"advisory lanes are the preferred tool, when the city doesn't really want to deal with the problem"… you might get quoted on that :)

I remember when my teacher in elementary school told us in traffic class: 'Het is geen fietsPAD, het is een fietsSTROOK'. I always understood the difference very well, and I think most Dutchies do. As a car you can use the strook whenever there's no bike. But when there is a bike, you need to stay off the strook. As a cyclist it feels safe, as you feel somewhat protected. You have a designated area that is yours when you're there. When you're not there others (cars) can use it, and to me that's totally fine. It's efficient use of space that provides some extra protection for bikes without having to completely remodel the street or ban all cars. Because even in the Netherlands there are limits to that. Another pro of the fietsstrook is that it optically narrows the road, so it slows down cars. Maybe it's perfect example of a 'polder'-solution. It doesn't completely favour one side over the other. Everyone gives and takes a little 'en je doet het er maar mee'. I don't think it's unwillingness to deal with the situation. I think it's a very adequate solution for the situation. It's perfect for nobody but all parties get something out of it. I love it.

I came to this conclusion about network issues in my neighborhood(the gridded streets of San Francisco's Sunset District). On Kirkham between 19th and 7th Ave, the MTA tested "Slow Streets" during pandemic lockdowns, which only blocked one lane to "suggest" traffic calming, and found that thru drivers, rather than respecting the suggestion, aggressively slalomed through Kirkham to traverse between 19th and 7th(both major corridors), knocking over the signs. They went in the direction of reverting the change instead of pushing for a full barrier. The streets did succeed in a few other places in the city, but the motorist reluctance to give up this particular cut-over was high, and I can see the same kind of issue taking place with the Heemraadssingel. But the overall network problem, which is "every street in the Sunset is equally a thru street", is easy to fix through careful application of barriers. Gridded cities are very amenable to this change - it doesn't create an issue over how to allocate the road space and carve out lanes for different users - they just need to overcome some political concerns and practical issues with emergency services access etc.

you don't even have to move the bus stations. you could just place a "bussluis" in (somewhere around) the midlle of the street, that way cars can't use it as a shortcut and busses (and emergency vehicles) can still use the whole street. you're able to either put in a raised platform (like a speedbump) that is to wide for cars the pas over but small enough for busses (but then police and ambulances couldn't pas either) or you use those move able triangles that disappear into the ground when allowed vehicles (busses and emergency vehicles) approach. the 2nd option would be (in my opinion) the best solution here, and it doesn't even cost that much to install.

Yes! Let’s make the city more pretty!! Wonderful video

This is starting to be done lots in the UK, retrofitting older neighbourhoods with traffic filters to create low traffic neighbourhoods. However there is a lot of motorists complaining about them, causing traffic and the government recently removed them from projects that they will fund for active travel.

This is so well thought out, thank you for the explanation. I moved to the Netherlands as well, and I've definitely experienced that Rotterdam and streets in general with the tiny on street "bike lanes" on each side are always so unpleasant.

Heemraadsingel should still allow for through bus traffic, the deviations on the number 44 route are already crazy weird, this extra spike to the west would make it absolutely crazy

1:33 small overview about our speedlimites BiBeKo (binnen de bebouwde kom - inside city limits) -ETW - 30KMH -GOW - 50KMH -SW - 70KMH there is going to be an new type of road introduced, the GOW 30, which (surprizingly) has a speed limit of 30 KMH. This street is supposed to become the default speed limit in all cities. This means the GOW - 50 is going to dissapear in most places and changed to GOW - 30. Its an interesting topic to talk about considering it has up- and downsides. BuBeKo (buiten de bebouwde kom - outside the city limits) -ETW - 60KMH -GOW - 80KMH -SW - 100/130KMH 4:07 not really (any color isnt ok), as it contradicts Duurzaam Veilig. It has a design principle that every road and function should be clearly recognizable and compatable (yes, the GOW - 30 will be a negative infliction on both of these parts sadly) to show drivers what behavior wegbeheerders expect from them and it prevents confusion. This improves safety a lot.

Falling in love with your channel

Your vids keep getting better, Lekker bezig!

