A fascinating conversation with Roy Symons, author of the fietspad book

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A fascinating conversation with Roy Symons, author of the fietspad book

Рет қаралды 3,742

4 ай бұрын

In this episode, I connect with Burnaby, BC-based transportation engineer Roy Symons, for a chat about his beautiful book fietspad: A Journey Through The Netherlands Documenting its Bicycle Infrastructure that he recently published. We also talk about his journey as a classically trained civil engineer from Scotland to a passionate advocate for the creation of active mobility infrastructure in his new home of British Columbia, Canada.
Not surprisingly, Dutch cycle paths (fietspaden) and other forms of Dutch cycling infrastructure, such as the fietsstraat (bicycle priority street) are featured prominently in this episode.
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Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Roy's blog: www.rollingint...
- Roy on Twitter/X: / roytheplanner
- Roy's firm: islengineering...
- Roy's Flickr: www.flickr.com...
- Order the Fietspad book: www.blurb.com/...
- Continuous Sidewalks and Bike Paths - Canada: bit.ly/3IIbxzH
- Melissa & Chris Bruntlett www.modacityli...
- My episode with Jeff Speck: • Essential reflections,...
- My episode with Todd Litman: • Paradise is not a dist...
- Todd's tour of Victoria: • A lesson in good cycle...
- My episode with Dale Bracewell: • A discussion of Vancou...
- My most recent episode with Matt Pinder: • Engineering for people...
- My most recent Tactical Urbanism episode w/ Mike Lydon: • Talking Tactical Urban...
Books referenced:
- Smart Growth Manual: bookshop.org/a... or amzn.to/43phZ8o
- Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change: amzn.to/3yBGr8J or bookshop.org/a...
- Walkable City: bookshop.org/a... or amzn.to/3RCNZSv
- Happy City: bookshop.org/a... or
- Curbing Traffic: amzn.to/3GPd2cN or bookshop.org/a...
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Credits: Video and audio production by John Simmerman
Music via Epidemic Sound: bit.ly/3rFLErD
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live: bit.ly/3rwsUup
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite: bit.ly/35DBDDU
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024

Пікірлер: 28

@colleenharrison2942 4 ай бұрын

Thanks John and Roy for the interesting interview. Really enjoyed the photographs.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

Yay! Thanks so much for tuning in, Colleen!

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

You're very welcome Colleen, thanks for watching.

@nicthedoor 4 ай бұрын

Brilliant! Started reading through Roy's book. Great shots, what a trip. I have been inspired to make a pilgrimage of my own to the Netherlands this summer.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

Sweet! My bet is that you won't be disappointed. Cheers! John

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

That's great to hear @nicthedoor, hope you're still enjoying it! As John said, you won't be disappointed!

@JustClaude13 4 ай бұрын

Santee, California has wide sidewalks in some areas that are divided; one side is smooth and the other is textured. I use them as a multi-use path, but I'm not sure if I'm using it right because the signs aren't clear. A good feature of any infrastructure is to make sure the users know what the builders have in mind. Even if we all later agree that it should be different, at least we start with a common vision.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

Excellent point!

@knarf_on_a_bike 4 ай бұрын

My partner is from BC and went to SFU! Small world, eh? Enjoyed the talk and "meeting" Roy. Thanks for sharing.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

You are so right, and quite welcome. Glad you enjoyed the conversation. We need more transportation engineers like Roy out there working to transform our cities into more livable places. Cheers! John

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

Indeed! Thanks for watching!

@mbdtfnl 4 ай бұрын

44:27 Another thing to notice is how close and regular the trees are next to the road, to create a sense of not going too fast because it can get dangerous if you go too fast with trees so close.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

Yes, brilliant point. The trees help to provide a natural traffic calming element to the roadway. 😀

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

Great point, do the Dutch have clear zone requirements at the edge of roadways? I can somewhat appreciate it on high speed rural roads, but not on shared roads.

@reneolthof6811 4 ай бұрын

Looking forward to 60 plus minutes of foreign insights into the Dutch infrastructure.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

How’s it going so far? 😂

@reneolthof6811 4 ай бұрын

It was quite different from what I expected. I myself am originally from the chess world, another of those nice niche biotopical universes, and I very much recognise and appreciate the effort your guest is putting in photographing everything. The key is how to make this volume of work available to the cycling community to optimise its value. This fietspad-book is one way of achieving this objective. I want to stress how important such private projects are. Since individual people cannot take on ALL aspects by themselves, it’s of the utmost importance that the work done by individuals is shared in order that others can build on it and expand if necessary. That way much more work can be done. It’s exactly the same in the chess world. This is also how I see your own fine contribution, as aptly described by you in this video - serving as an amplifier!! While I completely understand the reasoning behind the first half of the video, for me as a Dutch fietser, my interest is mainly on the views expressed by foreigners when they are confronted with the real life situation here in the Netherlands. No matter how well prepared they are, it strikes me that literally all accounts I have seen, report that cycling paradise is even more paradisical than they could have imagined. As an everyday fietser that gives me goosebumps every time. Especially since I experience the shortcomings of the present situation on a daily basis, even in the Netherlands a lot of work needs to be done. A case in point in my home town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In the upcoming three months work will start on arguably the worst piece of cycling infrastructure over here: on the site of the old city hospital grounds. The housing part has been nearly finished, now it’s time for the access roads from the Zuid-Willemsvaart to the central market place. The present situation is horrendous and I actually hope that Mark, Mister Bicycle Dutch, will archive the before and after situation ad he has done in many other instances. Because that is the true strength of the Dutch approach: continuous improvement.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

@@reneolthof6811 Thanks so much for your response. I'm with you on that challenging ‘s-Hertogenbosch location. I did spend some time the area with Mark during my last visit in 2022. Here's my playlist of videos featuring Mark: bit.ly/3szHups

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

Great comments, thanks for sharing@@reneolthof6811 I'll be in Den Bosch for the first time this year, I'm sure it wills till feel like utopia to me, but let's see...

@victotronics Ай бұрын

What?! He didn't cross the Afsluitdijk by bike? There's nothing like riding your bike in a ?30? mile straight line, with a headwind, and absolutely no change in the landscape: sea to the left, sea to the right.... But props for hitting Nijmegen and other non-Amsterdam locations. There's enough videos/blogposts/whatnot solely about the Randstad.

@ActiveTowns Ай бұрын

That would be cool! 😎

@dimrrider9133 4 ай бұрын

Breda is still waiting to be visit lol. Remember its called the pearl of the south

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

This summer! Looking forward to it.

@dimrrider9133 4 ай бұрын

@@ActiveTowns yes eindelijk ;p

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

@@dimrrider9133 Indeed. 🤣

@rollinginthecity 4 ай бұрын

Not on my list for this trip, one day...

@mandje2002 4 ай бұрын

48:25 the bus is not a Mercedes but a VDL, an electric bus.

@ActiveTowns 4 ай бұрын

Oh cool! I actually meant the reasonably sized Mercedes sedan in front of the bus... but now I know who made the bus. Thanks so much for that and for watching. Much appreciated. Cheers! John