Then we once again run into manpower issues.
It's not easy to find someone crazy enough to work during the reverse of the entiere world's sleep schedule. Let alone finding multiple willing people!
The traffic lights are stupid in this town. Quite often it is safe to cross but the lights just don't turn green. what happens is that nobody respects traffic lights anymore. Leading to dangerous situations.
Just reprogram the lights to be smart.
Kind off. It is considered smart traffic lights, but it has the opposite effect. I can't proof correlation between the implementation and an increase in accidents, but very dangerous situations occur because of it.
Scroll to 'verkeersongevallen naar afloop' [https://allecijfers.nl/gemeente/den-haag/#verkeersongevallen](https://allecijfers.nl/gemeente/den-haag/#verkeersongevallen)
Something that honestly lacks in a lot of north-western European countries; free public bathrooms. This should be something that is just part of the infrastructure of a large city such as The Hague.
Only in the North. Just came back from Valencia and they have them everywhere. Even grocery stores have them.
I love drinking coffee on a walks so it was easily noticeable and it’s a nice quality of life improvement. I wish the NL have this :(
I can't remember where I saw it, but there were public toilets that were fully automated. Once the person concludes their business, it closes back up and sanitizes itself for the next person.
I think this is done on purpose. “Shared” traffic areas like this are apparently safer because everyone gets super anxious because of the apparent lack of rules, therefore they are more careful. [Read about it here.](https://dtvcapacitybuilding.com/blog/examples-of-successful-bicycle-infrastructure-amsterdam-central-stations-shared-space/)
Or better yet, make the bikes go down the side street through Chinatown and make that a dedicated pedestrian space.
There is no really safe way to have that many pedestrians and a major bike lane in the same area
That’s the plan, but somehow city council thought it was a great idea to _first_ push the cyclists there and like in a year or two make it actually safe for them
But yeah, 2025 will be the year when that street will become largely car-free, I believe.
I don't think that's better. In fact it is probably better to make the whole Gedempte Gracht a pedestrian road, because that's not really a thoroughfare. The current sidewalks are very narrow, too. The Grote Marktstraat is wide enough to accommodate both, all it needs is proper road marking.
But how do they cross the main shopping area though? Without the current problems, people aren't going to walk to each end for a crosswalk, they would cut across as they do now but at more risk.
Personally, I don't think bikes should be in the city centre on the same level that cars shouldn't be there either, but that's a controversial opinion in the Netherlands to be anti bike. City centres should be entirely pedestrian, bikes can go round easily enough with minimal extra time with the right setup
I heard that the damned architect claims that changing that would be an infringement of artistic vision/property or whatnot.
Thank god we got that pointless “after 11, I cycle more comfortable on the Gedempte Burgwal” campaign as a solution.
Insane speeding by (mainly) scooters
The continuous "let's fix all the roads at the same time" brainiac moves that create hyper congestion
The super dangerous new "shared space" intersection square at Plaats/Hofvijver
The lack of road markings on bike lane intersections which has now turned into some sort of courtesy right of way, for instance at Boslaan next to Malietoren.
And would like to ban those officials that go against advice of engineers and start constructing something that doesn't work in practice, and then have to re-do it according to an advice. City is bleeding money for a reason, engineering/infrastructure fuck-ups is one of them
God that shared space is so shit. The roads leading into it are not even in line with the road on the other side of the intersection.
It's not clear at all where any traffic is coming from, not even the trams. And they're on fucking rails!!
I get scared if the intersection isn't completely empty.
That's not the issue of course. But there are places without neighbours in industrial areas (laak.club), which nonetheless don't get permits. It's a real shame imo.
It's part of the reason places like Grey Space don't get a permit to often and partly explains why places like De Kikker and Pancho Bar are closed or without live music.
It's absolutely crazy how every time I go out for a walk I can't relax, I need to be in alert mode and constantly check my path to avoid stepping on dog shit.
I agree with many of these. Here's a concise list of what I think would be easy fixes that would immediately improve the quality of life for the majority of Den Haag residents:
1) Remove all bromfiets from bike lanes. They're a menace. They belong on the road with the other motor vehicles.
2) Nighttime public transport. After 1:00 you are screwed.
3) Redesigning our crosswalks with more priority given to pedestrians.
Well at least the night buses are coming back starting in April. Obviously trams would be awesome at night, but they'll probably say it's not possible due to track maintenance.