Nice way to inform and educate! Great video

Great video! Your videos are getting better with each one. It would have been cool to see how the other street dealt with through traffic. Did they just build a bollard? Or did they use other mechanisms like chicanes? Would love to see a video on street transformations - i know Amsterdam is changing their streets with parking, to be ones with seating areas, tiny playgrounds, bike parking, garden/green space etc. Do such additions make it easier or harder to bike through? I’d imagine harder to bike through, because of all the people on the street, but I could be wrong. Also would be cool to see a video on how NL handles mixing transit (buses, trams) with bikes/bike lanes. Looking forward to the next video!

I used to work on the Heemraadsingel and loved it. It's practical and beautiful at the same time.

Excellent explanation!

wonderful video!

I learn a lot from the videos made by "foreigners"! I had never heard of a "suggestion strook" although I use these streets quite often, by car or bike. I lived at the Heemraadsplein for 11 years. My best friends live at the Hooidrift where you also filmed. I reckon foreigners might feel intimidated by the cars that are passing by high speed (as a matter of fact, I sometimes hear comments on that in other video's, but i reckon Dutch bikers are used to it? It doesn"t bother me, personally. Thanks for sharing !

i wish i could move to the netherlands, but i dont have anything to justify a residence permit :c

Or... put a "bussluis" in the middle. That way local traffic can still get there from either the Vierambachtstraat or the Mathenesserlaan, but they can't get from one side to the other, but busses and bicycles still can.

By the way, the easiest solution to stopping traffic through a street in the Netherlands isn't to block off traffic with obstacles, it's to simply put up a sign that says "residential traffic only" on both ends. This would still allow people who live there to access the street from both ends, and 99% of drivers will respect such a sign without the need to put up any obstacles. Maybe in Rotterdam specifically it would be a bit less than 99%, they aren't the most respectful people in the country.

Suggestiestroken: pseudo bike lanes Or, as Jason from Not Just Bikes calls them. Painted Bike Gutters

Honestly a lot of these things would also be solved if navigation apps simply didn't route you through streets like this. Also, I don't think they've done this anywhere in the country yet but they could use a "closed statement" with an exception only for local traffic on either side. But I suppose that might add confusion. Which is probably also the reason it hasn't been done before

Hey, i'm from Rotterdam and know the area very well, and to be honest I avoid cycling here unless i have to be at a specific location in that area because it's always chaotic. (there's a reason we call it the wild west) However the plan you suggest in the video about blocking at one end would not work in this case for a couple of reasons: The first is the bus line, which actually comes from the other part of the Heemraadssingel, and follows the road all the way through to Mathenesserlaan, the bus does the same on the other side of the Heemraadssingel and connects back to Rotterdam Noord. Diverting these two stops, or four if you count both sides of the singel, would cause a diversion of at least 5 minutes ride time on the bus if there is no traffic and 20/30 minutes if there is traffic. That brings me to the second point of why blocking the road would not be a great idea: Traffic, Mathenesserlaan and Vierambachtsstraat are both very busy 2 lane streets with street level tramlines, almost every tram going west of the city center travels through Vierambachtsstraat. During rushhour these streets become completely blocked, because they both end up at Mathenesserplein where traffic is further diverted to more directions. Which is why Heemraadssingel is the way it is; it's a diversion street for cars that need to go in a specific direction that don't necessarily require staying on M'Laan or Vierambachtsstraat. It is a direct north/south connection from Rotterdam Noord all the way down to Coolhaven and relieves the west/east bound traffic. what you suggest is great, and used in many other situations with great result, but it simply would cause more harm than good in this case.

The "Westzijde" in Zaandam is also an interesting case with the same issue. You may find it interesting too. Lots of through traffic and cyclists on a narrow street. Over the whole length of the street (which is quite long) it seems like they've tried all options. 50km/h with bike lanes (too narrow), 30km/h without bike lanes (too busy), 50km/h with suggestiestroken (idk why), separated bike lane in one direction only (???), 50km/h but put up a blue sign with a suggested speed limit of 30km/h so you're allowed to put bicycle symbols on the suggestiestroken (smart, but cheating)...

At 4:50 there seems to be a bike symbol on the lanes?

Wow. That was informative.

Thank you. Where can i find out which streets are ETW30? Is there an official plan? Thank you!

Nice video!

With your proposed changes, how would the one way configuration of the road work? Currently it goes one way, south, right?

