wow, that looks really impressive - I guess, if Sowjet era roads have one advantage, it's the almost unlimited space to rebuild them into something more useful. If only North American road designers would understand the same lesson…
@@miles5600 They fwr from unlimited in Vilnius. Also Vilnius was developing not just in Soviet times, but before, old narrow old town one of biggests in Europe.
The more European countries they imply good cycling infrastructures the more others will follow and make a better place for all. You go Vilnius! Greetings from the Boot
it's still far far from being a cycling city. I live here and while there have been lots of improvement during the last few years, a considerable portion of the time you will still be cycling with cars or on narrow, low quality sidewalks with other pedestrians, especially the deeper inside the city you go. You can check this on google maps. There are also no reliable places where to leave your bike, those parking facilities don't house a lot of bikes and you won't find them deeper inside the city, and there's only 12 of them. they are used to store your bikes more longer-term rather than short-term. Lots of bike paths share same road with cars also and are in no way seperated. Not ideal.
and then russians wonder why these countries don't want anything to do with them. The baltic states are turning into wonderful places to live and work.
@@ligametis Part of the revolt against car-centric policy in the Netherlands was exactly to preserve historic city centres. Lots of them were still demolished in the 60's to accomodate cars
@@screpas5 and maybe you should move to China or US where even small cities have generic glass boxes and they destroyed their old towns. And comparing thos yo Russia just shows how clueless you are. I am not comparing to Russia where they also destroy everything. I am comparing to Norway where they protect old wooden buildings.
@@ligametis which wooden buildings, no matter in how terrible condition and abandoned by its owners, lost their protection and were demolished in Vilnius in last 20 years?
Mark, thanks for visiting Lithuania. Didn't expect this good review :) I would say there's still a lot to fix in Vilnius, but it's nice to hear Vilnius is on a good way.
Go Vilnius! Good for them to invite you to speak there and encourage them on persuing a more people oriented city. Thanks for your video as well, Greetings from Berlin
If you ever return to Lithuania, it's worth checking out Tauragė town. Government here invests into bike roads and it was the first town in the country to make bike storages all around the town. A good example how a relatively small town can do things right and become an example.
I live in Vilnius and I'm not sure what exactly happened this year, but I've never seen so many roadworks all around the city. Seems like there is a big budget to improve infrastructure and that is really awesome.
Yeah but these works are just for tarmac and pavement surface upgrades, not building new infrastructure like it was done by tge previous mayor who started this cycling/pedestrian revolution
Mayor campaign promise, a lot of red tape was cut and they're going to redo a large portion of roads and intersections in the coming years, gonna be one heck of a traffic mess but hopefully for the best in the long run
This is very impressive ! Excellent work done by the government of Lithuania. I wish that my city (Gothenburg) would also try to follow the Dutch example.
I can confirm that there was very significant progress with cycling infrastructure in Vilnius over the past few years. This also resulted in a textbook case of "build and they will come" aka induced demand. The number of cyclists in Vilnius increased perhaps 10-fold over the last ~10 years based on my personal observations of many years of cycling in this city. Yes, I used to cycle even before those bicycle paths and it sucked. Still there is a lot of space for improvement, especially when it comes to safety features of those new bicycle paths. For example car entrances/exists to nearby carparks or other territories often lack effective safety features or warning signs for drivers which often results in accidents or conflicts. Also there is severe lack of awareness of drivers how to behave in situations where they have to deal with cyclists. Some cyclists, and especially electric scooter drivers, would also benefit from some awareness and knowledge of how to behave on a bicycle path. All in all, very good, but can still be much better.
Personally, I hate a lot of new cycling paths. As a pedestrian and driver I feel that cycling paths are prioritized and space is being stolen from other means of transportation. In some areas sidewalks are very narrow, cars can't drive around an obstacle on single lane roads.
@DS.J I fully agree with your statements! As a Dutch visiting student last year I really enjoyed seeing the progress over the last autumn and winter from atop my second hand bike. Although the eventual snow slowed me down a little, it still remained my favourite way of getting around town, once you know the convenient routes. And yes, I also received some angry words and single fingers when cycling correctly haha, and was happy to show the people (and in cold months the surprised roadworkers) that bikes will be there to stay! : )
Maybe Netherlands, but this is one of the ugliest streets. Not due to its looks, but due to how it was created by destroying unique century old wooden heritage and green zones.
