You failed to mention the most important part: bike lanes induces demand for biking. When bike lanes are safe and effective (they connect ppl to where they need to go), ppl buy bikes and bike to those locations instead of driving. We tend to forget just how much space a car takes, but it is a lot, so if we induce more biking via bike lanes, that means less cars on the road, which means faster travel times for cars.

I like the idea of the protected bike lane. I can't count the number of times I had to swerve into traffic because the Amazon drivers treat the bike lane as a dropoff zone.

in the Netherlands we have bike highways

Washington DC here. Although it’s relatively a walkable city (by US standards, not EU) my life drastically improved when I subscribed to the city bike share program. I had previously tried it in London a decade ago, but never knew how it would impact my everyday life so brilliantly. In the meantime our mayor is putting great efforts to make the city more bikable. Dear bikers, I love you all.

Cycling is one of the best ways to get around the city. Bikes don't make exhaust fumes and require a much smaller space for parking. They help keep the population fit. They're cheaper than cars to maintain, and free lower income people from the shackles of public transportation, which while a necessary part of any good city can present completely illogical routes to get somewhere. It's time to embrace the bike.

if the dutch people kept New Amsterdam then the traffic would have been much better

It also works because people have started using bikes more and more out of frustration. Not having to wait in queues is liberating at times.

5 lanes has a lot of lane changes, that is what slows everyone and everything.

”But in New York city that number rises to 3%” - Laughs in European 😂😂

Narrowing a parking space to 2.4m width. I, as a european, find this quite amusing xD

I absolutely love the 1.5m buffer + 2.4m parking lane idea! In my city (east EU) we got decent amount of bike lanes, but they are separated by just a paint marking from the rest of the traffic. That makes me quite nervous, since the cars are driving with around 80km/, just centimeters away from me. As a result, I gave up trying to commute with the bike, now ride it just for fun in parks and such.

As a European, I find it hilarious that this is considered as new and groundbreaking in the US, while I can’t even imagine a road without a bike lane 😆

At the end they make it sound like a turning lane is a new and special idea...

Just within the past few months, my town has transformed all of our busiest streets to be more bike friendly via wide bike lanes and reduced a few roads from 4 traffic lanes to 2 in the process. Because it's still recent and there is no buffer, many drivers are treating the new bike lanes as traffic lanes and will drive down them for miles thinking nothing of it. While I was excited about the prospects of finally being safe while biking, I think Americans as a whole need to reevaluate the current "I own the road, don't test me" social undertone that is so pervasive throughout most of the US before much good will come from these changes.

:31 if you can't fit the dude riding a bike decal in what you are attempting to call a "bike lane" it's TOO NARROW. Nice video~!

It's almost as if America is actually learning from the rest of the world

So the real benefit was using the buffer zone to move turning vehicles out of the street and let traffic flow freely. The stop and start from turns was the problem. Adding bike lanes is a great side effect that should be more ubiquitous in the US but the real reason is the change to traffic flow.

As a person living in the Netherlands, i love to watch videos about american cycling infrastructure. Mostly just to laugh at how terrible it is.

Great video on the effect of bike lanes on traffic! I’ve noticed this effect personally. When infrastructure is changed, the city evolves to grow with it. There is still much for New York to improve.

Spend a week in a dutch city and you have the proof you need

"How Expanding Bike Lanes Can Actually Decrease Traffic" Like it isn't obvious already.

I lived in LA for a while. Whenever I was on those chaotic freeways I imagined them being converted into the world's greatest bike paths.

If everybody would bike, you would get through Manhattan in 40 minutes or so

I ride in London and its so much better now we have bike lanes. The parts that don't are hard to get around and I avoid them and will go out of my way if there is a route with lanes. In London they took a number of car lanes out to get the bike in. This promoted the bike lanes and stopped people using there private cars. Now we have traffic jams on the bike Lanes as there is some many bike😂

more bike lanes => more people switch from cars to bikes => less traffic

Even after making the lanes smaller, they still are 12ft (3,66m). In Europe many lanes are only 3m wide. So the original road: 13ft + 3*12ft + 11ft = 60ft (18,3m) could have easily been divided into 4 lanes + parking lane and TWO bike lanes (one for each side of the road). 4x10ft + 8ft + 2 x 6ft Why waste so much space?