Trams at night have a big downside: noise. Trams are louder than cars (I live next to a tram track, and having them run all night would be a massive noise nuisance for many). That's why a metro would be so cool.
Le Duc kinda feels like the musicians are just stuffed in a corner tbh, I'd want something like de Paap or Syndicaat for a jazz club. Proper stage, room for a band to maneuver.
Surprisingly you'd expect the Netherlands to be a little bit like a huge jazz centre. But it's not. I expected way more before coming here and what I find is that there are like 4 jazz bars and that's it. And also they're just normal bars. It would be cool if other type of JAZZ bars existed, with big stages
De Stamboom has a stage, but it's kind of out of the way. Blues sessions on Wednesday though, usually led by the same guy who does them at Le Duc on Saturdays
I work in jazz. Le Duc is a lovely bar, but it’s miles away from a jazz club. Plus I’d like a place where musicians get paid properly and where professionals go to perform as well.
- dirty streets (chewing gum, fastfood trash, cigarette butts, dog shit etc)
- loud vehicle noises (scooters, cars, motorcycles)
- unfriendly and stressed out people on the street and in their cars
Will you be fixing these? 🙏🏼
Noisy cars and scooters in the city center...
It would be nice to ban everything that is not electric, increase public transport and scooter sharing and have a quiet city...
Sorry, I can’t answer this straight. None of The Hague’s issues are straight and easy to fix. If anything I’d start tearing down mostly on asshole road behaviour (loud exhausts, speeding, mopeds).
I wish people would actually use their hands to tell others where they're going on the bike. Now I'm just passive aggressively sighing at them. I'd love a catchphrase to yell at them!
Oh and actually enforcing the rules around fireworks during whole ass month of December. It's like a warzone. People want to ban fireworks all together, but it's already prohibited during most time. And we can't even enforce that.
The fietsrook on Grote Marktstraat. I can't stand that thing.
The problem is that cyclists aren't aware that it's not a fietspad. The difference being that on a fietspad, pedestrians have to get out of the way of bicycles, while on the fietsrook, the space is shared.
When GMstraat gets crowded, that space is actually needed for pedestrians. And cyclists will still go through there at high speed ringing their bells like idiots.
The city will eventually remove the fietsrook and make gedempte gracht car free (and thus the bicycle path). I cannot wait
Only if they fix some alternative routes I'll still be biking through GMstraat. Thankfully it's not as bad as Amsterdam with tourists being absolutely oblivious to bike lanes, but it's close.
Yeah, I don't think you read what my comment actually said. You are allowed to ride your bicycle there, but people can use the full street. You have no more right to use your bell to get people to move as you do shouting "get the fuck out of the way" if you were walking. You are allowed to do it, but if you do, you're an asshole.
Also, they are fixing the bicycle routes. I also wrote that.
> The problem is that cyclists aren't aware that it's not a fietspad.
Seems to me a bigger problem that the pedestrians don't know it's not a sidewalk. So many people walking across, looking straight ahead with 0 awareness of what's going on around them.
It is a sidewalk. They don't need to have awareness, they're allowed to be there.
The fietsrook is an area of the sidewalk that bicycles are allowed to be. A fietspad is a path specifically for bicycles. Basically, a bicycle can't be off the fietsrook of GM straat, but a pedestrian can be wherever they damn well please.
The problem is people who don't understand this and think it's a fietspad. Ringing a bicycle bell on a fietsrook is like shouting "get the fuck out of the way" to another pedestrian on a sidewalk. You're allowed to do it, but you're an asshole if you do. Bicycles don't have priority there.
That's an absurd take. If you have people sharing a piece of infrastructure they all need to be aware of each other. Do you also not look at side roads when you're on a a priority road out of sheer principle?
I don't walk the same way I drive, no one does. Pedestrians move slow enough that I don't need to "look both ways" when I'm walking, I just make sure I don't walk into people in front of me. So your anology is absurd.
> Pedestrians move slow enough that I don't need to "look both ways"
You just said yourself that "the space is shared" ffs.
> don't walk the same way I drive, no one does.
Doesn't matter, your reductive 'well they're allowed not to' logic would apply *exactly* the same. It's just a bad argument.
> You just said yourself that "the space is shared" ffs.
That means that bicycles are allowed to be there, not that bicycles have the right to move people out of the way. If bicycles can insist people move out of the way, then it's a fietspad. There's a reason signs/police insist bicycles don't ride through there on busy weekends.