@@ligametisYou have either been misinformed or misunderstand the meaning of heritage. First, the houses (which none were demolished for building the street) in this area were never part of protected heritage. What you might be reffering to is Skansenas, part of which is indeed under heritage protection, but that area has nothing to do with this particular street. Second, quick Google street views tour shows how there was almost nothing but plain fields and dirt roads where this street now goes, so I am not even sure what was “destroyed”.
@@dovydasmaciulis1485 you probably lack knowledge newer than 2012 that street view provides. open older maps, this street is in one of the oldest parts of the city, with houses from 1800s. A lot of unique historical architecture all the time, all over the world is not officially being protected. That doesn't make it not valuable, people are still sad about penn station or singer building. UNESCO commission officially acknowledged that demolition of old buildings, new modern developments like skyscrapers, that most likely also includes these new roads, are concerning regarding Vilnius UNESCO status. This area is inside old town surrounding sightlines protection area.
Do you think the Dutch government should bring bicycle streets into the national law when it already works fine as it is, could it be even better? Estonia I believe is in the process of doing it since the city of Tartu will be building the country's first bicycle street starting this year, I'm surprised but impressed that Vilnius is ahead there
I had no idea that something THAT dutch existed outside of the Netherlands! That is marvellous, I hope they complete the cycle routes and use the same strategy of segregating modal routes. And of course - as far as it hasn't been done yet - add intercity routes. The country is flat and small enough to get good coverage.
On paper Lithuania is flat. Actually, 2 largest cities - Vilnius and Kaunas have big river valleys and cycling between center and more remote residential areas include very steep inclines.
Impressive! Some parts of the video really look like they were shot in The Netherlands. That shows how good the design of some streets are. Well done Vilnius! I can't wait to visit the city soon and bike around.
Looks lovely ! We have a similar city in Slovakia - Trnava, which is amazing for cycling and the city is doing its best to make cycling the best way to travel around the city
Not very similar, as Trnava has only a tenth of Vilnius's population and is 5.6 times smaller by area. Most towns similar to Trnava don't need dedicated bicycle infrastructure because the traffic is so low that it's safe to ride bikes on the streets or sidewalks.
Oh yea :D After holiday I understand that place I live in (Vilnius) - has really really good restaurants. And the Michelin stars that some of them got this year prove that ;)
The amount of bicycle paths in the last 5 years incrased drastically, I now choose to commute everywhere with bicycle and sometimes use taxi in case of emergency, but overal the infrastructure is nice, drivers are not too assholy too if you respect them and follow the road rules.
For real. As a dutchmen i really thought these frames were from Netherlands. Im really surprised how so good these infrastructure are. Something other major cities can takes notes from.
Hey, thank you for the good words about our country! Yeah, as someone who cycles to work ~10km - I'm very proud of the changes made. They certainly increased the number of cyclists. The thing I would not like to be sacrificed for bicycle lanes are the trees. I'd rather use pathway than see trees cut. The street with cobble-stones is where our flat was located. I know it very well and I'd say that one certainly is a failure. It's very narrow for cars, and also noisy even if they drive slow. There are way too few parking places. Also - one path for pedestrians would have been enough, but they have cut lots of trees to make two. The river sides slide there quite often and feels like government didn't learn enough from Gediminas castle tower. But.. yeah... despite that one - the upgrades are significant and I enjoy them a lot! Still waiting for some lanes between the cities & towns :) No need to make them wide - we're friendly.
German politics like discussing a lot :D ... And even after discussions - still make wrong decisions. Either way - vote for bikes - they're good for health, wallet and environment. Certainly nothing to loose. Especially when all oil is imported and half your cities are Lärmschutzzone with speed limit of 30 km/h (a bicycle literally goes faster than that).
The cycling infrastructure in Vilnius is really good, although it still lacks some important connections. Unfortunately, the public transport here is comparable only to Kishinev, Tirana or Skopje - very old and rusty, slow, there are not a single meter of rail tracks (no trams, metro, no urban or proper suburban railway lines). It's a real shame.
@@Aaa1d11 Car-oriented cities always fail to European cities. Without proper public transport Vilnius falls to the ranks of Eastern European cities like Chisinau, Skopje, Ryazan, Pskov, Brest, Grodno and other backwards settlements or some car-centric suburban cities in the USA.
@@arturass3896 it does not need a new means of public transportation. Current one is far from perfect - not enough bus lanes, no accurate scheduling or they are actually scheduled instead of just coming every 3 or so minutes, culture is horrible inside too - no front door entry-only policy etc. FIX THAT
@@Aaa1d11 It does need. Wake up and smell the coffee - the only large city in the European Union without any city rail system, without any fast means of transportation - it's ridiculous. Thessaloniki in Greece with 800k inhabitants are opening its metro in a month, Cluj-Napoca in Romania with 290k inhabitants are building its metro (they do have new trams, trolley-busses and busses), Krakow in Poland with 800k inhabitants is thinking of building one, even Lodz with 600k inhabitants is building its pre-metro recently under the centre,. It's a shame and ridiculous, than a capital of a country in European Union is a backwards, car-oriented mess.
