only here, but worldwide, there is a booming interest in promoting cycling. and as soon as people think about promoting cycling, they think the nether hands and it's been -- netherlands, and it's growing but it's really cycling. since i have come back from the holidays in august, there are requests from 18 countries who want to enlist their support by visiting the netherlands or wanting some of our people to come over. so i can touch on a tiny little bit of what we -- what i would like to take you, so if you want to know more, visit our website and also we got a brochure which you can download or you can ask for in hard copy in you visit our website, so do so.

this i'll skip. this is an important graph, i think, because the situation we are in is completely different. most u.s. towns, when you start bicycling promotions, the first thing you do is to invest a lot of things, invest a lot of money without hardly any benefit because it will take sometime for people to go on cycling. so if the first time you have to -- it's a hard time because politicians will say oh, it's a waste of money because no one cycles. why would you invest in bicycle paths and so on? especially until you are in the upwards part of the slope as

some towns, and even some u.s. towns. but like we are completely here. everything we do in cycling is immediately rehouston tiff. for instance, in -- rehouston tiff. for instance in amsterdam, they build 30,000 cycle places. i believe they will be filled from day one on because there is an enormous lot of people who cycle in the netherlands. and yesterday people asked me, tell me a little bit more, what are the benefits? and the benefits are in two directions. one of them that you can't tell in money, but it's about life. it's all the things we care about. it's about when i was in oakland, i asked some kids, do

you like cycling? oh, yes, we like cycling. when you ask people around do you like cycling, people like cycling. so it's about quality of life. it's about freedom, it's about convenience, and it's about health. it's about feeling good, living real, being there. but there are also benefits that you can put down, some pitches of -- pictures of, about amsterdam cycling. this is one of my favorite. someone picking up a bunch of flowers with a child on the back seat and this is what we call normal bikes in the netherlands which people use in everyday biking. but also people in formal suits just because in the

netherlands, bicycling is not a sport, it's a means of transport and that's important to realize. also this is a common sight in the netherlands, a lady with a skirt on with a full necklace cycling. this is one of the things, i have other pictures for you. this is an important picture. the average daily number of trips, and you see that on average women make one trip by bike on average in the whole population, men about 1.7 trips per day and you see also that

boys from 12 to 16 years old take on average nearly seven kilometers per day by bike. so the bike is just a part of your life. so that's the different. in america a lot of people consider themselves bicyclists. in the netherlands hardly anybody considers themselves bicyclists anything more than brat eaters. everyone eats brats, so everyone cycles. there is no discussion about it. you see on distance, men cycle a little bit more and women use the bike more often because they use it for going shopping or the short distances. one other thing is that biking has a high status in the netherlands, so that's also

different from a lot of other countries. this i will skip. hardly readable but this shows that bicycling is used in all kinds of modes of travel, 25% is using the bike, to go into education is 50% and beyond high school it is even a lot more, 55% to 80% children who visit high school do so by bike and you got to realize how in the situation, there are hardly any school buses in the netherlands. there will be no parents bringing their children to high school by car. they say, ok, what's wrong, you can use your bike. it's very cold or range, you

won't melt, do you? -- raining, you won't melt do you? >> there are more sigh cligs then people in the -- cyclists then people in the neggederlands. they cost each 30 million euros to build. and the bicycles, you can't see it but more than a quarter of all trips and 40% of all trips up to 40 kilometers are made by bike. second is denmark with 20% and down to great britain to 2% and the u.s. only has 1% trip share by bike. advantages and the benefits of cycling, very short but, which you can capitalize is the

health part, the reduction of health costs because the effect of cycling on health are above expectations. it's nearly all diseases will have less risk of occurring when people have enough physical exercise and all the extra, the ideal means of physical exercise is about half an hour a day, medium-intensive exercise. so it's far better than going to the gym twice a week and then, very intensive sporting for two hours. and what is easier than having this bike trip into your daily commuting? then automatically you have your half an hour exercise and

it's been shown in the managementerlands that people who sigh -- netherlands that people who cycle to work have more than people who don't. also the environment there are a lot of things you can capitalize because you don't have to invest on electric cars or transit or whatever to reduce the carbon dioxide, because the emissions of bicycle is zero. there is a huge problem in the u.s. by traffic noise. a lot of people are not aware of it but the effects for people being constantly having traffic noise are enormously. also, in the netherlands productivity loss because the effect that, for instance, in

amsterdam, so many people cycle means that there will be a lot less congestion. when you have ever visited amsterdam, see all of these people cycle and who think what would happen if all of these trips would have to be made by car, then there would be no more amsterdam economy because no one would be able to move about. there would be one giant traffic jam all day. so the bike is the grease in the amsterdam economy. you have to build less highways, you have to build less parking garage. you put the bike -- use very little space. where you have to build parking garage, they're very expensive. there are recent surveys that

