This winter it has been a lot freeze/thaw and that’s not normal for Oslo/Stockholm! So at a certain point the maintenance just didn’t keep up and once you have a decent ice layer it stays till it gets warmer. Under normal conditions walking is pretty doable, but cycling in the winter is a chalenge in Sweden and Norway!
Yes this winter has been tough and even my Norwegian neighbors are sick of the ice. That said, I am still amazed how many cyclists braved the ice every day this winter!
@@danpiatkowski9586 absolutely, but that are the willing and able. I think it’s not realistic to aim for 8/80 year around in this climate. There must be good infrastructure for walking and neighborhood streets must be properly traffic calmed. When it gets too rough and icy people revert to using the roadway, so you don’t want speeding cars in neighborhoods in the winter 😬
Really enjoyed this video - thanks John! My partner and I first went to Oslo on a stunningly warm late spring weekend ten years ago and fell in love with the place - it was so nice, coming from a car-dominated UK city, to see everyone walking, biking and scooting around, and the cafe culture felt almost Mediterranean! We actually wanted to move there for a long time afterwards. However, when we went back to visit in the depths of winter a few years ago after my friend emigrated there for work, we were so shocked at the difference - it was so oppressively dark, grey and rainy! At times it felt like being in a Soviet-era Russian city - the air quality was poor, everyone was indoors, and those that braved the gloom outside huddled along under umbrellas or big coats. We realised we couldn't have coped with a Norwegian winter - and a southern one at that. So kudos to Prof Piatkowski for not being put off by it - he's going to be amazed at how different the place feels in the summer months!
Thanks so much for watching and for sharing this personal experience. When I've lived in cold places in the past, it was winter sports activities like downhill skiing and snowshoe racing that got me through the snowy months. Cheers! John
The winter has been tough, but it´s amazing to see everyone come outside again. One note about the air quality: it has gotten much better in recent years, and improving air quality has become a real priority here.
So much good stuff here, John, with another fascinating profile. As I listened to motorist behavior regarding yielding to pedestrians, I couldn't help but reflect on my first trip to San Francisco in 1972. Some college friends and I were making a spring break trip our senior year and our road journey took us through Salt Lake City. One of my friends who was not making her first trip told us about the policy in Salt Lake City. All drivers were required to immediately yield to pedestrians regardless of the location. And we witnessed pedestrians stepping into traffic mid-block on large arterials and all traffic in both directions coming to an immediate stop. It was a unique policy from my experiences and needless to say it no longer exists in SLC. I'm looking forward to your next profile.
Thanks, Gary! Fascinating story about SLC. I'll see if Jon Larsen would like to chime in on that. Next week, I have a second chat with Prof. Meredith Glaser w/ the Univ of Amsterdam. Cheers! John
@@jonlarsen650 Hi Jon. I can't verify if it was the law or just a common practice. My companion told me that based on her experience failure to yield to a pedestrian was strongly enforced in SLC. Not only did we yield but we witnessed all traffic coming to a complete stop for mid-block crossing. No signals, no crosswalks. Subsequent trips through SLC in much later time frames, that was clearly not the case.
I quite enjoyed the podcast but I feel like I must make a correction. At 24:19 Piatowski states that bicycles have priority in crossings, this is not true! Bicycles do not have any kind of priority when entering the roadway from a curb or using a crossing, they must yield to cars unless otherwise is specifically stated at the area in question. If you just yeet yourself into the road and the car doesn't stop the police will consider you at fault.
I live far from the center of the city on the edge of my accounting the street I live on the speed limit is 55 miles an hour but everyone drives at 95 miles an hour there's a shoulder on the road that is about the width of three lanes and for me to use it to go to the store or use the road to go to the store I have to use my recumbent trike weather trailer so I don't know what to do
Absolutely useful info from an inspired guest. My only question, which I also ask of myself, since I've been living abroad in a bike/pedestrian friendly European place is what some people have told me: why didn't you stay and fight?
Thanks for watching, Mark! I feel like he addressed this quite well in our conversation. And I can relate. At some point, you just get sick and tired of fighting a battle that has no end. IMO At some point you must allow yourself the ability to actually live life to its fullest without having to feel guilty. Cheers! John
Yes indeed he certainly did address it, better than I have, because he has the means for his work to transcend borders. This is a good fight and one of the very few where liberals and conservatives can be on the same page. In my case, I was too ignorant to know about staying and fighting because I began learning the whole thing from scratch here in France 22 years ago. So chez-les Cramer, we are working on moving back and fighting. I began the process by joining, in absentia, the LA County Bicycle Coalition. Your podcasts and videos are a lifeline.
