Groningen: The World's Cycling City
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It's no secret that just about anywhere you go in the Netherlands is an incredible place to bicycle. And in Groningen, a northern city with a population of 190,000 and a bike mode share of 50 percent, the cycling is as comfortable as in any city on Earth. The sheer number of people riding at any one time will astound you, as will the absence of automobiles in the city center, where cars seem extinct. It is remarkable just how quiet the city is. People go about their business running errands by bike, going to work by bike, and even holding hands by bike. The story of how they got there is a mix of great transportation policy, location and chance. You'll learn quite a bit of history in the film, but essentially Groningen decided in the 1970s to enact policies to make it easier to walk and bike, and discourage the use of cars in the city center. By pedestrianizing some streets, building cycle tracks everywhere, and creating a unique transportation circulation pattern that prohibits vehicles from cutting through the city, Groningen actually made the bicycle -- in most cases -- the fastest and most preferred choice of transportation. It does feel like bicycle nirvana. When I first got off the train in Groningen, I couldn't stop smiling at what I saw around me. In an email exchange with my friend Jonathan Maus from Bike Portland, he described it as being "like a fairy tale." This jibed with my first thought to him -- that I had "entered the game Candyland, but for bikes!" In fact, for our teaser I originally titled this Streetfilm "Groningen: The Bicycle World of Your Dreams," before I talked myself out of it. Although there is a magical quality about being there, in reality there is nothing dreamy or childlike about it. With political will and planning, what they have done should and can be done everywhere. In our Streetfilm you'll see the 10,000 (!) bicycle parking spaces at the train station, some of the incredible infrastructure that enables cyclists to make their journeys safer and quicker, and you'll hear from many residents we encountered who go by bike just about everywhere they travel. But as one of my interview subjects, Professor Ashworth, wanted me to point out: the three days I was there were bright and sunny, and the hardy people keep up the bicycling through the cold winters. As with many bicycling cities, there area also big problems with cycle theft, and residents are always yearning for more bicycle parking. I think most of us would trade some of those problems for a city with 50 percent mode share (and up to 60 percent in the city
Comments
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Groningen is also the city with the most beautiful female students.
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What's not to like?
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I love ciclying, i use bike everyday to go to work i really think this is the transportation of the future,im from Peru unfortunately here in my country not many people use bike but now are more than before but we are still too much work to do.we have to discourage the use of the cars in local cities..Regards from Peru to Holland...
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usa should learn from this cities.why cars they expensive.bad for environment.come on lazy world.lest use more bikes
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wtf groningen isnt the bicycle city, Utrecht is
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IMHO this is the greatest bicycle video on youtube, it should be required viewing for every city planner in the world.
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i wish i was born in holland! so open minded!
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Lovely city. I lived there for a few months in 1990.
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They're not wearing helmets? why
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9:26 Good idea to have cycle lane directly behind car parking with reversing vehicles?? An accident waiting to happen
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I wonder if bicycle theft is a problem?
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how can I emigrate to Holland?? 😍
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Netherland, I dream of you every night!!! I'm loving the Netherlands!! 😍
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bigger problem is they ride bikes in pedestrian areas. .and don't follow rules. damm students..ect. goedendag
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It's really cool that people in Netherlands consider cycling as the main mode of transportion. Excellent spatial planning is the key ingredient to a successful urban planning. Automobiles simply take up too much space in a high-density urban city.
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ALL Dutch cities are cycling cities! Only difference is that the old centre of Groningen doesn't allow through-traffic. But the entire country has a very safe, integrated cucling infrastructure as is shown here.
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I'm hoping Taiwan will become the same way of these life, thanks for the people of Groningen, you are helping the world's environment become more great.
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Wish my city was like this. America don't care about cycling like the Netherlands do. I need to move there I'm part dutch anyways just don't know the language good even tho most were speaking English in the video. English widely spoken there? Just curious.
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Why is nobody wearing helmets?
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Only problem we have these days is cyclist playing with their phones on their bikes, especially younger people.. This is causing some problems when they have more attention for their phones instead of the road..
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