Why the Netherlands is INSANELY well designed: Dutch vs. American Day
Videos about the Netherland's urban design have garnered over 3,098,427,000 views on KZhead but only a few people have witness how different their day would be if they lived in the Netherlands. So in this video we'll see how the same work day is experienced in a typical car-centric North American city vs. the liveable Netherlands.
This video investigates how City design plays such a significant role in how you experience your day.
Bio:
Adam Yates is a real estate developer living in Toronto who works on master planned communities and mixed-use / residential developments. On this channel, Adam explores complex urban design and City building topics with rigor and optimism, helping his audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build.
Attribution:
-Car Map Scene: travelboast.com
-World Map: Vemaps.com
Two corrections: You don't need gym time in the Netherlands, you already got on your bicycle. And lunch outdoors is a bit odd in the Netherlands. A REAL Dutch person would make lunch (three or four sandwiches with cheese and a sealeable bottle of milk) before going to work, put it in a box and eat it during lunchtime inside the office building. It is cheaper.
No, eating the sandwich during your walk outside 😉
@@davieee1168 Zelden ben ik zo rustig geweest, dank je.
Sorry, that hasn't been my experience at all. Some of my Dutch colleagues go for a walk while they eat their homemade boterhammen. The rest will come with us to the canteen, but if there is any sun at all they will always try to sit in the terrace. The terrace is very large, but it usually gets chock-full, to the point that sometime we are forced to return inside. Actually we expats tend to prefer the shadow, but we will frequently compromise as going to lunch "as a herd" is an established tradition among us. (Except for the walkers, that is.)
@@Strodie567 I think you are taking my posting a bit too seriously. If I had to describe all variations, I would have been writing a long, long comment.
Old Dutch people*
I'm in the Netherlands in a medium sized town. Woodlands at the end of the street, a Turkish supermarket across my house (at the edge of the town!) my doctor and dentist a five minute walk, my kids school a seven minute walk, another large Dutch supermarket at a 5 minute bike ride, and a trainstation there too, two snackbars, and the weekly Vietnamese springroll stand there. I have a car, but it barely does 2000 miles a year, it is for weekend visits to family and friends, hauling stuff, holidays etc. My work is a ten minute bicycle ride.
That sounds amazing. Really wish North America would move towards this type of urban design / lifestyle.
@@AdambYates The most amazing thing is that Vincent is not an exception. Not many of us (Dutch) ever take a school bus. They hardly exist.
I live in a small town in the east. I live in the 'centre' and eventhough we only have 4000 people living here, we have everything. Restaurants, lunchrooms, doctors, dentists, library, museum and quite a number of shops. I don't even have to get on my bike if needed.
@@iamTheSnark Living in the capital of the Netherlands i can say for sure i never even seen a schoolbus in my life. And i am 50+
You in Almere or something?
The buying of the eggs was in both videos in the USA. You could see in the right side video ('Netherlands') that the prices were also in Dollar not in Euro :) Also: in the Netherlands eggs are not sold refrigerated/cooled and behind glass doors like in the USA. In Dutch supermatkets eggs are sold on the shelf. Just like cookies and canned soup. Unrefridgerated. Uncooled.
I did not notice that, but indeed! Well spotted! The supermarket (Coop) is Dutch though, the rest of the story holds up.
Good catch. On a side note, it is a pretty interesting story why eggs are stored in a fridge in the US vs on a shelf in the EU. It is the same reason - Salmonella, just different methods.
Its just the part of taking out the eggs, everything else (the commuting part) is in the Netherlands as far as I can see.
And eggs go in a box of ten in the Netherlands, not twelve. Small package is six.
@@mityacor I have heard that in the USA they actually 'wash' eggs to make them look cleaner. This cleaning process removes the natural coating that keeps them fresh longer. Therefore in the USA they have to keep them cooled always otherwise they go bad real quick. Also with bread in the USA they put so many chemicals in it that bread there tastes like shit and has no nutrients at all but it literally stays fresh for months when you keep it on your kitchen shelf. In The Netherlands we only eat healthy fresh baked and untreated bread. Even when you buy in the supermarket the bread is fresh and untreated and it will go bad after only a few days when not kept in the freezer.
As I often say: bike lanes were once invented to get the slow bikes out of the way of the "real traffic" (the cars). Today they are used to keep the bike traffic rolling, when the cars are once again blocking themselves.
Like the saying! Very true!
That is not true for The Netherlands though. In the Netherlands bike lanes were created from the very beginning purely to give space for cyclistst. To seperate bikes from cars in order to make cycling safer. And therfore drastcally reduce the amount of accidents between bikes and cars.
@@hansolo2121that is not totally correct. We were on the brink of becoming car centric by building huge highways through cities, until people who lived in these places started to protest. Seperated bikelanes etc. came when infrastructure designers came up with certain rules which became the roots of safe traffic. Even nowadays new designs are made to create a higher safety standard, for example: streets/roads with a speedlimit above 30km/h should be seperated from bikelanes. The amazing thing is, we review and retrospect to find new and safer solutions for traffic whilst being efficient to validate the cost of creating the new solution. Where other countries do not look back at dangerous roads or streets to improve and secure safety.
Please don't advertise this to the rest of the world. we need to keep this good stuff to ourselves.
Americans, please take lessons out of this and pressure your local governments to improve your own town. Don't come here.
@@Teun_Jac Never going to happen there is just not enough tax money earned in the states to do like us. And when they do want it and people find out 50+% income tax needed to make it happen they quickly forget they ever wanted that :P
If you don't want american's here just show them our taxes ;-) for example income tax is 49.50% for earners above 73.032 euro's/year and 36.93% income tax between € 37.150 till € 73.032. (19,03% below 37.150) just to mention the biggest one.
We need al lot immigration as long as people don't get enough kids. How many kids do you have?
