"where do you put your bike?" "How do you get to the train station?" I can't even describe how strange those questions sound to me (a European) lol

As a European, seeing someone worry over how they'd get to the train station is kinda funny. My logical response is "just take the bus/tram/troley?" cause at least my area is very well connected, and the idea of not having any form of public transit within walking distance just does not compute!

I can understand this situation better than others. I live in Europe, but in a poor region (Sicily, southern Italy). Here, a car is a must. Public transport are still not a very attractive option. But. I went to work to northern Italy for five months. I went there with my car, thinking I would need it sometime. No. I didn't. I had to go to my car and turn it on weekly just to not make the battery die. Because the public transports were so well designed and cost-effective that actually driving the car was a loss of time and money. Now there are big investments to enhance public transports in my city, and I like the design that was announced. I am looking forward to use them in the future. Maybe I won't need to own a car at all.

I'm from Germany and it is so interesting to see things from another perspective. It really helps to remind myself that we all live in our small bubbles. thank you :) Oh and - one reason why our transportation system is not perfect: The trains are alway AND I MEAN ALWAYS late ;-;

I live in Warsaw. Within 10min walk I have: a huge shopping center, another two grocery stores, gas station, pool, metro station, two bus stations, church, vet, dentist and probably millions other places you usually don’t visit often. I’m not kidding. To get to work I simply walk to the bus stop that is 100m away from my apartment. And the drive time is exactly 12minutes. I have been to US twice. I love this country, awesome people, beautiful nature, great memories. But the transportation system SUCKS, there is so many things wrong with it that I don’t know where to start. Just let me tell one thing. I lived in some kind of residential area where nearest shop was 15minutes away BY CAR.

Busses drive you to the train stations in Europe, so you don't have to run a train track through a village or city. We have busses in the smallest towns so people can still get around. And yes, you can also drive your bike to the train station. There are special stalls where you can safely put your bike.

"Where would you put your bike" That was so American it was adorable xD

One of my Uni profesor told us. "The easiest way to tell if a country is truly developed and not pretending, they must have more public transportation than cars."

Since retiring, I've spent some time travelling through Europe. It is almost sickening to come back to the USA to see how badly we have designed society. Many in Europe have shared car for out of town weekend trips, etc. They don't need one daily but the sharing gives them freedom. I've traveled extensively for a month at a time and rented a car only once each trip for an overnight excursion to some really remote destination. Mass transit is so easy, practically taking you from door to door with the mix of trains, subways, trams & busses. And all inclusive transportation passes are super affordable, no comparison to the expense of a car.

I live in Madrid and you'd genuinely be surprised by how easy it is to travel through the whole city without a car only with the Metro (subway) and any bus. And this is only 8€ for as many uses as you want for a whole MONTH for people under 26yo I think. Also I think it'd interesting for an American citizen to see how interrail works in Europe, I did one with my friends this year and it seemed unimaginable to travel so much distance (8 countries) without the possibility to take some kind of public transportation since we just couldn't have a car

hi, dutchie here. we have a very dense railnetwork were in a lot of routes there are trains leaving about every fifteen minutes (to the same destination). virtually every trainstation is also a busstop, making it very easy to take the bus to the trainstation. and if you have ever seen the photo's of our bike-parking spaces, they are not photoshopped, and biking is indeed very popular here, so that is also a way to get there. some people take their car to the trainstation, simply because parking in some of the larger (and older) cities is not only difficult, ,but also more expensive than taking the train. it probably helps that the Netherlands are one of the most densely populated countries, everything is pretty close together.

I am 33 years old, grew up in Sweden and now living in Hungary, traveled to Finland, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Greece and Spain to name a few. I dont have a drivers license and only used public transportation. Okay, I have cheated a few times and taken a cab but Its less than 10 times.

As a non car owner in the UK. It’s extremely easy to travel almost anywhere I like using Train and then Bus. The cost of travel isn’t too bad and it’s almost stress free compared to driving. It’s great! Apart from when there’s cancellations and strikes… which is often.

A lot of the parking spaces in the larger cities here in the Netherlands are actually underground or very well hidden (A lot of the other countries in Europe have this as well, but this is from my Dutch experience). When these cities were build, cars didn't exist yet so we couldn't 'keep them in mind' while planning. Has forced us to be creative that's for sure.

As a person from Czechia this part 11:20 was taken for granted but watching This i realised how much free space we have for walking in EU

Greetings from Europe! I am very much impressed by how intelligent your questions and comments actually were and how you strike the perfect balance between what is the ideal and what is actually realistically possible to achieve. Very nice video, keep the good job!