I think you need to zoom out a bit more to understand the context of the Heemraadssingel. The traffic between Vierambachtstraat / 2e Middellandstraat and Mathenesserlaan is just a small part of the traffic. A lot of it (in this particular street) is traffic which already came from Van Aerssenlaan as an easy way to go south to Rochussenstraat. The solution isn't to push even more traffic through the congested single-lane Vierambachtsstraat, but to make that traffic take the Aelbrechtskade instead. BTW, at the moment Heemraadssingel would fit GOW30 more than ETW30. It's one of many roads blindly converted from 50 to 30 without adjusting the layout of the road.

Alternatively, one could elect to upgrade the Heemraadsingel to a GOW, ie. with separted lanes further away from the "rooilijn" with a bi-directional bicycle lane as a separator between the side walk and motor vehicle traffic. In order to make the street nonetheless psychological longer to traverse, it is possibel to design it deliberately impeded i.e. by means of narrowed parking bays and speed ramps that do affect the speed with which cars can travel but not bus transport.

These bits of red asphalt are called "FIETSsuggestiestroken", which you are meant to cycle on as long as you can cycle "as far to the right as possible". You don't have to commit to the lanes when you're the left one in a side by side cyclist duo. I agree with the fact it doesn't belong in an ETW30, which should only be used in build-up areas and not on through streets, which should be GOW. I wouldn't necessarily say that you need to move the bus route. You can impliment barriers that prevent cars from crossing, but not buses. It's called a "bussluis", or a more expensive way to do it: a "poller".

4:11 you say there's no bicycle symbol on these lanes, but I can clearly see the bicycle markings at 4:33 and 4:49

"Thats some fast moving cars" *Looks outside at my residential street that is 2 metres from the front of my house as a Lifted Dodge Ram revs by at 65km/h* "Fuck my entire life"

Neat true crime episode with the viewer as the detective ;) spoilers down below. I was surprised when the suspect was simply to block off vehicle traffic. My initial guess was that a whole street reprioritising or reclassification was needed. I couldn’t really understand your thinking until you mentioned that ETW30 is designed for local traffic. Not through traffic. I have a question though. Would a modal filter that allows buses but blocks cars (bus trap) be an acceptable solution to this problem too? Awesome video! Once again you taught something new in a fun way!

How I would change the Heemraadssingel in Rotterdam. Looking North to South, remove the parking spots on the right side, create a bike path separated with a green patch. Change the parking spots on the left to 60 degree parking. That would make it only suitable for one way traffic, but it already is like that. The above would clean it up a lot.

It also has zebra crossings and public transit which according to your list of dont's shouldn't be on the destination street either

4:50 aren't those bike lane markings inside the suggestiestrook? Whoops.

I agree that your suggestions would make this street better, however, if you do this to enough streets, then what do you do about the issue that all the traffic gets funnelled into a fewer and fewer main roads and congestion builds up there? It feels like all you're doing is moving traffic from one place to another, but is there evidence to suggest that doing this has the opposite effect of induced demand, and that overall traffic actually reduces? If not, how is the additional traffic dealt with on the main roads? And don't residents on those roads complain about the extra noise, pollution and congestion?

uhm i might be wrong but those are bikelanes; at 5:52 you see the faded out bicycle markings on the red pavement.

Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles. Safe protected bike lanes and trails are needed so adults and children can ride safely. Speak up for bicycles in your community. Bicycles make life and cities better. Ask your local transportation planner and elected officials to support more protected bike lanes and trails. Children should be riding a bicycle to school and not be driven in a minivan.

Looking at the map at 5:24 unless they've done the same to all the side roads between the two main roads, all you'll do is push the problem along to the next road. Where I live people who live in LTNs have complained about it taking longer to get to/from their homes and it has increased congestion on the main roads that the traffic has been forced onto

Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses and trams are all parts of a good transportation system

I would prefer making a bus trap instead of two poles; it would result in a faster bus! Edit: typo

Sluipverkeer kan ook door verbodsborden met bijvoorbeeld spitstijden worden aangepakt.

Wouldn't have to remove the bus stops, just add a bus sluice.

