Dollar for dollar bicycle transportation is the best value there is

There is no better bang for their buck than bicycling, and the cities here realize that.  They are facing the same economic challenges that American cities are about getting people around. Public transportation is great, improving roads for driving is great.  But it's very expensive.  They are realizing that dollar for dollar or euro for euro, bicycle transportation is the best value there is. 

--Zack Vanderkooy, Urban Planner, Bikes Belong Foundation

 

It's not just a piecemeal approach. All their streets accommodate bikes, it's not just a street here or a street there.

--Mike Amsden, Planner, City of Chicago

From the Netherlands to America: Translating the World's Best Bikeway Designs from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

 

This video from StreetFilms shows a group of American city officials and planners who visit the Netherlands and find out how several cities across the Netherlands have made bicycling and primary mode of transportation.  Bicycles are 27% of trips across the Netherlands, and up to 50% of trips in some city centers.

What the visitors find, though, is that those levels of bicycling didn't happen by accident--they are the result of decades of deliberate planning and engineering that make people feel safe bicycling for basic transportation.

They have done this because it is healthy and environmentally friendly, but most of all they have discovered that it is by far the most cost-effective way to make a livable city where people can get to work, shopping, and everywhere else they need to.

Related: How to become a great bicycling city--video from around the world

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