PSU Delft Alyson

Stuart Murdoch of the band Belle & Sebastian once said that being able to explain what you do to a cab driver was the ultimate sign of success. I experienced this very thing on the way to the airport in London, when my very chipper Granadian-English Swift car driver declared bike lanes a ‘major problem’. After having spent two weeks in Netherlands observing their transportation system, it was MORE THAN EASY to formulate my response to him. Imagine, I said, that all the single occupancy vehicles you see on the roads every day were gone, their solo drivers having made the choice to ride a bike or utilize an incredibly comprehensive train network. Once there are fewer cars on the roads, I emphasized, you as an ‘On Demand’ driver will be able to navigate the roads so much more efficiently and quickly. But, those cars will not disappear until the people driving them have access to quality alternatives, and a bike lane is a first step in creating such an option. Amazingly, the driver se...

Houton is a planned suburb of Utrecht. Originally a small village of about 3000 in inhabitants, the population of Houton experienced rapid growth in the 60s and 70s and is now home to close to 50,000 people. According to Andre Botermans, a current planner for the town, the new design began with the greenbelts. This is reminiscent of Garden Cities movement in the UK around the turn of the century. Garden Cities were designed for populations of 50,000 or below, and offered city dwellers the option to move to a greener, healthier urban environment and an escape from the scourge of the inner cities at the time. Houton struck me as a descendant of this concept. Residences are limited in number, and built in proximity to schools and parks. We observed many small parks and play areas as we rode through the town. Inside the ring road, which encircles the newer and older parts of Houton, cars are guests, and we encountered very few motor vehicles in the center of town, and this was palpabl...

Cycle Tracks Cycle tracks allow for relatively high-speed cycling in dense urban and suburban areas, but more importantly, are found where automobile traffic is too fast for non-separated facilities to be considered safe. Cycle tracks appear around Delft in many areas: along canals, near the university, and next to multi-lane roads. The most interesting cycle track site we visited was stop A-2 on Monday, Popsouwselaan. Running north to south, the right of way was extremely wide and served virtually all modes of transportation. The very middle lanes were dedicated to trams and busses. Outside of this, one way single land roads accommodated car travel. Beyond this are two-way cycle tracks on each side of the road. Finally, sidewalks allowed for pedestrian travel. Peter Furth explained how this area used to have two car travel lanes in each direction and has since experienced a serious road diet. He pointed out a very interesting fact: although the area north of this intersecti...

Vehicular cycling has had roughly 40 years of real world testing, and has clearly been detrimental to cycling in the United States. The philosophy of Vehicular cycling has been, as Furth describes, very influential in terms of shaping the relationship between Americans and cycling. Sadly, the VC philosophy has resulted in very small overall numbers of cyclists, higher crash rates, and generally stressful experiences cycling in many parts of the United States. One could say that vehicular cycling has created barriers to cycling for most people, even though those who feel comfortable ‘behaving like a vehicle’ are in the minority. But, as Furth contends, mainstream America is ‘traffic intolerant’ in terms of riding a bicycle on busy roads, so in reality, the VC philosophy has ensured a very small percentage primarily male cyclists a place on American roads. Importantly, as they advanced their agenda amongst cycling advocates, the VC crowd forgot one very critical aspect – the educa...