due to DUIs or a disability. One person even asked if I was Amish. And don't get me started on walking on the busy strode and having EVERY car rubberneck to look at you like it's an alien sighting to see someone walking instead of driving. I wish people would just mind their own business and stop acting like someone walking down a sidewalk is a production put on for their entertainment.
I’ve been walking the last month because the engine went out on my car and I have motorists honk and yell at me all the time.
@@danieldaniels7571 That's awful....very revealing of a larger problem concerning car-centric mentality.
So you choose to take all of the hard options (using inefficient mass transit, walking when it isn't practical or where it isn't safe, not moving to a place that meets your desired lifestyle, etc.) and don't expect people to look at you crazy?
@@jimzecca3961 Because it shouldn't be hard to begin with. It's a self-perpetuating car monopoly on commuting.
@@0008loser honestly that's a good example of why you don't want to drive, because you might end up with the same shitty life that causes drivers to yell at random pedestrians 😂
"Why did (London) think it needed a six lane road for a city of only 400,000?"
Oh, man, I'm on the floor laughing. Grand Junction, Colorado, where I currently live, a town of just 62,000, is in the process right now, as we watch this, of expanding a four lane stroad to six lanes!. Worse this six lane stroad blasts right through the middle of the downtown area even though a bypass was built around downtown just a decade or so ago. It's completely brain dead stupid. But, they sure love their cars here (actually, usually SUVs and really, really big pick up trucks, it is Colorado after all).
and how will the town pay for the maintenance of that 6-lane road? are they going to increase taxes? Make the road into a toll road?
I guess the current officials just consider that a problem for the future and they'll be gone by then...
@@Robbedem Thanks for asking.
In what I suspect is a common situation in small towns, especially in the western U.S., the road through the middle of town isn't under the jurisdiction of the town itself; instead it's considered part of the state highway system and is the responsibility of the state department of transportation, in this case the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
For much of this town's past the only highway went right through the middle of town, which was common for many small towns and still is. In the 1960s and '70s, a major interstate was built around Grand Junction but CDOT retained 'ownership' of the road through the middle of town (actually a couple roads). A major drawback to this arrangement, which is painfully obvious at times like this, is that the state department of transportation, who are experienced at building highways and interstates, then make decisions that affect the entire urban area. Not only does CDOT seem to have limited experience designing for urban areas, they seem to have even less motivation to create designs with 'liveability' in mind. Their mindset seems to be purely 'moving cars as rapidly as possible'. Had the City Council opposed this project, I don't know that it would have made much difference (as it was, the City Council overwhelmingly endorsed it...of course). From experience, I can tell you that concerns voiced to CDOT by local residents nearly always fall on deaf ears; they are a state agency completely lacking in ties or accountability to the community.
To address your question, though, the plus side (if there is one) is that CDOT assumes responsibility for most of the maintenance. I don't think this means *all* of the maintenance though, as I have see the city doing maintenance on other stroads that ostensibly belong to CDOT. There's also the distinct possibility that once this work is done CDOT may offer to "give" this six lane stroad to the city, and we very easily could have a city council who is just dumb enough to accept it. One way or another, and more likely in more than one way, the locals are going to get screwed by this.
@@johnhodge5871 ah, yes, that explains it.
i live in denver and am from fort collins, which are two of the best cities in colorado for alternative transportation (though the bar is low, theyre not that good compared to europe) so i think oh colorado is just better! but then i remember grand junction, like no hate to the people who live there but the city is designed horribly! i hate it so much! its so bad! rip
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#ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！１#万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！#今後は気を付けないとね5). .
!💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！（ #笑）#垃圾
I need to share these videos. Every time I talk to people about it I realize how much we’re sleepwalking into more car infrastructure.
We’re also sleepwalking into financial ruin.
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#ライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#かならりやばかったですね！１#万人を超える人が見ていたもんね（笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした！#今後は気を付けないとね5). .
!💖🖤❤#今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！#この日のライブ配信は、#１万人を超える人が見ていたも ん（#笑）#やっぱり人参最高！#まさかのカメラ切り忘れでやら1かしたのもドキドキでした #今後は気をライブ配信の再編ありがとうです！（ #笑）#垃圾
There's pretty significant sidewalk there in comparison to many of your previous examples, but those bike lanes are pretty scary.