In Italy there is a saying "Every road leads to Rome". Literally you can pick any road from north Italy and by the time you get close Bologna you start to see signs for Rome. Even roads to the country side can lead you easily there without using highways (especially if you don't want to pay for the toll) but it will take more time to reach

Im from austria, i live in Vienna. We own 1 Car for 2 people, but use it maybe once a month. We used to live in the Countryside too where we both needed a car on a daily basis, because there was only 1 train and 1 bus (the bus came only at 6am and in the evening, in 4 years living there i havent seen that bus even once) So yes.. you still need a car when you live in the countryside. but the nearer you are to the city the better the public transortation becomes.

The map at 0:35 shows maybe about 5% of the network in europe. It must have been reduced to some main connections that cross borders or so. The map itself is doing a horrible job at showing the actual density of the network. And the narrator even describes this totally simplified and thinned out map as incredibly dense and there are almost no areas without coverage. Oh man. And the road network at 4:34 where he probably means Interstates and major highways is even worse. I am sorry but this guy keeps comparing apples with oranges and it's funny

As a Swiss I often drive my car to the trainstation when skiing to prevent the traffic jam down the mountain at the end of the day. There is lots of „park + ride“ options close to big cities as well, as parking is a nightmare. The bike you just lock in the bike parking. 😅

The guy from Not Just Bikes explaines it really well. Since road need major maintenance every 25 years it gives the city the option to redesign the road. City planners can make different choices to include bicycle lanes that are seperate from the roads. Add mixed zoning laws and you wouldn''t need to drive 10 miles to the grocery store. I live in a small town and i have four grocery stores within half a mile. Don't need a car just to buy food.

Thanks for the video!! I’m from Spain and I think that the main difference between Europe and the US is that European population is more highly packed in cities and towns of all sizes. Meaning that many small villages in my region (Navarre) may have a health center and a primary school and grocery stores, even small ones. In some villages even the doctor, the priest and even the baker truck will get to the village so elder people no need to move. My priest, for instance will spend most of Sunday morning driving from village to village. Thanks again 👍👍

I live in sweden and public transport is really well designed.... I have four bus stations near me that are closer than 100m to where I live, using them can get to the train station within 10 minutes, and it's the same ticket that works for trains, buses, subway and even some boats, so I can go from my home, with a bus to closest train station and then with train to closest subway to ride a subway to Stockholm on the same ticket!

fun fact: where i live, we have at least 8 parking locations scattered throughout the city(4 or 5 in the city centre), all either stacked up in the silhouette of the other buildings in the block or simply underground. theres very little genuine parking lots anywhere, most of them are either just a line of lots along the street side or 10-30 spaces per shop if theyre a little further from the centre.

There are "park-and-ride" schemes in europe, where you drive your car or bike to a train or tram station to take public transport in the cities. Secure parking facilities for both cars and bikes are indeed provided at these places.

It depends on where in Europe you live though. I come from a small town in southern Italy and driving a car is essential, as public transport, although it exists, is completely unreliable. I used to live very close to the city center, so I was lucky enough everything I needed was at walking distance, but my office was in the suburbs and man was it hell driving to and from, and finding a parking space was just a nightmare. Five years ago I moved to Munich, and my perspective completely changed. Public transport is very well developed, works efficiently and is reliable, you can easily reach any area of the city. It's expensive, I'll give you that, but nothing compared to the costs that owning a car entails. I only own a bike here, and even though I miss driving a car, I don't miss one at all. I just don't need it.

I lived in Hamburg for about 20 years and most of them I didn't own a car, but then I increasingly felt a need to be in nature and by the seaside, so the last 4 years living in Hamburg I had a car, but only used it on the weekends to get out of the city. Now I live at the Baltic Sea in a very beautiful but remote spot. It would be impossible to live here without a car. What I really wanted to say is, even in Europe it depends pretty much on where you live...

i think a good youtuber to watch videos on about this relative sort of stuff would have to be not just bikes. his content revolves around this sort of thing and takes a deeper dive into how other countries and places around the world go about the econmics of towns cities and key hotspots in the country. i also think doing some self research on the random knowledge to do with the economics or structure of how the UK plans out their towns for economic growth may help to understand more how the UK are more efficiant with this sort of thing than the US. for the 3 towns i live near, u can see a clear difference in economic growth between each one and how theyve been planned out and designed to work with nearby towns. 1 town is more a historical significance and old style town that isnt really modernised and still has its cobblestone roads here and there, the town i tend to go to the most, is starting to become more of a hotspot over the years because its solid economic growth and how the town is laid out and then you have the last town which has got poor economic growth due to the poor design choice and higher crime rate and the poor standards the area has kept up over the years. u can tell which town likely would have the best chance to becoming a possible city in the next 50 years to a town that will either only just start to get its economic growth or will be the least likely to evolve and improve overtime. for the most part ive seen improvements in the towns over the last 5 to 10 years and one having a substantial growth thanks to where it is and how accessable it is.

