Copenhagen.
What do you think of?
Maybe it’s the 37% of all trips made by bicycle—and 50% by residents. Or maybe it’s that famous bike counting sign that occasionally reads 36,000 riders, for just one street—and for just one day. Or it could be the fact that, when asked why they bike, only 1% of Copenhageners reported that it’s for environmental reasons—but 56% say they do it because it’s easy and convenient. Or maybe it has something to do with Copenhagen’s miles and miles of bike-specific infrastructure.
What do I think of? It’s clear that I see stats—but I should say that I saw stats. Now I see this:
The evening line up
A typical mid-day scene (not even rush hour!)
A family riding home from dinner
Bike parking at a metro station
Just riding
But a few quick photos don’t do justice to how it actually feels to ride with half the city.
It feels close and connected. Brushing arms mid-pedal with someone on their way to work but not being startled. Seeing families, couples and friends with beach towels heading to the coast on a sunny day.
It feels inclusive and multi-generational. The 91-year old father of a new friend out on his bike today, like every day. A pile of kids and their mom passing by on one of hundreds of cargo bikes. A group of young men playfully riding in no particular direction. A couple in their 60s riding to church.
It feels vibrant and alive. People stopping for lunch and filling the streetscape at outdoor cafes. Kids learning to ride in traffic with parents who don’t look concerned. Tens of thousands of people moving, active, coordinated and pleasant.
It feels like what we want it to feel in Seattle… and in Bellevue, and in Renton, and in Everett, and everywhere. Eight in ten Copenhageners ride here and ride often. So it’s not a community of bicyclists or car drivers or transit-riders or pedestrians. It’s a community of people—people who happen to bicycle.
Lastly, a quick recap of what my first three days in Copenhagen were like:
Saturday: I land a day early to sleep off the 10-hour flight and to go exploring on my own. I pick up a bike and pedal around town, generally stunned by what I’ve only heard about until now. I meet up with a few early arrivals from our group of electeds, practitioners, designers and advocates. We share an evening of beers and dinner at a waterside cafe, outdoor festivals and music and strolling through busy but carless streets. Oh yes, and eventually I get a few hours of sleep.
Sunday: Councilmember Sally Bagshaw and I depart for an amazing 6-hour self-guided and mapless tour that brings us from city center to countryside and back. We finally get the hang of how to ride in traffic—bike traffic. I refill water and take off for a 4-hour trip up the coast where I see a castle, reindeer and seaside towns. I’m wearing jeans and riding a 40-pound upright three speed. Sure, I could live here.
Monday: We begin with a presentation by Andreas Røhl, head of the City’s cycling program. Then a conversation with the Danish Cycling Federation’s executive director, Jens Rasmussen, and staff. And finally a very comprehensive and guided bicycle infrastructure tour of the city by the folks at Copenhagenize. There’s food and debriefing with our group in there, of course. And, luckily, we still have the rest of the week. I’m not tiring of this! And that’s a great feeling.
A protest for better bicycling facilities, courtesy of the Danish Cycling Federation
Thanks to I-Sustain for putting on an excellent trip so far and to the Scan | Design Foundation for their generous support in bringing us here.
Tags: copenhagen
Love your report on Copenhagen. Your fact finding mission offers a vision for the future and without a doubt, the goal for any individual currently caught in the fossil fuel burning excesses of American culture but I would like to add a few caveats to your experience.
I have spent a good bit of time in Copenhagen and lived in more than one European capital (and countless other outposts) where cycling is the norm and car ownership or even public transport is less affordable than plain ol’ pedal power. It takes far more than a mind set or an inclusive society to determine who will ride and how often.
In fact, most of Europe pays far more in taxes than the average American is willing to fork over for refueling his/her gas guzzling behemoth at the pumps. These taxes ensure a societal safety net the likes of which we will never understand. It also enables the construction and maintenance of bike lanes and parking facilities, what you call a ‘bike specific infrastructure’.
The “inclusiveness’ you so glowingly speak of is not one of a naive idealism but built on the back of a pay as you go system. One that most Americans are loathe to subsidize much less endorse.
For inspiration we must look to our own spirit and our own global perspectives that still respect the inherent give and take of our own precarious democratic system. It is understandable that riding with masses of people can FEEL euphoric to the uninitiated or to a visitor who isn’t engaged in the daily grind of getting to work and home again.
I can’t tell you how often I have run across a farmer on his way home from the field in a small European town, cigarette hanging from his mouth, using the same transportation his grandparents used….and the only one he can afford. Or watching inner city Dublin commuters dodging double decker buses on the way to work because they can ill afford the money for a car, a license, road tax, or petrol.
The shiny happy masses of Copenhagen surely have a vunnerful life of carefree cycling but all social planning, even theirs, comes at a cost. Make sure you are willing to endorse AND support it before you even begin to describe it as a Disneyworld for the modern commuter.
Thanks John for the eyewitness report. Something I would like to experience in my lifetime.
And I”m curious what Diane sees as the ‘cost’ of the social planning that exists in Denmark..are you talking about taxes? The farmer is taxed so heavily that he can’t afford a motor vehicle? Or the lack of freedom we might say a Dubliner has because she isn’t able to own a car? Just curious.
[...] From 1960 to 2008, they built out a vast network of bicycle facilities, including some 200 kilometers of additional cycletrack, that serve all types of riders. This obviously meant investment—and invest they did. The City of Copenhagen reached an inflection point at this time when they galvanized political will and translated it into an immediate tripling of funding for bicycle infrastructure. They spent from $10-20 million each year, and have sustained that commitment to the present day. At about $25 per citizen per year, they have steadily transformed the city into the world-class bicycle city we know today. And it’s a place where bicycling has helped catalyze incredible developments in livability and community that I briefly described earlier this week. [...]
[...] From 1960 to 2008, they built out a vast network of bicycle facilities, including some 200 kilometers of additional cycletrack, that serve all types of riders. This obviously meant investment—and invest they did. The City of Copenhagen reached an inflection point at this time when they galvanized political will and translated it into an immediate tripling of funding for bicycle infrastructure. They spent from $10-20 million each year, and have sustained that commitment to the present day. At about $25 per citizen per year, they have steadily transformed the city into the world-class bicycle city we know today. And it’s a place where bicycling has helped catalyze incredible developments in livability and community that I briefly described earlier this week. [...]
[...] not really. As I’ve described in a previous post, it was essential to immerse ourselves in the actual experience. That said, this trip is only as [...]
[...] From 1960 to 2008, they built out a vast network of bicycle facilities, including some 200 kilometers of additional cycletrack, that serve all types of riders. This obviously meant investment—and invest they did. The City of Copenhagen reached an inflection point at this time when they galvanized political will and translated it into an immediate tripling of funding for bicycle infrastructure. They spent from $10-20 million each year, and have sustained that commitment to the present day. At about $25 per citizen per year, they have steadily transformed the city into the world-class bicycle city we know today. And it’s a place where bicycling has helped catalyze incredible developments in livability and community that I briefly described earlier this week. [...]