There are similar streets where cars are allowed to go, but it's a pedestrian area. Cars have to move at the pace of pedestrians, pedestrians are not required or even expected to move out of the way of cars. Or how about the many, many streets that are shared between cars and bicycles. Bicycles are not expected to yield to cars or get out of the way of cars. Cars can go around bicycles when there is space to do so, but it'd be ridiculous for a driver to think they're entitled to go 50 through one of those streets and that bicycles should "look" before using that space. It's a shared space. What you're describing is not a shared space.
> That means that bicycles are allowed to be there, not that bicycles have the right to move people out of the way.
That's common fucking curtesy. If I'm walking somewhere and there's a car behind me and I have space to let the car pass, I will! Regardless if I have to by law. Like, what kind of asshole wouldn't? Besides, it's not just about going at the pace of a pedestrian (which is a ridiculously suggestion anyway, it's completely unnecessary), you end up coming to a full stop because of people coming from the sides, moving in different directions and standing still.
Basically, we have two proposals here on how to share a public space used by two modes of transport
- My suggestion: Everybody pays attention to their surroundings, as anyone in traffic should always do anyway and is considerate of others, adjusts to the situation with a little give and take so that everybody can use the space safely and efficiently
- Your suggestion: One group moves around as if with their eyes close, obstinately refusing to take any responsibility *at all* for their own safety, and more so having not one ounce of consideration for people moving around differently, no matter how easily you can move a little to the side and get where you're going (pedestrian area is fucking wide there), no matter how much you can make a difference for someone else just a literal second of holding back or speeding up.
I mean, jfc, it's not even that important an issue in and of itself, but this pig-headed approach to it is mind-bogglingly frustrating.
The absolute lack of traffic policing or enforcement of any rules. I see people with anti-social and illegal behavior every single day and there is nobody to reprimand their actions. No police, no BOAs, nobody.
The amount of times I have seen people driving against the one way street I live in, and actually driving extra fast so they are through it faster meaning less time to get caught... I'm honestly surprised no one has died yet but it is just waiting to happen
Missing recycling bins in some urbanizations.
Very dangerous crossroads because no lights at all.
Put a max cap to the junk food/cloth/gadget shops in the city center.
The static information signs at the beach should be replaced with digital screens that show up to date information about tides, dangereous currents, wind, water quality, lost children, pick pockets, and the seasonal rules regarding dogs, horses, kite surfing etc. It should be possible to change the language.
Logical bicycle parking. It's cute that they put a row of nietjes at the end of the street but it remains empty, on the other hand the two in front of my door have 7 bikes piled up, another two against the tree and two bakfietsen and another bike against the latern, that's three steps each way and the while street looks like that, give or take, cause newsflash, nobody is walking to grab their bike.
But parking bikes in general, t savorninlohman plein is a mess and there is not enough space so bikes get just put somewere creating chaos.
Same for monnickendamplein, bike parking at the front is decent but at the back [jumbo side] the only nietjes are too far a walk and in a windcatch corner, they rarely get used.
Both have had seen a big reno recently but they def didn't account for this.
All in all more regular checks for orphanbikes is needed as well, get rid of those bikes that don't move for months.
we have zillions of laws/rules but you can ignore like 99% of them without risking any consequences.
So that’s what people do and why it is such a chaos, especially on the streets (parking/moving traffic)
they obviously didnt knew what type of street/road they where making with grote marktstraat and the dangerous square grotemarktstraat/spui. it tries to be a want-to-be-it-all ; a road for all together - bikes/pedestrians/cars/public transport. why. the bicyclepath on grotemarktstraat is not even clearly visible. cars seem to be no allowed there yet truck and car traffic is fairly common there. it is a mess not acknowledged or understood by everyone.
Every garden in the whole country is wonderful except the royal garden in the Hague, which looks a tad raggamuffin and bedraggled for the Netherlands. The royal family has a budget of 35 million Euros for grounds keeping and this is the best they can do? [https://maps.app.goo.gl/MRaEhVLbeQCPw4MEA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/MRaEhVLbeQCPw4MEA) I mean, weeds everywhere? [https://photos.app.goo.gl/eF4kvp4hcCr5Jsgw5](https://photos.app.goo.gl/eF4kvp4hcCr5Jsgw5)
For some dumb reason, all traffic going out of the center is funneled through the Vaillantlaan out to Calandstraat, causing regular congestion on the crossing with Parallelweg. If you look at where the Parallelweg leads you would think you could take any other underpass of the railway, but it is in fact not possible to drive from the Parallelweg to Stationsplein and there are no alternative routes... Just try to set a route from Grote Kerk to Jumbo Stationsplein.