I am belgian. Most major cities in Europe prevent cars from entering the city center or historic center. The constraints brought by the EU offer us more pleasant and greener cities, but they also give us a lot of constraints. Like for example the prohibition for certain older or more polluting vehicles to enter cities and be heavily taxed. Currently, we have little time left to change vehicles to meet standards, which is not financially possible for everyone. In cities, our cars will have to be electric or hybrid, but technology and terminals are slow. Change has always had to be good and at least good. Respecting the ecological quota requires everyone to make sacrifices that are not always easy.

You take piblic transports, like bus or tramway to the train station, it doesn't suck because it is also cheap and mostly efficient.

" Most people in Europe own a car , though ..." - I actually got rid of my car six months ago - and I am surprised at how "relaxed" I am when I get home from work after an hour on the train compared to 90 minutes in heavy car traffic.

If you're interested in public transport, I'd love to see your reactions to the history of railways in the UK, and around the world.

I am 20 years old and I have never driven, I have always been able to go anywhere by public transport, one of the things I like most about being European is that

I commute in to London by train fairly regularly. Depending on where I'm starting from/time of year/amount of luggage, I either take one of my bikes on the train with me (one is a folding bike so I can even take it on the Tube), or yes - I drive to the train station, leave my car in the station car park, and get the train into central London. It's _possible_ to drive into London, but no-one does because it would take twice as long, cost twice as much, and be at least twice as stressful. As it is, I can work on the train, watch a film, read a book, nap, chat to friends, or just gaze out the window for a bit. Our rail network used to have a strap line - _"Let the train take the strain..."_

In Belgium, I lived in a small village. When I went to school in a bigger city, I had to take train and buses, but most of the time, my father had to drive me to the nearest station and pick me up in the evening as I was leaving before the first bus and coming back after the last one (I arrived at the station at 6:54 pm) Not all countries have that 3 months rule. I moved to Germany because I had a German boyfriend, I wasn't speaking German at the time and obviously didn't have a job, and I was in full burn out. They gave me German lessons and ten years later, I'm single and still living there (and I'm about to start a formation after my second burn out.) What I think is the most "impressive", it's that all these countries with all these different languages managed to get along to coordinate transportation throughout the continent. Great collaboration. After, it's not everywhere like this. In the countryside, you'd rather have a car (and if you struggle with social phobia too XD ) I'm thinking about moving to Sweden one day maybe, but to stay longer than 3 months there you need a job or to be a student.

the ability to travel without a car here (Germany) is super nice and especially for my independence as a teen/kid. when i was in elementary school i used to bike for like maybe 10 ish mins and i was at school and now in middle/high school it's like a 3 minute walk. I do live somewhat near the center of my city but still you can get almost everywhere by either walking, biking or public transport:)

The difference is just that European cities were built long before cars were invented. Some cities are 2000 years old, but most at least a 1000 years or so. In South East France, at the Italian border, where I live, the landscape is rather steep towards an amazing coastline, and villages were built with steps leading further up. There are steps everywhere. These were built hundreds of years ago. Now a fancy city like Monaco has ajusted to this by building lifts next to the steps. So you do not need a car at all.

Ryan, the new Florida high speed line actually reaches 79 mph. The Europe maps were not really correct as the map showed only the main lines. Had it showed all lines it would be just a red mass. In the UK we have a huge high speed network of 125 mph but it was not shown on the map. My "local" mainline station in Reading has nearly 700 train movements A DAY. People do drive to stations to commute to work, sometimes 15 miles sometimes 120 miles each day. My small town station has a train in several routes about every 15 MINUTES. Tony, England

12:40 😮 Wow, in the Netherlands typically any road allowing cars over 18 mph the vulnerable cyclist gets separated into protected bike paths. Not just lanes, proper separated paths. Some rural roads allow shared usage, those have speed limits of 37 mph. Anything above that is off limits for cyclists and generally has bike infrastructure even more separated from the high speed road. And yes these bike paths still allow us to traverse the entire country without fearing for our safety.

Hey Ryan, yes, you go to the train station by bike, on foot or by public transport. Most train stations here have large areas where you can park your bike. You can also get on the train with your bike in certain cases. And there are also parking gararges in the cities for cars . They are usually a few floors high and you obviously have to pay by the hour for them . They can be close to the city centre, but usually a bit further away so you still need to walk a little. You see, you can't have a busy parking garage right next to a beautiful gothic cathedral. That's not nice. I also recommend you the TRshow channel Notjustbikes. I like your sense of humor. Greetings from Antwerp, Belgium.

There is a problem with the trains in Europe, specifically in Poland, as we experience a high demand for trains during the summer. Consequently, the country ends up utilizing trains that are meant for disposal, resulting in overcrowding similar to trains in India. While we do not face issues with closing doors, finding a place to stand or sit becomes difficult, and some trains also suffer from significant delays lasting for hours.