@@LanternBones during winter I have seen maybe one or two ppl cycling in Vilnius. Of course more people cycle more during summer and warmer months. Vilnius during winter is everything but vibrant lol it's full of cars and traffic is everywhere all the time. Of course that's based on my experience which I understand might be different from yours :)
All this was installed by the previous city administration in 8 years. At the start of 2023, a new mayor has been elected and priorities have changed - street's are being renewed at a record pace with prioritizing automobile over other modes of transport and the world's best practices are being ignored. We have already plenty of examples where local, low traffic streets are only "renovated" changing only asphalt, but not redesigning it as it should be. That's a pity.
Sadly it's not improving anymore. All this progress has been done by the previous mayor and his team. After the last election the priority changed back to widening the roads and not caring much about cycling paths, pedestrians and public transit.
People always talk about "soviet era" as a bad thing, and yes there were many bad things about it, but having wide streets is a blessing in disguise for urban planners. Coming from the UK we rarely have the luxury of space for bike lanes. Everything is so cramped here.
Tokyo has very narrow streets but these are very walkable and cyclable due to the very slow speeds and low car traffic. They also allow cycling on sidewalks. So narrow streets is not an excuse.
It is a one way street for cars with a bike lane for the oncoming bike traffic so it is two way street for bicycles but they are standing on the wrong side of the street :) some people new to city cycling still get confused in streets like such
Lithuania has improved a lot in the capital, but I will say, as someone from the countryside, the quality of life is much poorer. With terrible taxes placed on people whose income is super low... very sad to see the capital thriving whilst the others suffer...
Lithuanian here. Not a fan how the government is making a cycling paths wider and in return narrowing a street so less cars can go through making even more traffic jams. Some cycling paths feel like football fields, it's not necessary to have it that wide
Wrong information on improving walking. Even according to the official data (JUDU) number of walking trips in Vilnius for the past few years decreased by 8%, while non-official data shows that decrease is bigger. Mostly, bicycle lanes were arranged in Vilnius by NARROWING the walking lanes, and in many places significantly reducing (or making impossible) the green barriers, which are important for pedestrian comfort and which used to be typical part of the local urban design. What is surprising is how persistent the pedestrians are keeping the traditions of the walkable city even when the city becomes less walkable. ps. take a walking lane 01:58 by the river, which is meant for slowing down and relaxing. Nice picture for the bicyclists for sure. Nice thing they left the trees. But with a bike lane so close to the slope, as a pedestrian you get cautious even during your recreational walks - and now you can't walk with your family members of friends side by side. At least they did not cut the trees. Vilnius is an unique example of how to develop bicycling as an alternative not for the cars (motorization keeps growing), but for the walks. Which is a strange choice, frankly.
jfc can you at least not spread your hate even here? All cyclists are pedestrians too and in most places there is more than enough space for pedestrians...
Unlucky for us, the new mayor of Vilnius, is not too happy about cycling infrastructure and so far has not started any new projects. Likely, existing infrastructure will stay, but I doubt there will be as much improvement as with previous mayor office.
"The Lithuanian capital is clearly working hard to improve cycling further" Unfortunatly not anymore, the new mayor is a rural petrol head that hates cyclists/pedestrians and invests in the widening of the streets.
@@druginys Šiemet tik vienas mažas gabaliukas Žygimantų g. tiesiamas, plius gabaliukas Baltupiuose. Tai panašu, kad tik baiginėjami buvusios administracijos darbai, bet nieko naujo neinicijuojama.
@@eruno_ Koks skirtumas kas ko nemėgsta. Reikai būt visiškais dundukais, kad manyt jog meras pats vienas sprendžia kokius projektus vykdyti kokius ne. Yra sutartys, yra įsipareigojimai prieš Eu ir pan. Nuo pačio mero mažai kas priklauso. Tik kai kurie merai mėgsta nuopelnus sau priskirti.
Vilnius does not have good bike infrastructure in comparison to Denmark or Netherlands at all. Biking to work is almost unheard there. It's mostly just recreational.
Filmed during warm season of the year? 😂 come and film the cycling roads in the winter, because nobody really cares about the roads anymore, they're non existent. Nobody keeps them cyclable. Also, during summer time the green bushes and trees are often overgrowing the cycling roads, thus reducing the width of the lanes even more.