companies pay up to 30,000 euros, that's $50,000 per year per person to have them traffic by car to work, where as a bike costs only 250 euros so there are large benefits at stake. also, there is lots of surveys that show that people who live in towns where there is more cycling, people like to live there better than in towns where there is less cycling. there are an overwhelming lot of advantages on cycling and i'm going to put some -- and then this is what oakland

should do as few of them -- recommendations that are put together oakland also could be used for san francisco. one thing is, if you want to have these advantages, for instance, if you're scared about all the money that goes to building highways, well, you can only reduce the number of highways that are to be built if you aim for more cycling. and more cycling is do not aim for the people who are already biking because they don't care about mixed cycling with cars and so on they're able. but think about the people who are not yet bicycling, women or elderly people, children, you should aim -- and especially children because they're your future bicyclists. so make it for cycling for

everybody and get rid of all of the relics of john forester and the vehicular bicyclists or those who want to travel or who are advocate of the speed cyclists but realize in the netherlands the average piece of cycling is 12 miles an hour. that's enough because already you're faster than the cars and it makes cycling at reach for everybody. and that's one thing that is important, realize that it's not actual safety but perceived safety what makes people cycle. if people feel safe, and i can guarantee you that a lot of people will not feel safe on a bicycle lane where they could easily get doored or if they are just a little less bit concentrated or make strange

movements, they will be in the car traffic and they will be run over. so think about that it will be a lot better idea to remove the parked cars away from the sidewalk and have your bicycle path then between the parked cars and the pavement. i guarantee you that's all people who are latent cyclists will feel much safer. can have the children also on these poik paths where i can guarantee you a lot of parents won't have their children cycle on these bicycle lanes or the mixed traffic. you can say, well, but we have got these guidelines and so on. then work hard to change the guidelines because i think, and it may be a little bit provocative, but these guidelines prevent real growth of cycling in the u.s.a. and also go for more quality

infrastructure solutions. here is a picture taken in the south of netherlands. here, the layout is so much that you are really regarded as cyclists that they have made space for you. the cars know that cyclists have priority. this is a common roundabout situation in the netherlands, also in the village where i live. so this shows that you go for the cyclists. go for cyclists and realize when someone is saying we were cramped in space like in san francisco, we say, well, you have never been to any dutch town because your roads are so wide. and then they think, yeah, but all these lanes are needed for car traffic. i'll tell you, if you use this traffic model, you should

realize that the capacity of your system is not determined by the amount of lanes and the stretches of roads but by the capacity of intersections and you realize that the capacity of these intersections are a lot lower than any capacity of lanes that are on the stretches of roads. so it's only a parking place for cars on to the next traffic light or intersection. so it's only convincing the people to realize that there will be hardly any sacrifice if there will be face given over to cyclists. one thing and that's also the problem with being in the downturn because there is also safe by numbers. in the netherlands, cycling is inherently more safe than in the u.s.a. because all car drivers are also cyclists.

60% of the people in the netherlands cycle at least three times a week. 80% at least once a week. so all the car drivers are also cyclists and they know as they turn right that there is an 80% chance that they will cut off a cyclist if they don't look. so there is also safety by numbers. one last thing and that is about liability. when i hear about cycling in the u.s., people say, oh, but cycling is so dangerous. and then we say, no, cycling is not dangerous. cyclists hardly ever cause accidents. cars cause accidents. cars cause facilities and in the netherlands we have the philosophy that car drivers

should realize that they're in a machine that can kill. and also from that on responsibility in taking liability. if a car drives over a child on a bike, no matter what happens, he is 100% liable for whatever happens. and even in the other cases, when a car goes in the collision with an adult on a bike, still there is at least 50% liability for the car driver. and when the car driver would say, but yeah, the cyclists made a very strange movement. then we would say in the netherlands, well, you know that's about cycling. so you should reduce your speed when you see the cycling, you just can't drive on with 40 or 45 miles an hour alongside

cyclists because there is always the risk that something strange happens so that's important. jurisdiction. there were initiatives to put in a code, but there was large opposition against it, defacto it doesn't make any difference. well, and one of the things is of course and i heard that the system in san francisco of allotting schools to children makes it very difficult, but this is a picture from a primary school, start young so do everything to have children biking. ok. [applause]