I live in Germany but I’ve seen this in other EU countries: yes, often we drive with car or even bike to the train station if it’s not in our neighborhood. There you have special parking spaces (in Germany the are called park and ride) we’re you can park your car. Since 2 month we have this really nice 49€ (a month)ticket which is valid in all public city transports like trams and buses but also on the trains but only the regional lines, but you could ride let’s say from Berlin to Munich with 10 train changes.

The thing that everyone ignores is the area that isn't big cities. There are only 4 buses a day that can take me to my home town from my school town and I live in europe (Lithuania). But when I go to the capital, there are busses going the same route every 10-30 minutes, so obviously there are no complaints there. Sure, the government is working to make the non big city area more connected to the city, but it hasn't been done yet, so sometimes I have to wait for like 2 hours after school to get home.

6:20 here in Germany, we do. It's called Park & Ride. We also have Bus stops with a designated parking space. It's perfect for people that live in an area where public transportation isn't that good and just want to ride the car to a train or bus station and continiue there trip to, let's say the next city where parking is rare and most of the times isn't really cheap.

I think the issue is trying to compare a country with a continent. For every European country, you usually have a couple spots with a very high population density, just like the US. But Europe is a ton of small countries with relatively small hotspots, contrasting cultures and different languages, keeping populations within their boarders rather than migrating from one part of the continent to the other (it still happens of course, but moving a big distance comes with adapting to a different culture and learning a completely new language). This causes a relatively homogeneous population density throughout the continent, which results in a relatively homogeneous distribution of railroads and highways. It makes sense that the highways and railways in the US are most developed around the coast, most people live there and if you seek opportunity, it is easy for Americans to migrate to those cities. If I look at just my country (the Netherlands) you also see the road network in the West and South is way more developed than in the north simply because there's more people living there because of better job opportunities. People naturally move to the area where the climate is the best, and are restricted by the borders. Having a such a gigantic country has pros and cons, the US has a big wealth of resources and easy free travel from the east to the west coast without paperwork (well I guess we have the Schengen area) but it makes sense geographically why most people decide to live at the coastline meaning you'll have to deal with much wackier population distributions than a small European country like the Netherlands XD.

i live in Italy and i realise just now how lucky i am to be able to travel with few euros litterally across my state without a driver licence. Also if you are an EU resident you don't need any kind of passport so i could woke up one day and say to my friend lets go to Switzerland and get there with public transports in 3 hours

i dont know how it works in other european countries, but i figure its likely somewhat similar. Most households here in Denmark do have a car or two. But a lot of people in cities, especially larger cities choose to instead just have a bike that you either ride all the way to work, or that you ride down to the nearby bus stop or tram/train/metro. Our public transportation network is very extensive. Almost everywhere is covered by bus. I used to live far out in the country and while i did still have to ride my bike 3 km to the bus stop, there at least was a bus. We have 2 different kinds of busses. The city ones that cover almost every section of the entire cities and the national ones that usually connect larger cities to all the smaller villages around the area. The whole country is also covered by taxi's but these are rather expensive so usually only used rarely for getting home from parties. Now if we have such a great public transportation network, then why do most people who dont live in larger cities still have cars? because while almost everything is connected by bus, most times that bus only comes by every hour or so - and in the weekend it doesnt come at all. And often times where you need to go isnt connected with just one bus ride. You usually have to switch busses or switch from bus to train to bus again. And that means a ride that would take 20 min. in your car could take 1,5 hours with public transportation. And this is not mentioning all the time you have to wait at the bus stop or train station for your first ride to arrive, or the travel time it would take you to walk or ride your bike from your home to that first bus stop. So its just really inconvenient most of the time. Very cheap compared to a car, but just non functional to most people with a schedule. Again unless you live in one of the larger cities. Forexample in Copenhagen there is a bus or train every 2 or 3 minuttes at almost every stop, so here its much more reliable and much more convenient. So to answer your question yes we do still have a lot of cars, but no we dont take our car to the train station - unless to pick someone up or put someone off. We take a bike or a bus depending on how close it is. And to answer your question in regards to where we put our bike: All train stations has bike sheds or bike parking. which is free you just lock your bike to the metal bike holder. And all busstops out on the country side also usually have a shed to park bikes or you just park them next to the busstop and lock them. Since its in the country there isnt a lot of stuff around that you block with your bike. And if you are in a larger city usually busses are made in a way so you can take your bike with you in the bus. you can also take your bike with you in most trains and then just park it at your destination.