Bullshit. Neskleisk čia dezinformacijos, ramūnai :) dviračių takai valomi, dažnu atveju net pirmiau nei pėsčiųjų ;) išvažiuok nors kartą pasivažinėt, ar kai privaro sniego ir skundėsi, kad niekas nevalyta, nors neplanuoji net važiuot? :DD net miškais per sniegą žmonės važinėja. ;) tai nekliedėk
have traveled all over Europe. The best apartments and hotels are in Montenegro. The building are new and modern. You can rent in any of the cities a two bedrooms apartment with new and modern with everything you need for a comfortable stay for 40 euros a day. Including cleaning services. Lithuania and Poland have the worst apartments expensive and most of them are old or in old buildings.
As a lithuanian living in vilnius - fuck that. 9 months of the year those aren't even use and they oversize them for the very few morons we have that drive cycles
wow, that looks really impressive - I guess, if Sowjet era roads have one advantage, it's the almost unlimited space to rebuild them into something more useful. If only North American road designers would understand the same lesson…
You could say the same about German roads. Oh and North America has been building lots of cycling infrastructure. Like in Vancouver, Montreal, Boston
@@miles5600 They fwr from unlimited in Vilnius. Also Vilnius was developing not just in Soviet times, but before, old narrow old town one of biggests in Europe.
And they convert nice wide sidewalks and roads to narrow ones with ugly bicycle paths/
@@miles5600 I visited montreal recently and was so impressed! Far better than the central european city that I live in:)
@@BrotherhoodOfHam yea montreal is amazingly far with their bike infrastructure.
Damn, as a Dutch person I am impressed, you could have said parts of this video were filmed in the Netherlands and I would have believed you.
Lithuania rocks! The hidden gem of Europe.
The more European countries they imply good cycling infrastructures the more others will follow and make a better place for all. You go Vilnius!
Greetings from the Boot
Here from Latvia. The progress in Vilnius is by far the best in the Baltics, hopefully, cities like Riga become more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly
Vilnius can be a great example of how a country/city can always become a cycling city/nation if it truly wants to! Very inspiring!
it's still far far from being a cycling city. I live here and while there have been lots of improvement during the last few years, a considerable portion of the time you will still be cycling with cars or on narrow, low quality sidewalks with other pedestrians, especially the deeper inside the city you go. You can check this on google maps. There are also no reliable places where to leave your bike, those parking facilities don't house a lot of bikes and you won't find them deeper inside the city, and there's only 12 of them. they are used to store your bikes more longer-term rather than short-term. Lots of bike paths share same road with cars also and are in no way seperated. Not ideal.
and then russians wonder why these countries don't want anything to do with them. The baltic states are turning into wonderful places to live and work.
I don't like modern city changes. We are losing identity, old and interesting replaces by repetitive new and bland.
@@ligametis Part of the revolt against car-centric policy in the Netherlands was exactly to preserve historic city centres. Lots of them were still demolished in the 60's to accomodate cars
@@ligametis Move to Russia. Not much has changed there ;)
@@screpas5 and maybe you should move to China or US where even small cities have generic glass boxes and they destroyed their old towns.
And comparing thos yo Russia just shows how clueless you are. I am not comparing to Russia where they also destroy everything. I am comparing to Norway where they protect old wooden buildings.
@@ligametis which wooden buildings, no matter in how terrible condition and abandoned by its owners, lost their protection and were demolished in Vilnius in last 20 years?
Enjoyed your video! I visited Lithuania a couple of days ago. It was a fascinating place.
looks super clean
Yes, it is! something what we could proud 🙂
it is
Yes, and boring, ugly, dystopian modernism. Almost all areas that look "clean and nice" are where history was flattened and bulldozed without any war.
Everything is clean, because we are born to be tidy. And thank God, not too many immigrants, whose mentality is completely different ...
because of the culture and because of the lack of inmigrants
Mark, thanks for visiting Lithuania. Didn't expect this good review :) I would say there's still a lot to fix in Vilnius, but it's nice to hear Vilnius is on a good way.
Go Vilnius! Good for them to invite you to speak there and encourage them on persuing a more people oriented city. Thanks for your video as well,
Greetings from Berlin
Polska,Litwa,Łotwa i Estonia idą do przodu!Rozwijaj się Litwo!Pozdrowienia!
If you ever return to Lithuania, it's worth checking out Tauragė town. Government here invests into bike roads and it was the first town in the country to make bike storages all around the town. A good example how a relatively small town can do things right and become an example.