What's the point of sidewalks if it is almost impossible or outright suicidal to cross such a stroad almost anywhere? I am also not quite sure how those cyclists are addressing that question without a deathwish.
@@sagichnicht6748 Especially if that is an area not use to high speed vehicles traveling against the flow of traffic on the sidewalk. The most dangerous thing about cycling in the bikeline is the right hook from people underestimating how fast you are traveling. Going on the sidewalk along a stroad and going where people won't even see you as they look left to see when they can turn right to get onto the stroad is more of a suicide wish than riding in the stroad going the correct direction.
@@KekusMagnus personally i think if a busy road has a sidewalk or bikelane it should have a button to cross for both independently. For the biker give 3 so they can pick which way to go, and then the lights incorporate this into the cycle and give the bikes and walkers protected use of the intesection where cars are allowed in directions that wont affect them. (Both go straight, both turn left, ect)
This amy sound expensive but it really shouldn't be that much worse than maintaining a 6 lane stroad with lots of accidents. (The widest a stroad needs to be is 1 lane each way with a suicide lane, sorry "shared turning lane". These are proven safer than 2 lanes each way, also provide proper turning lanes at intersections and you shouldn't notice congestion. Obviously its preferable to have other modes of travel but build this so called diet road and put big trees between it and the sidewalk&bikelane and have lighted crossings and it suddenly becomes a usable street.
The worst commercial place I've been to is the Berlin turnpike in CT, its a 4 lane divided highway with lots of intersections to turn into strip mall plazas, its peak car dependecy and terrifying to use. Comercial areas should not be on "arterial roads".
High quality videos like this are seriously effective for getting these ideas into the mainstream. You're doing a great service for making them!
In France, with 400 000 people, you get a light metro/great tram network. In America, you don't event get a great bus system.
In 'Merica dem trams is communism doncha know.
yeah rennes with a metropolitan area of 450000 people got 2 even 2 metro lanes
@@arthurboisseau1394 yep i was thinking about rennes/strasbourg
In America, you might not even get sidewalks. Blows my mind that smaller cities and towns are actually worse for this, in many cases.
@@416to613 I live on Long Island NY and it’s like this sidewalk goes for a little bit then it just ends
400.000 people!? Even on the largest race track on earth, aka germany, they would have tram lines and bus lines! And not just two but a dozen or so.
Car centric design is bad, I never hear someone say "ah, I had so much fun driving to the mall/to work today!". It supports an activity that people don't want to do in the first place.
Good to see that the city is stepping on the brakes, now they have to make a u turn and conver these stroads back into streets and roads.
There's only one time that driving is fun, and that's on a race track.
@@KRYMauL Don't forget about a nice mountain road with little to no traffic.
Driving can be fun... Until everyone drives and it becomes a chore. Which is inevitable when it's the only viable option.
Yes 400,000 people is way too large of a population to have extremely limited public transportation.
London in particular is an excellent example of how neglecting proper infrastructure and transit causes lots of problems. The city, for example, refuses to build any sort of LRT or rapid bus transit. Given how large this city is that's quite strange. Nearby Region of Waterloo has already built an LRT of their own and the Region of York near Toronto has developed mass bus rapid transit. Even historically London has failed at developing infrastructure, they turned down provincial funding to build a freeway back in the 1960s and because of that they went all in on stroads, furthering the problem.
I do appreciate North America though. "Let's call this place London"... "Okay"... "And this can be Oxford"... "Yep, this is a good theme we've got going, what's next?"... "Wonderland".... "Perfection".
"What'll we call this place?" . . . "We'll call it Cairo." . . . "How about that place?" . . . "Alexandria" . . . "And over there?" . . . "Call it Paris." . . . "And how about there?" . . . "Hell."
I like Blackfriars bridge. I see no trains though lol. It looks like it might collapse if you tried to put one on it.