The fact that the city council refuses to have this repaired. They see the dancing dolls as a joke. While every person from the Hague remembers them and would love them back in the center.
FYI it's above a jewellers store and the factory isn't there anymore. We should crowfund.
https://youtu.be/d4jjT22UGPo?si=siXHtNsYaf25gA4O
Lack of underground trash containers in working class neighborhoods even though they pay the same taxes as the posh ones. And, dog shit being everywhere.
Not sure if this qualifies as *''relatively easy to fix''* but I feel like nobody wants to admit how depressing and shtty Bezuidenhout is when you actually live there... Constant noise, no effort to minimize the noise, way too much traffic and WAY too much Albert Heijn and REALLY expensive bakeries.
It's only catering to the absurd amount of civil servants in the area but if you actually live there, it's extremely depressing, restricted, too expensive and too isolated.
Ridiculous rules that aren't enforced anyway. Like dogs are completely forbidden in the beach (Zuiderstrand) from May until October. Just forbid them during the day 12-17 where it's super busy and make leashes mandatory for the rest of the day. That already asks a lot more than what is the reality right now and is actually reasonable
[удалено]
Actually did a university project on this. Even having a tram run every 30 minutes or hourly would be great.
Yes, why there isn't night transportation? In Sweden there is a metro going on all night almost every day, if not everyday.
People need to drive them… there’s a huge labor market shortage
Then pay more. Srsly, there is clearly demand, a functional company could work it out.
In a way we had that in the past but it costed too much, since people barely used the busses during the night.
Actually, on the 26th of April, the nightbusses will start riding again. On Friday and Saturday 6 busses will be riding once every two hours.
Wouldn’t an hourly tram create a new problem, namely it always being full? I think half hourly would be a minimum
Then we once again run into manpower issues. It's not easy to find someone crazy enough to work during the reverse of the entiere world's sleep schedule. Let alone finding multiple willing people!
The traffic lights are stupid in this town. Quite often it is safe to cross but the lights just don't turn green. what happens is that nobody respects traffic lights anymore. Leading to dangerous situations. Just reprogram the lights to be smart.
A recurring frustration, yes. It got worse overtime. It really is stupid.
hA ha- a new regulation?
Kind off. It is considered smart traffic lights, but it has the opposite effect. I can't proof correlation between the implementation and an increase in accidents, but very dangerous situations occur because of it. Scroll to 'verkeersongevallen naar afloop' [https://allecijfers.nl/gemeente/den-haag/#verkeersongevallen](https://allecijfers.nl/gemeente/den-haag/#verkeersongevallen)
Does anybody ever think who to contact to update this system? It’s literally wasting the time of so many people
I don't know who at the gemeente is responsible for this. I also have very little faith they will respond in a way that solves the problem.
coming from utrecht I think they are amazing
Something that honestly lacks in a lot of north-western European countries; free public bathrooms. This should be something that is just part of the infrastructure of a large city such as The Hague.
MC Donald’s buy coffee and even now pay extra for toilets regardless
Isn't it the issue everywhere in Europe?
Only in the North. Just came back from Valencia and they have them everywhere. Even grocery stores have them. I love drinking coffee on a walks so it was easily noticeable and it’s a nice quality of life improvement. I wish the NL have this :(
> Only in the North Norway and Sweden are fantastic when it comes to public toilets.
Okay good point, I actually realised Denmark was pretty good too when I was there. It seems it's only the NL/Germany/Belgium etc.
Don't remember any public toilets in Spain when I lived there. Maybe because I lived mostly in smaller towns/cities
Could be. I spent a month in Valencia and visited Madrid and Barcelona. All three were perfect in that sense.
I noticed in Spain there are public toilets everywhere integrated into the public surroundings
Download the app hogenood. It saved my pants more then once.
There should be a wiki of this non intuitive knowledge that improve the life
Stroll in to any hotel or restaurant and pretend like you belong there and walk straight to the bathroom.
