Arrival to Amsterdam / Pedestrianism

Today we met with the Dutch Cycling Embassy in Utrecht. We recieved a presentation and biking tour. The highlights for me from the presentation was that 1/2 of all train trips in The Netherlands start with a bike ride, there are 23 million bikes for 17 million residents, and the WHO says that the Netherlands is the one European Union country not headed for an obesity crisis. On the tour we went to see the underground bicycle parking that holds 12,000 bikes. It was so cool! You bike through the garage and each row has a sign that shows how many spots are taken or available. Our guide said that they predict this garage will be filled between 2025-2030 - which is not very far away! The bike garage is located underneath the train station so all the bike-to-train commuters use it. With so many people owning bicycles and using public transit, The Netherlands is going to have to start building more parking ASAP! The U.S. could also learn a lesson on public health and biking in lower our obesity rate. Because you are biking as a means to get from A to B, it doesn’t feel like a workout.  



In the afternoon, we arrived in Amsterdam. Everyone was tired, making it even more overwhelming. It seems that The Netherlands approach is more of a "free for all" than structured Copenhagen. I think the Netherlands is at an interesting crossroads in bicycle infastructure. It's great that so many people cycle and have a place to do so, but it's almost too much going on. I think the Netherlands is ready for the next innovative approach to bicycle infrastructure (I have no clue what that should be!). So far on this trip I haven't really enjoyed being a pedestrian. I didn't like it in Copenhagen because it was so slow to get places. Then, I didn't like it in Odense because I felt like the traffic signals were not optimized for me. I went through one large intersection with a median and the pedestrian timer was (I think) 15 seconds. The cars got over a minute to have a green light while I could barely make it across the street in time. Keep in mind, I was walking fast and started immediately as it turned green. If you are a step behind, you will get stuck in the median area. If you get stuck, that's at least 2-3 minutes waiting for traffic. It felt very long to me. It could be because they have the countdown timer so I was inherently aware of time passing. I didn't like being a pedestrian in Utrecht because it was too stressful to walk anywhere. The sidewalks are small and I didn't want to get run over by a bike. So far, my experience is the same in Amsterdam. I think we need to work on better solutions for bicycles and pedestrians to work better together.  

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