I just bought the books Strong Towns, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, The High Cost of Free Parking, Walkable City, The Smart Growth Manual, Crabgrass Frontier, Big Box Swindle, and a few others. This is so fascinating to me.
You should also pick up progress and poverty by Henry George, Protection or Free Trade by Henry George, and Our Land and Land policy by Henry George.
I'd highly recommend Happy City by Charles Montgomery. It's a very human-centered portrait of the negative impacts of car-dependency
@@carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty5102 Ewww Right Wing Cringe🤢
@@aturchomicz821 Henry George was too interesting to be shoved into a box, especially the stupid left/right one promoted by the media.
Don't forget Duany's "Suburban Nation"!!
I have no interest in becoming an engineer or city planner but for some reason, this has become my favorite channel over the past year. Love your content, keep it up.
From watching your videos and Strong Town's, I think one of the biggest problems with our road design is the clear zone. It encourages people to drive faster, creates a nice clear space for a car to fly off the road into a pedestrian or cyclist, and wastes a lot of space. We won't be able to build proper streets again until the current clear zone requirements are removed.
I agree! A clear zone is a highway feature. It should never be used on streets.
@@NotJustBikes I also agree, though should the sidewalks go rightup against the road or should trees be put in between? Or something else?
@@interesting9688 A row of trees in between the street and the bicycle lane/sidewalk is definitely a plus. Not only do they provide shade against sunlight or rain, but they also protect the vulnerable traffic from the cars, as well as inducing the car traffic to drive slower.
You and eco gecko changed my entire life lol
I'll never see the world the same way again. I always just had the feeling that something was wrong, and now being able to pinpoint what's wrong feels amazing.
Great! My target audience has always been "me, 20 years ago" because I wish somebody had told me this stuff then!
Same here. Putting these concepts into words has been enlightening.
Same, I've always had a feeling something was off, I've always found it nicer being in other places where I could move on my own and always found it kinda depressing returning home afterwards but i never knew why
and watching these videos makes me realise there is a good chance it's because of personal freedom, something i get elsewhere and the freedom i don't have at home
Like at home despite being an adult i have no freedom, public transport straight up doesn't even exist here, it is impossible to leave this town without a car (it's a shame, it's small enough it wouldn't even be that bad on the walkability scale if you could at least leave without a car), versus in other places I've stayed for some days on trips while also very car dependent i at least did get some freedom to roam on my own, and while i couldn't explain it i definitely felt the difference
Unfortunately knowing about it doesn't help me much, I'm still stuck here and i don't have the money to escape
so that is 25.000$ per meter.
the cheapest estimate I have seen so for for streets for cars was 5.000€. The most expansive I have seen for bikepaths (you know the really good ones) was 100 €.
To be fair, and working in bike-infrastructure, we used to measure €345 per meter (including engineering etc) as a general rule and that number is rising due to increased wages and, at the moment increased costs of construction material. Than again, the same applies to every other type of road, of course.
@@gerbrandlub
thx
i grew up in fake london too and now am a urban planner/pedestrian advocate in boston. on one hand it was nice to get an update on my hometown, but on the other hand terrified by hearing the mere possibility of widening wonderland rd (also lol at the sidewalk widths basically staying the same). i also commend you and your bravery by attempting to cross that monstrosity of a stroad!
Was fan of the channel since it has only a few thousand subs. Glad to see it grow and become more popular. Very informative. Perspective changing videos.
Thanks for your support! I'm glad you're still here if you joined that early on.
Tried riding my bike to work the other day (24km) spent 10km on stroad gutters and 14km on the side of the highway. Can not believe I am still alive really disappointed that is the only option as I try to reduce car dependency in my life . Thank you for your informative videos and hopefully we in Canada can figure out how to build nicer cities
The guy that used to ride to my work got hit by cars like 7 times in a few years and had his arm broken twice during that time. He was only once delibrately rammed that he knows of. This is why I don't ride to work :(
@@Commander_ZiN This is so sad . We live in a society where people feel invisible behind the wheel I hope to find alternative routes but any I have found are more bike gutters and the ride climbs from 24- 35 km . Stay safe out there and remember to have your voice heard when development is proposed
@@derekmiskiman1847 I live in Australia, it's a lot better it seems than other places, except if there's any shared usage areas there's always someone that doesn't show cyclists respect.
