Awesome to see American city leaders willing to go see for themselves just how the Dutch have taken cycling seriously, shifting so many people away from the burden of car dependency. Kudos to those attending, going out of their comfort zone.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for watching, Adam! There is a long and storied history of cities and cultures learning from each other. It is curious, that now in too many places around the globe, there is a "not invented here" mentality that resists change in support of the status quo. The good news is that over time more cities will have local peers that they can look to for benchmarking, which is precisely what I am seeing here in Austin - domestic study tour delegates are now coming here to learn. Cheers! John

Great video! And totally depressing how terrible of a wrong turn we took in the USA and how long it will take to fix. But the best time besides decades ago to plant a tree is today. Planning a bike trip to the Netherlands this summer with my 80+ y.o. parent who is more excited than I am, can't wait!

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Oh wow! That's great have a fabulous trip. Thanks so much for watching and for the note. Cheers! John

@Fjodor.Tabularasa

2 жыл бұрын

It makes me smile your going with your parent. Veel plezier.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fjodor.Tabularasa Me too. I just got off the phone with my mom... I'd love to get her there as well. She's even traced down where some of our family came from (near Naarden) back in the 1400s. Hmmm... maybe. 🙂

@Snowshowslow

2 жыл бұрын

This puts a smile on my face :) Have you figured out where you want to go yet? I hope you have a great time here!

@JC-vq2cs

2 жыл бұрын

@@Snowshowslow That is kind of you. We are still exploring options, maybe a bike-boat tour if we can find space (they are quite popular!) or a city-based trip with day rides. What would you suggest?

Everywhere you go is so inviting and relaxed. This is how it should be.

@ActiveTowns

Жыл бұрын

Hehe, 🤣 yes, comparatively speaking, these places, as highlighted in this video, really are much more relaxed and inviting. This is what any city can achieve if the community comes together to work for it and the city leaders demonstrate the political will needed to see the change through. I talk about this very subject in my interview with Gil Penalosa, who recently ran for mayor in Toronto. It Premieres here on KZread tomorrow at 2pm EST / 8pm CET: kzread.info/dash/bejne/f6p3t6-NZKrTlaQ.html Thanks so much for watching! I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John

Looking forward to the future discussions.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for watching... and I'm looking forward to putting it out there. Cheers! John

Nice vid, I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the participants though. Like why did they attend, what are their impressions, what lessons do they hope to bring back to their hometowns and what can they realistically achieve in the coming years.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Yes. Precisely. I interviewed many of them during the tour and have followed up with some of them after they have returned home. My future video that dives deeper into the topic will include some of the conversations. If you are interested, a couple of my audio-only podcast episodes touch upon these discussions as well. If so, just let me know and I'll get you a listen list. Cheers! John

I'm so jealous!

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoyed the video. Cheers! John

Curious if they also visited medium sized towns. I think in many of those you can really see the full implementation of the Dutch vision, especially in newer neighbourhoods. The bigger cities are often a less sophisticated mix of older and newer designs due to lack of space and high competition between modes due to crowding.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for watching and for your wonderful question. On this particular study tour, we stuck to the bigger cities since the delegation was from Austin, a city of a million residents and massive geographical size. Although we did make it a point to get out to some of the newer development areas in each city. On other tours that I have been a part of where we had delegates from cities of differing sizes and situations, we have visited some of the smaller cities for precisely the points you make above. Cheers! John

Great video, I wish you lots of succes in your daunting endeavour 😊

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! We will need a lot of luck and many additional voices to succeed. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

Good video and interesting.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

I saw the group driving past a police station. I hope they hopped in because a big argument I hear from americans is how do police and ambulance get to places if there is so much traffic calming and bicycle paths? And it's interesting to see how the police actually uses the bicycle paths to get to places quicker.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

We didn't visit the police station but some of us got a tour of the fire station - and yes, these were the types of conversations being explored and why study tours to other places like this are so important. Thanks for watching and the comment/question. Cheers! John

