Comments on: Dispatch from Copenhagen http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/ Creating a better community through bicycling, throughout Seattle, King County and Washington state. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:04:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed – Cycling Embassy of Denmark http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-26351 Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed – Cycling Embassy of Denmark Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:35:56 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-26351 [...] 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. [...]

]]> By: Final dispatch from Copenhagen, city of bicycling « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-22150 Final dispatch from Copenhagen, city of bicycling « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:05:28 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-22150 [...] 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 [...] [...] 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 [...]

]]> By: Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-22034 Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:53:53 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-22034 [...] 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. [...]

]]> By: Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-22033 Copenhagen to Seattle: Bike infrastructure needed « Cascade Bicycle Club Blog Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:53:53 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-22033 [...] 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. [...]

]]> By: Kevin Carrabine http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-21951 Kevin Carrabine Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:27:11 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-21951 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. 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.

]]> By: diane lindblad http://blog.cascade.org/2011/06/whats-it-really-like/comment-page-1/#comment-21911 diane lindblad Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:08:11 +0000 http://blog.cascade.org/?p=6588#comment-21911 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. 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.

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