@@PieterPatrick And in what country do you NEED immigration?
Great video with the two side by side workdays 👍🏻 I always feel slightly embarrassed when I click on a video like this because I am Dutch. But it is so interesting to me seeing my country through the eyes of someone else. It makes me realize things that I take for granted and makes me appreciate them more. It also makes me proud because let’s be real… it is also just very nice to hear positive things about your home country. 😃
haha, well I'm jealous you get to live there!
@@AdambYates There is a youtuber, his channel is called Not Just Bikes. He is also Canadian, he lives here in The Netherlands now.
we have the bilderberg group to lol ;p not everything is good
I'm here for the same reason... interesting how foreigners see us Ik ben ook Nederlands, het is gewoon leuk om te zien hoe buitenlanders ons zien
Fellow Torontonian who has been living in Amsterdam for almost one year now - and the differences are stark. My quality of life is vastly different, including as you mentioned the sense of freedom when commuting and travelling without needing to rely on the automobile. However, I think it would be fair to mention that there is a vast quality of life imbalance between those who live in Canadian cities and in the suburbs/small towns. I would argue Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are quite walkable and bikeable (minus Toronto) especially if you live in the city centre. Great video, looking forward to seeing more of your content!
Bro Netherlands is the identical to Australia!!!!!!
Hi Adam I noticed you ate at Spaghetteria. That happens to be one of my favourite spots in Rotterdam. I own a car, I have a bike and my employer provided me with a subscription to the Dutch public transportation. I only use my car for long distance: family visits, outside Rotterdam. Within Rotterdam I use my bike. For my work, once a week maximum, I go to Diemen, which is near Amsterdam, by train. With the high speed train I do it in slightly more than an hour (door to door). Shops: I have two shops in five minutes walking distance. I know NA people tend to buy in bulk. I walk to the shop whenever I need something. Fresh bread, fresh milk products, whatever might pop in my head. I might go to the shop two, sometimes three times a day. Besides the two shops, there are several other supermarkets near. Each quarter has a couple of supermarkets but also specialised vendors. I live a five minutes walk from Rotterdam Central Train Station. It has an underground bike parking for 8,000 bikes at the front. It had a bike parking for 3,000 bikes at the back (where I live). Since that was not enough, extra bike parking was created in the past years. Still not enough. Can you imagine that these bikes were cars?! By bike I can go anywhere in Rotterdam. Since most car drivers are bikers and pedestrians as well, we take care of one another. When I became 12 years old, I had to commute from one of the suburbs to junior high in the center of Rotterdam. A half an hour trip by bike, through sun, rain, black ice, snow. Nowadays the youngsters still do so. During morning rush hour, and around 16 o'clock (4 PM) many students are on the road on bikes. We are taught to mind them, specially them, because once we were them. Ofcourse we have people who prefer cars over bikes, cars over public transportation.... they sit in cads for hours. Its dramatic to get a car park. Parking your car on the road, or in car parks cost a fortune. The Dutch government does a lot to discourage the usage of cars. It's much healthier to get all those lazy people out of the cars 😁 I subscribed to your channel. Keep them coming ✌🏼🇳🇱
Love this comment! Wild how much the design of your city shapes your experiences. And Spaghetteria is awesome!! (The one I went to was in Amsterdam) but I definitely want to check out Rotterdam next time I visit the Netherlands! I’ve heard it’s really cool. Thanks for subscribing, means a lot!!!
Let's not forget that driving is still 100% an option in the Netherlands. You just get the FREEDOM to choose.
Exactly. The roads are great for driving!
Some people don't have the freedom to drive a car .. the tax services here fucks me in the ass on a monthly basis because i own a car.
No, that's wrong. Public transport is extremely expensive. If you live far enough away from work that you can't do it on a bike and need to use it... then using a car is actually significantly cheaper on a monthly basis and usually faster as well. Of course, assuming you're not an idiot and use a car with expensive insurance and high gas usage. With the car the travel money your paid can cover your monthly gas costs related to getting to work completely... while with public transport it often won't even come close to covering it. And with the car you have quite a bit of freedom on where to go outside of your city in half of the time it would take with public transport. Sure, public transport could be a little bit faster for the common places... but not for the edges of cities or small towns/villages. I used to not have a car until a few years ago and I can say that for a lot things, driving can be essential. Not like you can't get to a place without driving. But taking 60-90 minutes to get somewhere when you can do it with a car in 30 minutes is still a pretty common thing.
@@thenonexistinghero yeah if you live in Limburg like i do yeah you kinda need a car... But in the Randstad owning a car is a choice.
@@assasain999 That's just small part of the country though. Sadly also where most highest politicians and influential people live and their decisions often poorly translate to the rest of the country. That's a good reason most of this country has been on a rapid decline for well over a decade in many aspects.
Love the calm voice over and well shot scenes. Compliments! PS My two ‘top travel tips’ for bike lovers in the Netherlands; visit the Kröller Moller museum and use one of the free white bikes to explore the stunning Nature reserve park surrounding the Museum. Second: take a ferry to one of the Islands for a weekend and rent a bike and explore. You won’t regret it! 😊
Thanks, I appreciate the comment! Wow the nature reserve surrounding that Kröller Moller museum is HUGE! Wish I had known about this before I went! Next time I visit I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the tips!
Hey jou ken ik!!!
The eggs would never be in the fridge in the store in the Netherlands but great comparison video!
Haha good catch, shot after the fact, forgot to take it in the moment. Thanks!
You going to de foodhallen to get lunch from zuid really blows my mind. I would consider that a really far trip in Amsterdam terms, especially for lunch when in the office.
don't know how long his lunchtime is, but in the 30 minutes I get I will only have time to cycle back and forth lol.