I live in Vilnius and I'm not sure what exactly happened this year, but I've never seen so many roadworks all around the city. Seems like there is a big budget to improve infrastructure and that is really awesome.
New mayor
Yeah but these works are just for tarmac and pavement surface upgrades, not building new infrastructure like it was done by tge previous mayor who started this cycling/pedestrian revolution
@@Aaa1d11 New infrastructure is also being built from what I've seen around the city
Mayor campaign promise, a lot of red tape was cut and they're going to redo a large portion of roads and intersections in the coming years, gonna be one heck of a traffic mess but hopefully for the best in the long run
This is very impressive ! Excellent work done by the government of Lithuania. I wish that my city (Gothenburg) would also try to follow the Dutch example.
This city looks lovely
It’s good to see cities making use of the space in a right manner.
Id like to visit the baltics! Looks lovely
You are welcome😊
Very impressive, and clean City ; )
The Dutch Red asphalt looks so good!
I can confirm that there was very significant progress with cycling infrastructure in Vilnius over the past few years. This also resulted in a textbook case of "build and they will come" aka induced demand. The number of cyclists in Vilnius increased perhaps 10-fold over the last ~10 years based on my personal observations of many years of cycling in this city. Yes, I used to cycle even before those bicycle paths and it sucked. Still there is a lot of space for improvement, especially when it comes to safety features of those new bicycle paths. For example car entrances/exists to nearby carparks or other territories often lack effective safety features or warning signs for drivers which often results in accidents or conflicts. Also there is severe lack of awareness of drivers how to behave in situations where they have to deal with cyclists. Some cyclists, and especially electric scooter drivers, would also benefit from some awareness and knowledge of how to behave on a bicycle path. All in all, very good, but can still be much better.
Personally, I hate a lot of new cycling paths. As a pedestrian and driver I feel that cycling paths are prioritized and space is being stolen from other means of transportation. In some areas sidewalks are very narrow, cars can't drive around an obstacle on single lane roads.
@@ligametis Whut?
@@DS.J He's been talking nonsense in every comment he replied to. Ignore him.
@DS.J I fully agree with your statements! As a Dutch visiting student last year I really enjoyed seeing the progress over the last autumn and winter from atop my second hand bike. Although the eventual snow slowed me down a little, it still remained my favourite way of getting around town, once you know the convenient routes. And yes, I also received some angry words and single fingers when cycling correctly haha, and was happy to show the people (and in cold months the surprised roadworkers) that bikes will be there to stay! : )
@therunningpiranha8763 you are strange. Cars are way better and most good jobs give you free gas.
Very good Lithuania!, splendid!..
Show that Baltic power huh? 😝😝👍👍
I wish Tallinn were like Vilnius in this regard...
real we need to catch up to the netherlands
1:40 wow, that could literally be anywhere in the Netherlands. You can clearly see the Dutch inspiration
Maybe Netherlands, but this is one of the ugliest streets. Not due to its looks, but due to how it was created by destroying unique century old wooden heritage and green zones.
@@ligametis Ką tu čia rašinėji ? Ar kas nuskriaudė gyvenime tave , jei viskuo nepatenkintas ?
@@ligametisYou have either been misinformed or misunderstand the meaning of heritage. First, the houses (which none were demolished for building the street) in this area were never part of protected heritage. What you might be reffering to is Skansenas, part of which is indeed under heritage protection, but that area has nothing to do with this particular street. Second, quick Google street views tour shows how there was almost nothing but plain fields and dirt roads where this street now goes, so I am not even sure what was “destroyed”.
@@dovydasmaciulis1485 you probably lack knowledge newer than 2012 that street view provides. open older maps, this street is in one of the oldest parts of the city, with houses from 1800s. A lot of unique historical architecture all the time, all over the world is not officially being protected. That doesn't make it not valuable, people are still sad about penn station or singer building.
UNESCO commission officially acknowledged that demolition of old buildings, new modern developments like skyscrapers, that most likely also includes these new roads, are concerning regarding Vilnius UNESCO status.
This area is inside old town surrounding sightlines protection area.
@@ligametis If Šnipiškės is a heritage site, then any outhouse is heritage.
Great job Vilnius!
New cycling lanes are super comfortable in Vilnius.
Damn I thought you were comparing to dutch footage until I saw the signs lol
That's awesome! Congrats Lithuania
Looks great!
Well done, Vilnius. Keep improving.
