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Here is a picture of the garage. Not sure why it costs $65 million however.

"The Dutch capital spent $65 million to create a parking structure that
can store 7,000 bicycles in a submerged facility at the city’s central
train station. "

Why do they need to turn a profit? Where were they putting the bikes before then? Makes their mass transit more efficient, its worth a loss.

There is 1.5 bikes per person in NL versus the 0.3 in the states. Don’t you worry about it, because i got a sneaking suspicion you aren’t dutch.

The government is building it not some company trying to make a profit. They are doing something to help their citizens. I know that sounds like an odd thing depending on what country you are living in.

> So while spending €60 million on an underwater bike garage might still seem like an impossible luxury for most cities, in Amsterdam it’s more like a sound infrastructure investment. “It’s a drop in the bucket compared to investments for highway expansions,” Glaser says, “not to mention the societal public health costs of congestion, car crashes and car dependency.”

It’s not always about profit…

The divers on payroll that retrieve your bike are hella expensive

And only 3,300 tons of CO2.

Meanwhile here in Ontario, I often have to search for a signpost in a parking lot to lock my bike to because dedicated racks are far and few between, and many of them are rusted out or not even attached to the pavement anymore.

There are 1.5 (at least) guns per person in America tough, maybe try to compare it as a under Target/Walmart gun storage while you shop at that shop! /S

Yuuuuuup, already had a natural one in place for years. ‘Putting your bike in the water’ is going to have a different meaning now.

I thought almost every garage in the Netherlands is technically underwater. Isn't a third of the country a below sea level?

Hah... i was gonna say "Just dug another canal hey?"

I was walking through a nearby city recently and saw parking racks for bikes. 'oh nice, shame they aren't used!' then I realised the only way to get to them was by going up 30 steps of stair, or through a big shopping mall. Brilliant design.

An underground garage is below sea level but not underneath water. As we Dutch always (try to) keep the water out. This garage however is build underneath water. The Amsterdam Central Station is next to The IJ waterway. Building the garage in front of the station like elsewhere would mean chaos for several years. Building it however on the other side underneath the water was easier.

American here. What are the downsides to moving to the Netherlands?

Learning Dutch.

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The average Amsterdamer speaks a more understandable English to me than the average Texan. Do with that information what you will.

And getting all those bikes away from the station entrance is brilliant. Can't wait to return!

You are planning to live here without learning any Dutch?

I've heard employment can be difficult if you don't speak it. Not sure how true it is though.

I was there this summer. Really cool place. Everything was in English and I didn't have any problems getting around. Except for one train that wasn't included on the public train pass and we got trapped until some nice people let us out.

I spent a summer there and had next to 0 difficulty speaking to residents. Really millenials and younger were ALL quite fluent

Dublin already has an underwater parking for bikes running tight through it,... Granted once in there it's tough getting them out.

Also serves as a place to park shopping trolleys and ridiculous countdown clocks

Definitely. But like 98% are fluent English speakers. Highest outside of UK and the US. If you can say a few things in Dutch however, you definitely get a more friendly treatment in business near tourist areas.

Pretty sure I just an article that says that about 20% of Dutch under 40 don’t believe in the holocaust - or how severe it was. That was kinda new info to me.

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I speak 3+ languages myself and I think people should make an effort to learn the local language, but Amsterdam is one of the easiest cities in the world to get by with English, other than those where English is the native language.

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We have no houses left

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Probably because British tourists piss on them.

Uncomfortable footwear.

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You'll make less money. If you're a skilled professional, a lot less.

Anywhere in Canada…except our Library( the library is the one place that has 4 good bike stands)

Ha, yes, you can usually count on libraries, thank goodness. I keep a mental record of any stores or other buildings that actually have good, or any, bike racks. Big box stores and giant SmartCentres are usually the worst.

Many people who agree with you would also argue that suburbs are financially unsustainable because they cost more tax dollars.

This is not really a good idea though. Here is another perspective: https://youtu.be/mXLqrMljdfU ( Jump to 11:20 in this video)

Yes, but the "loss" is money coming out of people's taxes. So you definitely still want to know whether it's breaking even or how much it's short by.

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Here is an awesome timelapse of the whole contruction project. Water had to be pumped out first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZcq3R91YZM

Another perspective on a different topic than in the post? I can see some similarities but thats about it.

The price of rent.

We have that problem here in America, too.

Given how they behave around Calvin, I'm pleased to see that measures are being taken to address the problem.

If you're not a skilled worker, they don't want you. If you are, you'll take a home a ton less money while paying the same rent, and more for auto costs. In reality, you will ONLY ride a bike and take transit because you can't afford otherwise.

Legit curious what are some averages on apartments and houses in the city?

(I know it varies by neighborhood/city/etc. just more curious of a general concept)

This website seems to have some listings. Looks like 1br rent is about 2k and 2br is about 3k.

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Thank you!

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I’m confused how you got “building a bike parking garage is a bad idea” from that video when his whole channel is basically advocating for bike & pedestrian infrastructure.

It's the Netherlands. I just assumed it would be underwater at some point.

Watched the timelapse. Looks like they changed their minds on what they were actually building at least 5 times.

No doubt someone more knowledgeable can explain why they had to build over, then drain, then build over, then drain again, then build, then fill.

You also pay less than a skilled professional. A lot less. Especially for rent. Had my own full apartment in Amsterdam city for 500€.

How much would have to pay for that in San Francisco? Lol

This one is literally below a pool.