After seeing this video I appreciate the simple things here in The Netherlands more that I was unaware off before. For example the bicyle lanes. This is something I don't even think of at home but when you compare it it's really satisfying. However, I must point out that your video is from a dutch city perspective. When dutch people live more distant like on a farm they usually do more by car. It would be interesting to see you compare that to Toronto. I also lived in Oxford for half a year and found it kinda like a dutch city, bicycles were becoming more popular but there were no bicycle rules or lanes yet.
I'm 25 years old and live in the Netherlands and I don't even have a driver's license and don't plan on really ever getting one. It's just been me and my trusty bike and the occasional bus or train here and there hasn't been a single time where I'd wish I had a car. There's 5 supermarkets all within a 10 min bike ride, my doctor's office is only 5 mins by bike, uni is 15 mins by bike, there's 2 train stations within a 10 mins bike ride, 2 bus stops within a 5 min walk, the city centre about 15 mins by bike etc. And I live at the edge of the city here, right next to an industrial area, only separated by a moderately sized greenbelt. All a car would do for me is collect dust and cost money. My gf on the other hand, who's currently still living in (rural) Nova Scotia had to get her license at 17 just to be able to leave the house. She's planning to move here ASAP once she's finished her education there, cause the lack of proper infrastructure and urban design is just driving her mad at this point. If both of us forgot to get some milk at the shop, I'd be back home (by bike!) before she even gets to the store by car. Her commute to school by car is about 3 times as long as mine was to uni by bike. No wonder she's going mad, so would I if I had to deal with that shit every single day.
Surprise for you, outside of the Randstad there are towns where you still could do most things by bike but you need a car when you go further away. Public transportation would be too long or even non existent after the evening.
I actually grew up in a fairly rural village in Noord-Brabant so I'm well-aware of these issues. I used to have to bike about 13km to go to high school or do things like clothes shopping or go out for some drinks with friends. Especially since like you said there were no buses in the evening, nor on the weekend. I only moved to the city (Nijmegen, so still not Randstad) for uni after finishing high school at 18. In a situation like that it's definitely a lot less viable to not have a car, though certainly not impossible. In my current situation however, it's not needed at all.
@@squishy_thighz Maaskantje ofwa ;p Groetjes uit de parel vh Zuiden :)
I live in the Dutch countryside. I know plenty of parents that help pay for a drivers license and even a cheap car for their children to share. I means the parents don’t have to drive their children everywhere anymore. There is a complete lack of public transport and it’s not always a good idea to ride a bike for 10 to 20km in the middle of nowhere in the weather. Not the whole country is suitable to live without a car. However, even in those rural areas there is proper bike infrastructure.
This is the way it goes in the Netherlands if you are a someone in a office.But they usually have a place in the same building to get a coffee or lunch.Non office workers dont have that kind of place to go to,so they have their sandwiches with them and eat that on the spot where they work.Because they can talk to people who do the same in that building.
A very well made video. A part of the reactions below revering to socializing with friends are more a Dutch- culture issue rather then comparing your daily routine in both countries.
Interesting, definitely did not know that!
Well, if you want to hang out with a Dutch person you'll probably have to pull out your agenda and plan an appointment over a couple of weeks! It sounds some what cold or rigide, but a Dutch person, likes to "organise" even his/her free-time. Furthermore: we Dutch respect eachother free-time. When an appointment is made: we show up!
That actually sounds pretty nice. The amount of times friends make plans in North America and then cancel at the last minute is pretty ridiculous..
Amazing comparison. Thank you
In the Netherlands we leave office at 16:30 and usually have a drink on a terrace before going home. We call it 'een afzakkertje pakken', a social moment with work-friends-acquaintances, somewhere between work and railway station. And we invite everyone we know who are passing by.
Ambtenaar alert
Wow, that sounds awesome, definitely way way different than North America...
At most jobs they will only do that on Friday.
@@mark5071 i worked at the Dutch airforce, fridays the MP was doing alcohol checks when we left base at 16:00😆 (for dui)
Well, that sounds nice but for most people with kids every day life is a little more boring. We leave the office to go straight back to home to pick up the kids, do some cooking, cleaning and resting. We do however have the "vrimibo" which is short for "vrijdag middag borrel" or friday afternoon drink.
I grew up in Houston, Texas and the last time I live in the US was in the late 90s in Austin, Texas. I moved to Berlin 2000 and have not owned a car since. Life in most if not all North American cities is in my opinion not a good life at all. The money I save from not having a car I spend on traveling the world. You couldn't pay me a million dollars a year to move back to the US.
Amazing how living in different places changes your perspective. Just knowing that there are other ways of living. I've hear Berlin is cool, definitely on my travel list.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it!
From the medium sized city of Haarlem (pop 170.000) here. Got the beach (plus F1 racetrack!) on 30 mins bike, with nature park/reserve pretty much all down the coast there. Got Amsterdam on a 15 min train ride. Schiphol airport at 45 mins by region bus. The industrial area where I work at 15 mins bike as well. I pass several grocery stores along the way. Nice big lake just north. I don't own a car. I don't even have a drivers license, and it's only been sporadic where I felt I could've used one (moving heavy stuff)
Been living in Hoofddorp for a couple of months now. I've really liked Haarlem the handful of times I've visited so far. I wish I had quicker/cheaper/shorter connections than regional bus.
If you need to move something its cheaper to hire a moving company once or twice a year than to own a car. Or you can ask a friend who does have a car and buy him a case of beers.
Great video. I feel the exact same in the UK as you would in NA. I love travelling into mainland europe, seeing how efficient daily living is and how connected people are.
Nice way to make the point why having the option to live without a car is real freedom. I get soooo tired of people shouting "But FREEEEEDOM", as if we try to take something away from them. Me and my wife both have cars. But we far prefer not to use them, and in the Netherlands we have that option.
In america being 255 the size of the Netherlands a car is freedom and needed to shop and work. The Netherlands is very small and have cyclist infrastructure as well so you don't need it to go out doing shopping work or visiting friends and family. If that's further out then let's say 15 miles then yes a car is freedom.
