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00:06
here in the netherlands our family
routinely takes advantage of the network
of safe cycling paths found almost
everywhere
these are so safe that even our young
children can cycle themselves to school
activities and friends houses and they
have become an important part of the
high quality of life we experience here
unfortunately all of this is completely
impossible back in canada because there
we have winter and of course you can't
cycle in the winter
or so i'm told repeatedly
by people who've never tried it this is
00:37
the city of olu
in finland it is considered the winter
cycling capital of the world
this is a city where 22 percent of all
trips are taken by bicycle
and where 77 of the population says they
cycle at least occasionally
and yet despite their harsh winters over
half of these people cycle all year
round
and it's not just the young and the
strong who cycle in the winter here
you'll see even very elderly people
cycling in minus 20 degree weather
01:08
this is what the bicycle parking lot of
a typical elementary school in oulu
looks like in january
because 52 of all trips to school and
university are taken by bicycle
somehow even little finnish kids can
cycle all year round
so this does lead to the obvious
question why are canadians such
giant wimps but maybe it's not quite
that simple
this is the city of tampara also in
finland
despite the fact that finnish people
call this a swimming pool
01:39
far fewer people cycle in tempura
compared to olu
so why is this fortunately
we don't have to guess because
researchers have studied and written
papers about winter cycling and the
results are very clear
in cities with cold winters there is
almost no correlation between winter
temperatures
and the amount of winter cycling let
that sink in
the temperature and weather conditions
do not significantly affect the level of
winter cycling in a city
it is a complete myth that people do not
02:09
cycle in the winter
because of the cold so what does the
research tell us
well there need to be two things in
place to get people to cycle
like they do in olu first is there a
network of safe bicycle paths
is it possible to get to where you want
to go without having to share the road
or regularly cross paths
with high-speed motor traffic this is
something that olu does exceptionally
well
olu has 875 kilometers
of separated bicycle paths that connect
02:40
every part of the city
that's over four meters of bicycle path
for every resident
in fact olu has only about 600 meters of
painted bicycle lanes in the
entire city which makes perfect sense
because when it snows
you can't see white paint but you can
see
images cleverly projected on the snow
from above nicely done olu
and this is not some kind of super
compact medieval european city either
olu has plenty of car centric sprawl and
many people live in single-family homes
03:12
in fact it has almost exactly the same
urban population density as my hometown
of london ontario in canada
like this is creepy how close these
numbers are
and why is it that every city has the
ugliest flags
except for amsterdam anyway there is
literally
zero reason why a typical mid-sized
canadian city couldn't be like olu if it
was designed properly
olu just takes the effort to connect
every resident to the places they want
to go
with safe paths for walking and cycling
and even better
many of these bicycle paths are designed
03:44
to be shortcuts that are faster than
driving
encouraging people to cycle even more
just as it's done in the netherlands
and if that wasn't enough olu also has
over 300
underpasses that pedestrians and
cyclists can use to avoid major roads
these make it possible to cycle entire
journeys without ever encountering a
traffic light
or even needing to stop this should not
be a surprise to anyone
a network of safe bicycle lanes is the
single biggest predictor for the level
of cycling in any city in the world
it's significantly more important than
04:14
any other metric including culture
distance hills and in this case weather
after a safe bicycle network the next
most important element is snow removal
is the bicycle network properly
maintained in the winter and
this is the real key to olo's success as
there are very
very very few cities that do this well
toronto as an example is a city with
fairly mild winters
compared to finland and most of canada
for that matter
yet very very few people cycle there in
the winter
04:44
when you look at videos of winter
cycling in toronto is there any surprise
most of toronto's bicycle paths are
painted bicycle gutters
these become dumping grounds for snow
they're routinely driven over by drivers
leaving treadmarks that melt and
re-freeze into impassable paths of
jagged ice
forcing cyclists to share the road with
cars
even the proper separated bicycle paths
often get snow dumped in them by snow
plows
and only a fraction of the already
minuscule bicycle network is maintained
in the winter
05:15
the city says they don't even start
plowing unless there's more than five
centimeters of snow
this is the reason why few people cycle
through the winter in toronto
or any other canadian city not the
weather
in oulu the priority bicycle routes are
all plowed within three hours of a
two-centimeter snowfall
and they will be plowed multiple times
per day if necessary
snow removal contractors guarantee that
the depth of the snow will never exceed
four centimeters and they maintain the
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pass with hard packed snow that is free
of ice and debris
making it easy to cycle on to put it
simply
the bicycle pass in olu are considered
important pieces of infrastructure
that get people from point a to point b
so they don't want cyclists to start
competing for space on public transit or
worse to drive cars just because it
snowed
they make it a priority olu proves that
cold
is not the issue snow is not the issue
winter is a lazy excuse used by ignorant
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people
to make the discussion of safe road
infrastructure go away
the snow might explain why only 22
percent of trips in your city are taken
by bicycle instead of say