@@markcramer14 LA will be lucky to have you back. There are certainly some good people there doing some good work. I'm assuming you caught my episode with Scott Epstein ua-cam.com/video/13ptJRNcKFk/v-deo.html Cheers! John
Thanks for tuning in Doug. If you mean specifically in Oslo, I'll have Prof. Piatkowski chime in. Globally I am detecting that this narrative is popping up here and there, certainly not as an organized call to action. Cheers! John
I honestly dont know. In the limited news that I´ve been seeing there seems to be two separate-but-related conversations: one about peace ASAP and the other using this as a wake-up call to addressing European fossil fuel dependence.
Nearly all electricity in Norway is hydro generated and they have a lot of electric cars. Most of the fossil fuel (gas mostly) is exported. There are also a lot of plans to lay powerlines to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands etc to export the hydroelectricity (and to use the water reservoirs as storage for windpower generated in those countries). "2 Nov 2021 - Norway, the world's leading country in electric vehicle adoption, saw plugin EV market share in October at an impressive 89.3%" "Hydropower is still the mainstay of the Norwegian electricity system. At the beginning of 2021, there were 1 681 hydropower plants in Norway, with a combined installed capasity of 33 055 MW. In a normal year, the Norwegian hydropower plants produce 136.4 TWh, which is 90 % of Norways total power production."
Good podcast with interesting information about Oslo and Norway in general. Daniel had a lot of good information.
Thanks so much for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Cheers! John
This winter it has been a lot freeze/thaw and that’s not normal for Oslo/Stockholm! So at a certain point the maintenance just didn’t keep up and once you have a decent ice layer it stays till it gets warmer. Under normal conditions walking is pretty doable, but cycling in the winter is a chalenge in Sweden and Norway!
Thanks so much for watching and for this helpful context. Cheers! John
Yes this winter has been tough and even my Norwegian neighbors are sick of the ice. That said, I am still amazed how many cyclists braved the ice every day this winter!
@@danpiatkowski9586 absolutely, but that are the willing and able. I think it’s not realistic to aim for 8/80 year around in this climate. There must be good infrastructure for walking and neighborhood streets must be properly traffic calmed. When it gets too rough and icy people revert to using the roadway, so you don’t want speeding cars in neighborhoods in the winter 😬
Really enjoyed this video - thanks John!
My partner and I first went to Oslo on a stunningly warm late spring weekend ten years ago and fell in love with the place - it was so nice, coming from a car-dominated UK city, to see everyone walking, biking and scooting around, and the cafe culture felt almost Mediterranean! We actually wanted to move there for a long time afterwards.
However, when we went back to visit in the depths of winter a few years ago after my friend emigrated there for work, we were so shocked at the difference - it was so oppressively dark, grey and rainy! At times it felt like being in a Soviet-era Russian city - the air quality was poor, everyone was indoors, and those that braved the gloom outside huddled along under umbrellas or big coats. We realised we couldn't have coped with a Norwegian winter - and a southern one at that. So kudos to Prof Piatkowski for not being put off by it - he's going to be amazed at how different the place feels in the summer months!
Thanks so much for watching and for sharing this personal experience. When I've lived in cold places in the past, it was winter sports activities like downhill skiing and snowshoe racing that got me through the snowy months. Cheers! John
The winter has been tough, but it´s amazing to see everyone come outside again. One note about the air quality: it has gotten much better in recent years, and improving air quality has become a real priority here.
Great interview. Really enjoyed
Thanks so much, Cathy! So delighted that you enjoyed it. Cheers! John
Go Dan go! Glad Oslo is working out for the family.
Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John
So much good stuff here, John, with another fascinating profile. As I listened to motorist behavior regarding yielding to pedestrians, I couldn't help but reflect on my first trip to San Francisco in 1972. Some college friends and I were making a spring break trip our senior year and our road journey took us through Salt Lake City. One of my friends who was not making her first trip told us about the policy in Salt Lake City. All drivers were required to immediately yield to pedestrians regardless of the location. And we witnessed pedestrians stepping into traffic mid-block on large arterials and all traffic in both directions coming to an immediate stop. It was a unique policy from my experiences and needless to say it no longer exists in SLC. I'm looking forward to your next profile.