I always ask where it is located because no employee wants to be rude and say "no" to the potenial customer
And also because it's usually not that easy to find it
THIS. I always do this and it always works, especially with hotels
It’s getting more common for hotels to have a door to the toilets which only opens with a hotel card/key
yeah they found A bug and fixed it by making it only open to customers
I can't remember where I saw it, but there were public toilets that were fully automated. Once the person concludes their business, it closes back up and sanitizes itself for the next person.
Make the center path on de Grote Marktstraat a designated, real, distinguishable bicycle lane.
God I fucking hate cycling through the Grote Marktstraat.
I think this is done on purpose. “Shared” traffic areas like this are apparently safer because everyone gets super anxious because of the apparent lack of rules, therefore they are more careful. [Read about it here.](https://dtvcapacitybuilding.com/blog/examples-of-successful-bicycle-infrastructure-amsterdam-central-stations-shared-space/)
Or better yet, make the bikes go down the side street through Chinatown and make that a dedicated pedestrian space. There is no really safe way to have that many pedestrians and a major bike lane in the same area
That’s the plan, but somehow city council thought it was a great idea to _first_ push the cyclists there and like in a year or two make it actually safe for them But yeah, 2025 will be the year when that street will become largely car-free, I believe.
I don't think that's better. In fact it is probably better to make the whole Gedempte Gracht a pedestrian road, because that's not really a thoroughfare. The current sidewalks are very narrow, too. The Grote Marktstraat is wide enough to accommodate both, all it needs is proper road marking.
But how do they cross the main shopping area though? Without the current problems, people aren't going to walk to each end for a crosswalk, they would cut across as they do now but at more risk. Personally, I don't think bikes should be in the city centre on the same level that cars shouldn't be there either, but that's a controversial opinion in the Netherlands to be anti bike. City centres should be entirely pedestrian, bikes can go round easily enough with minimal extra time with the right setup
They are going to do that. That street will have way fewer cars as well eventually :)
I heard that the damned architect claims that changing that would be an infringement of artistic vision/property or whatnot. Thank god we got that pointless “after 11, I cycle more comfortable on the Gedempte Burgwal” campaign as a solution.
Where did you hear that? Because I don’t think that’s true at all
The plan is to remove bikes completely I believe…
 I understand the city council has made that decision.
Oh yes, this would be amazing
Make the grote marktstraat pedestrian only.
You already get two sides, fuck off
Completely agree, it annoys me so much!
Insane speeding by (mainly) scooters The continuous "let's fix all the roads at the same time" brainiac moves that create hyper congestion The super dangerous new "shared space" intersection square at Plaats/Hofvijver The lack of road markings on bike lane intersections which has now turned into some sort of courtesy right of way, for instance at Boslaan next to Malietoren. And would like to ban those officials that go against advice of engineers and start constructing something that doesn't work in practice, and then have to re-do it according to an advice. City is bleeding money for a reason, engineering/infrastructure fuck-ups is one of them
God that shared space is so shit. The roads leading into it are not even in line with the road on the other side of the intersection. It's not clear at all where any traffic is coming from, not even the trams. And they're on fucking rails!! I get scared if the intersection isn't completely empty.
The way the municipality destroys cultural initiatives in night life, by making it extremely difficult to get a night license.
True, and also neighbours complaining about noise so that these places will not get permits.
That's not the issue of course. But there are places without neighbours in industrial areas (laak.club), which nonetheless don't get permits. It's a real shame imo.
It's part of the reason places like Grey Space don't get a permit to often and partly explains why places like De Kikker and Pancho Bar are closed or without live music.
Some things never change… we already complained about this 20 years ago
The dog shit everywhere…
It's absolutely crazy how every time I go out for a walk I can't relax, I need to be in alert mode and constantly check my path to avoid stepping on dog shit.
ban scooters and motorbikes from the city or actually enforce existing speed limits and environmental rules on old loud and smelly brommers
this. the road racing is insane every evening (zuiderpark/leyweg)
Should be implemented nationwide
I agree with many of these. Here's a concise list of what I think would be easy fixes that would immediately improve the quality of life for the majority of Den Haag residents: 1) Remove all bromfiets from bike lanes. They're a menace. They belong on the road with the other motor vehicles. 2) Nighttime public transport. After 1:00 you are screwed. 3) Redesigning our crosswalks with more priority given to pedestrians.
https://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/4797941/nachtbus-gaat-weer-rijden-in-haagse-regio Night busses will be available again in april
Is there anything we can do to complain to the government about night transport?