@@randar1969 The vast majority of Americans live in cities. There is absolutely no reason for American cities not to have excellent infrastructure: a good mix between public transport, bicycles, pedestrians and also cars. It would VASTLY improve quality of life for the majority of Americans. Your argument is old and tired, my friend. Though it is used as an excuse by your government and car lobby all the time, it holds no water.
@@TheEvertwNL is probably the best country in the world for infrastructure. It makes no sense to compare it to the US, Canada and even Australia (gigantic countries that are very spaced out). But you know what the US does have? True, untouched wilderness. National parks bigger than countries, sprawling wildlife and open horizons, mountains and huge array of diversity from glaciers to deserts and forests where you can escape from civilization. To me that's real freedom 😉 being cramped in very densely populated areas where there is a housing shortage and people are always on top of each other is kind of nightmarish to me.
@@tomoyohermosa I would like you to think for a second. While it is true that the USA and Canada are larger than Netherlands, they are also quite urbanized. The population density of those cities is similar to that of NL. NY metropole has more inhabitants than NL! So your cities can and should have the same quality infrastructure as we have in the whole country. Car-centric development is a scam sold to you by car manufacturers. It is fine for rural areas, but NOT for cities. We also have rural areas where people use the car all the time. But NOT in our cities. The only purpose of car-centric development is to sell more cars, without any regard for human well-being. Also, the point is to give options, not take them away. Every person that takes a bike because they prefer to, is one less car stuck in traffic. And bikes take up a lot less space than cars, both when parked and when moving. Having to allocate all those cars is literally bankrupting many US cities. So planners are insane to force people to use cars all the time.
Love the video, living in the NL and I experience this everyday, even in bad weather haha Dutch urban planning is second to none and this is true not just in the big cities but in small towns too.
I'd argue the smaller towns and cities do it better, which to someone from NA might seem counterintuitive.
Thanks Mimi, I am very jealous that you live in the Netherlands. Definitely makes me question staying in NA.
@@AdambYates You should seriously consider moving here for better quality of life 😊
A well made video! I am so glad that I had a similar experience in the Netherlands from Gelderland province to Utrecht province and in Amsterdam. I am thankful that I have been able to transfer some of that to my city in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Have you tried out some of the infrastructure here?
My mental and physical health has improved a lot since applying these practices. I even have gotten involved in a local advocacy group and had the opportunity to meet some people from the Dutch Cycling Embassy. 😊
That's super cool that you're applying Dutch practices in Kitchener-Waterloo. What are the changes? I haven't been there in quite some time, but I'll have to check it out!
@@AdambYates Sorry, I tried to respond sooner but KZhead keeps removing my longer comment.
@@AdambYates Yes, I am trying to the apply and encourage them. I am only involved in our local cycling non-profit (CycleWR) but we did get invited to a Think Bike workshop run by the Dutch Cycling Embassy that the Region of Waterloo hosted in Kitchener. That was a great experience and opportunity! A lot has changed over the past few years. - Kitchener now has almost completed its downtown cycling grid (will be completed in 2024). - We have installed the first modal filtering in KW on Chapel and Simeon Street. - The city recently released their cycling numbers and their new infrastructure. For an example, over 50k users of the downtown cycling grid. That's a 164% increase compared to five years ago. - Most regional roads (4 lane roads) have or soon will have 3m MUPs. - More trails are being paved (for winter maintenance) and/or realigned to have more gradual transitions. - More raised crossings are being installed at trail crossings. - We are installing more protected intersections in the next few years. - In collaboration with a local tech company, CycleWR assisted with the launch of a hyper localized stress-level navigation app for the Region of Waterloo and Guelph. - We are again testing a bike- and scooter-share company. After the Canadian-born bike-share, Drop Mobility, moved to the USA and pulled out of Canada in 2019, we shifted to Neuron in 2023. There are flaws in some of the design and confusion of why we didn't follow some Dutch practices more closely, but positive change is happening. From my experience, most of KW is safe enough to do most trips by bike. Some areas are harder than others still but it's vastly improved. If you come to region soon reach out and I would love to give you a tour. You can reach out to me here or other ways.
@@pbilk This is so good to hear. I spent 6 years in KW as a student and relied on the bus, as I didn't have a car and some grocery stores were further away. When I left, the ION was just completed and I got to take a couple trips on it; it was cool. I do remember there being some bike lanes in uptown, but good to know it's even more well-connected now.
an even more fun fact! even if you have a job that requires you to have a car simply for longer distance and convenience, you are still better off because we generally have safer roads that are nicer to drive on, and also no traffic. For my education and my part time job i use a mix of biking, walking, public transport and my car depending on what i have to do and it's amazing to have a free choice in how you get anywhere!
Unless you are a student or hipster in Amsterdam, a spontaneous invite (and positive answer) for dinner does not happen in The Netherlands. It has to be planned. 😂
Ofc you think we have time for expats
Amsterdam is not the whole country, and neither is your small circle of acquaintances that you consider as friends to have dinner with
@@user-co9cr7js3w those stupid tourists are all the same thinking amsterdam is netherlands
Maybe in Amsterdam, the "You can't meet a friend without planning" is complete bull in most parts of the country. Literaly nobody I know does that.
Depends on your friends.
Cycle tracks, as they're called in the UK, are awesome. A dedicated bike haven, away from harsh fumes and dangerous car-users, most often winding through country parts; lovely stuff!
Enlightening to so the netherlands through NA eyes on this topic
Wonderful video, interesting take at the end. Cars once were a sign of freedom but when you start to depend on them you’ll wish you did not need them.
Traveling to work with my car is 20 minuts. With the E-bike it is 45 minuts, biking clears the mind and let me preform better at an work day. E-bikes are a real blessing in stormy Netherlands.