We need this where I live. We’ve had way too many bike vs car related fatalities because we don’t have bike lanes and the bike lanes we do have are hard to see. We’ve also have had an increase of pedestrian vs car fatalities.

4:39 as a cyclist, these people walking on the bike lane and traveling In The opposite direction are the most cancerous of all!!!!

4:50 These turn pockets are a really bad idea because they're incredibly dangerous for the cyclists. A car that has to make a left turn here will have a massive blindspot for cyclists coming up from behind. In the Netherlands and other countries they're making an effort to INCREASE the turning circle and distance to decrease the possibility of collisions with cyclists. It would be way better if that "pocket" was removed so that cars turning left are at a 90 degree angle or at least 45 degree angle with the bike lane when turning, immensely increasing the visibility of cyclists for drivers, completely removing the blind spot from the equation. As also shown this pocket is often used at intersections by drivers to then turn left partially and block the cycle lane as they wait for pedestrians, forcing cyclists out on the car lane. This is really, really bad and dangerous road design and has been known to be for decades in Europe, especially the Netherlands. They have the masters of bike infra to look too that tested all this decades ago, yet they still implement dangerous road design because car traffic might experience a tiny bit of hindrance. That's insane... Also narrower lanes automatically increase traffic flow as speeds go down, drivers drive more cautiously, and dangerous manoeuvres become less likely and common. It has very little to do with wether or not there's a bike lane or silly and dangerous "turning pockets".

I live in Europe, and we have a pretty neet public transport system.

Hey Cheddar, a Taiwanese translation is submitted and is waiting for approval.

All the pedestrians walking in the bike lanes. So typical.

I wonder with narrower lanes, it reduces the sight down the road from drivers in such a way to reduce changing lanes for a 'faster lane'. Lane changes slow down traffic more then anything. If people just stayed in the most appropriate lane for their destination, all drivers would benefit.

CLIFF NOTES: Adding bike lanes with a buffer, allows for making a separate left turning lane for the cars, which otherwise would hold up the traffic.

bikers are commuters, too.

Cycling for 2 years in manhattan, i see lot of new bike lanes, but the trucks are still blocking the bike lanes and pedestrian are walking on bike lane especially on 8th ave between 42nd and 56th street.

Please add more bike lanes in Brooklyn. (Especially Nostrand Ave and Rogers Ave). Thanks!

This summer, I visited Portland, a city that supposedly has got a relatively good cycling infrastructure. So, does it? ... I'll keep my rant to myself and just say it was enormously disappointing. No offense, love the country, but as far as cycling goes, the USA has light years to go.

There’s nothing more beautiful than riding a bike in nyc. Everyone should try it it’s an amazing experience

Wait, you actually didn't have dedicated left turn on the 1st avenue before bike lane? Wtf

My people like to use bikes and the Metro in Pyongyang, that’s why you don’t really see any cars

So the decrease in traffic seemed to be less due to the entrinsic existence of a bike lane, but rather to the addition of a separate left-turn buffer zone for cars.

In Eagle County, Colorado, we have a dedicated bike path separate from motor roads, and it even goes through the Glenwood Canyon. I've even seen such dedicated bike paths going all the way up Vail Pass

Great video thank you for sharing this 😃👍

All the footage is of people walking in the bike lane or cutting you off when they turn with their car. Your cyclist needs to scream at the people and threaten them with being smacked by their bike lock.

1% are bikers and 99% are missing out.

So the initial problems were: 1. no buffer lane for turning vehicles in a highly congested area, 2. lanes that were so wide that there was in fact enough space for 2 more lanes (bike lane + buffer area). And people complain about the lack of living space in modern cities. Let's start by reducing all roads to reasonable widths and recover all that wasted land to increase our living space.