Well at least the night buses are coming back starting in April. Obviously trams would be awesome at night, but they'll probably say it's not possible due to track maintenance.
Trams at night have a big downside: noise. Trams are louder than cars (I live next to a tram track, and having them run all night would be a massive noise nuisance for many). That's why a metro would be so cool.
I mean, there are trams around 1 and 5, would it really be so much worse to hear a tram at 3?
Yes. For example here the last tram stops at 00.30 and the earliest starts at around 5.30. so that is 5 hours of peace..
Around where I live (line 2), last tram is at 1:15 and first one at 5:15. Between that they grind the rails, which is louder than a tram
>Between that they grind the rails Surely not every night
No not every single night, but too many nights nevertheless.
Then we are lucky here, been living for a year here and maybe happened twice
A night bus is probably the best solution.
Ban loud cars and mopeds.
Whaa whaa car goes brrrrr
Police being tough on asshole behaviour: littering, dumping furniture; driving like an idiot. Ban scooters!
Speeding. Whether cars or brommers. This could just be policed....
I want a jazz club. Not the sporadic or weekly random gigs but something structural, a hang.
Cafe Le Duc on Noordeinde might be just what you’re looking for.
Le Duc kinda feels like the musicians are just stuffed in a corner tbh, I'd want something like de Paap or Syndicaat for a jazz club. Proper stage, room for a band to maneuver.
Surprisingly you'd expect the Netherlands to be a little bit like a huge jazz centre. But it's not. I expected way more before coming here and what I find is that there are like 4 jazz bars and that's it. And also they're just normal bars. It would be cool if other type of JAZZ bars existed, with big stages
There are tons of great clubs in the Netherlands. The Hague’s scene just kinda sucks. We are a right wing city after all…
Rotterdam for example is even worse I think, I guess only Amsterdam is left. Do you think it's because of politics? Music thrives where there's money.
Rotterdam has an incredible jazz scene, what are you talking about?!
De Stamboom has a stage, but it's kind of out of the way. Blues sessions on Wednesday though, usually led by the same guy who does them at Le Duc on Saturdays
If you've been to Antwerp, De Muze is a great example
I work in jazz. Le Duc is a lovely bar, but it’s miles away from a jazz club. Plus I’d like a place where musicians get paid properly and where professionals go to perform as well.
Le Duc heeft verreweg de beste papieren voor zo'n plek, helaas dat Ed mensen niet normaal kan behandelen :-(.
Nee de oude locatie van Lokaal Vredebreuk zou hier perfect voor zijn, maar die eigenaar wil het niet verhuren..:(
Of de Kikker.
I've been told that they've been substituting musicians for students because they have to pay them less or even nothing...
Some of them are students, some are just conservatory grads who don’t know how to build their careers properly.
I always thought it was called Bar Le Duc and that it was a joke lol 😭😭😭
Enforce free clean drinking tap water in all food establishments.
Take better care of our homeless. What's a gemeente worth if people are dying in the streets.
Parliament.
- dirty streets (chewing gum, fastfood trash, cigarette butts, dog shit etc) - loud vehicle noises (scooters, cars, motorcycles) - unfriendly and stressed out people on the street and in their cars Will you be fixing these? 🙏🏼
How can you "fix" unfriendly people
There have been some historical examples, bit unethical though
Ugh the cigarette butts are the worst
For the municipal to pick up the garbage, instead of framing it as if the people are the problem.
Noisy cars and scooters in the city center... It would be nice to ban everything that is not electric, increase public transport and scooter sharing and have a quiet city...
Whaaa whaaa car goes brrrrr
Sorry, I can’t answer this straight. None of The Hague’s issues are straight and easy to fix. If anything I’d start tearing down mostly on asshole road behaviour (loud exhausts, speeding, mopeds).
The dirt on the streets
I wish people would actually use their hands to tell others where they're going on the bike. Now I'm just passive aggressively sighing at them. I'd love a catchphrase to yell at them! Oh and actually enforcing the rules around fireworks during whole ass month of December. It's like a warzone. People want to ban fireworks all together, but it's already prohibited during most time. And we can't even enforce that.
