We aren't Amsterdam
Neither was Amsterdam in the 1970s. They wanted something different.
A common refrain against bike infrastructure is "We can't do that, we aren't Amsterdam". As Brent Toderian has put it several times the suitable reply is "Amsterdam wasn't always like that either".
The idea here is that there's no point in trying to be like Amsterdam because people don't cycle, they drive cars. Or we have hills. Or it rains. Or it we aren't dense enough. Or whatever. There's a lot to unpack in this argument, but let's start with what happened in Amsterdam (and the Netherlands in general).
👆 Before and after
In the 1960's car usage was increasing dramatically in the Netherlands, as it was in much of the western world. The city was becoming congested, polluted and most of all dangerous for every, especially children. In 1971 3,300 people were killed by car drivers, over 400 of them were children 1.
In 1973 a campaign called "Stop de Kindermood" translated as "Stop the Child Murders" was started by Maartje van Putten 2. Parents and children stood up and said, that's enough.
The streets no longer belonged to the people who lived there, but to huge traffic flows
Maartje van Putten
👆 Protest in central Amsterdam
1973 was also at the time of the Oil Crisis 3, so a fortunate time to complain about cars and focus on cycling as the cost of filling a car quadrupled with petrol. When you have a large number of people protesting, you also get city designers and planners which means you also get ideas and support across the political spectrum.
It took time to change, it wasn't overnight, but at a critical point of Dutch development, they decided not to focus on the car as their primary mode of transport. They decided not to tear down large parts of their city to make space for cars, unlike so many other cities in North America.
Fast forward almost 50 years and the result is about 66% of 4 travel in Amsterdam is by bike and only 19% is by car and it's moving towards getting rid of most or all trips in the city centre. It's like they are trying to ban cars.
The Dutch made a choice to be the way they are. It's up to us to make the same choice.