North America is so behind
Haha I totally agree! Thanks for the comment!
Not with a fifties mindset 😄
Behind and proud of it because most people don't even have anything to compare their life with.
@thomasbarchen, haha actually laughed at this comment. Sadly, pretty true.
Oh wow, this is great!
Thanks! Appreciate the comment :)
You could also ride your racing bicycle to work, combining the workout with the travel time. Do an extra loop through the greenery.
Great video and what a nice experiment! Hope you'll come to Copenhagen one day, now that you like Amsterdam 😉🇩🇰🇳🇱
Definitely on my travel list! I’ve heard great things!!
As an American living in Berlin for over 20 years I wish I would have moved to Copenhagen over 20 years ago. Lovely people and beautiful city!
Really interesting side by side! Living in Toronto I know that we don’t have the same infrastructure in place to support biking to work. Wish I lived in Amsterdam!
Why Amsterdam? There are nicer cities than Amsterdam with less tourists and more 'real' people. We also have the same biking infrastructure and urban planning throughout the entire country.
to be fair, amsterdam is not the best city in the netherlands. Every city is designed like that in the Netherlands, following the same guidelines for infrastructure.
When I was in Toronto it seemed like the bike infrastructure was not that bad. I am from Romania and we are almost as car obsessed as North Americans, but we don't have the infrastracture for it, which leads to a big mess. There is not a single proper bike lane in my 350k population city (600k metro area) except for some paint on a few sidewalks. I would love to bike, but I am afraid to do so.
@@serbanbuzduga378I'm guessing Iaşi? I'm there right now, and you're totally right, I wouldn't dream of cycling here. It's a shame, really. This city would be so much nicer with decent bike infrastructure.
@@micheltenvoorde you are right
Thank you, Adam, for your well-executed, informative video. I am lucky... because I live in Middelburg where I can walk, cycle or take the train easily. (I no longer have a car.)
Thanks! Super jealous of your situation!
Don't be jealous. Move to the Netherlands. @@AdambYates
Hi Adam, funny that you call the NL situation (our normal) insane, we would call that in de North American situation! Keep in mind this just started in the ‘70’s here due to much traffic death’s
Here in North America, people often accept it as a fact of life or blame the victim for jaywalking etc. Traffic calming? Nah, we'll just put some signs up. Maybe some kind of campaign.
haha sadly this is so true! I just saw some billboards this morning asking people to drive slower.
My work is a ~8 minute bike away :) love living in the Netherlands
Super jealous…. That sounds amazing!
You're not totally incorrect about NL but you are romanticizing it a bit. It's not like every dutch person has the capability of taking the bike to work. And we do not go out *every* night. But you captured the idea of how our work/private life balance is quite well.
I enjoyed the video plz do more
Thanks for the comment! Will do.
Nicely done
Thanks! Appreciate the comment!
The difference is mind boggling
Its really funny to see how impressed you are about the netherlands, i've lived in the netherlands all my life, (24 years) so this all is super normal for me.😅😊 very cool video!
Definitely jealous this is your normal haha
I like that most youtube videos showing of the bike parking in amsterdam is using amsterdam zuid train station as the example
The best part about videos like this is that Amsterdam has the worst bike infrastructure of all the cities in the entire country. Showing literally anywhere else would be better.
That’s the reason why I’ve always wanted to move to the Netherlands OMG!
I am curious how much difference there is in terms of distance. Do both commutes cover roughly the same distance?
Err the netherlands is a very very small country roughly the size of new york state. 255 times smaller then the USA. So no obviously not. we concider 50 miles a very long distance :P
USA avg commute time=~26 minutes. In NL it's ~34 minutes. So, NL actually loses on commute time.
You forgot the part where you leave work at 16:00 rather than 17:30 because Netherlands has a great work life balance!
Haha sounds great
Buying eggs in the "liveable Netherkands" section is fake: no supermarket in the Netherlands sells eggs from a refrigerator, we do not store the eggs in refrigerators!
Prices are also in Dollars
what is your point?
It is a form of integrity How else do people know that the films about the Netherlands are really about the Netherlands? @@adriaandoelman2577
Sommige winkels hebben ze wel in de koeling liggen. Zijn meestal wel franchise tenten. De Coop hier bij ons bv 😅 Maar thuis gaan ze inderdaad gewoon in de normale kast.
5:05 not only do people in car centric places spend more time in their car, but they also spend significantly more time working to pay for their car, gas, insurance, and maintenance.
Thanks from the netherlands
I went to the olympic stadium (where you are in one point of the video, not actually there, but i see a sign saying it, and i recognise the location) when i went to the USA! Very ironic.
This is a really well made video showing perfectly how a normal life is impacted by living in a less spread out society. Whatever you do in your free time, you have more time for those activities when you don't have to travel far to places and have multiple ways of getting there...and not sitting in a car much is better for your health...and the environment.
Thanks, and 100% agree!
Where did you find the drumming background music? I am a drummer myself and was just curious :)
I use a paid service called epidemic sound. It gives you access to copyright free / licensed songs. The song is called Aquatic Flower Dance by Ryan James Carr.
The Netherlands also has very good public transportation a little too good sometimes that it makes you lazy to walk even though it has some nice paths to walk as well. I've worked abroad in Ireland and the public transport wasn't so good on the flip side I walked a lot instead. But Netherlands is a very organized country.
You’re totally right, I was absolutely blown away by that as well!
Well Japan still has us beat especially in the driving on time department. we sometimes have delays for a few minutes.
@@randar1969 But still it's pretty good even if it has delay, the waiting time isn't so long
While we don't have paths through parks with separate bike and pedestrian lanes in the U.S. (that I've seen) we do, in places, have shared bike/pedestrian paths.