I mean good for you buddy but most people don’t want to ride 24km on a bike each day
@@Aisakdik69 just because not everyone wants to ride or walk, does not mean you shouldn't make it safe for those that do. Less cars on the road is a good thing if you ask me, whether you're a motorist or something else.
This channel, City Beautiful, and a few others have had me thinking, but some of these problems seem hard to unwind - the most rigidly designed suburbs would take decades of gradual redevelopment to reach practical, sustainable densities, a lot of stroad sections seem terminally stroad-like. Some of the stroads in my city have sections that could be turned into road sections by cutting off a handful of turnoffs but some sections are too stroad-y to become streets, with large set backs and massive parking lots.
I've seen a lot of content on how to fix highly urban stroads, roads, and streets, and but nothing on what we do about terminally stroad-like stroads and suburbs.
It's never going to be easy, but with respect to parking lots and setbacks, consider these shops in Fake London:
maps.app.goo.gl/z91YwuuMRRirLqtz8
This is not a good development, because the shops still face into the parking lot, but it gives you an idea of how you could turn the stroad into a street.
Beyond that, pick up the book "The Sprawl Repair Manual". It's great.
Hydro pole
Here in Sweden buses have the right of way, so when they blink to leave a bus stop traffic from behind must stop to let them. And we have special bus lanes and even bus only streets. I would love too see a video about optimizing public transportation.
A lot of places in the UK have bus only lanes, and people tend to let them go anyway because bus = crushed car if you don't let them. Bus drivers tend to have no fucks lol. We have a few guided bus roads too but most of them just share the same road and lanes as all the other traffic. More and more cities are implementing more mass transit like trams too but the car is still king in most places. We built a LOT of motorways in the 60's and 70's (I'm sure Secretaries of State for Transport who owned road building companies had nothing to do with that... especially nothing to do with the axing of 2/3 of the railways under the Beeching Axe... nope, can't be anything to do with that).
Great point about cars. I feel so much freer here in Shanghai having metros and public bikes everywhere than I ever did in the US.
Seems as though every "solution to the problem" is mired in politics and a constant bias against rapid transit. Governments of all levels are made of wealthy people who drive cars.
Yep. Here in California, Governor “Gabby Nuisance” just vetoed two bills that would’ve made walking and biking safer and easier. One would have legalized the so-called “Idaho stop” that lets bikes treat stop signs as yield signs. The other would have decriminalized jaywalking. Both vetoed by a guy that gets chauffeured everywhere in a limo and has probably never even touched a bike, let alone ridden one.
And I bet they are chauffeured, so the politicians sit back in their Mercedes Benz or whatever, while the poor chauffeur has to endure sitting in that long traffic from their mansion to the capitol building.
I just wanted to say that I am very glad to have found this channel. Prior to discovering this and subsequently adam something and a few others, I honestly had not really thought much about city and road layouts at all. It's one of the few channels that has dramatically reshaped my thinking of a basic element of every day life, so just wanted to say thanks.
That's great to hear! I really wish I had learned all of this earlier myself.
Be sure to check out City Beautiful, Eco Gecko, RMTransit, and Alan Fisher, too.
@@NotJustBikes these kinds of channels also changed my views on what is going on in Vancouver with bike lanes a bit. However, being an adult with real world experience, I remain apprehensive. These projects depend on two crucial factors. 1. Trust that the final vision will result in something actually better, and is not just a "we built you a bunch of bike lanes, leave us alone now". And 2. That vision will be actually realized. However, I fear we'll just end up with a bunch of missing car lanes, a bunch of disjointed bike lanes no one cares to use, and little alternative transportation options, leaving us worse than when we started. Becauss that's how these things go.
Funny thing is that our busses in the Netherlands have a lot od dedicated bus lanes, where it's illegal to drive your own private car.
+ there are special static or moving barries to prevent ppl (ab)using the bus lanes.
Thus lowering the chance the bus get's stuck in traffic...because it doesn't share the same traffic lane.
