Copenhagenize.com - Bicycle Culture by Design

Feeding Time

2012-01-27T18:55:00.001+01:00

Sometimes you just have to stop and feed the swans and ducks on your way home. With a half a bread roll in the fading light of a Nordic winter day.

Vintage Enlightenment and Despair

2012-01-19T22:56:00.000+01:00

What a lovely shot. Copenhagen. 1907. Vestre Boulevard. Dug up by our very own Lars Barfred.

The sign on the right reads "Bicycle Lane". Sweet. At first glance it's a nice vintage photograph - coloured for effect - of a street in Copenhagen. And then, as a Copenhagener, you realise... hey... I KNOW that street. That's City Hall on the left and Tivoli Gardens on the right. Vestre Boulevard is now named Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard.

My goodness! Look at how lovely that street is! So liveable. Like a wide street in the heart of a city should be. Look at all that space!

Then you get depressed because you remember what it's like now.

(Thanks to Jason for the link to What Was There and this image)

The 1907 photo was taken from right about where that black car is, in the middle of the intersection. H.C. Andersen's Boulevard is the most congested street in Denmark apart from the motorways. 55,000 cars a day. It carves a grey scar through the heart of the Danish capital. 250,000 pedestrians cross City Hall Square (bottom right) on a summer's day, at the mercy of the parasites. Over 20,000 bicycle users ride up and down this street each day, as well. Indeed, three of the intersections on this stretch are the most dangerous in the nation for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Dutch National Cycling Council - Fietsberaad - were amazed that a city like Copenhagen wasn't tackling this blatant problem in this report.

There was talk of burying the boulevard and reclaiming the surface space for people a few years back, but that idea disappeared. Just some mumbling about noise reduction asphalt has been heard from city hall.

Here's the boulevard from above, in the same direction as the first vintage photo.

Same area. Amazing to see what this street used to be like and could be like again if there were any political vision coming out of the city hall, above.

As it is now, six lanes of cars roar through the heart of our city. At speed limits far too high for such a densely-populated area.

The vintage photo is, at once, enlightening and depressing.

New Campaign - Ignoring the Danish Bull

2012-01-18T18:20:00.000+01:00

This campaign from the car-centric Danish Road Safety Council is a prime example of how they are maintaining the status quo and Ignoring the Bull in society's china shop.

According to their warped ideology, cars rule the streets and anyone who dares to challenge this indisputable fact will be eliminated. They use cars - portrayed as anonymous machines (no focus on the invisible driver and no focus on the responsibility of these drivers to take care in the traffic) - to hammer home their point that they are incapable of taming motorised traffic and, I fear, completely unwilling to do so.

The video, above, is a part of the Tag Chancen / Take the Chance campaign, which we had a sneak preview about last year and also here. "Take Chances, just not in the Traffic" is the slogan. It is focused on the foolish youth who dare to believe that cities should be liveable places with safe mobility - a basic human right - for it's citizens.

It features the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen, who plays for Ajax Amsterdam. Filmed in Amsterdam, the Road Safety Council and their cohorts - including the Danish insurance behemoth Tryg who would love you to be frightened into buying their insurance policies - even manage to infiltrate the Netherlands with their message by filming this in that country.

Ironically, Amsterdam, like many other European cities, takes traffic safety seriously by restricting the speed limits for cars and positively promoting urban cycling. The Road Safety Council has no plans for Denmark to follow suit - either on lower speed limits or positive cycling promotion. Which is why the 30 kbh campaign was started on Facebook. Cars are king in their eyes. Get used to it.

It's manipulated reality, which is always a bit desperate. Eriksen is struck down by a speeding motorist (and we're sorry to see him arriving at Ajax stadium in a car and not on a bicycle) even though it is unlikely that a car could get up to that speed on that stretch, or would even try given the lower speed limits. But fukkit. It's dramatic effect. When citizens dare to infiltrate the domain of the automobile, they must pay the price.

Another video in the series features some Danish rapper type named Joey Moe. Wham. He's struck down for daring to challenge the dominance of the automobile. Ironically, we can see him hanging out in front of Bobi Bar in the centre of Copenhagen. It's on this street, Klareboderne:

A traffic-calmed street that ends at Købmagergade pedestrian street, from whence the car apparently is coming from. So, again, fabricated reality. Here's the street on Google Maps.

Vis stort kort

With all the videos, the cars are clearly speeding. Ignoring speed limits and setting their own agenda, with the full backing of the Road Safety Council.

There is no commentary aimed at motorists making them aware of their responsibility as drivers of dangerous machines to take care and drive responsibly. We see this all to often in the current era of traffic campaigns in Denmark, like this one that ignores the traffic rules and goes after cyclists.

There's another film featuring a Danish comedian, Mick Øgendahl. Again, same message. This time with a bike involved, which probably makes this the Road Safety Council's favourite film in the series.

There are other films in the series featuring people you have never heard of if you're from outside of Denmark, so I won't bore with with non-celebrities.

This campaign is particularly tasteless given the fact that a 10 year old girl was mowed down and killed last November - by the same kind of speeding motorist that the Road Safety Council proudly portray in this film.

The point is, as always, that Denmark's journey to renewed car-centricity - we are more car-centric now than at any time since the 1960s - is sad. Not least because a so-called Road Safety Council (basically a communications bureau that doesn't employ anyone with the ability to read scientific research) is intent on ignoring the goal of liveable cities, safe streets, lower speed limits and all the ingredients for a positive urban future. In favour of their own ideology.

That these communication people are even allowed to use money to promote their personal vision of an automobile-based society - and in 2012 - baffles the mind. Ah, yes. The insurance company's fund helps finance it. Follow the money, as ever.

Like we often say, please come to Copenhagen to see how the City of Copenhagen's traffic and bicycle department has developed a fantastic bicycle infrastructure network with brilliant innovation and dedication regarding encouraging more people to cycle.

You needn't bother coming here for our bicycle advocacy or for our (non) promotion of cycling or liveable cities. We are farther from returning to the Anti-Automobile age than we've ever been.

For that, please go to the Netherlands. We never tire of highlighting this fine example of a road safety campaign that places the focus where it must be placed:

Drive With Your Heart

A new story of our lives….

2012-01-14T01:06:00.001+01:00

...Thats what we need.

The new government is admirably determined to build a congestion-ring, around Copenhagen City. For the first time in since the oil-crisis in the early seventies, and the car-free Sundays, Danish motorists are under fire. Was the state of our tasteless self-indulgence and waste of natural resources not so catastrophic, it would be quite amusing to observe how closely aligned the excuses of smokers and motorists are. Except second hand car-driving kills twice as many as second hand smoking.