As a Dutchy i now feel sorry for the muricans, i long time thought the US was the better country with its wide roads and 24/7 lifestyle. But its true, we have more quality time with friends and that improves your life happiness. I consider cycling to commute as workout and groceries are done in a jiffy. For the US counts "time=money", in the Netherlands counts "free time=happiness".
Definitely jealous of your lifestyle! haha
Echt, lazer eens op met je "dutchy"
@@cebruthius wat is er Dutchy? jeukt je kutje ervan Dutchy?
Don't feel bad for the Muricans as you call it. Once you see our paycheck here in the US you will feel different. If anything I feel bad for the Dutch when I see your payslip.
@@halapunjete And the tiny houses... ohmygod.
In the Netherlands after more and more kids/cyclists were hit by cars we demanded room for kids and cyclists back in the 70's. Till around 1975 we were like the States with our roads. Almost 50 years later we have something to show the world. Nowadays whenever road needs maintenance we use our latest safety standards meaning cyclist road seperated from cars. Some roads are closed to give space to kids and cyclists.
I never realised how different this country is compared to NA until I follow your channel. I own a car, I need it for work, the commute is too far (100+ miles) or with too much load (cases of wine). I could not live without my bike though. Everyday life in NL is about bikes. Our teens use them for pretty much everything. School, dates, work, sports, friends, everything they do outside the house, they do on their bike and have done since they were about 8. Bonus teen/young adult bike use: no drunk driving
100+ miles is like crossing half the Netherlands.. And that for work jebus. If work here is further then 10 miles yes we would drive too. But then again 90% of the people here have jobs within 10 miles and usually use bikes (nowadays most of them electric)
Why don't you move if you have to cross half the country for a commute?
Yea, that doesn't work for the majority of dutch people. I had a low income in The Netherlands. I'm just an Engineer with an MSc degree, but in my mid twenties. I literally could not afford to live in the city. It was too expensive. I've moved to LA for ~2.5 years now and it couldn't be any better! I finally have a nice home. Income is ~5x the Dutch income and I can afford to work 4 days/week instead of 5. Half my week is WFH too. What you describe is typical city-life. Like in Amsterdam or Rotterdam. Or a similar, dense city. All the other ciies are dead-like. There's no person to be seen on the street in Holland except for when kids go to school and go back home. Anyhow, glad my family and I moved out. The tax is extreme. Chart topping internationally. Public transit is also worlds' most expensive yet it has too many cancelled trains. Top 10 most expensive energy too. If you like self-abuse, then The Netherlands is a good place. Or if you value the streets over all the negatives, then also good. Otherwise, a big no. Germany is pretty similar, but with most negatives fixed for instance ;)
So you work at the Zuidas, and then you go all the way to De Hallen for lunch. Not very realistic for most of us Dutchies that have to settle with half an hour lunch breaks. Then you more than likely just grab a quick bite at Zuid station, if you haven't already brought something from home, that is.
mark rober ahh music, nice video!
Funny: at 1:50 there is a Mercedes in the North American part of the video, and a very American GMC Sierra in the Dutch part.
Haha that is interesting!
I'm sorry if I'm being nitpicky but why does 3:29 have prices in $$ in the NL? 😂 Maybe this was not something you filmed explicitly? Just found it funny xD
For all dutchies. This doesn’t feel weird at all. Because we are grown up on it. And it feels weird somebody saying it feels weird
my eyes couldn't get off of the netherlands perspective
Even though the story is correct in the video, the biking in Amsterdam is insane if you would do that. Getting lunch wouldn't be going from Station Zuid (in South) to Hallen in Oud-West (in West) which would take 15-20 minutes. Most of the people just walk around the corner to get lunch as everything is close by. Also, I actually have no idea how this works living in smaller cities or villages in the Netherlands though.
Most people have lunch in the company restaurant, when there isn’t any, we bring our own lunch and eat behind our desk. On fridays me and my collegues always have lunch together in a nearby restaurant. Some collegues live further away and they still need a car to go to work.
In the evening before you go to bed you make your bread, put it in a plastic bag and take it with you to work in the morning, then you all have lunch together at the office. A lot of offices also have bread and cheese and other stuff so you dont need to bring it yourself. And then maybe once a week someone drives or walks to a mall or foodcourt to get something nice for everyone. Generally most people outside of Amsterdam dont leave the office every day to get their hipster quinoa salad for lunch.
To be fair, I feel this is a lot about city vs. suburb. You could live the Netherlands day in NYC for sure. Also in Vancouver and Toronto probably. I live in a village in Germany and my day would look more similar to the car-centric in NA. In any city in Germany, my day would look more like the day in the Netherlands.
But the suburbs are the major difference: A German (or Dutch) suburb is its own town with it's own infrastructure within walking distance. And they often are even more bikeable than the city itself, because they are just one giant 30 zone. And there will be transit options and bike routes into the city. A suburb in the US and Canada is more like a village - or even worse: Nothing but a sea of single-family homes with not even a bakery or convenience store, because it's illegal to build these under zoning regulations. Also no bike lanes into the city, only a 6-lane stroad. And the bus stops on a patch of grass along this - three busses in the morning, three busses in the evening back. But this isn't a village of some 250 people, it's a suburb of over 10k…
Only for very small stretches of a city center, aside from NYC ofc, but NYC is not representative of North American cities, it’s very much it’s own thing. And even in NYC, you don’t have that kind of ability to bike, the streets are very wide, mostly dedicated to cars with lots of lanes, it’s not the same inviting environment for people to inhabit.
As someone who walks and bikes in NYC: yeah but no. NYC is years ahead of a lot of other places (and so are some other cities in NA), but it's often >30min walk to go from where you are to where you want to be as listed in this video. I currently live in Rotterdam and my work is 10min walk + 7min metro, 3 min walk + 15min tram, or 50min walk to the office, but grocery is 2 min walk, gym is 4 min walk, family doctor 10 min walk, train station is 10 min walk, gas station is 5 min drive, etc. etc. There are plenty of cities around the world (including North America) that are not complete shiiit, but this isn't as much of a suburb vs city comparison. Why? Because the same is true for many of our subrurbs. Walkability is key, public transport connections almost always readily available. kzhead.info/sun/rdipk7uNqIimfJ8/bejne.html talks a bit about it too.
