Videos About Cycling
Are you interested in learning more about the benefits of cycling or how cities can make cycling (and other non-car modes of transportation) safer and more convenient? Some of the best collections of bike-related videos are those provided by Bicycle Dutch, Streetfilms, and Not Just Bikes. We’ve included some of our favorites below.
Austin: The Most Bike-Friendly City in Texas: A Streetfilms video
Biking Montreal: Montreal’s Newest Bicycling Infrastructure Dazzles! A Streetfilms video. Montreal has a complete and integrated network of protected bike lanes and bike paths, with benefits for cyclists, pedestrians, local businesses. “Everybody rides bikes here!” This is what success looks like. And they have real winter!
Cycling Copenhagen Through North American Eyes: In 2010, one thousand bike advocates, government official, and transportation experts from around the world met in Copenhagen for the Velo-City Global Conference. This video captures comments on the experience of cycling in Copenhagen. A Streetfilms video
Cycling for Sustainable Cities, a CalBike presentation by the authors of the book by the same name. (Start at 4:15. See 1:03:35 and 1:07:43 for examples of people-scaled streets)
Cycling in the US from a Dutch Perspective: “Cycling doesn’t really seem to be taken seriously. It’s something children do. Or those who haven’t really grown up.” Great perspective on the world that is familiar to us!
Dutch Cycling: Against a backdrop of inviting street scenes, this video lists the many benefits of cycling. A Bicycle Dutch video.
Groningen: The World’s Cycling City: A Streetfilms video
How the Dutch Got Their Cycle Paths: “The Netherlands’ problems are not unique; their solutions shouldn’t be either." We’re only 50 years behind, but an alternative to our car culture is possible. 6-1/2-minute video. A Bicycle Dutch video
How The Netherlands cycles 15 billion kilometers a year (In Dutch, with English subtitles)
How to Build a City Around Bikes, Fast: How to Make a Bike-Friendly City A Bloomberg CityLab video. Highlights the success of Seville, Spain in becoming a cycling city.
Livable Streets: The Magic Bullet of Road Design: Narrower Lane Widths — references AASHTO’s "Green Book”
Nijmegen: The City That Tamed Cars So People Can Walk & Bike Where They Please: A Streetfilms video. The population of Nijmegen is about equal to the population of Santa Rosa.
Not Just Bikes: a Youtube channel full of interesting observations and illustrations
Oakland’s Open Streets Offer Optimal Outside Oases: A Streetfilms video. A glimpse at the 10 miles of local streets (as of May 2020) closed to motorized traffic
Protected Bike Lanes and More: An excellent 8-minute primer on the many types of possible bike lanes and intersection treatments. Great use of animation! It ends with the hopeful note that “…it is possible to make cycling safe in the United States”.
Protected Intersections for Bicyclists (animation video)
Shared Space: Dutch Shopping Streets and Woonerfs Explained: This video is Chapter 3 in a series by the Urban Cycling Institute.
The Spectacular Success of Montreal’s Car-Free Streets: The title gives it away!
Utrecht: Planning for People & Bikes, Not Cars: A Streetfilms video
Why Canadians Can’t Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can) A Not Just Bikes video that beautifully explains that “…a [well-maintained] network of safe bicycle lanes is the single biggest predictor for the level of cycling in any city in the world., significantly more important than any other metric including culture, distance, hills, and weather”.
Why Protected Bike Lanes are More Valuable than Parking Spaces tells the story of New York City’s pioneering use of protected bike lanes starting in 2007. “The way we look at the health of bike lanes and our bike network, is how many women and children are using the lanes”.
Why We Cycle takes a ride with specialists from a variety of disciplines and with ordinary cyclists to uncover some hidden effects of cycling on people, on societies, and on the organization of cities.