Actually, there are a lot of places where the train goes through a neighborhood. This usually happens when the cities grow, and the new suburbia gets built along the rail. You usually can find smaller stations similar to bus stops too, so the people who live there have an easy access to travel. Also, most people in Europe don't necessarily need a car (or even a bike) for the daily life, because public transportation can usually manage the work commuters, and if you need groceries or something, there are small shops everywhere, within a 5-10 minute distance. And when I say 5-10 minute, I mean on foot, not with a car.

I get from my home in Haarlem to Amsterdam in about 50 minutes for school. It's honestly hard to imagine how stressed I would feel if I needed a car for eveything. I'm just super glad that I never have to use a car AND never have to travel for over an hour for anything at all.

Hey Ryan , just wanted to quickly answer two of your questions. First, for long train trips(inter regional ) I usually drive my car to the train station and we usually have big parking lots next to the train stations. And no Europe is not perfect but there is a huge difference in mentality. We don't think we are the best and do nothing about it, we want to be better ( not the best against others but better tomorrow then we were yesterday against ourselves)

I live in Austria, which is part of the EU, and I find it much more convenient to use public transportation than to drive. My daily commute to school only requires a five-minute walk to the train station and a ten-minute train ride (on a slower train that stops at all stations, not just the larger ones). If I were to drive, it would take me at least twice as long, assuming traffic is good, and I would also have to worry about finding parking space at 8am.

You can absolutely run a train track trough a city without it being annoying. The trains can be undeground or simply so quiet they don't bother anyone. There are footbridges or underpasses to go from one side to another. It's no problem at all :)

It is worth mentioning that Germany is kind of different from rest of the Europe. They don't have that big cities, more like lots of medium sized cities with sourounding suburbs looking like small villages. Motorway system called AutoBahn is fantastic and THERE ARE NO SPEED LIMITS. When german person says that his job is 40 minutes away it actually may be 60 miles away because once on motorway it is pedal to the metal. Great fun for car driving.

6:58 its the perfect example for what goes wrong with north america’s car centric society. When thinking about how to get somewhere you immediately think about going there by car, its the default option - no questions asked. But when thinking about taking the bike you wonder were to put your BIKE… I think its hilarious considering the differences in effort to creating car parking spaces compared to cycle stands…

Even in Melbourne where I'm from, I grew up in the "middle" suburbs but train stations were every 800m (1/2 mi) through the stretch of suburbs I was in, so pretty much every house was within a 10-15 minute walk of a train station, and most people catch the train to work. Now I live in the "inner suburbs" so I never really drive at all. I have 2 train stations and 5 different tram routes within a 10 minute walk (the closest tram stop being 3 minutes walk away).

Hi, I'm from Portugal and even though the public transportation system needs to improve it is good. As a college student, you might have to live on campus or use your car to drive there in the US. Well, here most people use the bus, metro or train to go to places. In the city I live I use the bus and metro every day to go to college, I see a lot of adults going to work using public transport and lots of moms driving their kids to school using the metro. The metro system here works really fine, in most lines you get a metro every 3-4 minutes, and almost every hospital has a metro station close by (they are now building a new line that is going to cover another hospital and are extending an already existing line to cover another hospital). If you want to go to the shopping center you can use the metro or the bus to get there. It's cheaper to buy a monthly transport card than using your car. But ofc having a car is also important for your personal stuff but you get my point.

The Netherlands are absolutely cracked at this sort of stuff. Denmark doesn't have as many bike roads, but I assure you bikes are still very popular here, and our bus routes are very well thought out, so you can get basically ANYWHERE with no car whatsoever.

It was interesting to see your reaction to the maps. Thanks for the video. Vienna, as well als many other european cities, tries to ban cars from the city in steps. First they introduced insanely high prices to park near the city center, now it's the whole city. This happens all troughout Europe. Of course the people working there and living outside in the villages protest but there is a very good railway and bus system which are all clean and have air conditioning and heating. The protest died down when the gas prices rose to over 2EUR/Liter. New buildings in cities are forced by law to build underground parking equivalent or higher than the number of the units the building wants to rent or sell. It's not perfect. We actively work towards more bike lanes and pedestrian streets. Every village and city has to actively demand this change or it wouldn't happen since the car lobby is strong in europe too. There are people glueing themselves to the streets to stop the use of cars, there are political fights over a new highway which was supposed to be built but was stopped last minute and so on. Bottom line: Many changes on a small scale add up to a big change. I'm sure some regions in the US could do it too if they change the zoning laws and allow mixed used buildings, dedicate some existing roads to bikes (and only allow people who live there to drive to and from the house at walking speed) then maybe switch to electric busses or trams and start on a small scale. Some major differences between european and american cities are explained very well here: trshow.info/watch/CCOdQsZa15o/video.html The difference in zoning laws makes a huge difference how many people can reach the train and bus stations in the first place.