I like them ... it eases the confusion ... more clear than the “shared road” scenario.

Hahaha so funny to see these numbers from the US. You’re showing as if it’s all so revolutionary while in The Netherlands it’s already put in place since the ‘70s with great succes!

Great episodes. It would nice to see more episode about modern traffic systems. Aren't the Netherlands a very advanced model when it comes to integrating bikes?

52% of all car trips are 3 miles or less in the U.S. 75% less than 10 miles. We each roll around in a giant 2 ton bubble and we wonder why we have horrible mental health, pollution, traffic, kids don’t want to go outside, financial burden, etc etc Cars are a huge catalyst for many of our problems

Awesome Video!

Bikes make up 1% of the commutes, in NY 3% and in my home town in Germany its 38 % (!). Not to mention the Netherlands...

Wish my city would implement this. I would love to bike to work

great video ! 👍

Great video!

As I see it, traffic is kind of like water. There are studies that show congestion is caused by wave-like patterns of bunching, for example. Maybe narrower car lanes increase car speeds for a constant volume, the same way narrower pipes lead to faster flow.

The guy coming to the Zebra crossing at the end of the video looked to suggest the bicycle user should stop/slow down. This is typical of pedestrians unfamiliar with the significanty low danger of bicycles. With a modicum of urban knowhow he could have crossed without breaking his stride.

There's a road in a city I live in that had bike lanes put in. The only problem is that the road is very busy, only has two lanes (in both directions) for most of the road, and instead of expanding the road to accommodate the bike lanes, they got rid of one of the already existing lanes (thus removing the amount of space cars could use). It was super backed up afterwards until the city took the bike lanes out. So, yeah. Traffic patterns are finicky and the effectiveness of bike lanes definitely depends on where they're put.

I firmly believe that biking is going to play a big role in the future in countries where biking is workable if you consider the average distance of a trip.

Meanwhile my city is having some protesting voices over going from a 4 lane to a 2.5 (.5=centre turn lane) lane street with bike lanes in downtown xD on a street that in no way needs four whole lanes.

all those pedestrians walking on the bike lane..... I don't bike myself and would often like to punch pushy/needy bikers on the walkway. but those pedestrians on the bike lane trigger me just as much. I'd like to allow spikes and blades on bikes driving on the bike lane >:)

I'm a bit skeptical of time to cross a segment as a metric. If you ban all cars except 1, I bet it would reach its destination faster too, but I doubt we'd see it as a good thing. What was the effect on total throughput (cars+buses+bikes+etc.)?

Love from Brasil!🇧🇷

Kudos for integrating SI units.

Once you properly punish car obsessed culture, people look for different ways rather then drive.

its crazy that cities will try to do this but not use the parked cars as protection for bikes.

The biggest reason for the decrease in car traffic travel times is because as more people bike then that's less cars on the road.

Brilliant! We could use the entire road for a bike lane, so there wouldn’t be any car traffic!

Not that I'm advocating for more cars on the road, but I'm a bit skeptical on the reading of the data. Car travel time may not have increased, but you just reduced the number of cars traveling, so the total throughput has been reduced. The cars removed from the road (i.e. the ones that are supposed to be on the car lanes you removed) should have either taken a different route, or have taken a different means of transpo (e.g. buses, bikes, etc.), or haven't traveled at all. A bit of a hyperbole but it's similar to eliminating road accidents by banning 100% of traffic.

Very good video . there should have been more emphasis on travel times for bikes compared to cars , hopefully resulting in more bike riding and less car driving . To focus only on the cars travel time legitimizes the continued use of cars in cities when the goals should be to reduce ICE travel .

I really hope they will start doing the same in London!

Oh, so this is why everywhere i live, Bike Lanes are getting bigger and wider. Good to know

nobody: dutch people: colonized!!!!

