This summer, we took advantage of the international travel ban, and visited Giethoorn, in the Netherlands, while it was (relatively) free of tourists.
I'm planning to do a series of videos some day about car-free places, and when I do that, I'll need to include Giethoorn. It's a great example of how car-free is so rare that it becomes a to...
2020-12-18 11:50:01 +0000 UTC View Post
My latest video is out! After a few videos about other topics, this one is Just Bikes. 😁
I sometimes get comments on the channel that Amsterdam is "the worst place in the Netherlands to cycle." So I decided to research the worst places to cycle. I contacted quite a lot of people (and the Fietsersbond) for their opinions, and it became ...
Apologies in advance: this video has nothing to do with urban design, which is why it's a "black" video ... it's not black because of Zwarte Piet. 🤣
With Sinterklaas approaching, I realized that this is a pretty complicated holiday for a foreigner to understand, and we've learned a lot about celebrating it over the years. I had...
2020-11-29 09:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the 2nd video in the Strong Towns series. It goes live on Monday, but I'm releasing it early for Patrons.
This is an important video to set the stage on what will (eventually) be a series of videos about suburban-style development. This video is based off of the Strong Towns case studies of traditional development vs. suburban deve...
2020-11-10 12:42:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Halloween is not really celebrated outside of the US and Canada, and the Netherlands does not celebrate it, as you might expect. There is one exception however, the "expat" neighbourhood of Apollobuurt. This is the one place in Amsterdam that really celebrates Halloween, and it attracts children from all over the city.
It's interesting to ...
2020-11-01 00:49:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone, I completed my latest video a bit early. This is not a particularly exciting video, but it's necessary to introduce a new series I'm going to (slowly) create, about the topics covered by StrongTowns.org.
If you haven't heard about Strong Towns yet, their material is worth reading (particularly if you're in the US, Canada, or ...
2020-10-26 20:32:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Not Just Bikes is one year old! I uploaded the first "Video Essay" in October of 2019. This video looks back over the past year of Not Just Bikes, and about how the channel has changed over the past year.
... yeah, it's a "clip show" episode. 🤣 But hopefully still enjoyable!
2020-10-19 07:27:59 +0000 UTC View Post
About a year ago I made a video about Plan Jokinen, the failed highway plan for Amsterdam. But there were other highway plans for Amsterdam, some of which were partially built.
This is the story of Haarlemmer Houttuinen, a neighbourhood that was demolished in the 1970s to build a freeway that ultimately never connected to anything. Now, 50...
2020-10-07 08:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Fwew. This video took me WAY too long to make, but I've wanted to make it for a long time.
If you ask my wife why she wanted to move to the Netherlands, one of her top answers would be that she was sick of being a "cyclist". In English-speaking countries, there's a stereotype and growing divide between those people who ride bicycles ...
2020-10-03 16:48:35 +0000 UTC View Post
There are streets in the Netherlands that look like they have no bicycle infrastructure, but they do! Many Dutch cities follow a strategy of "ontvlecthen": they completely separate the routes (hoofdnetten) taken by cars from those taken by other forms of transportation. This results in safer and more efficient roads for everyone.
This vid...
Last May there was a public transit strike in Amsterdam, which shut down the ferries (and metro) connecting Amsterdam Noord from the rest of the city. The gemeente decided to close the IJtunnel to cars, and make it available to people cycling, to encourage people to ride bicycles instead of driving, while the public transit was unavailable.
<... 2020-09-09 10:40:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This video may be the most important reason why we live in the Netherlands instead of Canada: kids have a lot more independence here. And I believe a lot of it comes down to the way that cities are designed.
I've had most of this script written since before I even started the YouTube channel, and this was supposed to be one of the first v...
Hey everyone! I've put together my first "bonus" video, exclusively for Patreon supporters ("Bicycle" tier and above). Bonus videos are going to be shorter videos (like this one) or videos that haven't been completely thought through yet. Basically anything I find interesting, but haven't found a way to include in a regular video essay.
I'...
2020-08-25 09:27:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons! I finally finished the second part of my Rotterdam series. I was hoping to get it out earlier, but I had some technical issues. Enjoy!
2020-08-19 07:55:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello NJB Patrons! My new video is up.
I finally went to Rotterdam last month! I was only there for a few days, and I didn't see nearly enough, but it was still really interesting.
I'm making two videos about Rotterdam. This one is about getting around the city by public transit. The next is about the history, architecture, and cars....
2020-08-07 17:27:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! I've enabled a new Patreon feature: you can now pledge to Not Just Bikes in your local currency of Euros (€), British Pounds (£) or U.S. Dollars ($). This will help prevent you paying extra conversion fees from your bank or card when pledging in a currency that’s not your own. Hopefully this makes it easier o...
2020-08-07 17:15:29 +0000 UTC View Post
My latest video is up on YouTube! I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and it was great to have help from an actual transportation planner (Matt from BeyondTheAutomobile.ca) to help with the details, as well as to provide video from Canada (as I can't travel there myself right now).
Traffic lights are really smart in the Netherlands....
2020-07-24 12:49:00 +0000 UTC View Post
My latest video is up! It's a little different this time, as it doesn't really talk about the Netherlands much.
I want to make some future videos about train travel in the Netherlands, but rather than try to compare them to Canada in each video (which is futile), I felt like I needed to get one video out that summarizes what it's like to t...
2020-07-11 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi everyone! I've uploaded my latest video to YouTube, and as a Patreon supporter, you get early access.
This video is about the interesting shops, cafés, and restaurants that we find dotted all throughout residential neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. Having interesting places like this within walking distance is one of our favourite thi...
2020-06-28 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostWelcome to the new Not Just Bikes Patreon page! This channel started as a hobby, but it has taken off in popularity much more than I ever expected.
I've been getting requests to start a Patreon, and I hope that the support here can justify me spending more time on these videos each week. Videos will still come out on YouTube fortnigh...
2020-06-16 23:24:20 +0000 UTC View Post