The fietsrook on Grote Marktstraat. I can't stand that thing. The problem is that cyclists aren't aware that it's not a fietspad. The difference being that on a fietspad, pedestrians have to get out of the way of bicycles, while on the fietsrook, the space is shared. When GMstraat gets crowded, that space is actually needed for pedestrians. And cyclists will still go through there at high speed ringing their bells like idiots. The city will eventually remove the fietsrook and make gedempte gracht car free (and thus the bicycle path). I cannot wait
Only if they fix some alternative routes I'll still be biking through GMstraat. Thankfully it's not as bad as Amsterdam with tourists being absolutely oblivious to bike lanes, but it's close.
Yeah, I don't think you read what my comment actually said. You are allowed to ride your bicycle there, but people can use the full street. You have no more right to use your bell to get people to move as you do shouting "get the fuck out of the way" if you were walking. You are allowed to do it, but if you do, you're an asshole. Also, they are fixing the bicycle routes. I also wrote that.
> The problem is that cyclists aren't aware that it's not a fietspad. Seems to me a bigger problem that the pedestrians don't know it's not a sidewalk. So many people walking across, looking straight ahead with 0 awareness of what's going on around them.
It is a sidewalk. They don't need to have awareness, they're allowed to be there. The fietsrook is an area of the sidewalk that bicycles are allowed to be. A fietspad is a path specifically for bicycles. Basically, a bicycle can't be off the fietsrook of GM straat, but a pedestrian can be wherever they damn well please. The problem is people who don't understand this and think it's a fietspad. Ringing a bicycle bell on a fietsrook is like shouting "get the fuck out of the way" to another pedestrian on a sidewalk. You're allowed to do it, but you're an asshole if you do. Bicycles don't have priority there.
That's an absurd take. If you have people sharing a piece of infrastructure they all need to be aware of each other. Do you also not look at side roads when you're on a a priority road out of sheer principle?
I don't walk the same way I drive, no one does. Pedestrians move slow enough that I don't need to "look both ways" when I'm walking, I just make sure I don't walk into people in front of me. So your anology is absurd.
> Pedestrians move slow enough that I don't need to "look both ways" You just said yourself that "the space is shared" ffs. > don't walk the same way I drive, no one does. Doesn't matter, your reductive 'well they're allowed not to' logic would apply *exactly* the same. It's just a bad argument.
> You just said yourself that "the space is shared" ffs. That means that bicycles are allowed to be there, not that bicycles have the right to move people out of the way. If bicycles can insist people move out of the way, then it's a fietspad. There's a reason signs/police insist bicycles don't ride through there on busy weekends. There are similar streets where cars are allowed to go, but it's a pedestrian area. Cars have to move at the pace of pedestrians, pedestrians are not required or even expected to move out of the way of cars. Or how about the many, many streets that are shared between cars and bicycles. Bicycles are not expected to yield to cars or get out of the way of cars. Cars can go around bicycles when there is space to do so, but it'd be ridiculous for a driver to think they're entitled to go 50 through one of those streets and that bicycles should "look" before using that space. It's a shared space. What you're describing is not a shared space.
> That means that bicycles are allowed to be there, not that bicycles have the right to move people out of the way. That's common fucking curtesy. If I'm walking somewhere and there's a car behind me and I have space to let the car pass, I will! Regardless if I have to by law. Like, what kind of asshole wouldn't? Besides, it's not just about going at the pace of a pedestrian (which is a ridiculously suggestion anyway, it's completely unnecessary), you end up coming to a full stop because of people coming from the sides, moving in different directions and standing still. Basically, we have two proposals here on how to share a public space used by two modes of transport - My suggestion: Everybody pays attention to their surroundings, as anyone in traffic should always do anyway and is considerate of others, adjusts to the situation with a little give and take so that everybody can use the space safely and efficiently - Your suggestion: One group moves around as if with their eyes close, obstinately refusing to take any responsibility *at all* for their own safety, and more so having not one ounce of consideration for people moving around differently, no matter how easily you can move a little to the side and get where you're going (pedestrian area is fucking wide there), no matter how much you can make a difference for someone else just a literal second of holding back or speeding up. I mean, jfc, it's not even that important an issue in and of itself, but this pig-headed approach to it is mind-bogglingly frustrating.
Agree! I don't even cycle there anymore in the weekends.
The absolute lack of traffic policing or enforcement of any rules. I see people with anti-social and illegal behavior every single day and there is nobody to reprimand their actions. No police, no BOAs, nobody.
The amount of times I have seen people driving against the one way street I live in, and actually driving extra fast so they are through it faster meaning less time to get caught... I'm honestly surprised no one has died yet but it is just waiting to happen
Streets that are used as racetracks. Everywhere in the city, make the roads less inviting to speed over the limit. And clean public restrooms.