Photo: Steven Depolo

Fact is that only a small insignificant number of people drive, because they did a thorough analysis. Some are genuinely forced to, as we for sixty years build our infrastructure to favour cars over all other modes of transportation. That’s something we need to address, and strangely the government does not realize this, and specifically the Social Democrats as they continue to invest heavily on freeways, car parking and bridges. Rather than reprioritizing and making up for lost time, during the last six decades, to build better bike and public transportation infrastructure.

Sorry, I get carried away, back to the rational choice, few make it, not unique to motorists, that’s just who we are. We believe we make rational choices, after careful deliberations, well in most cases we don´t, and that’s fine, as long as we don´t pretend and rationalize after the fact.

We need politicians who acknowledge this, who have the courage, as it seems our government do have in the case of the congestion-ring, to ease our choices in a more rational and healthy direction.

And then there is one more thing we can do, because apart from 5% fact, analysis and intelligence, we base our choices on the stories we tell, the symbols we use to construct our identity, the value negotiation we constantly have with our surroundings.

We need to put first things first, an old President Carter address to the nation, reminded me of this, a really courageous speech, which I am sure stripped him of all commercial campaign contributions

We need to reemphasize the importance of well functioning personal networks, close knit communities, our families our health, rather than obsessing with quick fixes & instant gratification, material prestige, addiction to fossil fuels, economic growth and abundant fatty, sweet and meat foods.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Today our life stories are told by the marketing machines of multinational consumer good and foods companies write our histories, the billion dollar advertising budgets, ensures their stories are heard more often than that of our intellectuals, our novelists like Emerson, the Picasso´s of our day. Even the bicycle manufacturers and similar industries with a mostly positive influence on societies, are not heard thru the wall of marketing noise of Nestlé, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Shell.

Photo: by Sergio Maistrello

We cannot rely on our communities suddenly becoming rational, and probably, that would present its own set of problems, we can neither expect people not be influenced by advertising. But I believe the stories of our lives, of the people close to us matters more. We can thru each of our own actions change the stories, we can ignore the marketing noise, when we teach our children to bike safely on their way to school every morning, we we put carrots and low fat milk in their bag-pack, when we encourage them to run and play ball, rather than play wii or watch Disney channel. And the great thing about it, the car is such a big part of family economy, that if you get rid of it, your budget will not need you to work as much, their will be work-positions for more people, you will have more time to tell the important stories to your children, to enjoy teaching them to bike, listening to the birds, when you drive them in the cargo bike.

Copenhagen Cargo Bike Culture

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000+01:00

A little film about cargo bike culture in Copenhagen, featuring Andreas Røhl, the head of the Bicycle Office in Copenhagen, Christiania Bikes and Larry vs Harry.

Congestion Charges Bring Life to Cities

2012-01-09T10:47:00.000+01:00

There is a constant flow of discussion at the moment about the proposed congestion charges in Copenhagen - one of the initiatives the current government had on their election platform.

Like in Stockholm and in London prior to implementation of their congestion charges, the debate is heated and often rather one-sided.
Copenhagenize is pleased to feature this guest article written by Natalie Mossin and Jane Sandberg. Jane is the CEO of The Danish Architects' Association and Natalie is the Chairman of the Board.

The Danish Architects' Association was founded in 1879 and works to promote the quality of planning and design of our physical environment and to improve and develop the conditions for the architect's profession.

We thought it appropriate to publish some rational thoughts about the congestion charges. Here it comes.

The City of the Future Requires Space for Life

Congestion charges are about what cities will be like in the future and which needs they will fulfill.

The congestion charges have been strongly criticised and they have been divisive. Just the name – 'betalingsring' – or 'pay ring' generate associations of the worst possible kind. Just for a moment let's look away from the debate's unilateral arguments about what we'll lose and instead look at what we will gain, if Transport Minister Henrik Dam Kristensen dares to formulate a visionary goal for the Copenhagen of the future and prioritise cheaper and better public transport.

Danish cities are old and they are certainly not built for our modern transport masses. There is a natural limit to how many motor vehicles that can drive through our existing urban areas. Merely adding more car lanes is not a viable solution. Therefore we need to develop the conditions for other transport forms.

The causality behind the congestion charges is simple: If it costs money to drive into Copenhagen, many people will leave the car at home and choose instead train, bus or bicycle. The result is fewer cars, lower pollution levels, more flow in the traffic and a better urban environment.

The desire for fewer cars on the roads is not a war on cars. It is a necessary regulation of the growing number of cars in the capital region so that the city's logistics – in the future as well – can work. If the congestion charges in Copenhagen are to improve the traffic environment in Copenhagen, a number of important steps must first be taken.

The first step is defining a vision for what kind of city we wish to have in 10, 20 and 50 years. We mustn't discuss congestion charges based on what Copenhagen is like today, but rather how we wish the city to be in the future, as well as which needs it must fulfill.

We're already seeing massive changes in many peoples working lives and everyday lives. It has become more flexible and less rooted to one location, in the way we have meetings on Skype and are online everywhere we go.

These new possibilities for movement and interaction place demands on the city's space, which no longer is merely a terminal for dropping off and picking up goods as well as transport. It is a centre for human meetings – a place for experiences and recreation with a lively street scene that also has room for the as yet undiscovered. This requires space.

The next step is about public transport, which has to be better and cheaper in the capital at the very moment that the congestion charges come into effect. A large portion of the revenue from the congestion charges must be allocated to this.

The third step is about urban planning. In Stockholm they had a great deal of success with integrating revenue from their congestion charges with the national planning strategy. The local regions have therefore benefited from the revenue and have improved the general infrastructure. Why not do as the Swedes have done?

Improved accessibility on a national level could be a concrete place to start. Even though Denmark is ahead of the game regarding accessible cities, it remains difficult for many wheelchair users, elderly citizens and visual imparied to move around the streets.

Therefore, physical hindrances like lack of ramps on stairs, high curbstones, complex intersections and narrow sidewalks must be given serious thought so that the urban space can be more accessible for everyone.

There was a great deal of resistance when congestion charges were implemented in London and Stockholm. Since then, the negative perception has reversed. In 2006, 56% of Londoners were against the congestion charges. That has now fallen to 39%.

In Stockholm, only 40% were for the charges just before the pilot project was launched. The latest numbers, from 2010, show that 74% now support the congestion charges. If we are to follow in London's and Stockholm's footsteps, the Minister of Transport should take the necessary steps we have highlighted here. In addition, he should enage urban planners, architects and other stakeholders in a dialogue about the goals for the future of the city's life between houses and on the streets of Copenhagen.

It is also of utmost importance that he listens actively to the critics of the congestion charges. Not least the 15 mayors in the municipalities around Copenhagen, as they represent the citizens who will be affected by the new fees. Finally, it is important that we avoid an invisible ”city wall”. It shouldn't cost the farm to drive into Copenhagen.