I bet you can walk to your supermarket, even in your small German village.
@@buddy1155 Not in my village but one village over. It is like 1 kilometer away
I feel like it's getting worse overtime though. And it also feels like they design driving roads more often to make sure it takes extra gas instead of less. Like uphill starting from a stoplight when it's not necessary... or not placing the 70 km sign until you go uphill even though you go downhill just before it with nothing interesting. It costs a lot more gas than necessary. But it's not just car gas usage. The way you're supposed to walk, cycle drive also often becomes unclear because they make it too complex... and in their complexity also force people to go the long way around. Basically cities still want the same amount of money even if a road doesn't need a redesign... but they do have to spend it and do one if they want to get that same amount of money or more. So what they do is actually make sections that were already perfect worse since it needs to be different. It's still a lot better here than... pretty much everywhere else in the world. But... there's still a lot of money wasted unnecessarily because they need to make change for the sake of change just so cities get money from the province/country.
In the Netherlands it's somewhat of a luxurious statement to make when you say that you live in cycling distance of work. A long commute is for the downtrodden lol
Depends on what line of work you are in. If you have a simple job like working in a grocery store, warehouse, etc, (not that there is anything wrong with that) you can probably find a job in a few km from your home. But if you work in a highly specialized field you will probably have to commute an hour or more, unless you want to move everytime you job hop to a new company. And with the housing market being what it is, thats probably not going to happen if you want to move. This is why working from home was invented. I can work for a company 2 hours away and then go there maybe once every 2 weeks to show my face, so my average commute is 4 hours per 10 workdays which averages to 24 minutes a day.
Not nearly everyone in the NL lives in biking distance to work. But the notion of going in your car to get lunch or going to grab a coffee outside your house before work feels very not Dutch. But completely agree that the carcentric NA city seems like a nightmare to me (and our atmosphere).
I was surprised he could even find a cafe that was open at 7:30 in the morning. Then again, that was in Amsterdam, I dont get those people anyway.
Sir Albert baby!
It’s amazing you were able to deduce that!
You went to Foodhallen from Zuidas for lunch? 😅 Interesting video though!
It's weird he even got on his bike for that, considering where his bike was.
Great vid, but why would you go to bed at 9.40PM?! thats crazy early! I have to leave for work at 7 and Im not in bed till around 10.30 or 11.00
Haha sadly your schedule would crush me.
Dang
Dear viewers. This video is recorded in a large city in the Netherlands. This video gives a distorted picture of the Netherlands. Outside the big cities, in the countryside this is very different!
I think the point was to compare cities in each place
This does not paint a distorted picture at all. 74% of the Dutch people live at bike distance from a city and for those not living in or near a city, the vast majority still has schools, supermarkets and most of what they need at biking or walking distance.
Well of course 😂😂😂 there there's fields and cows and forests and Heather 😂😂😂
Not just any city, the worst of all cities. Amsterdam.
it's not only the city planners, it's the local decision makers, the citizens who want this lifestyle a city designed by netherlands standards would be empty in a country like US
Why not compare the two cities, Toronto vs Amsterdam
Fake: Spending time with a friend is scheduled 6 weeks in advance in The Netherlands; not just an hour in advance.
Not with me for me, my sisters and friends.
@@maartjeflintervrouw704sounds like somebody needs to (re)take their inburgering exam
This is absolutely bollocks, at least not so with my family and friends …
bullshit, nobody I know "plans" meeting their friends.
Might be your situation, defenitely not mine and my social environment. You should speak for yourself, not for others.
Dutch guy here. Now in reality: The Dutch typically dont go out for lunch, they bring there lunch to work. And our highways are equally congested as the 401 in Toronto (been there) because of our population density and because not everybody lives within "bike distance" from home.
I'm not Dutch, but I regularly drive all over the Netherlands and the rest of Europe for my job, and your country has the least congested highways in my experience. Hell even the highway from Schiphol Airport to the city is reasonable compared to most. Once you get into the cities, things get a little more complicated for drivers, but it's a price worth paying.
@@zivkovicable Try driving down the A4 next time you are here. Rush hour is from 6 to 10 in the morning and from 3 to 8 in the afternoon. You will be stuck for hours.
Ok Nice video but this all depends on where you live and work in the Netherlands. You call living and working in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. But as most people can’t afford a house close to work in say the Randstad (more or less all the bigger cities in the Midwest of NL) you definitely have to commute by car for over an hour one way. By public transport that could easily rise to two hours. The whole biking thing becomes something different if you have to bike 30-40 km to work / school daily all seasons. You are describing a situation for the lucky few
I know this seems nice about us, but this daily schedule is not as common for a Dutchie as you may think. This only applies to you if you live in the city and work in that same city. Getting a home in the city is extremely hard and expensive, especially in Amsterdam. If you don't live in the city, your work may be too far away to cycle. Traffic jams are a problem in The NL all the same. By the way, almost no-one in the Netherlands goes out of office for lunch or grabs a coffee on the way to work. You pack some sandwiches at home and drink from the coffee machine your employer provides to you. A quick errand? I've heard that doesn't really exist in North America, especially if you live in the middle of nowhere, so you do big errands and stock up for a week or so. But I don't live there, so correct me if I'm wrong
It's not surprising that major cities like London, Paris and New York are now copying the Dutch model and try to tempt more people to replace car trips with bike trips. And they're actually beginning to succeed at that.
Toronto too! Toronto is about to implement its first Dutch-style intersection! Super stoked!