42 percent but when less than 2 percent
of your population rides a bike
it's not because of the weather it's
because people don't feel safe cycling
period the truth is cycling in cold
weather is really not bad at all
toronto routinely gets cold days but
without much snow
06:46
where the roads are perfectly clear so
after getting sick of waiting on transit
vehicles that were constantly stuck in
traffic because canadian public transit
is stupid and counterproductive
i decided to try cycling to work in the
winter and it was fine
there's nothing hardcore or extreme
about cycling in winter
i did it and i assure you i am not a
particularly tough person
just ask my brother you mean my brother
he's a total wimp
at first i had some problems with ice
07:19
but then i discovered studded winter
tires
these things are like magic on ice i
never slipped once when using them
it's interesting to note though that
most people do not use studded tires in
olu
because when you plow your bicycle paths
properly they're not slippery at all
and the same goes for sidewalks
seriously
winter maintenance of the sidewalks and
bicycle paths in olu is incredible
this is complicated and expensive but
it's still a fraction of the cost of
maintaining wide roads and highways for
cars
07:49
olu shows what is possible if your city
isn't bankrupt from maintaining too much
car infrastructure
olu tracks data on cyclists very well
with automated bicycle detectors like
these
what's interesting is that the number of
people cycling in winter stays pretty
consistent until the temperature goes
below about
minus 20 degrees and even then it only
drops by
15 percent this may surprise you
but one thing i consistently hear from
people who try winter cycling is that
they're a lot warmer
than they thought they'd be i thought
08:20
cycling in the winter would be frigidly
cold but you warm up surprisingly
quickly
and cycling in the snow is actually
quite pleasant
drivers typically drive much slower the
noise pollution of the city is muffled
and it's easy to maintain a comfortable
temperature in all but the coldest
weather conditions
i definitely prefer it by far to cycling
in the rain
some people like to talk about the gear
you need for winter cycling so i'll
share what i would typically wear
when cycling in the winter first i
recommend a
08:50
jacket this is like a big warm shirt
that you wear over your clothes
next you'll need gloves
these are kind of like shoes but for
your hands which is why both the dutch
and the germans call them hand shoes
i'd also recommend one of these woolen
head coverings people call these by many
different names but they're all wrong
it's called a toque now that you've got
your specialized gear you're ready to go
cycling in the winter
now when the temperatures get really
cold like below minus 20 degrees you'll
09:23
want to wear more layers and a scarf
but it's exactly the same kind of
clothing that canadians routinely wear
when skiing
snowmobiling or doing any other kind of
winter activity
you can even get pogies for your bike to
keep your hands warm just like they do
for snowmobiles
these are great thankfully
several frigid canadian cities have
stopped giving cyclists the cold
shoulder and are warming up to the idea
of winter cycling though progress is
still glacial
insert joke about snow edmonton alberta
recently built a network of protected
09:53
bicycle lanes downtown
and now plows the protected bicycle
network with the same priority as major
roads
when i was in yellowknife which is here
i was impressed by the quality of the
new bicycle infrastructure they were
installing
and montreal saw an 83 increase in
winter cycling in 2020
over the previous year's average likely
due in part to the addition of more
separated bicycle lanes
they've also started to use not just
snowplows but ice crushing machines like
this one to clear the bicycle paths
and i really enjoy the dramatic music in
10:24
the manufacturer's marketing video
but while this is good progress all of
this pales in comparison to olu
edmonton only plows a small 8 kilometer
bike network downtown
and only within 24 hours most of
yellowknife's bike network is still
painted bicycle gutters
and montreal puts away their bike share
bikes for the winter
unfortunately winter is still used as
the number one excuse for inaction in
canadian cities
even in cities that get very little snow
in the winter
meanwhile olu gets more snow than almost
10:59
any major city in canada
canadians also love to exaggerate about
the cold but most canadian cities only
get a handful of
really truly cold days per year just
like
finland but when your only exposure to
winter is the walk across the parking
lot to your car
you never get used to the weather and
you get an exaggerated sense of how cold
it gets
ultimately like everything else with
cycling it just comes down to safety and
convenience
and cold weather doesn't significantly
change that
11:30
a great place to learn more is the
winter cycling congress that happens
every february
this event brings together advocates and
professionals with a goal of making
year-round cycling a normal and
practical activity
a viable transportation option for
people of all ages and abilities
regardless of winter weather conditions
this year the congress is being held
online on february 11th
so it's easier than ever to attend more
information on that
is in the comments and at
wintercycling.org
but whether you attend the winter
cycling congress or not we need more
12:02
people to learn the truth about winter
cycling
it's not the cold it's not the snow
it's a proven fact that people of all
ages will ride a bicycle in the winter
but only if the city is designed for it
and more places should be designed this
way so that cities can be as healthy
productive convenient and sustainable as
olu
i'd like to thank my supporters on
patreon who pay me to call out wimpy
snowflake canadians who can't handle a
little bit of cold
if you'd like to support the channel and
12:32
get access to bonus videos visit
patreon.com
nachospikes
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15:07
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wow
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