There should be the possibility for differentiated payment. For example, using GPS technology that can be used with great precision in road pricing initiatives, as long as the cars have a chip that registers where they drive and sends the data to the tax authorities.

An alternative could be to divide the congestion charge between a number of zones in the city.

At the end of the end it is all about prioritising and daring to invest in the future so that Copenhagen, in the future as well, can be a city that inspires others, that is accessible to all, where there is a balance between transport forms and where there is space and life between the buildings.

If this doesn't happen, we will think back to the good old days when Copenhagen was voted the world's greenest city in 2009 and the world's most liveable city according to Monocle in 2008 and where urban planners from all over the world came to Copenhagen to study Copenhagenization and realise we dropped the ball.

Natalie and Jane's article was published in Politiken, the Danish newspaper last week. Here's the link to the Danish version.

Subversive Bicycle Photos - Los Angeles

2012-01-08T15:01:00.002+01:00

Los Angeles. 1900. Spring St. near 8th.
The latest installment in our Subversive Bicycle Photos series is from a city that enjoyed a modal share for bicycles of 20% at the turn of the last century and built impressive protected bicycle infrastructure like this 10 km, elevated cycle track back in 1900.

Alas, the bicycle disappeared from this area that was described like this in an 1897 newspaper article: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling."

Thanks to our reader, Rick, we found some subversive photographs showing the bicycle as an accepted and respected part of life in Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Public Library archives.

As ever with these subversive photos, do not let them get out. If society at large were to learn that the bicycle used to be an integral part of life for Citizens Cyclists and not just some recent sub-cultural activity for middle-class white men, who knows what might happen. People might realise that riding a bicycle used to be normal and could quite possibly become normal again. Who know what resistance might appear. At the moment it's just this, but it could get worse. We all know what happened when the car industry went after another competitive transport form.

Burbank. 1908.

First Street looking east from Yale Avenue in Claremont in 1915.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1890. 632 South Broadway.

Balboa. Newport Beach. 1940s. Photographer: Herman Schultheis.

Los Angeles Bicycle Police Squad. 1904. Broadway past 6th St.

Los Angeles. 1905. Rambler Bicycles at 207-209 West 5th Street near Spring.

Los Angeles. 1902. Commercial High School participate in the Fiesta Floral Parade with a bicycle float.

Los Angeles. 1915. Hill and 4th.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1904. Main and 9th. Bicycle Parade heading for Griffith Park.

Long Beach. Ca. 1895. Pine Avenue.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1930s. Variety Arts Theater.

Los Angeles. 1899. Spring Street.

From left:
- Portrait of Japanese boy with bicycle and notebook ca 1900.
- Grace Toya with bicycle at the Tule Lake internment camp 1945.
- Los Angeles Bicycle Club 1890s.

Los Angeles High School's Kodak and Bicycle Club ca 1900.

From top left:
- Los Angeles ca. 1930s.
- LA Rooftop Stunt 1930s.
- Ditto.
- Los Angeles "Old Settlers Parade" 1937. Photographer: George J. Cooper

Leela McAdam nee McCabe - winner of the best decorated bicycle for the 1900 Fourth of July parade in Lompoc stands outside her home at 137 South J Street.

Oh, and tell your local bike polo playing hipster that he/she is soooo old school. Bike Polo in Los Angeles, 1930s.

Might be fun to see photographs taken these days from the same locations. Let us know if you take them.

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives.

Women's Bike Design

2012-01-07T18:10:00.001+01:00

Girl on fixedgear/track bike. Photo: Joel Lingat

I ran today, its one of my goals for 2012 to run much more. Ultimately I would like running to be as natural a choice of mode of transportation as cycling is today. Also I am on a bike, a spinning bike or real bike about twenty hours a week, some variation in my exercise regime is probably advisable.

And running is very much like cycling, you use your calves and hamstrings more when running, and the thigh somewhat less, you head is in a constant position, you only want to use power to move yourself forward, not up and down, not from side to side, just forward and away, it really has much of the same beauty of motion. I believe running and cycling to be very complementary to exercising your legs. Which is actually all besides the point.

Photo: Gary Harrison

Fixed gear bike play -
Photo: Laila Ghambari

I do enjoy to run on the treadmill during the winter,. At one of the gyms I attend, the treadmills I use, face the parking lot and street. Everybody who visits the gym, passes by. two girls came on men’s road-bikes, which is not uncommon for girls between maybe 17 and 30 years old, and for good reason. Why, why, why, would a girl choose the inferior design of the woman bike, with the missing top-tube, which brings so much stability to the frame. No matter what material and no matter how thick the frame is, the women’s design never brings that feel good stiffness of a great men’s steel frame (…and yes I only ride steel).

You may argue, that the womens design is much more feminine, simply as it is the women’s frame. Which I may tend to agree with

Still you got to respect the girls who makes the conscious preference and choice of a man´s frame. Even more so, when choosing a track hub, over a soft granny-bike, in lousy quality.

Maybe its not as much if the women’s design is better or worse, more or less feminine as the clear message of the active conscious deliberations and final choice I like ;-)

Copenhagen City of Bikes

2012-01-07T17:23:00.002+01:00

Before I begin, if you don´t live in Denmark or the Netherlands, you may feel that if only your city was as welcoming to bikes. On the other hand, if you live en many Southern European cities, where the municipality has had enough reason to conclude, that cars ruin the old city center, and have virtually banned cars inside the old city walls, you may not be so envious.

Copenhagen advertises it self as a bike-city, whatever that is, if you are a tourist and understood Danish, you would rightly be confused to notice that on most buildings in the city, small signs advertise the opposite; ”Cykler fjernes uden ansvar” Bikes are removed, no responsibility accepted”. I bet you, more money went into these small signs, than into bike racks in the city. Strange thing is, it is not allowed to remove bikes from public spaces, unless they block fire exits. Even so, it is accepted by police and the city, to advertise this illegal threat.

The Police, which publicly announces it could not care less about peoples bikes getting stolen, also condones getting rid of bikes that annoy you, for whatever (by the letter of the law) unjustified reason. Welcome to the City of bikes!

This has for some time made no sense to me. This last couple of weeks there has been some public debate about a rise in traffic tickets for bicyclists. Of course there is nothing wrong with ticketing traffic offenses, and of course now and again the price of the offense needs to be adjusted to the general pricing and earnings in society, to have any effect. The bicycle association claiming there should be some leeway when offenses did neither harm any victims nor interrupt other commuters in traffic.

In some instances, we al ready have such rules, for example if a bicyclist wants to turn left in a traffic light, you must cross to the opposite side, but does not need to wait for the light to change before completing the turn, as long as you are not interrupting the traffic going straight through the light. This is incidentally the opposite of what we teach children in school, because we are more occupied by keeping them alive, than having them to cross town fast., Which again is why many thinks bicyclists crosses red more often than we do, as most people will ot have noticed that you are completing a left turn, and not just crossing a red.

