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 have never tried it. This is the city of Oulu, in Finland. It is considered the winter cycling capital
of the world. This is a city where 22% 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 -20 degree weather. 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 Tampere, also in Finland. Despite the fact that Finnish people call
this a swimming pool, far fewer people cycle in Tampere compared to Oulu. 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 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 Oulu. 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 Oulu does exceptionally
well. Oulu has 875 km of separated bicycle paths
that connect every part of the city. That’s over 4 metres of bicycle path for
every resident. In fact, Oulu has only about 600 metres 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, Oulu. And this is not some kind of super-compact
medieval European city either. Oulu has plenty of car-centric sprawl and
many people live in single family homes. In fact, it has almost exactly the same urban
population density as my home town 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 Oulu, if it was designed properly. Oulu 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 to be short cuts that are faster than driving, encouraging people to cycle
even more, just as is done in the Netherlands. If that wasn’t enough, Oulu 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 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 Oulu’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. When you look at the 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 tread marks that melt and refreeze 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 miniscule
bicycle network is maintained in the winter. The city says they don't even start plowing
unless there’s more than 5cm 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 3 hours of a 2cm 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 4 cm, and they maintain the paths with hard-packed
snow that is free of ice and debris, making it easy to cycle on. To put it simply, the bicycle paths in Oulu
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. Oulu proves that cold is not the issue. Snow is not the issue. Winter is a lazy excuse used by ignorant people
to make the discussion of safe road infrastructure go away. The snow might explain why “only” 22%
of trips in your city are taken by bicycle, instead of say, 42% but when less than 2%
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, 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 {breathe} 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, 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 Oulu, 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 Oulu is incredible. This is complicated and expensive, but it’s
still a fraction of the cost of maintaining wide roads and highways for cars. Oulu shows what is possible if your city isn’t
bankrupt from maintaining too much car infrastructure. Oulu 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 -20
degrees, and even then, it only drops by 15%. 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 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 “jacket”. This is like a big warm shirt that you wear
over your clothes. Next, you’ll need “gloves”. These are kinda like shoes, but for your hands,
which is why both the Dutch (French) and the Germans (Belgians) call them handshoes. I’d also recommend one of these woolen head
coverings. People call these by many different names,
but they are all wrong. It’s called a touque. 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 -20 degrees, you’ll 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 bicycle lanes downtown, and now plows their 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 years’ average, likely due in part to the addition
of more separated bicycle lanes. They’ve also started to use not just snow
plows, but ice crushing machines like this one to clear the bicycle paths. And I really enjoy the dramatic music in the
manufacturer’s marketing video. But while this is good progress, all of this
pales in comparison to Oulu. Edmonton only plows a small 8km bike network
downtown, and only within 24 hours. Most of Yelllowknife’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 Oulu gets more snow than almost
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. 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 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 Oulu. I’d like to thank my supporters on Patreon,
who pay me to call out wimpy snowflake Canadian who can’t handle a little bit of cold. If you’d like to support this channel, and
get access to bonus videos, visit patreon.com/notjustbikes. [very silly music] [It’s 20 below]
[It’s cold on the ear] [It’s so cold, I can’t hear]
[I need my touque] [I need my touque]
[But it’s on too tight tight tight tight tight tight tight tight]
TLDW? The message is that bike trail maintenance dictates bike usage. No good winter maintenance means less biking due to having to share the roads with cars.
Good video! Thanks!
This makes me really wish the towns and cities near me were more bike friendly. In the nearest small city you'd have a death wish trying to cycle around town. You might be able to get away with it in our very small downtown area where the speed limit is 25mph and there are stoplights every intersection, but there's still no bike lanes. Trying to bike on our major highway/main road, where all the shops and restaurants are would cause a traffic jam for miles and you'll likely get run off the road by an angry redneck. It's a shame.
I winter cycled for 3 years in Edmonton, Alberta. It’s becoming a lot more common. Not exactly the most accurate headline, but nonetheless WINTER CYCLING IS AMAZING FOR YOUR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH GET OUT AND RIDE FOLKS
It feels like each and every day I'm reminded that my life would be better if I lived in a Nordic country.
Lots of Canadians bike in the winter.
Hah this reminds me of that fun transition time between fall/winter and winter/spring in the Finnish army when we’d move around on bikes with skis strapped to them and switch between the two. Good times
I was expecting a collage of people eating shit on ice.
The main reason I choose not to ride in the winter is because of deicing salt. The salt induced rust will destroy my bike in no time and this was not discussed in the video at all.
Many of my friends have a winter 'beater' bike for this purpose but not everyone can afford a second bike only to let it rust away.
Lol. Just try stopping Torontonians from biking like mad.