Yes, that's exactly what needs to happen for people to want to take the bus instead of driving.
@@NotJustBikes might as well just make it a regular lane and have a high speed limit, it would move the same amount of people. The problem is not the individual masses of cars, but the very low speed limits. pedestrians and cyclists don't need to cross such large fast highways, with dedicated barriers and crossing lanes etc. tunnels and bridges are better and safer.
@@anarchyorslavery1616 or make a dedicated lane for busses because fuck cars
@@anarchyorslavery1616 America's city speed limits are already really high and cause a lot of accidents and deaths, so the solution is to... make them even higher?
@@moonmelons thats like saying we should restrict guns and the ammo they use because more guns= more gun deaths
Growing up in New York City I was allowed by the time I was 13 to navigate the city by myself and with friends by walking or public transportation. Biking in NYC is still not as safe as is should be. Many strides have been made but I gave up biking to my job which is just two miles away because it became too stressful. For now, walking the city is the best alternative to cars and public transportation.
Seems like a solution could be actually take away one of the lanes for dedicated transit (and maybe protect the bike lane in the process).
People would lose their mind about it though, induced demand is such a hard concept for people to grasp. They'll say "nobody takes the bus we already have!", but that's solved by induced demand too. A good (dedicated line) transit system would be nicer to use.
Hi there , I grew up on that awful stretch of wonderland, I never knew anything other than sirens and car accidents at riverside and wonderland, I’m so glad the city decided to not widen.
We have the same problem in Germany. 5 years ago, i moved from my hometown Kassel (200 000 pop.) to Bremen (500 000 pop.). City structure in germany is strongly shaped by how the cities were affected by WW2 bombings. And Kassel is probably the worst example of how to rebuild a city. It´s exactly like in "Fake London", everything is build around cars. In fact, the city was so badly destroyed that the entire structure was rebuilt differently, which resulted in the city looking completely different after the war than before. Kassel has also the same traffic issues like you described it, on every rush hour there is MASSIVE traffic jam. Public traffic is just awful, always too late, many times cancelled and are overloaded with people.
Bremen on the other hand (many northern german cities too) is very similar to dutch street design. I lived on a street that looks almost like in 5:12, with 2 car lanes, a tram in the middle, and a safe bike lane. And it works so much better!
The annoying thing about car-centerd cities is not that they car centered, but that people there seem to be the most passionate car drivers and won´t accept any change in street design. Especially generations older than 40 are completely reluctant, and in germany - THE country of cars - a huge part of the economy relies on that. A contradiction that is not easy to solve.
Most german cities are car friendly but not car dependent, that means you have the alternative not use a car. Kassel is even one of the more transport friendly cities as having not just a tram network but also tramtrains for the region around.
The Country of cars kept more public rail transit than any other western country (im excluding the east), Germany is just bad in rebuilding the networks and lines which were lost.
The problem with the so called "change" most local politicans want to sell is, that they purely focus on cheap things like putting flower pods on street parking spaces or paint on the streets for bus lanes but on the necessary things like building expensive infrastructure. Even if a project is clearly able to federal founding, they delaying like hell because they fear losing voters when messing with the nimbys.
Forcing drivers to accept flower pods on parking spaces makes it harder to get those lanes back that used to be tramlanes or to get a trainline back in service that could mean waiting at a level crossing.
They’re putting a bike lane in an arterial road my small town in Ontario. There is a pushback from the community but it still makes me exited
Point the people who push back in this direction.
I bet once that lane is built people aren't going to use it because "it's next to high speed traffic". Why bother?
The eye-opening thing for me about a cycling trip in the Netherlands was that they even have great cycling infrastructure in the countryside! Nice safe routes where you can bike peacefully along to the next town, without worrying about getting smashed by a car. I'm so sad that this really doesn't exist in Ontario. There's good choice of hiking trails now, in many parts of Ontario. But very few rural places to bike. Especially not with a kid.