When I see this, I feel like a proud European. Especially the bike lanes and public transport in Holland. It's amazing

Driving to the train station is an actual thing by the way. It’s called Park and Ride and is usually done outside of cities so that you don’t have to find parking in city itself but rather just outside where there is more space for parking

Europe had a very long time to design the road map that was useful during 2 millennia ... at least by trial and error. Recently the car roads follow the old roads. The rail roads are around the old roads. In europe to get at the train station in you just take a bus, tram, underground or take a taxi, those options are really cheap, fast and very reliable.

@0:55 yes but its also overstated, american population distribution is very heavily favoring the east and west coast, while europe has basicly what we call the blue banana (an economical and population wise very dense core) right in the centre from say north italy to london crossing over west germany and the netherlands, rail density can be a lot better but in some areas there quite decent lines

Most small towns and generally most urban agglomerations are renaissance-era or older, and since no cars were invented at the time the roads were made Tiny. Florence, for example, (the city I live in) has rads that cannot be driven on by cars as they are too small and packed by people. And the roads that can be gone through by car have a special Pass requirement so that only cars that live in the city and need that road to get home can use the road, all the rest have to walk

Fun fact: same with Australia...railways back in the day were mostly build for mining minerals. so lots of them ended in the middle of nowhere. The gold rush in america didn't help the infrastructure since now you often just have old rails that aren't used and lead where no one wants to go.

Its insane how good the transportation system is in europe. If live in Germany but go to school in austria so every day I go by train and by bus to go to school

Ryan being tricked by himself just made my day

10:40 If you ever go to NL you can see the crazy(for Americans) biking going on over here haha! If you know how to cycle, i highly suggest going on a Holliday and renting a bike to experience it for yourself 😊 Yeap in the US having mixed zoning is a big no no, which causes you to have yo drive 10 mins to reach the stores. In Europe mixed zoning is very common, which means stores have homes on top of them and are often in the middle of larger neighborhoods with homes build around them in layers. Which means especially speaking as a Dutch citizen a store is pretty much always within walking distance(with exceptional of the more rural areas ofcourse)

Here in the Netherlands most garages are actually underground, like when your going grocery shopping you just drive the car down a ramp and search for a spot. It's much easier to use the space above for more important things that way like stores and housing.

Public transport in cities is very good. It's trickier outwith major cities and can be very expensive - at least in Scotland. The rail network in Britain was battered during World War II, and by the sixties a lot of the stock and rails were old. Many stations and routes were closed at that time. My town got our railway back about fifteen years ago, and it's great! However, it's only easy to get to the places that are on the public transport route - you might end up having a long walk before and after your bus ride, and that's made even more difficult where the buses and trains are non-existent or infrequent . Sadly, these days if you are a working person in Scotland you really need a car unless you live in one of the major cities. Too many people work odd hours when public transport doesn't run or have to travel between places which aren't well served (and of course these tend to be the lower paid jobs). Currently, if I want to get the bus to Stirling which is seven miles away, a one-way ticket costs £4 and the train is about the same. I generally just cycle it - luckily there's a good off road cycle track and footpath. You CAN park both cars and bikes at railway stations, even the small ones with just a platform and no ticket centre. You can usually take a bike on the train as well - they will have a carriage which has space for bikes, and that carriage will have a bike logo on its door so you know which one to go to. Sometimes if it's a busy train, you are advised to book a space for your bike but that's quite rare.

If you want to watch more of those things, search for "not just bikes" on youtube. Hes american, but traveled a lot around the world and moved to amsterdam in the end. He talks a lot about how the american infrastructure could be designed safer, prettier and more efficient and compares it to europe, especially the netherlands. Its very fascinating

As a greek I would say that I usually walk to go to the train station cause I don't like taking the bus and it takes me about 50 minutes to reach on foot. But I listen to great music while doing it 😁

That was both interesting and very depressing for me as a citizen of the U.S. I knew that we were behind Europe in this regard, but did not realize how far apart we were in efficient transportation. Like you, Ryan, I was horrified to learn that there is a greater emphasis on parking, than housing. When I heard that, my first thought was: Well, that explains our growing problem with homelessness. I think this proves to a point what I have come to believe, that the U.S., being so determinedly capitalistic, does mean that those with financial wealth do get the most effective lives, and those who have less and those at the bottom of the economic ladder truly do get the least, and our planning insures that. How sad its that? The sad thing to me is understanding that we could provide access and full participation in society at all levels, but we choose not to. Individual wealth is more important than societal health it appears.

Major difference is the speed of urban development. In Europe cities evolved for over 2000 years which often led to a lack of space for big roads or parking spaces. The mix of different transportation methods is the only way to keep things rolling. The US urban development faced different challenges which led to other solutions at the time. Would be interesting to look into the future to see how the US solves the problems that came with the fast growth.

