Not Just Bikes

Looks like AD.nl wrote an article about Houten and featured my video:

www.ad.nl/houten/dit-nederlandse-fietsparadijs-wil…

[Article in Dutch, login required]

I enjoyed the reader comments. Nice to see that newspaper comments are just as trash in the Netherlands as they are anywhere else. Nothing but the finest complaining from the crankiest Boomers! 😆

1 month ago | [YT] | 2,404

Not Just Bikes

​‪@CityNerd‬ recently released the best summary of the problem of traffic engineering models that I've ever seen.

In my experience as an advocate, there was no group of people more obstructive to creating better cities than the traffic engineers.

Urban planners wanted better streets. A lot of politicians were in favour too (especially the ones downtown). But the people who aggressively fought against every project - whether it be safer streets, bike lanes, or faster public transit - were the traffic engineers. And the main reason for that was these ridiculous traffic models.

So I wasn't at all surprised to hear Ray say that even Portland, with some of the most progressive urban planners and traffic engineers in the US, still have traffic models that basically just tell them to build nothing but roads.

Incidentally, there are no "traffic engineers" in the Netherlands. They're called "transportation engineers" and their job is to move people, not cars. But they're also only one (very small) part of the decision-making process, instead of being a critical step with veto power, like they are in the US and Canada.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,675

Not Just Bikes

The latest ‪@AdamSomething‬ video is his first full-video on-screen performance. I'm glad he saved such a momentous occasion for a critique of Prague, which is probably one of the most depressing examples of bad urban planning and bad urban policy ruining an otherwise amazing European capital.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,799

Not Just Bikes

New Yorkers! I need you to vote!

There's a real chance that NYC could get a mayor that's NOT in the pockets of billionaires, for the first time in a long time.

I really, really want to see Zohran Mamdani win.

The democratic primary uses *ranked choice ballots* instead of first past the post, which means that you can actually vote for who you want! All I ask of you is that you a) get out and vote, and b) *do not rank* Andrew Cuomo (and ideally c), rank Zohran Mamdani somewhere on your ballot).

Why do I care about the NYC mayoral elections when I'm not American and I don't live there? Well, a few reasons.

For one, I have lots of friends who live in NYC and I want their lives to be better.

But more importantly, NYC, like London or Paris, is a city that the rest of the world looks to when it comes to municipal planning. So having a good mayor could have positive knock-on effects to dozens of other cities.

And finally, having a democratic socialist as the most important mayor in North America could inspire others to win in other cities.

It is absolutely crazy how much the establishment does NOT want Zohran Mamdani to win. A massive Super PAC funded by Doordash, Bloomberg, and other large corporations and billionaires, has raised millions of dollars, and they've almost exclusively put that money towards spreading lies about Zohran Mamdani.

Doordash alone has donated over $1m. The billionaires REALLY do not want this guy to win. Which should be a giant green flag to everyone else.

So please, if you live in NYC, make sure you vote. I don't often endorse political candidates, but I think this one is too important not to talk about. Links to voting info is in the pinned comment.

PS: if you spread any of the Super PAC lies about Mamdani in the comments, you will be banned. I have no patience for that nonsense ... even if you're not being paid by Doordash.

2 months ago | [YT] | 14,548

Not Just Bikes

This video was interesting. It was less negative than most of the videos of this style, but it was still very honest about the current state of San Francisco.

I lived in the Bay Area for several years, but that was way back in '98 and '99. The last time I was there was on a business trip in 2018, and it was already drastically different. For the most part it's still a pretty good city (by North American standards), but only if you can afford to live there.

2 months ago | [YT] | 718

Not Just Bikes

On the latest episode of ‪‪@theurbanistagenda‬ podcast, I talk to Reece from RMTransit about why he quit YouTube.

3 months ago | [YT] | 224

Not Just Bikes

The latest ‪@ilovethecity‬ video is about those paint markings we love to hate. Sharrows!

This will be the last I Love the City video that I'll post to my Not Just Bikes community page, so if you like this kind of silly content about urbanism, make sure you subscribe over there!

3 months ago | [YT] | 328

Not Just Bikes

In case you missed it, the latest ‪@CityNerd‬ video is a good summary of the situation in Toronto. I was impressed at how well he judged it after only being there a few days.

I get so mad at Toronto not because it's bad, but because it has so much wasted potential and could be so much better! But I've ranted about that many times in previous videos, as well as with RMTransit on ‪@theurbanistagenda‬ :)

3 months ago | [YT] | 486

Not Just Bikes

I'll be joining ‪@MasterHellish‬ once again for a charity OpenTTD tournament on June 14th!

There will be 3 games that day, and Hellish will be streaming all of them. I'll be joining game 2, and I'll also be livestreaming that game on YouTube (NJB Live) and Twitch!

Hopefully we can get a good crowd out and raise some money for cancer research!

3 months ago | [YT] | 185

Not Just Bikes

I'm going to be on a livestream with ‪@extracredits‬ soon (11PM CEST, 5PM EDT) and one of my cats will be joining us! We'll be raising money for an animal charity. Come join the stream!

youtube.com/live/1VdwluJmluU

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,136