I’ve been in the USA 3 times for training and what I noticed was that everyone is always using the car. Even when it is a 5/10 minute walk. I walked from the hotel to the training facility. That was not even 1km and everybody looked at me like I was crazy. 😂 The complete mindset of the average American also need to change.
I agree.
Hey I live there. I never owned a car, never had a drivers license in half a century.
Sounds amazing, I am jealous🥲
I'd argue a better title: The Netherlands is INSANELY well-designed: Dutch vs. North America. This video doesn't really answer the 'why'. Rather, it shows how living in the NL is superior from a typical workday perspective. (and this isn't even the full-extent as to how the NL is superior from a typical workday perspective!)
Haha that is better! Mind if I use it?
In Indonesia we have a Dutch Architecture and very impressive
That’s awesome to hear!
Or... you live in a smaller city in the Netherlands instead of Amsterdam, you can park your car and leave it unused for most of the time on your driveway and use your bike to comute. Take a look at bicycle city Houten, you'll find a video on youtube.
Amsterdam citizen here while it's correct that some places are crowded in Amsterdam like the centre or south where it's hard to find a parking spot the rest is just fine. The rest is like over 70% of the city. If you plan to visit tourists hotspots like the red light district or a bigger musea just park your car in that 70% and use public transportation.
I am Dutch.. and most people drive by car to work in the Netherlands. It is not a car centric county and that’s why I get up at 06.30 to be in my car at 06.50 so I don’t get stuck in traffic and have my commute take twice as long. Now this is to get to my office which normally takes 25 minutes by car, or over 50 minutes during rush hour. If I have to get to a client in another city… I have to get up at 06.00 at the latest to avoid traffic. This video is grossly misrepresenting life in the Netherlands. I used to live close to work at first. And yes I could cycle to work which I did every day, wind or rain. But cycling anywhere in a U.S. city would take much longer… BECAUSE YOUR CITIES ARE MUCH LARGER. Yes the US could use some bicycle paths and that would be better for everyone… you could use electric bikes to compensate for the longer distances. But you’re misrepresenting my country… if you don’t live close to the city center as in 30 min bike ride or less. You’re stuffed. Parking is super expensive, also gas prices are twice as high in the NL as in the US. Both buying and owning a car is much much more expensive.The US could definitely use some restructuring to promote cycling. But my country’s approach to things has some serious downsides as well…
In the US there are only parkinglots in the city. They need to build parks before you bike threw them.
The craziest thing about those parking lots is they dont even put any trees or anything nice on them, its just a square kilometer of asphalt. Here if we build a big parking lot there are rows of trees and bushes and flowers in between the rows of parking spaces and little things like that makes it look much better.
Thats why i like the Netherlands. No noisy Cars and pollution
Jealous, it does seem a lot more quiet!
Dude you really go across town for lunch at the foodhallen while you work at strawinskylaan? You must really love that place.
Yep! Haha
There are around 11.042.678 cars and 22.800.000 bikes in the Netherlands.
Wild!
It is a nice video and I prefer the situation of the Netherlands indeed. However as a pedestrian between 8-9 in the morning it is really stressful to cross the street especially in Amsterdam Zuid and with all these faster bikes nowadays (fat bikes, van moofs). It is not all perfect. Participating in traffic can be very stressful and not everone mastered the rules of the bike.
Bit of context: Toronto is 3 times the size of Amsterdam. So work and everything else is, by design, 3 times as far away.....
It depends on where you live: in the city, or outside. Not everybody is going to work by bicycle or even walking. Only if you have your job in Amsterdam - or a similar city - and you are living in the (old )centre. And living in the centre requires at least €1000,- for renting an apartment. . .
1000 euro to rent an apartment in a city? Where? Its at least 1500. Amsterdam lowest rate for an apartment was 1750 years ago, its probably 2000 now.
My City
I get what this video is trying to portray and I agree that Dutch infrastructure is S-tier. But it's also idealising the average day over the top. The "going out for coffee in the morning" trope is something nobody I know does, we usually make coffee at home/work. And yes, we can take a walk to the nearest supermarket to do groceries, but most people I know will take the car because walking with 3+ heavy shopping bags is tough, and on the bike it becomes impractical. This mostly applies to families though, not people who live alone.
There’s nothing INSANE about it, just common sense.
Definitely true! Maybe it’s just insane to see common sense prevailing haha
Common sense ain't that common now
I like this video, but you made two assumptions that are not applicable to the majority of the Dutch: 1. the commuter lives and works in Amsterdam. Living in Amsterdam is not affordable if you prefer to have a house for yourself alone; especially on the start of your career you must share a house if you want to be able to live off your income. So that luxury comes at a cost either way. 2. when the weather is nice (at least dry) it is nice to travel by bike; not so when it rains cats and dogs. Then you long for a nice warm seat in your car with phone, radio and podcasts. As soon as you live in a suburb or in another city you can only bike to the train station; successive transport after the train ride costs a lot of time. Travelling by car is mostly faster than by train, unless the congestion is very eavy. The reason why all those commuters travel by train? They have no parking space at their offices... However, the biggest failure of USA cities (I've never been to Canada) is, that some places are ONLY reachable by car. From wherever you live in an American city the city center must be reached by bike or a frequent form of public transport. For that reason, I still like the Netherlands best.
Correction: if you ask a friend for dinner in The Netherlands you have to set a date in your agenda atleast two months prior , Spring of the moment dinners don’t happen here buddy 😂
Haha interesting to hear about the culture differences!
Depends on the person and your relationship with that person.
The Netherlands is also alot smaller, it's just as small as the smallest state in the USA if I'm not mistaken. Greetings from a Dutch person.
The smallest US state is much smaller. Rhode Island is about 2500 sq km. The Netherlands is about 40.000 sq km. Somewhere in between the size of Maryland and West Virginia. With a GDP comparable to Illinois, the fifth largest economy of US states.