Do you think the Dutch government should bring bicycle streets into the national law when it already works fine as it is, could it be even better? Estonia I believe is in the process of doing it since the city of Tartu will be building the country's first bicycle street starting this year, I'm surprised but impressed that Vilnius is ahead there
hello from Vilnius to Tallinn! Vilnius is ahead of Tallinn in everything except the bragging)).
@@SuperYankis Your comment just left Tallinn behind in terms of bragging too.
@@SuperYankis I'm not from Tallinn but go off
Atleast Tallinn has functioning public transport
@@n2e913except the trams being cutoff for two summers in a row 😂
I really like your work. Congratulations. 🇧🇷👍🙂😊
I had no idea that something THAT dutch existed outside of the Netherlands! That is marvellous, I hope they complete the cycle routes and use the same strategy of segregating modal routes. And of course - as far as it hasn't been done yet - add intercity routes. The country is flat and small enough to get good coverage.
On paper Lithuania is flat. Actually, 2 largest cities - Vilnius and Kaunas have big river valleys and cycling between center and more remote residential areas include very steep inclines.
Its not only in Vilnius, Kaunas also have these types of bike ways
I'm happy for you that you enjoyed your visit :)
Geogesser player will probably cry about this because they will never be able to keep this appart.
Nature landscape and architecture is the best in Vilnius. It is hard to compete for any city.
Impressive! Some parts of the video really look like they were shot in The Netherlands. That shows how good the design of some streets are. Well done Vilnius! I can't wait to visit the city soon and bike around.
Looks awesome the only issue is that it could mistaken for the netherlands. Dutch people will probably have trouble getting home.
Such a wonderful video sir 😊
Looks lovely !
We have a similar city in Slovakia - Trnava, which is amazing for cycling and the city is doing its best to make cycling the best way to travel around the city
Not very similar, as Trnava has only a tenth of Vilnius's population and is 5.6 times smaller by area. Most towns similar to Trnava don't need dedicated bicycle infrastructure because the traffic is so low that it's safe to ride bikes on the streets or sidewalks.
@@Moliugas89 ☹️
1:38 this is monstrously beautiful, and i don't even like modern architecture
well done Lithuania.
Thank you for covering this! I really wanted someone to highlight it 🚴
And the food is superb, if you needed another reason to visit.
Oh yea :D After holiday I understand that place I live in (Vilnius) - has really really good restaurants. And the Michelin stars that some of them got this year prove that ;)
please sent some "Dutch experts" to Canada...they need some serious city planning
There have been a lot of Canadian experts visiting the Netherlands to admire the infrastructure. But they tend to stay and live here.
@@erik5374 lol, no doubt
The amount of bicycle paths in the last 5 years incrased drastically, I now choose to commute everywhere with bicycle and sometimes use taxi in case of emergency, but overal the infrastructure is nice, drivers are not too assholy too if you respect them and follow the road rules.
Great video! 🚴
Nice recordings.
Impressive!
For real. As a dutchmen i really thought these frames were from Netherlands.
Im really surprised how so good these infrastructure are.
Something other major cities can takes notes from.
That looks Dutch! Very nice.
Great to see.
Great news! Thanks for sharing : )
Great to see. Such a contrast with Riga!
Hey, thank you for the good words about our country!
Yeah, as someone who cycles to work ~10km - I'm very proud of the changes made. They certainly increased the number of cyclists.
The thing I would not like to be sacrificed for bicycle lanes are the trees. I'd rather use pathway than see trees cut.
The street with cobble-stones is where our flat was located. I know it very well and I'd say that one certainly is a failure. It's very narrow for cars, and also noisy even if they drive slow. There are way too few parking places. Also - one path for pedestrians would have been enough, but they have cut lots of trees to make two. The river sides slide there quite often and feels like government didn't learn enough from Gediminas castle tower. But.. yeah... despite that one - the upgrades are significant and I enjoy them a lot! Still waiting for some lanes between the cities & towns :) No need to make them wide - we're friendly.
Beautiful. Well done Vilnius !!
Lekker bezig Vilnius!
Don't you love
trains, trams, aren't they all beautiful :)
come take a ride! (at folder 2, look my way)
Well done Vilnius!
Could do with some of those Dutch experts in Estonia
real
If only Bucharest would learn from this. 😢
love from lakhanau❤
Taking these images without all the e-scooters must have been tough
Meanwhile in Germany, parties are advertising to build back cycling infrastructure in favour of parking...
Germany has a huge car manufacturing lobby that will prevent any real progress. Nothing you can do there unless your car companies go bankrupt...
German politics like discussing a lot :D ... And even after discussions - still make wrong decisions.