There are people pushing back against reconnecting my hometown to the regional tram network... saying if we need a tram we'll also need a yacht harbour on our tiny river
People don't know what's good for them sometimes
I gotta say, I love your videos and I wish everyone in the US and Canada would see ALL of them. THIS is the kind of thing we should be teaching in Social Studies classes in high school. If everyone coming out of school had a good grasp of city planning and how the car-dependent paradigm is terrible for everyone, getting public support for transit and other modes of transportation.
Honestly - I own a car and I drive, but only because I feel like I have to. I hate having to spend money buying and maintaining cars, I hate having to drive to get places [because feels super unsafe when I'm sleep deprived, feeling shitty, etc, or just during rush hour, and I know it really is unsafe], I hate having to worry about where I'm going to park, I hate how isolating it is [you can strike up a conversation on transit or walking, but in a car? nope], I hate how terrible it is for the planet, and most of all I hate how the city planning decisions of the past and present [strongly influenced by the damn automobile companies, now that's a conflict of interest if there ever was one] force me and everyone else into it.
If I can just walk, cycle, or get on a bus/train, then I do. It feels so much healthier and safer, every single time. I couldn't tell you how many interesting conversations I've had (and friends I've made) taking public transit or walking, it's a great way to connect with people while you're going about your day-to-day life. At no point have I felt my life was in danger on public transit to the same degree I have while driving.
The fact of the matter is, even if you're afraid of strangers for some reason (and you shouldn't be - treat them with care and respect and in 99.99% of cases you will have a positive interaction) you're not in nearly as much danger around them as you are on the road. Everyone around you when you're on the road is driving what is basically a deadly weapon. The same can't be said when you're on a train.
Oh, and if you're super worried about COVID, there are ways to protect yourself above and beyond your standard mask. You could wear an (admittedly probably doomed to be large and bulky) actively powered "mask" that passes the air through the output of a UVC sterilising lamp, for example, which will destroy any viral particles trying to pass through - if that kind of mask isn't for sale, there's nothing stopping you from building one. It's still going to cost far less than a car, and although it might be a little bit uncomfortable / get you some funny looks, you sure as heck won't get sick. Alternatively, you could wear a valveless respirator with cartridge filters, which will also get you funny looks but definitely keep you safe.
I always felt the main reason for Stroads in smaller cities is highways. People run into too much traffic on the highway and decide to cut through the "backstreets" as a faster option. So the city gets more through traffic, decides to build more roads, wider roads etc. Making the city an even more desirable bypass to the highway system and so on.
Thus you get roads like the one in the video. Thousands of people use it every day, most of them likely from out of city.
For people that compulsively read signage: LCBO is Liquor Control Board of Ontario (maybe comparable to bevmo but definitely the thing you're looking for if you want spirits)
Is that a state owned liquor store chain? Like Systembolaget in Sweden.
@@fnyquist8779 yes in Ontario you buy booze only from the LCBO. Beer you usually get at the Beer store but recently they've finally started selling beers in some grocery stores.
More akin to Total Wine but owned by the government.
@@fnyquist8779 Pennsylvania does a similar thing where all alcohol not bought in a restaurant must be bought at a "State Store."
Similar to VABC here in Virginia (Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control).
Why do Canadians invest so much in car infrastructure, when it snows for half the year. This makes drive ng insanely dangerous and the frost pretty much fucks up road infrastructure.
Love the sarcasm :-D
It leeches from the us like a bad smell.
I live in Europe, way, way more north than the Londons and Torontos of southern Canada. I would never take my bike anywhere outside of the warmest, driest months of the year. It's either walking, or taking the bus, subway, tram or train. I really don't think a bicycle is a good way to move around in cold and snowy countries. Then again, I hated driving in the winter months, too. Maybe an e-bike with really wide tires could do the trick.
Because people can idol their cars on a timer before they leave for work, and their cars are so warm and potect them from a blizzard! Even heated seats that keep you so very cozy as you squint through the storm trying to glimpse the car ahead of you! God forbid I have to put a scarf on properly before I go to work in the morning in the Great White North. Proper winter attire is for snowmobilers or something... Idk.