But why should cyclist not just obey the law, no matter the circumstances? Well, as long as the city is designed for cars and pedestrians, and all bicyclist lanes are tertiary to planning, often remedying solutions after the fact. Because we may call our city a bike city, but we are, and invest primarily in a car city.

· 30 times as much space is allocated for car parking, compared to bike parking.

· 99% of traffic lights are planned for car traffic. How many lights in crossings would we need at all, if it was not for cars. When people frown upon pedestrians or cyclists, who decide to ignore a red, they often forget, the light is there because of cars, not to regulate pedestrians or bikes.

· In not one place do a bike path have right of way, when crossing or being crossed by car traffic, in 100% of all instances cars have right of way.

· To avoid cars killing bikes when turning left, the city hast started to make an extra traffic light for bicyclists, so we have to wait for red, while cars turn right, then we can proceed ten feet to the next light where we can wait again at red, before we can resume following the main road.

· In most cases bike lanes stops 50 feet before a traffic light, to make room for a right-turn lane for cars, a clear policy of the Copenhagen Police to prioritize car mobility and flow of traffic over bicyclist safety.

· Cars turning right are supposed to block the way of bicycles going straight or turning left. This means when the light changes the cars wait for the zebra crossing to clear for pedestrians, then the cars turning right will go, and only then is the road free for biccyles going straight across the light.

· In the Road Authority manuals on designing roads, cyclists are all but non-existent. Roads in Denmark are still designed out of a cars-speed-&-capacity paradigm only, sidewalks are always included from the then later in the planning process or after building the road, bike lanes are added.

· When speed limits are set, the principle is the speed of which 85% of cars will travel by, had there been no speed limit. One might in stead expect primary use of a lethal weapon such as a car, to be considered after evaluating the soft traffic in the street, is it residential, is it primarily children families, is it a school or merchant street or a public transportation hub, what is the total use of the area, what is the intention rather than a car centric evaluation.

· Recently the city council voted to increase investments in parking further, as their analyses showed a lack of parking spaces in residential areas in the Inner city (Østerbro), which is correct if you do not include paid parking. The city assume its services to include whatever volume of free parking, the residents demand.

· Investments in car parking only since 2005 in Copenhagen, exceeds all investments related to bike infrastructure by a factor of 4!

I think much of the reason cyclists tend to break some of the rules in traffic, is that we are the majority group, we are legion, but we are treated as a minority, which the city try to make room for, try!

A fellow bicyle advocate, recently wrote: “The day they put in the first bike path was the day cycling received its mortal wound. It took decades to take effect and it'll probably survive a few more years on life support, but unless cyclists are integrated, the dream is effectively over.”

I think he may be quite right, we need to change our paradigm of what city traffic is, and design our streets to the life we want in them, not the cars the Police wants in them.

The other major reason cyclists break the rules in Denmark, is that Danes are rather rude, no matter if we walk, bike, drive a car or a bus. We are unreasonable inconsiderate, and are more occupied about what we think are our rights, rather than to make room for safe travel for everybody. A really sad national characteristic, but its not specific to mode of transportation.

Overcomplicating Winter Cycling - Why It's Bad

2012-01-04T23:37:00.000+01:00

One of the main focuses of this blog has always been on how Copenhagen and other cities have succeeded in increasing cycling levels by approaching the subject using mainstream marketing techniques. Tried and tested marketing that has existed since homo sapiens first started selling or trading stuff to each other.

Modern bicycle advocacy, by and large, is flawed. It is firmly inspired by environmentalism which, in turn, is the greatest marketing flop in the history of humankind. Four decades of sub-cultural finger-wagging, guilt trips and preaching have given few results among the general population.

When sub-cultural groups start trying to indoctrinate and convert the public, it rarely ever succeeds. For the better part of a century, people all over the planet rode bicycles because they were quick, easy, convenient and enjoyable. In hilly cities. In hot cities. In snowy cities.

After the bicycle largely disappeared from the urban landscape because urban planning started revolving around the car and the automobile industry began their dreadfully effective marketing after the Second World War, many regions in the world have been left suffering in a bicycle vacuum.

The result is that an entire generation has been given the impression that cycling is something that a few people do for sport or recreation and not much else. People who take their hobby seriously and who invest in all manner of clothes and gear.

Regular citizens are hardly inspired to join such groups.

Now we are in the midst of a veritable bicycle boom all over the world. It's exciting. It's challenging. We were excited by the cycling revival in the 1970's but, as we all know, that faded to black again. It is of utmost importance that we maintain our current momentum and (re)secure the bicycle's place in our cities.

This will only be achieved if we focus on marketing urban cycling as a normal activity for regular citizens. If we concentrate on the masses who could be cycling, would like to be cycling, might take up urban cycling. When sub-cultures are the most vocal advocates we see that most of the advocacy stems from their own passion for their hobby/lifestyle. It seems that the goal is to get more people to join their ranks and become 'one of them', as opposed to selling urban cycling as it was meant to be from the beginning of Bicycle Culture 1.0 in the late 19th century - individual mobility for Citizen Cyclists.

So. It's that time of year again. All manner of 'how to cycle in the winter' guides are slapped up all over the internet. Year after year the sub-cultures put on their professor hats and look down their nose at the general population while they attempt to 'teach' people how to be just like them. You know... real cyclists.

I have stumbled upon a blogpost with an infographic like this one and a couple of months ago this article featured in a magazine that used to be focused on Citizen Cyclists but that has gone all sub-cultural. (they even name brand names in their 'guide', reflecting the fact that they are dependent on sponsors and advertising and not subscriptions)

While I blogged about this strange phenomenon way back in 2008 after blogging about yet another sub-cultural winter clothing guide on this website, I got curious.

Let's assume a regular citizen wanted to ride a bike in the winter. What if they stumbled upon one of the links with the infographic or guide I just mentioned?

What would this citizen - who, like the majority of the population, doesn't want to be a member of a club or sub-culture - think about what they read?

Dressing in layers? Sure. But you know what? People who live in winter climates know that already, for god's sake. They do it when they walk around the city, taking the bus or train or whatever. So they can probably figure it out when on a bicycle. And, after one day doing so, if they discover they got cold, they'll put extra clothes on the next day.

I own no cycling 'gear' whatsoever. I have, however, a winter wardrobe as I live in a country with a winter climate and I ski, etc.

What would it cost me - Joe Bicycle User - if I followed the 'advice' on these websites? Using the infographic on that website as a guide, I did some quick googling to find out some prices. I didn't spend an enormous amount of time on it, I must admit. So some of the items may be cheaper - or they might be more expensive because I didn't discover 'the coolest brands'.

