the mayor of amp simulator 1950 said 30
years time no one's going to be riding a
bike in Amsterdam you know the car is
the future the businessman political
parties were all for it so the cars
completely overwhelmed the city in the
1960s where we're standing they were in
cars parked absolutely everywhere barely
see a parked car from where I'm standing
right now at all what a lot of people
don't know we've been where you've been
you know where cars were everything you
know cars were progress and they try to
build highways through the downtown area
you know and a lot of kids got killed in
traffic and halfway to 70s people here
said no more it was too much so they
rose up and they made a change for the
better because it was just unacceptable
this is a special spot in Amsterdam it
is right at the edge of the city center
behind the camera you see the narrow
streets of the city center and right
behind me you see a wider profile this
street had been widened and the idea was
in the 1970s to make this Street so wide
that it would connect to a circular
route around the city center that was
placed here six lanes of cars so that
all the city center could be easily
reached by car but the people in
Amsterdam they realize what should
happen but a lot has to happen to make
this a six-lane car street then you have
to break down houses over there and even
further and fill in parts of the canals
so many people were opposed this plan in
1972 early 1972 it was in the City
Council this part of the plan was
rejected
and that in the end was sort of the end
of the old traffic plan for the city so
many people realize oh this thing with
everyone owning a car in this city it's
not working it's they're loud they're
polluting they're noisy there's just no
room for them all and they're dangerous
so that the tide began to turn
in the inner Canal rings of Amsterdam
like where we are here there's a lot of
shared space in terms of pedestrians
cars bicycles mopeds it's very easy it
works the cars aren't driving so fast
and the bikes aren't even going that
fast either so everyone takes turns
everyone is nice and civilized about it
on the main arterial roads it's a
different story the cars are driving
much faster and so there's off street
cycle paths which range between six and
eight feet in width and the cyclists
then have a straight shot to wherever
they're going and they're protected
because they're on a raised cycle path
the whole system is built for
utilitarian cyclists for grandmas for
little kids for Mamas and Papas for
executives for whoever is riding their
bike and you're riding on simple bikes
you're not going fast and people show a
lot of respect especially for riding the
kids here we are at the busiest bicycle
junction in Amsterdam and actually it's
also a very busy car junction and
underneath you have the metro line if
you start counting now how many cyclists
are crossing this Junction you have high
numbers and then the bikes have to stop
because the cars are coming and these
cars love you think of there's many many
more cars then you have bicycles
that's made more cyclists going here in
only 30 seconds and cars are crossing in
the other direction in one and a half
minutes so there you see the big
advantage of cycling for a city is that
you have very higher capacity of people
if they go by by bike
then if they go by car people do
anticipate better than any other place
you'll see because it's so busy crowded
in a small space people have a sixth
sense for what's going on around them
they have a very good spatial awareness
in general you see cyclists they can fit
in a small space but they need their
space as well to balance the bicyclists
in Amsterdam are capable cyclists if
things are not clear they negotiate it's
very interesting to see but the best way
to see it is to experience it yourself
you have signals you don't see them
Amsterdam cyclists don't stick their
arms out they don't do this to go right
you don't see that kind of thing they
make a subtle little gesture I'm going
right I'm going left and everybody
understands that and people adjust and
they spend so much time on a bike it's
no big deal if somebody bumps their
handlebar against your your hip or
something like that you don't get scared
if you say excuse me
I'm sure intersection like this would be
considered extremely dangerous in the US
because it's uncontrolled there are no
stop signs no traffic signals here at
first glance this does look like chaos
but in the end it all works everyone
does what they're supposed to do with it
actually when you see something not
working here it's I would say 9 out of
10 times it's because it's a tourist on
a bike on streets where there are no
traffic lights you're really much more
in touch with all the other cyclists on
the road and with the drivers as well
people look at each other in there in
your eyes you you make your hand signals
you're much more in touch with humanity
on your bike then I think anywhere else
in the world for an outsider to come in
and see what the Dutch are doing creates
a very weird warped perception about
what it takes to become a cycle city
when I first came here the very first
thing I did before I'd even arranged
housing before I'd bought groceries
before I breakfast I went and bought
cheap a secondhand piece of crap bicycle
and I just jumped in because I wanted to
see what it was like to ride a bike here
and no it wasn't a shock but it was it
was a surprise I have to say even after
years of being a bike racer and riding
in the peloton and rubbing elbows with
everybody was very strange to be on an
upright bike in street clothes riding
through the streets of honing it up
north elbow to elbow with regular people
going to work going to school with their
kids with their groceries whatever and
just seamlessly flowing through the
world on bicycles I lived in the Bay
Area for about six years and in Berkeley
and Oakland and used my hybrid commuter
bike for for nearly everything but my
household had two cars for two people
and here we have three bikes for two
people and no cars when I first arrived
in amp him 11 years ago one morning I
was on my way to school I came through
the Rijksmuseum tunnels over there and
when I came out and I got to this
intersection there was so many cyclists
that I thought I need to to count on I
counted 927 cyclists passing through
this one little tiny space in 20 minutes
that was enough for me after that when
Dutch people would ask me why did you
leave America and I said because I saw
927 cyclists in 20 minutes
of course the Dutch all scratched the
head thing with it how's that what's the
big deal there
one theme throughout my book is that
discusses the reputation of a museum
cyclists they have their current
reputation as being anarchistic and
causing chaos these guys we put those
two let that tram pass by they're
supposed to yield to the tram but they
didn't but there's what five of them so
our numbers but yeah none discrete
particularly er there is cause of how an
acoustic and chaotic the cyclists were
in the 1920s 1950s 1970s right up to the
present day there's two sides of the the
I guess amazing things you see people
doing in Amsterdam on a bike thing for
one these people have grown up on
bicycles they've been on their parents
bikes since their babies and they've
been riding every day of their life
publicly so they're very good bike
riders and second is just human nature
people do what they're gonna do people
drive cars talking on phones carrying
stuff tending to their screaming kids in
the backseat and they're going to do
exactly the same thing on bikes here the
big difference is when a bike rider
makes a mistake and rams into something
he probably only hurts himself nobody
else and when a motorist does it they
take out a store or sidewalk full of
people it's not that necessarily that
kind of bike culture where people are
very aware of that they have a culture
abroad a bike culture is usually a
subculture it's an acknowledgement of
subculture as if you stand out because
not many people do it here it's so
ingrained it's so part of everyday life
that if you tell a Dutch person like oh
you have such a nice bike culture all
right what do you mean because of Dutch
person will think of bike culture is
something subcultural as in well you
have a bike culture when you're on a
fixie or on a BMX or something like that
so it's kind of strange contradiction
it's it's something so normal so
ingrained into everyday life that nobody
treats it as something special it's it's
just the way life is riding my kids once
or twice every day is probably the
highlight of the day it's really fun my
kids me riding on bikes since they're
maybe a month old
first enough a box bike and then later
sitting in the handlebars for behind the
handlebars and my own bike and they see
how it all works and they learn how the
flow works and how where to go when to
go left when to go right how the track
of traffic signals work and how the
whole interaction and system works
so now Pascal at almost 5:00 is a
perfectly competent little city cyclists
you