I love the city Rotterdam better than Amsterdam. But I hate driving in Rotterdam 😬😁 "suggestiestroken" is "suggestion lanes". And "gemeente" is "municipality"

You can make paid car traffic on such streets, just put up a payment terminal "You can drive as you like". There would be some money for the community for iteration events

I kinda like having those "advisory lanes" when riding a bicycle. Sure, it's always better to have my own lane, but this kinda gives you that own lane feeling without having to construct an actual lane. Maybe it's a bit lazy, but it's definitely better than riding with cars without any separation.

You wouldn't even need to move those busstops. You could place a so called "bussluis" or bus trap i think. Would be a great solution to make the city an even better place.

***GASP*** blocking through car traffic??? Who would do such an evil thing???

Only one really big issue with blocking of road: Trucks and vans. Yes, they need to be their. Because where people life, goods have to go. Blocking streets of causes a lot of problems for deliveries and garbage-collection. Trucks need to backup into a street, making the entrance very dangerous for all traffic and vans have to turn in the streets (or also backup into it), making it dangerous for bikes and pedestrians. So no. Bad solution. Better solution is to make the street a one way direction road in the opposite direction most traffic flows.

Calling a city like Rotterdam "modern" and places like Utrecht more "traditional" seems to me an intentional missrepresentation for the sake of the framing of the video. the entire Flevopolder is more "modern" compared to Rotterdam and doesn't suffer the same issues. calling the 80's modern because they were more modern compared to the 60's misses the point we live in the 2000's now.

Lovely example of how context is everything. You can have the perfect road in isolation and it still gets ruined by cars because people can't be arsed to drive around it. This is why American cycle experiments frustrate me. No amount of speed bumps can save this road which is designated a street. It needs to be bollards. Also you have such an interesting accent. You say the vowels flawlessly like a native, but you pronounce the words like you've mainly seen them written so they're not always the right version of the vowel.

Rotterdam is lacking behind with allot of infrastructure projects. They even want to remove some tramlines...

so your solution is effectively to turn a through road into a cul-de-sac

Why add BG music to a commentary video? If you NEED music to get people to watch...

The worst part is that the people being uncomfortable mixing are not people on bikes, but the through car drivers. So you add these "sugggestive" lines to get the bikes out of the way.

Heemraadsingel is pronounced like "Haym raad single" not "Hem raad single" otherwise great movie

Why not make a “bus only” filter on one end? Are drivers really too entitled to follow a simple sign?

I don't understand why you use Dutch words for these things. And then abbreviate them. You can translate them to English, you know, they are not proper names. - Erftoegangsweg - Residential access road - Gemeente - Municipality - Fietssuggestiestrook - Bicycle advisory lane

.... and get rid of the parked cars.

The reason Rotterdam is so different, with modern architecture and car-centric design is that the Germans bombed it into complete ruins in the war, so it was redesigned from the ground up during the post-war car boom to be car-friendly, and we are still struggling with that legacy. Thankfully the city has a great underground metro system and train lines so you dont need a car to get anywhere, but it is less friendly to cyclists and pedestrians when youre on the streets.

Or they could make it a thoroughfare, since people also have to do business and go places, not only the local residents have rights. There are plenty of crippled streets in the area as well, bike on those and refrain from ruining another road as well.

These reddish “death lanes” positioning cyclists exactly in the position of opening car doors really are complete bs and without those the street could be modeled in a far more safe way. You talk about “moving bus stops” - If you plan to remove the bus line and prolong the travel time for OV passengers and maybe some extra costs for running more buses du to the longer ride of the line pls be so honest and SAY THIS. I guess it does not even need to be, as there are technical solutions for allowing buses to pass but block cars off as well. Often a “simple” solution does not reflect the complexity of a problem. It needs to be adressed from more than one point of view. You need a concept for an attractive routing for the #44 bus to solve it. “Forgetting” to keep or even make bus services more attractive when creating street concepts is a real issue. Please do not copy this mistake.

Sorry but your pronounciation of Dutch is really off haha

Interesting thing about a "fietssuggestiestrook": you can stop your car on it legally. If it actually has a bike symbol on it you cannot. Another thing people often forget is you can, and should, block cycling traffic near crossings with either cycling lanes or fietssuggestiestroken iff (which means: and only if) the line separating it is discontinued. This makes sure you can take a right turn safely by blocking the cycling traffic with a car. So if a crossing has a continous line: wait for all cyclists to have passed. Iff dotted: move on the lane (and await complaints) but you are sure you will not hit anyone. the last part is most often employed at infrequent crossings.