As you can see, if I don't calculate my bike, I would be easily €870 ($1100) out of pocket in order to be 'just like them'. Sure, maybe there are many people who wish to take their hobby seriously and acquire all that gear, but let's face it. Most people don't. They're just pondering riding their bike in the winter because they've gotten hooked riding it all year.

But it's this kind of sub-cultural crap that the curious, potential winter bicycle users end up with after a google search. Google "winter cycling clothes" yourself and see what comes up. The results are dominated by 'cyclists' keen on recruiting, with little advice aimed at regular citizens. Not a good sign if we are trying to get people to rediscover the simplicity and convenience of urban cycling that people have enjoyed for over a century.

Imagine if the 'avid bowlers' controlled the advocacy for bowling - a fine hobby that provides the bowler with some important exercise and social interaction - like cycling. What would people who just fancied some bowling be led to think?

Here's what it looks like to be a 'passionate bowler' oozing Bowl Love for your hobby. Cheaper than cycling, but still, at €449 ($574), it's no picnic getting started. Funny how that bowling ball, the Storm Virtual Gravity Nano Pearl, resembles some of the names you see on cycling gear. And dude! You're not a 'real' bowler unless you have those handwipes!

Sheesh.

Winter is nothing new. Citizen Cyclists have been struggling through it since the beginning of bicycle culture. In many places, they still do.

Here are some bicycle users in Copenhagen last winter. It was about -10 C and around -25 with the windchill.

Anybody who cycles in the winter deserves respect. Anybody who tries to tell the general population that you need anything more than your regular winter clothes to do it... does not.

To be fair, once in a while you'll see some 'specialised' clothes on bicycles in snowstorms in Copenhagen. Like this bicycle user, above. Did she buy that outfit, complete with goggles, in order to cycle in the snow? No. That ski suit was in her winter wardrobe already. The goggles, too, as she enjoys skiing in the winter. They were already in her closet and came in handy.

Like this winter jacket.

And this boiler suit.

Like we wrote about how Critical Mass does little for winning hearts and minds and providing Joe/Jane Public with a societal mirror to inspire them to ride bicycles, cycling hobbyists doing the selling is not good marketing if we're to capitalise on this bicycle boom and get more citizens to take to the wheel.

Ironically, this link to an article about a woman who is cycling to the South Pole ticked into our inbox whilst writing this article. Besides her lack of cycling gear - she's just wearing winter clothes - the little infobox on the site (above) provides readers with some simple and practical information about cycling in the snow. That's all it really takes.

Spread the word.

For more inspiration, see the Cycling in Snowstorms set and the Cycling in Winter set - both on Flickr.

In addition, this film will show you how to do it.

The Future Isn't Here

2012-01-04T20:22:00.000+01:00

The future didn't end up like this...

If you thought the future according to Forum for the Future, Embarq and The FIA Foundation - in the previous post - was spooky and unsettling, it may be good to know that when Big Business attempts to predict the future, they are usually quite wrong.

Above is a whopper of a film - 21 minutes long - that shows General Motors' futurevision from 1940. This was produced for GM's 'Highways and Horizons' pavillion at the World's Fair and it looks ahead to the "Wonder World of 1960".

What a wild guess they took. Wishful thinking on their part, of course. The speaker bangs on and on and on about safety at high speeds and never having to slow down on whopping, billion lane highways like this:

Give the film a chance, despite the length. It's chock full of hilarious quotes.

Here's another film from General Motors, this time from 1956 and GM's Motorama car shows. You'll love the highway model at the end. 'Design for Dreamers', they called it.

Another film commissioned by General Motors, hammering home that highways are the future. Period. This one glorifies traffic engineers - funny when we now know that traffic engineers are largely to blame for the state of our cities.

Interesting, this 'House of Tomorrow', despite the prediction of 'man-made fibres' (follow the money), is a tiny bit more realistic what with hands-free telephones and video intercoms.

Perhaps predicting the details of human life and behaviour and needs is easier than predicting the glorified futurevision of large corporations who fail to see human beings and only large machines and profit.

Not surprisingly, no bicycles were used in the making of these films.

Thanks to Erik for these links.

Fear This Future - Bikes Don't Exist

2012-01-03T23:23:00.000+01:00

I've been puzzling over this most of the day today. A series of animated films from some group called Forum for the Future and their 'Megacities On The Move' project.

Four scenarios of how we'll live our lives in 2040. I've had to watch each film twice - which is rather painful because they're not that good - in order to figure out what the hell these people are on about. I've decided to slap this into the Car Industry Strikes Back category for reasons that I'll get to shortly.

What I think I've figured out is that two of these scenarios are meant to be 'positive' and two are meant to be 'negative'. The first film, above is entitled 'Communi-city'. In this scenario: "The world has turned to alternative energy, and transport is highly personalised with a huge variety of transport modes competing for road space." Apparently.

Have a look at it. Is it just me or does it look like the streets of most cities today - just with more gadgets? Just look at that traffic congestion.

Already at 01:26 into the film public transport is soundly ridiculed. The 'character', a Brit named Vee, remarks: "Public transport?! Haha. That's sooo old-fashioned. Hardly anyone uses THAT anymore. We haven't put money into trains or buses for years!"

Oh. Alright then. I think I'm getting a sense of who these people are.

At 03:00 something happens which is downright shocking. Vee is in a hurry and, in her car, she smashes into a cyclist. Her response?

"Oh, sorry! Gosh, are you alright?! No, I can't stop... I'm really sorry!" Then she continues, speaking to you and me... "Oh, I forgot some people still ride a bike. Funny how many people still don't have at least a little mini electric scooter..."

Yes. She actually said that. It's actually a line in a film made by an alleged NGO with the tagline "action for a sustainable future."

It's as stupid as can be, yes, and completely shits on bicycles as transport now and in 2040. It is supposed to serve, however, a weak dramaturgical purpose in that she is hurrying off to Date Night and she ends up on a blind date, sitting with the same cyclist, all bandaged up.

Which is, of course, no excuse for including a motorist performing a hit and run on a person on a bicycle. And then ridiculing bicycles after that.

If you watch all four films - and survive - you'll notice that bicycles are shockingly absent from these peoples' futuristic scenarios.

In the other of the two 'positive' scenarios, called Renew-abad - described as "the world has turned to alternative energy and high-tech, clean, well-planned transport helps everyone get around." - Vee rides a bike to the station but the whole point of the film is her getting all excited about the latest eco-car imported from... Morocco. Interestingly, the fake newspaper headlines at the beginning of the film include "China, Mexico, Turkey to Hunt for More Lithium". Lithium for batteries is and will be an issue in the future if all these e-contraptions gain purchase. And, as we saw in the first film, thse coal or nuclear-powered electric vehicles still kill and injure bicycle users.