Cycling in winter can be okay, as as the municipality is having good snow equipment ua-cam.com/video/Uhx-26GfCBU/v-deo.html
I've been pleasantly surprised that over the past ten years, the city planners have chosen to narrow the main street through our downtown area, reduce the speed limit, widen sidewalks, and add bike lanes (some protected, some not), benches, better pedestrian crossings, and other nice things for people who aren't in cars. All the businesses along the street claimed they would immediately go out of business but until the pandemic hit, the restaurants and shops were doing just fine and it's so much more pleasant to walk and even drive through there.
As someone from a town surrounding London, it brings me joy every time I hear it have the piss taken out of it. As someone currently living in Ottawa, I'd love to hear a take on the new plan to promote walkable neighbourhoods and if there's really anything of substance there. Great video as always!
A massive stroad very similar to this exists near where I live. It also has a bus line that nobody uses, interestingly. After watching many of your videos, I have thought a lot about what I could do to help improve it someday. This video helped me a great deal with that process. Thank you for putting out such excellent, thoughtful, and engaging content.
I will have to start using that phrase, Complete Strods! This is so accurate. I live in Cambridge MA and just came across the other day a new redevelopment project of a stroad in the nearby town of Watertown. A complete stroad is exactly what they are going to make of it but I think the reason here is that it's designed by the state DOT. The right adjacent stretch of the same exact road which is in Cambridge jurisdiction is also being redesigned to be a real complete street, with separated bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes etc. Such a trivial and obviously needed design for the whole stretch but such a poor and sad outcome.
At least the Cambridge part is doing it right. If you're lucky, someone responsible for that project will one day be with the state DOT, to avoid future failures.
A few words on this.
2:10 I have to be honest if that is what rush hour looks like I don't really see why the road needs to be widened, yeah it's busy, but nowhere near the state that I would think more lanes is necessary.
2:27 and 2:51 where the heck would the city even get the space to put two more car lanes and keep everything else, like the bicycle gutter and the sidewalk at that section of the road, will the people that have homes/buildings there need to give up some of their front yard in order for sidewalks to be put on them? Or will they be stepping right into the bike gutter when they step out of their house?
5:45 same question here, where would the new car lanes go? They already got rid of the bike gutter so at least they don't need to worry about that, are they just going to replace the bridge just to create more room or dig some tunnels into the base of the bridge and the dirt it's sitting on?
There is a lot of traffic but nowhere near as much that you need to give them more room, just give something like 1/3 of those people other options and that alone should reduce the traffic to more manageable numbers.
0:59 I was trying to think about what the equivalent of that freedom feeling would be for a kid growing up in the Netherlands and I suppose to closest thing that comes to it is when they get a scooter? But even then, scooters don't give you any more mobility and freedom than a bike does, so there is nowhere near the same amount of excitement, anywhere that your scooter can get you your bike was able to get you, the scooter just allows you to get there faster. So I would say the real closest thing is when the child is around 10-12 years old when they are allowed to bike pretty much everywhere in their neighborhood/city without supervision. So Dutch children get that freedom and that excitement that 16 year olds get when they get their license much earlier in life
The plan involved buying (and bulldozing) several properties, though yes, some people would just lose their front yard. The rail bridge would need to be replaced and that was part of the cost estimate.
And yeah, the traffic is really not that bad, and it's confined to about one hour of the day, but Fake London will bend over backwards to service the desires of the middle-class white collar worker who commutes 9 to 5.
@@NotJustBikes Of course bulldozing homes is the solution, something that didn't even cross my mind but for car centric places like this is just the cost of doing business.
@@NotJustBikes I really do no like to take Wonderland and thankfully I rarely have to. It is the only serious way to get from North to South in that area and Wharncliffe and Hyde Park can be just as bad. Similarly Oxford from Richmond to Wonderland gets ugly in rush hour but pleasant at most other times. The only real solution is a proper isolated mass transit system.
It looks okay when it's moving. It's at its ugliest around 5 when you have to wait through a couple lights to get through some of the more congested intersections.
@@kristenl2367 So the road can handle the traffic, but the lights get in the way of it being done efficient?
In that case it seems like the problem is the lights and possible lack of communication between them to get a lot of traffic going at once. Which to me seems like a much more cost effective and efficient solution.