Thanks, Gary! Fascinating story about SLC. I'll see if Jon Larsen would like to chime in on that. Next week, I have a second chat with Prof. Meredith Glaser w/ the Univ of Amsterdam. Cheers! John
Gary- I wasn't aware of that law. I'll have to look into what it would take to bring it back!
@@jonlarsen650 Hi Jon. I can't verify if it was the law or just a common practice. My companion told me that based on her experience failure to yield to a pedestrian was strongly enforced in SLC. Not only did we yield but we witnessed all traffic coming to a complete stop for mid-block crossing. No signals, no crosswalks. Subsequent trips through SLC in much later time frames, that was clearly not the case.
I quite enjoyed the podcast but I feel like I must make a correction.
At 24:19 Piatowski states that bicycles have priority in crossings, this is not true! Bicycles do not have any kind of priority when entering the roadway from a curb or using a crossing, they must yield to cars unless otherwise is specifically stated at the area in question. If you just yeet yourself into the road and the car doesn't stop the police will consider you at fault.
Thanks so much for watching and for this helpful clarification. I'll make sure Daniel sees it. Cheers! John
Thanks for the Corrections - I´m still learning the traffic laws here and that´s an important one!
I live far from the center of the city on the edge of my accounting the street I live on the speed limit is 55 miles an hour but everyone drives at 95 miles an hour there's a shoulder on the road that is about the width of three lanes and for me to use it to go to the store or use the road to go to the store I have to use my recumbent trike weather trailer so I don't know what to do
Oh wow! That doesn't sound good at all. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John
❤Oslo
Yes, indeed! I need to do more content on Oslo.😀
Absolutely useful info from an inspired guest. My only question, which I also ask of myself, since I've been living abroad in a bike/pedestrian friendly European place is what some people have told me: why didn't you stay and fight?
Thanks for watching, Mark! I feel like he addressed this quite well in our conversation. And I can relate. At some point, you just get sick and tired of fighting a battle that has no end. IMO At some point you must allow yourself the ability to actually live life to its fullest without having to feel guilty. Cheers! John
Yes indeed he certainly did address it, better than I have, because he has the means for his work to transcend borders. This is a good fight and one of the very few where liberals and conservatives can be on the same page. In my case, I was too ignorant to know about staying and fighting because I began learning the whole thing from scratch here in France 22 years ago. So chez-les Cramer, we are working on moving back and fighting. I began the process by joining, in absentia, the LA County Bicycle Coalition. Your podcasts and videos are a lifeline.
@@markcramer14 LA will be lucky to have you back. There are certainly some good people there doing some good work. I'm assuming you caught my episode with Scott Epstein ua-cam.com/video/13ptJRNcKFk/v-deo.html Cheers! John
Is there any talk about reducing fossil fuels by biking for the sake of peace in Ukraine?
Thanks for tuning in Doug. If you mean specifically in Oslo, I'll have Prof. Piatkowski chime in. Globally I am detecting that this narrative is popping up here and there, certainly not as an organized call to action. Cheers! John
I honestly dont know. In the limited news that I´ve been seeing there seems to be two separate-but-related conversations: one about peace ASAP and the other using this as a wake-up call to addressing European fossil fuel dependence.
Nearly all electricity in Norway is hydro generated and they have a lot of electric cars. Most of the fossil fuel (gas mostly) is exported. There are also a lot of plans to lay powerlines to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands etc to export the hydroelectricity (and to use the water reservoirs as storage for windpower generated in those countries).
"2 Nov 2021 - Norway, the world's leading country in electric vehicle adoption, saw plugin EV market share in October at an impressive 89.3%"
"Hydropower is still the mainstay of the Norwegian electricity system. At the beginning of 2021, there were 1 681 hydropower plants in Norway, with a combined installed capasity of 33 055 MW. In a normal year, the Norwegian hydropower plants produce 136.4 TWh, which is 90 % of Norways total power production."
@@Cl0ckcl0ck Wow! Fascinating stuff. Thanks so much for these insights. Cheers! John