I have a drivers license but as a European, I never had the need to drive. We have a family car but we use it mainly when we have to go outside of the city and we have to carry some big luggage. I also see that people use their cars more when they have smaller children or when they go on longer vacations. Otherwise anything you may think that you need is at a walking distance in the city. Driving and parking is very hard in the city and there are a lot of limitations and fees attached, so it is very inconvenient.

I wonder what he'd think if he knew some European cities even have public transport dedicated for shopping centers, you literally get in a bus and bam , you're at that one place you can't get to without a car (typically one of the only reasons to own a car in a city with good public transport) and it's too funny haha

I live right next to a train station in switzerland, i actually just saw a train passing by! And it doesn't concern me at all. Most families have cars but if you just go to work to your every day office job you take the train. So most families have just one car for buying groceries, travel or go somewhere with kids. And it's quite relaxing sitting in a silent train, resting your eyes, eat a snack or watch your videos; it will give the mind a break from stress - you don't need to focus on the road/traffic and get home relaxed ;-)

Europe, uses parking houses that take up smaller footprints, in the cities or undergrund parking Usually, the larger parking areas are found around new shopping malls (but just as often there will be parking houses) hello from Denmark 🌸

If you want to go to European cities then I advise you to take the parking lot in front of the city and take the rest of the way by bus or train. Finding a parking space in the city can be a big task.

Smaller stations outside bigger cities in The Netherlands often have parking spots to park your car for the day for free. They call it Park & Ride with signs and everything. Not everywhere it is as easy to take a bus to the train station. it is mainly to stimulate people going to the city to park there and go into the city by train. It is extremely practical and that's what I did for several years working in Amsterdam, but living in a rural place with a less regular bus schedule.

I actually live in an area in Germany where I don't even need a car to get around. It's the Ruhr region to be precise. You can actually go from Bochum all the way to Düsseldorf entirely by light rail and tram if you really want to take the effort because the light rail and tram network is connecting a lot of major cities. I don't even have car or a driving license and I get around entirely by public transportation or by foot. Sometimes tram, light rail, bus or train stations are just a few minutes away from where I want to start a journey. Yes, sometimes delays or cancellations of trains suck a lot but I guess it's just as annoying as being stuck in a traffic jam with a car. Sometimes I noticed that when I was riding the light rail that the light trail train was just passing by traffic jams where cars were almost not moving at all. The overground light rail tracks are often located between the lanes of these large roads where the traffic jams are often happening when people get to work or home from work. I saw this last time when I was working in the city of Dortmund where I had to ride the light rail line U47 to "Aplerbeck" (final stop) to get to work.

In Europe, most city public transport routes have a stop at the train station. So no, you don't take your car or bike, you take public transport, bus, tram, or trolleybus.... or you can take a car from one of the car sharing options (cars anyone who has a license can register to an app, and pay for the duration you use the car also through the app. You can find the closest car parked near you through the map in the app, and once you are done, you can leave it almost anywhere within the city. The next person will pick up the car from the spot where you left it)

In rural Germany we do drive our cars to the train station. For example, you drop your teenage kids off there, so they can go to a bigger city on their own, or when you go to university and the university is 45 minutes away by car, it's cheaper to get a train ticket (for a whole month or even a year) and drive 15 minutes a day to the train station instead of paying a lot of money for gas. Alternatively, we could go to the train station by bus but (at least for where I live) that would take another 1½ hours. There is a lot to be improved in the German public transport system... We also went to a lot of castles with my grandparents by train when I was kid. It's a lot nicer than driving a car because you can move around and we could draw or play games and see a lot of beautiful landscapes. If the trains arrive on time, it's a really nice way to travel

I live close to Vienna, the capital of Austria, and while I do own a car, it is used exclusively to drive to a parking-house next to a subway station at the edge of the city and home from there, as anything else I can reach with Viennas amazing public transport network. So yes, we do drive our cars to the train.

There are actually places at many, if not most, train stations in Europe where you can put and lock up your bike. Some of them are public and free to use, for some you have to pay (which have higher security), and I have seen that at some stations you can even rent a spot inside of a secure area to leave your bike there on a regular basis, e.g. when you have to go to work by train.

Also huge amount of parking spaces are hidden bellow houses (this is the case mostly for cities) or near malls there are parkings with 2-3 stories, they take smaller space in city but hold a lot of parking spaces

in germany those roades where people are just walking are called "fußgängerzone" and they are in the older parts of cities so the houses dont get dmgd etc

It’s great from you to be open minded about how non americans live and think. Hope you’ll have the chance to visit France, and not only Paris but also small cities (Brittany for example…😊) People watching your videos would surely be glad welcoming you (just like our family would😁)

I live in Vienna and have never owned a car. I also don't use public transportation. On average, I walk 20-30 km daily to visit my clients, and I always take my husky with me. She enjoys it very much.