Are there other examples of cities that managed to turn these car sewers into good streets? And are there any temporary measures that can be done to improve the situation? Since physically removing lanes, adding trees, density etc. takes time and needs bigger investment.
I'm currently in Tallinn and the stroad situation here is really bad. They go straight to city center, 3-4 lanes each direction. Cars are going fast, crossing them is dangerous and walking around feels stressful. So I'm wandering what are the options for fixing this in practice :)
This! Around here, the department of transportation sets up trucks firing high-powered strobe lights and it replacing all the traffic lights so they'll have flashing lights enfilading the whole stroad. I have to take longer and longer detours to get anywhere.
Carmel, Indiana is doing a lot of things right.
@@NotJustBikes Interesting! Please tell us more about Carmel, Indiana.
My city is widening a street... to put in bike lanes!
Its a tiny little stretch and it really doesn't lead anywhere significant.
But I think it's a step in the right direction, possibly. It certainly shows that more people are rethinking this whole "car" thing.
Having a 6 lane road without dedicated bus lanes looks so weird. Also slapping a bike lane directly at this road instead of the "sidewalk" and to see people actually cycling there is mindblowing.
i use the bike in the stroads, i don't have much problems because i only stay in the right side and i'm almost 14
The only time I used the bus every day was in high school. It took an hour to get to school by bus or 5 minutes by car. So actually the bus was creating more pollution than the car by being totally inefficient. The bus route was the problem, not the bus. Thank you for reading my boring comment.
@@neutrino78x 1: are you cgp grey 2: electric cars have a MASSIVE carbon footprint, they just produce it before they actually hit the road. Building electric cars, particularly their batteries, is devastating to the environment
2:44 Let's remove the obstacles on the sides of roads so that drivers can hit a pedestrian instead of damaging their car! :D
In fact, why not remove the bike lanes and sidewalks altogether to dedicate the stroad completely to cars!
Just drive a car? If you don’t like it go to Amsterdam and pay 40% of your salary in taxes. Your choice lol
what pedestrian?
Yeah, the freedom to only have mobility through expensive car ownership. I'd rather pay the taxes, cause than I dont need the car and can actually choose the form of transportation I want.
@@Re_Kitty Is this the freedom that Americans always keep talking about? If you don’t want to die just do what everyone else does?
Also, Public Transit in London, On. is one of the most frustrating things. I actively stopped working in London to work in a small town because I didn't want to deal with London anymore.
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Fake London or real London?
@@ChrisSmith-bh2hg Fake
7:22 Car driving in the cycling lane… very much a suicide lane for cyclists
Growing up in the U.S. I remember watching the news and being taught to fear public spaces and public transportation because it is where I could be robbed. I was taught that having a car kept me safe and "free"
But since leaving the U.S. I see that I was lied to!! Public transportation is great and public spaces are great! I just can't convenience anyone else. They all are looking after #1 thinking cars are safer and "freer".
It's going to take a lot to change the culture of the U.S. but I'm here for it!
Great video!! Love your stuff!!
True but I couldn’t imagine walking or going to a bus stop late at night
@@LSJR1738 then you could get a cab or Uber... Or knowing you'll be out late you could drive yourself... Who says that implementing public transportation will get rid off cars? It's not a battle against cars it's opening up the possibilities of transportation. (ua-cam.com/video/uxykI30fS54/v-deo.html) Where I live in the U.S. the only possible way to get around is by car and it causes enormous traffic problems. I once locked my keys in my car here and I was stranded with no buses or reliable foot paths to get me home. I had to get an Uber to go from my locked car, to my house, and back to my locked car because there was no other way. All I'm saying It'd be nice to have more than one mode of transportation. So, when you're out late at night you don't have to take the bus... But at least you'd have the choice to.
I understand your concern, it can be dangerous to be alone at night.
Thank you for your reply!!
You weren’t taught incorrectly, I don’t think it’s safe in the U.S
Just want you to know that you have had the biggest impact on the way I think in the last year. I always disliked driving and felt unsafe, but I assumed something was just wrong with me until I started watching your vids.