>> thank you, hans. i see supervisor chiu in the back. we are especially lucky today because supervisor chiu wanted to be here with us and say a few welcoming remarks. he happens to be our own german marshall fellow. honorable davis chiu. [applause] >> good morning. it is a real pleasure for me to be here for a number of reasons. first of all, a couple of years ago i was honored to be part of a group of american policy folks that was invited under the german marshall foundation to go to europe and to meet with policymakers in brussels and other points in europe to share ideas that we had from the united states. and it was a remarkably fruitful exchange and i think many of us that went on that trip brought back ideas to the united states that we are trying to legislate here

locally. i'm also excited to see all of you here in part because some of you know, i'm one member of the board that doesn't have a car, that rides my bicycle many days of the week -- [applause] >> and like all of you, i think we are remarkably excited about the fact that the bike plan is moving forward, the fact that today is the start of the trial on market street, the fact that we are really moving our city's biking agenda forward. and i think with those of our friends from europe, we all want to take this to the next level and figure out what are the best ideas that we can adopt from the great cities around the world. we know that in recent years, i think san francisco with the help of our community advocates from the bike coalition and other advocates were really trying to bike strong and bike hard into the wind and i think finally the wind is at our back. we need the best ideas from around the world to move our great city forward. so welcome to our friends from

europe. again, thank you for all of you here in san francisco that care passionately about this and i look forward to working with all of us to move this movement forward. [applause] >> thank you very much, supervisor. our next speaker was an elected member of the brussels parliament representing the green party. she was also minister of social affairs, health, and equal opportunities in the government before starting her political career in 1993, she worked in the european level in environmental and social organizations for 10 years. as a politician, she focuses particularly on the development of economically depressed areas which despite their assets face

challenges like poverty, unemployment, and a lack of development. she believes these neighbors are a key to a vibrant and prosperous brussels. please. >> i'm happy to be here and as far as i could take note is the situation for cyclists as well as in oakland as in portland as in san francisco -- excuse me, i think, yes, important to be again the whole different thing. but as i understand most probably brussels is somewhere in-between. in the last few years, we managed to raise the amount of cyclists let's say from 1% in 2000 to what today is estimated but how did the countings go, but it's estimated as being 3 1/2%. i have made it as one of my priorities to put the discussion on what we call soft

mobility for pedestrians and cyclists to put it on the political agenda and being a deputy for the green party in an assembly of 89 deputies, it has been possible to find an alliance in every political party whether it's the liberal, the socialists, the christian democrats, or the green. so we have been taking initiatives together asking hearings in the parliament and so on. i think it's very important that grassroots organization kansas do their work. i'm still participating in actions when we are doing that in brussels. but you need that. you need an efficient administration but you also need that political support. i will give you a brief presentation of how it is like in brussels. this should work, ok. so i think i already told you a

bit of what i feel, a politicians elected member should do. of course, we have regulations to vote, to discuss laws and permits. we have a budget to control and in that budget, you will see our mobility policy. you can have your own expenses on infrastructure work, for instance, but in brussels, we also have an important policy on financing groups, social groups who are working on the issue. and i believe we should never forget to work on equity because we have those big social differences within our town. this is just shortly a slide that shows you what already has been polled, that denmark and the netherlands, they are in fact far ahead of all of the other european countries and belgium is somewhere in-between making an effort but for sure

also at this trip, i have been able to learn a lot from my european colleagues in denmark and in the netherlands. brussels is in the heart of europe and i think it's also has been a very good thing that there is european regulations, although at this moment, european regulations are mainly on achieving certain environmental standards. let's say pollution by co2 and particles. but that has helped us as we had too high air pollution in brussels as it was sanctioned by the european union that we really could stress on alternative mobility. we don't wait until european legislation or regulation coming up. we also have no brussels, no belgium, but european towns, towns in europe, trying to find one another and to press, to put pressure on mayors and

regional ministers to commit themselves to invest in bicycle policies. so those towns can learn from one another. as i told you, brussels, i have found several similarities with the two towns i have been getting to know now yesterday and today. we have about one million inhabitants. brussels is 10 to 10 miles on distance and i agree with what has been told here that that is in favor of promoting cycling because the distances are never too long, although we also have a difference of height. i mean, like amsterdam is plat as a pancake we would say. brussels does have some, well, ups and downs. an important issue politically

is that we have -- we are, in fact, giving big gross national product to the country, 20%, although we're only 10% of the population, but yet most workforce is coming from abroad, from flounders, from outs. so they are coming in at 9:00 in the morning and the workers are again leaving to the north or the south of the country in the evening and we have ourselves a population with also considerable amount of people who live in poverty. there is about 20% of unemployment. we do have for 20 years now our own regional parliament and government and i'm very proud of that because i really think that we have been able as politicians to put brussels solution on the brussels scale thanks to that legislative

power we have. you see we have been quite ambitious. we voted already in 1997 a resolution in the parliament saying 10% of all mechanical transport should all be by bike. we also held a summit on road safety and, there again, we referred to a european and that wanted to have only half of the fatalities over a period of 10 years. quite important because many people don't cycle because they feel it is not safe. and often they're right, but you have groups like here of pupils being guided by their parents and also supported in a first phase by the local police to go together to school. it's called bike pooling to school and so parents join in as volunteers, but there is also the local authorities and