The films are devoid of humans, featuring only futuristic vehicles and the tiresome voice of Vee, trying to explain all this to us. All four of them are spooky and you really sense that Big Business will feature prominently in our future - selling us all these new vehicles and technology.

In the film called Sprawl-ville - "The city is dominated by fossil fuel-powered cars.The elite still gets around, but most urban dwellers face poor transport infrastructure" - we see Vee's husband on a - shockhorror - bicycle. She tells us with thinly veiled disgust: "I HATE seeing him on that thing". She claims it's 'dangerous' but you know what? I don't take peoples' personal perception about safety to heart - it's PERSONAL - so I'm sure not going to take it from a cartoon character.

I really would like to see what the obesity levels are in these cities - all four of them. And the level of lifestyle illnesses and their effect on public health spending. Can't see how they are much improved from today.

Planned-opolis is another 'negative' film as far as I can gather. "In a world of fossil fuels and expensive energy, the only solution is tightly planned and controlled urban transport."

This one is just weird. Vee asks if we have our calorie card with us because... she's ordered a driverless taxi for us. How will that help us burn calories?! We're told that in Planned-opolis, there are few cars in the city centre, but only the rich own them. Then comes a plug for electric bikes - "the easiest way to get around our neighourhood..."

A densely-populated, car-free neighbourhood and yet no bicycles? Does anyone really believe that would happen? Have these people never been to Copenhagen or Amsterdam? Note the hunched-over cyclists aren't even pedalling. There goes the health benefits of cycling, not to mention the social anthropology of urban cycling relating to liveable cities.

Watching this one, you figure out the agenda for this project and it is an arch-Conservative one. Big business benefits in the 'positive' scenarios and suffers in the others. In Sprawl-ville - the anarchy scenario - there is chaos everywhere but Vee is the noble entrepeneur who just wants to make a buck. In Planned-opolis you feel as though they're going after the Scandinavian model - 'tightly-controlled' cities are, apparently, claustrophobic for business.

In their .pdf about the project, bicycles are mentioned just eight times - half of them plugging e-bikes as the only alternative in the future.

In the future scenarios of Forum for the Future the bicycle plays no role at all. Which, in many ways, makes it difficult to take them seriously. Indeed, looking at the appendix, there are no bicycle-mobiliy experts involved at all.

So. Car Industry Strikes Back? How's that? Well, what is really not that surprising is that this project is partly funded by - guess who? The FIA Foundation. The international automobile association who are quite possibly the greatest adversary for urban cycling and liveable cities. We know what they're up to in Barcelona and we know how they promote helmets.

Everything they do is to ensure that the automobile remains the standard in our socities and everyone else - on foot, on scooters or on bicycles - must be tamed and taught submission to the mighty automobile - for fear of a return to The Anti-Automobile Age in this new century with focus on demotorization and liveable cities.

Should we fear these future scenarios? I fear so.

ADDENDUM: 05.01.2012
Forum for the Future have responded to this article in the comments. I've also included the text here:

Hi Mikael,

I would like to respond to your comments and explain how Forum for the Future works in more detail, which hopefully will show that in fact, we share a common agenda.

Scenarios are not positive visions or predictions, but rather thinking tools meant to open up the debate. The very point of using them is to depict - in a plausible but challenging way - what the future could look like across a number of different directions. Often, that future is quite unpleasant, and our intention is to communicate just that, in order to get people to wake up to the fact that business as usual is not going to lead to sustainable outcomes.

And so it is that with this project, the vignettes you reference in your blog post are meant to make the point that a future in which there are low levels of walkability and a poor cycling environment is not necessarily a future we want. So, in other words, in Communi-city, the road congestion and lack of attention to public transport is really a warning, not a vision for the kind of future we want. And I think you’ll agree that with the challenges facing our cities today and in the future - particularly the rapidly-growing megacities of the developing world - that warning is both very real and very necessary.

No one scenario is ever meant to be entirely positive or entirely negative. For example, there are also many elements of Communi-city which are meant to be appealing, such as the strong sense of local community, the high levels of grassroots innovation, and the scaled-up use of alternative energy.

The idea is that people engage with the scenarios to understand which elements of each they believe are desirable, sustainable, and will lead us to a better future. This can then begin to form a vision of what we should work towards, and this vision will necessarily contain a combination of elements from different scenarios.

With Megacities on the Move, we piloted the scenarios in city-based workshops in Istanbul and Mumbai, where a variety of stakeholders – including cycling activists – used them in strategic planning sessions to consider what kinds of solutions would get us to where we need to be. Which definitely in both cities included ideas for better cycling and walking infrastructure.

Moreover, it is not true that bicycles do not appear in the scenarios. They may not feature as prominently as they should in our short films, but that is the limitation you often run into when trying to condense something rather complex into a 2-minute video clip. For a more detailed account of different elements of urban mobility, you should read the full set of scenarios, which you can find on our website.

You are absolutely right in suggesting that Forum for the Future, and these films, have an agenda. As a charity, our mission is to create a sustainable world. And we often do so by using scenarios to challenge people’s thinking – pushing it wider out of the box, and further out along the time horizon.

We are independent, but our approach is very much to work with a range of businesses and organisations to do this, rather than work against them. In choosing the partners we did for this project, we looked for not ‘big business money’ as you suggest, but a range of organizations which represent different approaches to mobility. EMBARQ is a sustainable transport NGO which does on-the-ground project implementation in cities. Vodafone is a company which seeks to use its products to try to offset physical travel demand. And the FIA Foundation’s (this is the foundation, not the automobile association) focus is on promoting road safety.

We are always working on improving the way we frame and communicate our work, so we will bear in mind your comments and those of others on your blog to do this. But I do wish that you had taken the time to read the work in detail and perhaps engage us directly in a debate, as I believe we have a common agenda and one that we could perhaps work together on.

Find out more here: http://www.forumforthefuture.org/project/megacities-move/overview

Experience the Volkswagon Beast

2011-12-30T23:40:00.000+01:00

Sandra from the always brilliant Classic Copenhagen blog spotted this today here in Copenhagen and posted it on Twitpic. An installation commercial for the new Volkswagon Beetle. It translates as:

"Experience the wild animal - or beast, perhaps - on TheBeetle.dk".

As street ads go, I've seen better. And while this doesn't exactly fit into our Car Industry Strikes Back category, the 20-something creatives who thought this up and patted each other on the back afterwards have inadvertantly given us an image of our urban future.

Isn't this exactly what we're working towards? How we should finally - for the first time since the 1920's - stop ignoring the bull in society's china shop? Restricting the bull. Caging it. Taming it. Keeping it from killing, injuring and polluting. This campaign is anti-car without even meaning to be. Hilarious.