Curently in the netherlands, Public Transport is good as long as you are in the city, but if you want or need to travel between cities or from smaller towns to cities, it is more expensive than driving your car there, but the car comes at a cost too because parking in the city is often even more expensive than PT or just not available. So we recommend to use a Bike whenever you can, and believe me you often can just use a bike, even if you are picking up a new desk or bedframe from IKEA.

11:31 YES that‘s one of the best parts of European city centers. In Germany, these roads are called „Fußgängerzone“ (pedestrian zone) and can be pretty big, like several blocks.

Living in LA near all the stores I need helps a lot. I might not own a car but if I need to travel I just use our public transport to catch a plane. But Europe is next level. I can reach almost every town by train or bus, even the more rural towns

as an architect working for a company that plans parkingspaces i can say, the way we are specialized in this topic makes it possible. There are many big companys in this field too here in germany. Goldbeck, Hoch Tief, etc. The secret is to make parkingspaces that are multiply used. Some parkinghouses are for the rush. People drive in on ramps that are made to find the right place fast and go to work and after work rush fast out of the building. This parkinghouses are used for different things after 18:00 o clock when the employes are at home. For example for the citizen that live near the area. This planing is made by architects working for the city in combination with specialized architects for parking. And there are so much other concepts. it depends on purpose but it is very efficient.

6:20 in rural germany it's quite common to drive to the train station by car, if you take the train. I spent my childhood und youth in a small village of 300 inhabitants and the next train stations where both about 10km away, so if I'd had to take the train my or my friends parents brought me / us there by car, we took the bicycle or a taxi. If the train station is part of public transport of a larger city it is quite common that there are parking lots especially for commuters, from outside the city, so they can drive their first 10 to 30 km or even more by car, but don't have to drive it into the city. They simply leave their car on these parking lots and take public transport from there on, so cities don't get too overcrowded by cars. At least that's the idea, many boomers still take their cars into the cities and complain about the buses, trams and cyclists blocking the road, while sitting in their tank like SUVs... :D

The yellow lines you see are just the main rail routes. There are many more regional rail routes in Europe, but they are all connected to the main rail routes. When I was younger I loved to travel all over Germany by train. When you travel by train you see a lot more of Germany than when you take the autobahn. On the Autobahn you have to concentrate on driving and on the train you can look out the window and take in the scenery. I have also travelled to other countries by train, such as France, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and Austria. Most EU countries belong to the Schengen area, so travelling is very easy because there are no more border controls. Although Norway is not part of the EU, but it is a member of the Schengen area because the EU has signed an association agreement with Norway. The only exception is the Norwegian island of Svalbard as this island is not part of the Schengen area. Svalbard is also very complicated from a legal point of view, as Norway shares sovereignty over Svalbard with Russia. This contract between Norway and Russia over Svalbard is very old. Iceland is also not a member of the EU but is part of the Schengen area. The EU has also concluded an association agreement with Iceland. However, Switzerland has overdone it because it has signed so many treaties with the EU that it can enjoy all the benefits of the EU without being a member. Many Europeans don't think that's great.

And just to add something more, there are countrys here where the public transport is completely free, like luxemburg or spain (for residents off in canary islands) Youll probably be shocked to see the bike infraestructure of london too.

European train stations are always connected to buss station that are clean and functioning, and those buss lines connect everything around it to walking distance from the buss stations. Also, since we don't need massive parking spaces, you see the house density that allows everything to be closer overall. The further out the less often buses can go thou and that is when you can start thinking about cars if you work in a city and not from home. This distance where I live it is usually somewhere around one hour of buss where a car becomes worth it, saving around 40 minutes a day from going back and forth from work. The buses and trains also allows for kids to get where they require, without having someone driving them, that this video did not touch with those 9% without a car.

You actually immediately picked up on the main issue that American urban planning makes public transportation really hard to implement successfully. I'm kinda impressed lol.

Often times, taking public transport over the car, simply because you know it will be difficult to find a parking spot.... which are also deadly expensive in some places. Practically you can forget about free parking almost everywhere. Taking a bus directly, or to the nearest train station is often just a more relaxing way... and you can have some booz :)

I live in Denmark and the number of train stations is quite limited. However we have bus routes that go to the train stations, though a lot of people who live in more rural areas will use car and park the car outside the station, if they work in the major cities. Also the train network and bus network is only possible because of the government subsidies, as public transportation is high on their priority list.

Your questions are very on point, so I thought I’d share my situation. Switzerland here. I live in a city and don’t own a car. I take the bus to the station and then the train to wherever. All the busses are electric (they have a diesel engine when power for emergencies). I use a car sharing service when I really need one, but that’s maybe two or three times a month.