Either way - vote for bikes - they're good for health, wallet and environment. Certainly nothing to loose. Especially when all oil is imported and half your cities are Lärmschutzzone with speed limit of 30 km/h (a bicycle literally goes faster than that).
The cycling infrastructure in Vilnius is really good, although it still lacks some important connections. Unfortunately, the public transport here is comparable only to Kishinev, Tirana or Skopje - very old and rusty, slow, there are not a single meter of rail tracks (no trams, metro, no urban or proper suburban railway lines). It's a real shame.
We don’t need it
@@Aaa1d11 Car-oriented cities always fail to European cities. Without proper public transport Vilnius falls to the ranks of Eastern European cities like Chisinau, Skopje, Ryazan, Pskov, Brest, Grodno and other backwards settlements or some car-centric suburban cities in the USA.
@@arturass3896 it does not need a new means of public transportation. Current one is far from perfect - not enough bus lanes, no accurate scheduling or they are actually scheduled instead of just coming every 3 or so minutes, culture is horrible inside too - no front door entry-only policy etc. FIX THAT
@@Aaa1d11 It does need. Wake up and smell the coffee - the only large city in the European Union without any city rail system, without any fast means of transportation - it's ridiculous.
Thessaloniki in Greece with 800k inhabitants are opening its metro in a month, Cluj-Napoca in Romania with 290k inhabitants are building its metro (they do have new trams, trolley-busses and busses), Krakow in Poland with 800k inhabitants is thinking of building one, even Lodz with 600k inhabitants is building its pre-metro recently under the centre,.
It's a shame and ridiculous, than a capital of a country in European Union is a backwards, car-oriented mess.
I wish car free cities was normalized in my country
Lithuania 🚴🚴🚴
Been living in vilnius for almost a year. Everything looks amazing yes, as long as you stick to the city centre and you visit during summer!
What's wrong with winter?
@@LanternBones during winter I have seen maybe one or two ppl cycling in Vilnius. Of course more people cycle more during summer and warmer months. Vilnius during winter is everything but vibrant lol it's full of cars and traffic is everywhere all the time. Of course that's based on my experience which I understand might be different from yours :)
@@LanternBones its so cold and dark you forget you're human
@@fathermendozza😂
That's true unfortunately, our winters are cold and dark...@@fathermendozza
By the time the capacity of the narrow new paths becomes an issue they'd have been doing great.
That's what we've been trying to tell you for years, you only have to copy us we already did the homework!
This video has horrible aliasing even at 4k. I hope this is something you can fix, since I like watching your content :P.
Can you tell me if this version is better for you? ua-cam.com/video/5Tnykzvb7mU/v-deo.htmlsi=O9gv7EEtp-UrLf6f
Seems better @@BicycleDutch
Brazilian politicians should visit Lithuania. And the Netherlands of course.
👍👍👍
All this was installed by the previous city administration in 8 years. At the start of 2023, a new mayor has been elected and priorities have changed - street's are being renewed at a record pace with prioritizing automobile over other modes of transport and the world's best practices are being ignored. We have already plenty of examples where local, low traffic streets are only "renovated" changing only asphalt, but not redesigning it as it should be. That's a pity.
Yess it makes me want to cry now
Sadly it's not improving anymore. All this progress has been done by the previous mayor and his team. After the last election the priority changed back to widening the roads and not caring much about cycling paths, pedestrians and public transit.
People always talk about "soviet era" as a bad thing, and yes there were many bad things about it, but having wide streets is a blessing in disguise for urban planners. Coming from the UK we rarely have the luxury of space for bike lanes. Everything is so cramped here.
Tokyo has very narrow streets but these are very walkable and cyclable due to the very slow speeds and low car traffic. They also allow cycling on sidewalks.
So narrow streets is not an excuse.
The Netherlands has a lot of narrow streets too...
If be honest when I rent for 20min to drive with bolt scooter it’s was a shit if be honest
0:51 They're going the wrong way on a one-way street
Edit: They're going the wrong way on the bike lane
It is a one way street for cars with a bike lane for the oncoming bike traffic so it is two way street for bicycles but they are standing on the wrong side of the street :) some people new to city cycling still get confused in streets like such
@@guntisber5415 No, the bike lane literally has a bike symbol facing away from them
@@PhoenixHen I explained it how it is, I live 500m from that place, address is Pylimo 43 :)
Yes they are only a bit too far to the left. It was here maps.app.goo.gl/acLqhtSeLNDwkeAB7 You can even see the chairs I was sitting on. ;-)
The infrastructure in the Old Town is very chaotic unfortunately
Another European city that puts Prague to shame.
can confirm, i used to work in Prague
i wish indian cities were like this.