I'm happy to experience the beast on their (really quite cool) website. As long as they stay off our streets.

And, for what it's worth, off our cycle tracks... that wide ass flatbed is sticking out over the track.

Plastic Fantastic Bike Racks

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000+01:00

You'd be excused for not having a clue what you're looking at right now. Innovation sometimes goes wrong, but at least the thought was a good, noble one.

Bicycle racks outside Hedehusene Station, west of Copenhagen. I know about them and have seen them from the train to Roskilde countless times. There aren't many places that still have these bicycle racks anymore so when I rode to Roskilde for christmas (previous post) I stopped to take some photos. A rather overcomplicated attempt to provide covered parking for bicycles to protect them from the rain. I've never actually seen them in use, so I was suprised to see that four or five bicycles were parked underneath the plastic fantastic contraptions.

A good idea that never fit in with the Danish desire for ease-of-use and convenience.

If anyone knows when these racks were developed, please let us know in the comments.

The One Minute Idling Rule

2011-12-28T06:00:00.000+01:00

These posters are up all over the city of Frederiksberg at the moment, where I live.

They read, quite simply: "Idling your motor - Maximum 1 minute - When you idle your motor your car emits chemicals dangerous to health. Show consideration and turn off your motor."

Hmm. Your car does it. Like it's alive and has a mind of it's own. Why, oh why, can it not just state that YOU emits dangerous chemcials when YOU idle your car? It's the motorist who is doing it, controlling the situation. Let's slap that responsibility on that motorist with a simple rewording, for god's sake.

With THAT said, there have been rules in place for many years in Danish cities regarding how long you can idle your motor. They don't apply to traffic jams, but just when you're sitting there... um... idle.

The regulations in Frederiksberg for this one minute limit have been in place since 1989, based on recommendations from the Environment Ministry back in 1982.

Pollution comes from various sources. Power stations, wood burning stoves and traffic among them. Frederiksberg states that 90% of the pollution in this city comes from cars.

If this hadn't been the regulation since the late 80s, I doubt that it would be put into place today, given how car-centric things have become. But it's nice that it's there.

Ed van den Elsken Fietsen

2011-12-27T19:26:00.000+01:00

Brilliant film from Ed van den Elsken. As our friend Angela called it, "A short movie about cycling in the pre cycle chic era". Fantastic footage from Amsterdam.

60 km to Christmas and Back

2011-12-27T15:13:00.000+01:00

This year I decided to ride my bicycle to christmas. The kids were already with their mum down at grandma's house in Roskilde, west of Copenhagen, so I just needed to show up on the 24th, which is christmas in Denmark. Lovely sunshine that day, so I hopped on my Velorbis, wearing my respectable christmas clothes of course, and carrying a bag of presents on the front rack.

I had just downloaded the Endomondo app for the smartphone, too. I don't normally have a clue how far I ride around the city - and don't know anyone in Copenhagen who does. I know how long it takes to get to places, not how many kilometres. But this app sounded like fun so I tracked the journey to Roskilde and the journey back again.

The Endomondo app has an option for 'Cycling - Transport' which is great, even though they still call everything you do a 'workout'. I figured that riding 30 kilometres and averaging 20 km/h would get me there in about an hour and a half. It takes an hour to get there with bus/train/walk, so 30 minutes extra was no big deal. On the way out, however, there was a pesky headwind of about 9 metres/second so it took a bit longer. Not to mention the hills. But no matter. It was a lovely ride. On the way home a tailwind of about 11 metres/second pushed me back to Copenhagen.

It was nothing special, just a nice bike ride. If it had been raining, I would have taken the bike on the train.

The route is simple from Copenhagen to Roskilde. It's an almost completely straight line along Roskildevej. Roskildevej was built between 1770-1776 as a replacement for the old King's Way (Kongevej). Kings had various Kongeveje around the country for their use and then there were other roads for everyone else. Roskilde was an important town and home of the national cathedral where most of our kings and queens are buried so building the road was a given. The prime minister, J.H.E. Bernstorff, hired a French road expert in 1764, Jean Rodolphe François Marmillod, to carry out the work on this and other routes including, not surprisingly, Bernstorffvej north of Copenhagen.

Before the motorways were built, Roskildevej was the main artery leading to Copenhagen from the rest of Denmark.

I don't get out of Copenhagen much so it was going to be interesting to see what it was like to ride those 30 km. You know, the quality of the bicycle infrastructure, the wayfinding, etc. So I took some photos.

At left: About five kilometres into the trip. Protected cycle tracks still under my wheels and they are quite wide. There are about 4000 cyclists a day on this section of the route.
At right: Farther out. About 10 km. Wide, protected cycle tracks. I might as well just say now that there were protected cycle tracks on the ENTIRE route. Every single centimetre of it.

At left: Nice and wide.
At right: Shot backwards. Cycle track and loads of buffer space between the cycle track and the road. Nice, since the speed limits were between 60 and 80 km/h.

At left: It was christmas so there wasn't much traffic. The 23rd of December is the big travel day here so there were few cars and few cyclists. Most people at this time of day - 14:00-16:00 - were already at their destination. Nevertheless, there were other cyclists on the route, most with bags of presents.
At right: Many of the neighourhoods in the suburbs were designed in the 1970s and feature bicycle and pedestrian ways that are completely separated from the roads. We'll be getting out to some of these towns in the spring to show you all what they're like.

Vis stort kort
The only time the cycle track deviated in form was leading up to a large roundabout located next to a big box store area featuring IKEA and others. Then the cycle track turned into a right-turn lane and if you are heading straight or left, you moved out into this bicycle lane up to the roundabout. Here's the link to the roundabout on Google Maps.

At left: I love the old milestones along the way. 20 km from City Hall Square here.
At right: I hit a stretch of bi-directional cycle track just past the 20 km mark. There was still a cycle track on the opposite side of the street, this bi-directional section was pure A to B due to access to this side of the road and various businessess, etc.

At left: Every time you hit a town - in this case Hedehusene - the cycle track looks like it does in every city in the country.
At right: Here was the narrowest section of cycle track, heading under this old railway bridge.

At left and right: The cycle track was much wider under the motorway.

At left: Five kilometres to go to Roskilde
At right: Roskilde Cathedral. One km to go.

In the Danish national anthem the praises of our hills and valleys are sung. You forget about it in Copenhagen sometimes, but head out of town in any direction and the landscape is rolling. I didn't rise out of the saddle at any point, but the hills surprised me. Long, gradual inclines. You can see the altitudes on the Endomondo links at the top, I think.

The plan was to ride home after christmas evening but when I went out to the bike at 01:00, the front tire was punctured. Fixing a flat at 01:00 in the morning after loads of red wine was not a preferred option. So I slept there and left the next day, after fixing the flat.
At left: On the way home I saw lots of great things, too. Right turns at red lights allowed for cyclists.
At right: Signage for the route number on the national cycling network. Denmark was the first country in the world to develop a national route system for bicycles, thanks to this man.

