Cybercat Works 2.0

    When I started writing this article I originally had intended to write this in a similar vein to my article about Lage Zwaluwe station( Which can be found here! ). This was mostly because in my kneejerk reaction, embodied Noorderkempen station much of the same problems as Lage Zwaluwe station. Far away from any meaningful settlements, poor bus connections, little in the way of facilities etc etc etc. As I began writing the article however I began to realize that I didn't as much disliked the station itself as much as I disliked getting to the station. Unlike Lage Zwaluwe has Noorderkempen station actually quite a lot going for it, it is however held back by the infrastructure around it and the strange decisions made by De Lijn(the Flemish bus company). So today I am taking a departure from complaining about the Netherlands to complain about Belgium instead. There are many things to complain about in Belgium. To the point that complaining about Belgium has almost become a c...

  Note: This article started live as a video script. Most of the content has been regained but alterations have been made to adept to the blog format.  This… is Lage Zwaluwe train station. It is a train station located between the three Dutch cities of Dordrecht, Roosendaal and Breda and has regional train connections to all three of those places. It is also one of the most poorly designed and serviced train stations in this part of the Netherlands.   Now I can already hear you ask: “But Pim how is that possible? Those charismatic North American urbanist Youtubers told me that the Netherlands is urbanist heaven! Surely you must be exaggerating!”. Now hold your horses there because we are getting ahead of ourselves. I will talk about the portrayal of the Netherlands on urbanist Youtube later. For now let’s take a look at Lage Zwaluwe station and see what connections it has and how it’s location makes it impractical and difficult to use.    Oh my look at how ...

Note: This article is gonna focus mostly on Dutch public transport since that is what I am mostly familiar with. The things that I am about to mention in this article may not work or apply in every situation. Readers discretion is advised. Not too long ago I was distraught by the news that Arriva was apparently gonna scrap some bus lines in the city where I live after 21:00(1). I was distraught by this news since these were cuts in not only city bus lines but also regional lines to more provincial towns and villages. I have been(at the time of writing) looking for a different home for some time now and due to my lack of a car or a driver's license I would be dependent on a bus line to get anywhere, should I find a home in one of these places. This feeling of distraught only intensified when I discussed this with some friends of mine and they informed me that even more bus lines were probably gonna be scrapped in the Breda region(another region I am looking at for a new home)(2).  N...