This progress almost completely halted with the new mayor. Very anti-progress guy elected by the soviet mentality residents
Was this episode sponsored by the Vilnius' tourism office?
I was guessing the same
Lithuania has improved a lot in the capital, but I will say, as someone from the countryside, the quality of life is much poorer. With terrible taxes placed on people whose income is super low... very sad to see the capital thriving whilst the others suffer...
Taxes same in all country.
Lithuanian here. Not a fan how the government is making a cycling paths wider and in return narrowing a street so less cars can go through making even more traffic jams. Some cycling paths feel like football fields, it's not necessary to have it that wide
Beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht.
Wrong information on improving walking. Even according to the official data (JUDU) number of walking trips in Vilnius for the past few years decreased by 8%, while non-official data shows that decrease is bigger.
Mostly, bicycle lanes were arranged in Vilnius by NARROWING the walking lanes, and in many places significantly reducing (or making impossible) the green barriers, which are important for pedestrian comfort and which used to be typical part of the local urban design.
What is surprising is how persistent the pedestrians are keeping the traditions of the walkable city even when the city becomes less walkable.
ps.
take a walking lane 01:58 by the river, which is meant for slowing down and relaxing. Nice picture for the bicyclists for sure. Nice thing they left the trees. But with a bike lane so close to the slope, as a pedestrian you get cautious even during your recreational walks - and now you can't walk with your family members of friends side by side. At least they did not cut the trees.
Vilnius is an unique example of how to develop bicycling as an alternative not for the cars (motorization keeps growing), but for the walks. Which is a strange choice, frankly.
jfc can you at least not spread your hate even here? All cyclists are pedestrians too and in most places there is more than enough space for pedestrians...
Unlucky for us, the new mayor of Vilnius, is not too happy about cycling infrastructure and so far has not started any new projects. Likely, existing infrastructure will stay, but I doubt there will be as much improvement as with previous mayor office.
"The Lithuanian capital is clearly working hard to improve cycling further"
Unfortunatly not anymore, the new mayor is a rural petrol head that hates cyclists/pedestrians and invests in the widening of the streets.
Kokią čia pievą parašei?
@@druginys
Benkunskas does not like cyclists at all.
@@druginys Šiemet tik vienas mažas gabaliukas Žygimantų g. tiesiamas, plius gabaliukas Baltupiuose. Tai panašu, kad tik baiginėjami buvusios administracijos darbai, bet nieko naujo neinicijuojama.
@@eruno_ Koks skirtumas kas ko nemėgsta. Reikai būt visiškais dundukais, kad manyt jog meras pats vienas sprendžia kokius projektus vykdyti kokius ne. Yra sutartys, yra įsipareigojimai prieš Eu ir pan. Nuo pačio mero mažai kas priklauso. Tik kai kurie merai mėgsta nuopelnus sau priskirti.
@@druginys Taigi dabar eksValdas Bortunskas be projektų viską daro, atnaujina dangą paprastuoju remonto būdu.
It's a shame the new mayor seems to be a little mentally troubled and without any leadership skill, so this progress might stall for a few years...
if you are not happy even at one location get back where youll be happy.
Vilnius does not have good bike infrastructure in comparison to Denmark or Netherlands at all. Biking to work is almost unheard there. It's mostly just recreational.
The difference is in Lithuania you have 5kms or nice bike lanes. In the Netherlands you have 5000kms
Filmed during warm season of the year? 😂 come and film the cycling roads in the winter, because nobody really cares about the roads anymore, they're non existent. Nobody keeps them cyclable. Also, during summer time the green bushes and trees are often overgrowing the cycling roads, thus reducing the width of the lanes even more.
Bullshit. Neskleisk čia dezinformacijos, ramūnai :) dviračių takai valomi, dažnu atveju net pirmiau nei pėsčiųjų ;) išvažiuok nors kartą pasivažinėt, ar kai privaro sniego ir skundėsi, kad niekas nevalyta, nors neplanuoji net važiuot? :DD net miškais per sniegą žmonės važinėja. ;) tai nekliedėk
have traveled all over Europe. The best apartments and hotels are in Montenegro. The building are new and modern. You can rent in any of the cities a two bedrooms apartment with new and modern with everything you need for a comfortable stay for 40 euros a day. Including cleaning services.
Lithuania and Poland have the worst apartments expensive and most of them are old or in old buildings.
As a lithuanian living in vilnius - fuck that. 9 months of the year those aren't even use and they oversize them for the very few morons we have that drive cycles