[bendyorke]

As someone who has lived in Amsterdam for a few years, and have several friends who were very bike adverse when they moved here, everyone ends up biking. It’s very convenient, safe, and enjoyable here, and you can get electric bikes or electric scooters to help if you bike long distances frequently (or just don’t want to bike).

With weather apps that give you the rainfall down to a few minutes, you can escape the weather by either biking in the lulls, participating in a e-bike scooter sharing system, or falling back on public transport when you need.

Very rarely can you get someone faster by driving than you could by biking or public transport (at least according to google maps) so long as you live within the ring. Outside of that I don’t think cars are going anywhere, and there is ample parking near the major public transport hubs. I know plenty of people who park there and take a quick train or metro to their work and don’t complain about the hassle.

It’s a different way of living and I miss driving sometimes but it’s really nice once you acclimate!

[codazoda]

I've only spent 3 days in Amsterdam and I enjoyed the ability to walk the city. I covered quite a bit of ground there and most of the areas were void of cars. Pretty great for tourists; although I'm not sure how much locals like the tourists.

I think I was in "the ring", if we're talking about the adjoining canal systems that circle around the center part of the city.

[cbluth]

"the ring" is considered the freeway that encircles the city.

[mcv]

And the ring of canals is called the "grachtengordel". I challenge any non-Dutch-speaker to try to pronounce that.

[whatweatherapp]

> With weather apps that give you the rainfall down to a few minutes, you can escape the weather by either biking in the lulls, participating in a e-bike scooter sharing system, or falling back on public transport when you need.

Hey, I just made an account to ask what weather app you're talking about? I have tried Dark Sky and Buienradar on iOS but they don't seem to send rain notifications as expected. Right now I'm looking out the window and it's raining (like, the water is collecting on the ground/rooftops) but neither app has notified me. I've just checked to make sure that they have notifications and location access allowed as well.

[cam_l]

The thing that really impressed me in Amsterdam was how freaking polite the drivers were to both pedestrians and cyclists.

..coming from a city where cars will speed up if they see you crossing the road, and regularly muscle bikes into the gutter.

[mcv]

Here it's the other way around. Bikes speed up when they see anyone crossing, and they're the ones muscling cars out of the way.