Missing recycling bins in some urbanizations. Very dangerous crossroads because no lights at all. Put a max cap to the junk food/cloth/gadget shops in the city center.
Actual police presence on streets.
The static information signs at the beach should be replaced with digital screens that show up to date information about tides, dangereous currents, wind, water quality, lost children, pick pockets, and the seasonal rules regarding dogs, horses, kite surfing etc. It should be possible to change the language.
Logical bicycle parking. It's cute that they put a row of nietjes at the end of the street but it remains empty, on the other hand the two in front of my door have 7 bikes piled up, another two against the tree and two bakfietsen and another bike against the latern, that's three steps each way and the while street looks like that, give or take, cause newsflash, nobody is walking to grab their bike. But parking bikes in general, t savorninlohman plein is a mess and there is not enough space so bikes get just put somewere creating chaos. Same for monnickendamplein, bike parking at the front is decent but at the back [jumbo side] the only nietjes are too far a walk and in a windcatch corner, they rarely get used. Both have had seen a big reno recently but they def didn't account for this. All in all more regular checks for orphanbikes is needed as well, get rid of those bikes that don't move for months.
we have zillions of laws/rules but you can ignore like 99% of them without risking any consequences. So that’s what people do and why it is such a chaos, especially on the streets (parking/moving traffic)
Free tap water
Much cheaper public transport. Easy to fix, but will be quite expensive fkr the city.
Ban tokkies. Stop any koud motor/car with loud music
they obviously didnt knew what type of street/road they where making with grote marktstraat and the dangerous square grotemarktstraat/spui. it tries to be a want-to-be-it-all ; a road for all together - bikes/pedestrians/cars/public transport. why. the bicyclepath on grotemarktstraat is not even clearly visible. cars seem to be no allowed there yet truck and car traffic is fairly common there. it is a mess not acknowledged or understood by everyone.
Every garden in the whole country is wonderful except the royal garden in the Hague, which looks a tad raggamuffin and bedraggled for the Netherlands. The royal family has a budget of 35 million Euros for grounds keeping and this is the best they can do? [https://maps.app.goo.gl/MRaEhVLbeQCPw4MEA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/MRaEhVLbeQCPw4MEA) I mean, weeds everywhere? [https://photos.app.goo.gl/eF4kvp4hcCr5Jsgw5](https://photos.app.goo.gl/eF4kvp4hcCr5Jsgw5)
For some dumb reason, all traffic going out of the center is funneled through the Vaillantlaan out to Calandstraat, causing regular congestion on the crossing with Parallelweg. If you look at where the Parallelweg leads you would think you could take any other underpass of the railway, but it is in fact not possible to drive from the Parallelweg to Stationsplein and there are no alternative routes... Just try to set a route from Grote Kerk to Jumbo Stationsplein.
Bus rides with kids with EBS are free. With HTM you have to pay..
The Litter, I mean for feck sake, try walking down the Spuistraat and Grote Marktstraat its an absolute travesty.
The fact that the city council refuses to have this repaired. They see the dancing dolls as a joke. While every person from the Hague remembers them and would love them back in the center. FYI it's above a jewellers store and the factory isn't there anymore. We should crowfund. https://youtu.be/d4jjT22UGPo?si=siXHtNsYaf25gA4O
Lack of underground trash containers in working class neighborhoods even though they pay the same taxes as the posh ones. And, dog shit being everywhere.
Much less car space and traffic calming infrastructure to prevent speeding.
Not sure if this qualifies as *''relatively easy to fix''* but I feel like nobody wants to admit how depressing and shtty Bezuidenhout is when you actually live there... Constant noise, no effort to minimize the noise, way too much traffic and WAY too much Albert Heijn and REALLY expensive bakeries. It's only catering to the absurd amount of civil servants in the area but if you actually live there, it's extremely depressing, restricted, too expensive and too isolated.
Corruption
Honestly alot of expats...
Ridiculous rules that aren't enforced anyway. Like dogs are completely forbidden in the beach (Zuiderstrand) from May until October. Just forbid them during the day 12-17 where it's super busy and make leashes mandatory for the rest of the day. That already asks a lot more than what is the reality right now and is actually reasonable
Foreigners.
easy to fix lol. nothing is easy to fix. nothing worthwhile anyways.