Here in Long Beach, CA, where they have implemented this in some places, the reality is large vehicles park, making it impossible to see to pull off of side streets without completely blocking the bike lane. If anything, it's more dangerous now

In my city (Bogota, Colombia ) we have bike lanes on both sides of the road. And they are completely protected as they are on the sidewalk. This kind of bike lanes on the street seem kinda dangerous.

A couple of seconds into the video * Hey it's Actionkid! :D *

I wish they would do that in every city

Could be much better but love the progress NYC is doing so far. They should look at places like the Netherlands and emulate that experience is great! NYC bike lanes is by far prefect thru out the entire city and I’m not a fan of the all of the road’s supporting both cars, buses and bikes instead do what places like Amsterdam does & have a car network and a bike network and replace buses w/ a tram line that’s fast & efficient & doesn’t get stuck in traffic. There are areas in cities like Amsterdam where some roads are exclusively for cars and other roads exclusively for bikes (and trams in the middle) because they have separate networks for cars and bikes. Sharing is great & love the protected bike lanes but not a fan of the constant sharing is a very awful inefficient way to do things-the Dutch way is just better for everyone.

I live in NYC on 8th Avenue above 125th Street and the bike lanes up here are where cars and delivery trucks double-park themselves all throughout the day. NYC has another 20-years before becoming a bike-aware city like on the West Coast and abroad.

Can confirm, cars holding up an entire lane of traffic just to make a turn are the worst

It seems to me that the improvement in (car) travel times is due to the addition of a turn lane, rather than the addition of a bike lane. Additionally, there is no information provided regarding throughput... are some drivers choosing alternate routes due to narrower/fewer lanes on these roads? Also, was the data provided in this video *all* of the data available, or was it cherry-picked?

Expanding a bike lane in Monterey California has definitely decreased traffic. The setup is SO confusing - and so VERY few cyclists USE the lane that even THEY are confused by it - that cars use a DIFFERENT, LONGER ROUTE, to avoid the confusion and questions the layout has created.

As a Swede I really don't get why you don't bike instead of going by car. From my experience biking is a lot faster for going around a city than driving.

**sees this video** **LAUGHS IN DUTCH**

Thanks New York

Where do you get your background music from?

When you live In a hilly suburban environment and does the 300 ft climb every morning for school and only doesn't ride during the winter months because it's literally 20 degrees outside... The bike lane is unprotected and my commute requires a unprotected left turn across a massive main road. With no traffic light... I pretty much wait on the median and make two separate crossings.

I wish I had more bike lanes around me. I do not dare to go in traffic without them. And riding on the sidewalk is "illegal"

In Edmonton we take out an entire driving lane for any bike lane

A buffer zone seems like a good idea a line on the side of the road is dangerous.

I don't ride a bike but pedestrians need to GET OUT OF THE BIKE LANE. Unless they rather have bikes back on the sidewalk, they're defeating the purpose of bike lanes.

Come on Florida! Let's get with the times! Who am I kidding. I'm just some spoiled workout cyclist who just wants a protected lane lol. But the traffic improvement though.

Wow. Watching these clips of riding in New York shows me that nobody cares about anyone else, at all.

Man riding a bike 🚲 in the city 🌃 is so much fun really feel one with NYC.

You missed the most basic reasons bike lanes decrease traffic.... Better infrastructure means more cyclists and thus fewer drivers, especially for people making short trips. Bikes are also smaller than cars and more maneuverable, so you need less space per vehicle overall. Come on Cheddar get your mid century city planning straight

We need to free our cities from cars. and roads. and bridges. and concrete. We need high class public transportation.

protected bike lines? where are the metal poles and concrete ridges...

As a biker in Seattle, WA, I have been hit or almost hit far more times in a "protected" bike lane than I ever was ride on an unprotected bike lane or just on the road. Drivers turned in front of me either because they couldn't see me or didn't look. I keep my light strobing whenever I'm in a "protected" bike lane and assume cars won't see me.

If you want to see good biking infrastructure look to Montreal! And we can only use it half the year and it’s still miles better