@inekechroom560

2 жыл бұрын

Everything is accesable for emergency personel, police drive also on bikes, ambulances on motorbikes for example but everything can be used by car or otherwise. There is also a limited time for Dutch responder to get to their destonation, and most areas in cities and towns have AED equipment in reach for people to act in a emergency. Thats accessable for everyone. We have a high network of people which can use a aed.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

@@inekechroom560 Thanks so very much for your reply. These are all quite pragmatic responses to the challenges at hand. To be clear the narrative in North American cities and others worldwide that "we must keep the streets wide so that our massive, oversized emergency equipment can get through" is a false one and really just an excuse to keep the status quo of car-oriented design in place. The good news is that streets everywhere are changing and cities are adapting their emergency response vehicles and approaches accordingly. Cheers! John

I saw the Fire Chief was listed as a participant - terrific! Do you have more roll of the fire station and small truck tour? Our fire department is one of the biggest barriers to redesigning streets for people - and we have huge wide streets here in Salt Lake City.

@JC-vq2cs

2 жыл бұрын

Please do a separate short clip about public safety esp fire access and Dutch safety design of transportation systems.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately no... I did not get to do the tour of the station but strolled up to capture them posing for a post-tour photo. Yes. Having the Chief there was quite helpful. 😀

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Great video tip idea. I'll do some research on this. It might be an ideal one for Jason with Not Just Bikes

@JC-vq2cs

2 жыл бұрын

@@ActiveTowns great minds think alike! I already sent him that suggestion when I signed up as a patron - tag teaming would be great, he said he has a long list of other topics already but might get to this someday.

@xFD2x

2 жыл бұрын

@@JC-vq2cs Perhaps these clips help some: kzread.info/dash/bejne/oIRqsLWEcsqwpMo.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/oaJ5q5mqkbO-j7w.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/oXWLrcmJmrHMqps.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/rIuZmJKqk8XeoLw.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/iWidp5Kxf7e-pLw.html

Nice junket !

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! This was a truly successful study tour with a multitude of positive impacts resulting in an acceleration of our high-comfort cycle network buildout in Austin. Cheers! John

It is true all the canals here in the Netherlands lead to Amsterdam LOL 😂😂😂 Great video btw keep it up👍

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! Kyle had us cracking up on that. Cheers!

Thank you for this video. I was wondering why the firestation tour was included, were there firefighters amongst you? And what was the response to our compact fire trucks?

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Austin's Fire Chief was a part of the delegation and found the equipment and how resources are deployed very informative. Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

🙂👍🌻🌷

@ActiveTowns

Жыл бұрын

🙏👍

Are those new bicycle friendly developments in Austin you showed some weeks back the result of this tour?

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

Excellent question! Most of the network design and implementation work that I highlighted in those videos was influenced by earlier study tours and exchanges. This particular delegation was focused on some next-level integration factors, such as transit, land use, funding, and auxiliary services. It most certainly influenced the writing and development of the two major bond packages (prop A: transit and prop B: active transportation and safety) that were presented to the voters in the fall of 2020, both of which passed with wide margins helping to ensure funding will be available for the build-out and integration of both of these networks. In a future video (likely much longer, a mini-documentary if you will) I will pull this all together into a cohesive narrative. Thanks so much for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John

1:50 What ever happens, don't go in that direction 🤣 There are a lot of canals leading to hell. 😂

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

🤣 I crack up every time I hear Kyle saying this... it was such a fun running joke all week long. Thanks for joining in on the Premiere. Cheers! John

@freudsigmund72

2 жыл бұрын

Whenever I drive to work (yes by car, public transport is not an option for me) I always circle round that hellscape and avoid it at all cost.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

It's good that you have that option to circle around. Thanks for watching again. Cheers! John

great vid, but an american on a bicycle ,looks like a penguin on land. 🤭 nl.

@ActiveTowns

2 жыл бұрын

LOL 🤣Love it! You win the comment of the day. Too funny. Thanks so much for watching and making me laugh. Cheers! John

Emsterdem, Rodderdem, Gooda, Van Go.....goddem...

@ActiveTowns

3 ай бұрын

lol, 🤣 sorry... my Dutch definitely needs work. But thank you so much for tuning in. Cheers! John 🙏