A rest stop on our way to Ypenburg. In the background is the edge of an urban community in Ypenburg. During the 1970's, 80's and 90's, there was a shift in how the Netherlands planned their urban expansion. With an increase in demand for places to live, they built large communities within 7km of a city so their commute would be short to work. This spot here is located right next to a major highway.
Biking towards Ypenburg center. On the left is a large apartment complex which is 3 stores high. On the right is a tram stop, which runs through Ypenburg and into other towns and cities. Since there is no bike path, we have priority to bike down the road.
Parking on the edge of the development.
On the left is a 4-story building, with the bottom story comprised of stores and the top three with apartments. The road/bike path separates the building from parking for guests and residents.
Here is a purely residential section of town. The long apartment buildings stretch along the left and right side of the photo, with a sidewalk and road in front of each and cars parked in the middle. This is a more appealing approach than what we have in most of America, with cars parking right in front of the buildings and a busy street between the cars.
Here are some parking spots for shoppers and residents.
Here is the edge of the development. Trams can come in and out but cars cannot get through. Next to the fencing is an area where bikes and pedestrians can go.
The edge of the shopping center. Bikes can park to the left as seen, or can ride straight through the line of shops ahead. This whole space used to be just an airforce base, located 5 km from Den Haag. With the short distance to the city, commuters could live in Ypenburg and either bike or ride the tram to work. While this helped people that want to work in Den Haag, some people want to work in other cities which are further away so are forced to drive there if there isn't sufficient public transportation.
Cars can pass through on the light shaded ground in the foreground of this pictures. Ahead are the inbound and outbound tram stops, with a pedestrian and bike crossing right before the platforms.
A side view of the intersection.
The new line 19 tram stopping in Ypenburg center.
Parking meter for cars parking to shop. Here is a way they encourage you to not drive your car to go shopping. Parking a bike is free, and the tram stops right in front of the shops, making it more convenient to choose a different mode of transportation. However, people usually don't choose to shop using the tram and would prefer a car so they could take more home so this is a problem they are still trying solve.
Here's another example of how they planned their buildings in this development. Shops are on the bottom floor with apartments above, and in this case going higher in the center.
The open square leading to a street lined with shops. With no cars and a wide street, pedestrians can feel less stressed while shopping.
Our group heads out of the shopping region of Ypenburg. The bike lane we're riding in is separated from the road and tram by a median which makes the environment appear more safe.
Outside of the dense region of the development are larger homes for families to live in. Here there is a narrow two way street with cars parked along either side. With no bike lane ahead, bikes are given priority to go down the road. The tighter road and bike access force drivers to be more aware of their surroundings, causing them to slow down in this residential neighborhood. There are also speed tables placed along this road to force drivers to slow down as well; the white lines on the road in the foreground as well as in the background indicate this.
The development is separated from a distributor road by a large canal and green space on either side of it.
Outside of the development there is a "gold coast" section of town where upper class people live. Some of these homes can cost 1 million euro or more, making it very expensive to live here. The way their income tax is setup makes it very hard to get rich here either. They're total income tax breakdown is 33% if you make less than ~17,000 euro, 42% between roughly 17,000 and 54,000 and 52% above that.
Here is part of the road which eventually runs alongside the development and goes into Den Haag. There are cranes in the background as the area continues to expand with new developments.
This is an office building being built close to the train station. This will allow commuters to easily get to work by train.
Here is a distant shot of Ypenburg.
On the left are some apartments with a different style than those that were downtown, giving the development different architectural styles.
Here we're riding along a quiet residential road with a canal separating the homes from the road. Ahead are small drawbridges giving people access by bike and walking to their homes.
We continued along to another shopping center in Ypenburg. This one was a little more bustling with more people and shops displaying more out on the streets.
This was the area's square which was at the end of the shopping street. There were multiple outdoor cafes where we were able to have lunch at in this square. The bike parking gives people the option to bike through the shopping street into this square and park their bikes as they go shopping.
*conclusion paragraph*
1. Marketplace
2. Traffic restrictions in old city
3. Bikes allowed in pedestrian zone
4. Bike contraflow
4. End of bike contraflow
5. Underground parking
6. Delft's big dig
9. Tanthof supermarket: about 30 bikes parked in front
9. Tanthof Supermarket: 8 cars parked to shop
11. Abstwoude bike bridge and tunnel
12. Signal priority for trams and buses
13. Bus uses the tram reservation
14. Bus sluice (bus only segment) in Hof van Delft
16. Delft South Station
16. Delft South Station: additional parking
16. Delft South Station: additional parking
17. Provincieweg: Through traffic street
17. Provincieweg: Through traffic street, bike path below road
18. Traffic calming on 80 km/h multilane suburban road
18. Traffic calming on 80 km/h multilane suburban road
19. Improved safety on Ruys de Beerenbrouckstraat
19. Improved safety on Ruys de Beerenbrouckstraat
21. Pocket bike lane
22. IKEA
23. Transit unfriendly TU-Delft
24. Bicycle street Ezelsveldlaan
25. Bicycle street in Delftse Hout
25. Bicycle street in Delftse Hout
27. Refuge cycle track