That was amazing

Amsterdam does not want you drive cars, they make been making it more expensive to have a car on purpose. Makes for a better city to live in. As for the take home pay, you are missing out a lot. Biking in amsterdam is usually the fastest way and its overall way healthier for you long term. But here are some other points:

• Usually around 21-25 days of vacation, you generally get 8% on top of your gross salary in May as your vacation pay.
• You will never get into medical debt like you can in the US. There is a mandatory insurance, but you are looking at like 125euro a month / 135 with dental
• If you have kids their university will be significantly cheaper while producing strong students.
• being multi-lingual gets you jobs for dutch companies, sure, but there are a lot of multi national companies here hiring like all the time. I’ve also worked for dutch companies without speaking dutch.
• if you are recruited into the NL there is the 30% ruling which is significant to increase your take home for 5 years. -while taxes are higher than in the states you will find that things generally work and arent crumbling, like 4 clicks to do your taxes (5 minutes of your life)
• dutch workplace directness is great once you understand it.

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I’ve seen the individual bike ‘parked’ in the canals here and there, but this definitely seems like a much better way.

Not sure how you arranged that for yourself but that’s absolutely not a representative amount. Small apartment can easily start around €2000

We have that here in America too. They’re called lakes. They’re everywhere and they’re free.

Great! Now I have to swim after getting drenched in the persistent Dutch rain to park my bike. It won't be two tiring.

Lived in Amsterdam for five years without speaking Dutch. It’s actually super hard to learn the language there, because everyone will just speak English to you, even if you try to engage them in Dutch. Also while the Dutch are generally a friendly people, they’re also not a very curious one and don’t really seem to be interested in making friends with people coming in from the outside. I have never met an expat who actually had Dutch friends outside of work.

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Wiki says 26%.

I am pretty sure we use euros.

Getting a visa.

This wasn’t built on the water side-

It’s extremely flat

.. thats why they byikd this here as well, because there isn’t enough space (2 million bikes, 1 million people) we love bikes like Americans live guns

> It’s actually super hard to learn the language there, because everyone will just speak English to you, even if you try to engage them in Dutch.

that it's so true, the people -being polite- switch to english when one is around and is very difficult to grab any pronunciation.

>https://rentola.nl/en/listings/apartamento-85-m2-2-habitaciones-ref-3811-plaza-de-maria-pita-ea2369

There's no Plaza de María Pita in Amsterdam.

We are so behind here in North America.

Not the worst thing, considering you'll be on a bike every day.

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I’m seeing that Amsterdam is one of the most expensive cities in Europe and that average rent is more like 3-4x what you paid.

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I’m not moving or living there but I did an international year at university there some years back and had professors who couldn’t speak Dutch lol

It’s an amenity, not a for profit business.

True! It just makes for an incredibly boring landscape.

in Florida we just pick an alligator to leave it next to

Honestly it looks very interesting to bike over there! Everything seems human scaled.

The downside is, "Good luck getting in."

I honestly do think that The Netherlands is one of the best countries in which to live. The ONLY downside is that it’s flat. Literally the only “bad” thing I could think of

Usually they just throw bikes in the water anyways

Yeah NL has really mastered civil engineering, especially when it comes to working with water. They represent the pinnacle of it imo

We travel much greater distances on average.

Here is a video of how it looks to park your bike there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoEKZz4KxpM

I agree, things are too far apart here.

I’m curious if they’ve mastered budgeting too, this looks like it could easily eclipse $100 million.

>As for the take home pay, you are missing out a lot.

It was a 2 sentence post, it wasn't meant to be comprehensive. All your points are accurate, but my take away is still accurate; you will likely be poorer in the Netherlands than in the US with the same job, and this is backed by disposable income stats.

If you're willing to trade being a little poorer for better social safety nets and a beautiful, walkable city, that's great. It's nice when everyone is allowed to make choices that fit their preferences.

Yeah I don't think building it is the challenging part. It's paying for it.

Lollll
Maybe 40 years ago in a sociale woning.
Early 2000s 1 bedroom outside de grachtengordel would cost 4 times that.

And why does that make bike racks not exist at destinations?

So, no different than anywhere else.

They built all that, and they have a tram?

If they tried to build that in the US, it would have been budgeted for 5 billion dollars, incurred cost overruns, and ended up costing $8.5 billion, three workers would have died, 20% would have been embezzled, generated a dozen lawsuits, 6 people would have gone to jail, one person would have murdered another person's wife, and it would be 4 years overdue. And it would leak constantly.

That's a choice we made, to build things far apart and connect them with roads rather than building walkable / bikable cities.

That is very ecological LOL, also did you know that bikes release like 60% of CO2 as car, because also you breathe more rapidly and energy you have to replace and to make food a lot of CO2 is released... Bikes are overrated, but because eco fanatics...

What's amazing is that the officials acted rationally with the cost involved and stuck with the plan in letter and spirit. I think everyone needs to look at the Dutch education and political systems as well. We all know the Dutch already have better police than most places due to psychedelics and CSWs being perfectly legal and regulated. There must be more worth learning.

And considering that there are cheap train and flight tickets to everywhere in Europe. You get all the terrain you want with a proper visa.

Hahaha you are a joke.

Www.funda.nl

No really just look it up, god all ppl are today so sensitive, you can't even look numbers yourself, it take you couple minutes... I am not against bikes BTW, ppl make them just overrated and go overboard with green fanatism, but bikes are good still ofc. I don't think someone like you could understand that tho :/ But to be fair it sounded like I shit on bikes for no reason, i can grant that...

And its your own fault, you built it like that. In the 1930s/40s/50s you had many many cities european style with stuff in walking distance. Americans HAVING to need to rely on cars is entirely artificialy made.

Because they would be unused at most places making it generally unnecessary to invest in them?

I must be sleepy. I wrote the exact opposite of what I wanted to say.

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