At left: Confusing road signs for motorists. Me? Just head straight.
At right: Bicycle and pedestrian tunnel through the earthen sound dykes separating the noisy road from a residential neighbourhood.

You can beat this section of the route. Wide and gorgeous cycle tracks under the motorway.

At left: You can ride your bicycle safely to the tractor/farm equipment shop if you like.
At right: Or to any of the big box stores along the entire route.

Innovative Elevated Cycle Track in Copenhagen

2011-12-24T12:05:00.000+01:00

Bryggerampen - the new elevated cycle track in Copenhagen.

Unique locations require unique solutions, whatever the city. Construction starts in February on a fantastic and innovative solution to fix an important missing link in the Copenhagen bicycle infrastructure network - Bryggerampen.

Bryggebroen - bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Copenhagen Harbour.

In 2006, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge - Bryggebroen - was opened across the harbour in Copenhagen, connecting the Vesterbro neighbourhood with Islands Brygge on the other side. It was the first fixed link over Copenhagen harbour for a few centuries. It was an immediate success. Bicycle users from not only Vesterbro but the rest of Copenhagen were given a faster connection to the island of Amager. Easy access not only to Islands Brygge but also to the universities, Danish Broadcasting and the whole new urban development of Ørestad - as well as bicycle users commuting in the opposite direction.

There are currently 9000 bicycle users crossing the bridge each day. That number is estimated to be almost double if it weren't for an irritating missing link on the north side of the harbour. Two options are currently available. You can walk your bicycle down the stairs, using the ramp, to get to the harbourside and on to the bridge or you can cycle a detour around the Fisketorvet shopping centre. Both are a pain. Especially for cargo bike users.

Harbour bath on the harbourfront and the Bryggebroen cyclist and pedestrian bridge.

In the summer, there is a lot of pedestrian activity on the harbour in this area, with a harbour bath, boat rental, kayak sport and shopping centre customers milling about on the quay. There is no clear division between bicycle users and pedestrians and it is an exercise in weaving to get through to the bridge. In addition, the route involves a couple of sharp corners with limited visibility. All in all, while 9000 people still cycle across the bridge, there were many things to be fixed in order to reach the full potential. Many people ride their bike to the harbour activities, sure, but the majority are just interested in getting from A to B and cycling past this location.

Enter the Danish architect firm Dissing+Weitling - who are also the architects behind Bryggebroen and the bicycle bridge Åbuen. They have designed an elevated cycle track that is, in effect, a 235 metre long bicycle ramp with a gentle slope that will allow bicycle users to travel directly from the bridge at Dybbølsbro to the harbour bridge - Bryggebroen. Separated from cars, of course, but also pedestrians. Below the ramp, people can mill about the harbourfront at their leisure. On the ramp, it'll be A2Bism at it's best.

A solution that is typical for Copenhagen. Elegantly designed, practical, incredibly innovative and with bicycle users at the forefront of the concept. The City sent out a call for ideas and had 20 million kroner for the project. They liked this idea so much that they found an extra 18 million in order to finance it. 38 million kroner in all. That's about $6.6 million or €5.1 million.

Here are some of the renderings from Dissing+Weitling. Bryggebroen is at the bottom right and, at top left, is the upper level at the end of Dybbøls Bridge. Here is the Google Map link of this location. It isn't updated so all the new architectural pearls on the triangular Haveholmen aren't on the satellite map.

235 metres in length, with the columns spaced at 17 metres apart. Lightweight - it's only bicycles who are going to use it - and relatively easy to construct. It is planned to be finished in December 2012. It will be bi-directional - not always an intelligent choice for streets - but at 4 metres wide, there will be ample space for bicycles and cargo bikes.

An aerial view of how the elevated bicycle ramp will skirt past the shopping centre, above the bustling harbourfront.

A gentle slope down to the ground before reaching the start of the Bryggebroen bridge.

View from below. A little bit optimistic, because there will still be bicycles along the harbour, but hey.

We're looking forward to the completion of the ramp and a doubling in the number of bicycle users crossing the harbour at this point. While it's tecnically a ramp, let's chuck it into the bridge category - along with the many other bridges that are under construction over Copenhagen's harbour like these ones.

Massive Fall in Air Pollution During World Championships

2011-12-23T21:01:00.000+01:00

For one brilliant week in September 2011, the air pollution levels from car traffic in Copenhagen fell by a whopping 30%. The City of Copenhagen took a bold step in planning the Road Racing World Championships in cycling this year by deciding to close off most of the city centre to car traffic during the event. While most people have tried to calculate the massive boost the event had - and will have - on tourism, Copenhagen's brand and what not, it turns out the event improved the air quality for the citizens of the city.

It didn't have anything directly to do with the professional cyclists racing around the city. The ban on cars in the city centre of Copenhagen meant that 60,000 cars and trucks were kept out and 75 streets were car-free.

Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard during the World Championships.

A few months before the event we had an idea at Copenhagenize Consulting. We were talking about the study done after 9/11 where temperatures were measured in the US for the five days that air traffic was grounded in the US. It was a unique opportunity to measure the effect that air travel has on the climate. An opportunity that wasn't likely to present itself again anytime soon. We realised that closing off Copenhagen's city centre to car traffic wasn't something that was likely to happen anytime soon - or indeed anything that any other city dared to do - and that it would be a brilliant opportunity to measure before, during and after pollution levels in the city.

We promptly sent off the recommendation to the City's bicycle office and they were excited about the idea. As it turns out, they didn't have the chance to measure the air quality. The city has one permanent measuring station on Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard - the starting area for the bike races - but that wasn't going to be enough.

Fortunately, the good people at the environmental NGO Miljøpunkt Indre By/Christianshavn had precisely the same idea and they had the chance to get out and measure. Which is fantastic. Their report came out last week and they could show that there was a reduction of 30% in the dangerous, ultra fine particles from car traffic. 30% is amazing. Legendary.

Signage in Copenhagen stating that Hans Christian Boulevard and parts of the city centre are closed for the World Championships.

I spoke to Hanne Christensen from Miljøpunkt and Jens Hvass - the brainchild of the idea - about their project. Hanne told me that she measured the particles at 14 different spots in the city before, during and after the World Championships. She rode around on a cargo bike and used the sexily named 'P-Track, model 8525 Ultrafine Particle Counter' to carry out the measurements.

"We wanted to show that Copenhagen could be an idyllic city without all the cars and a far less concentration of the floating, ultra fine particles from emissions that end up in our bodies. We counted on showing how clean the inner city air is when people ride bicycles and the streets aren't filled with car motors."

Bicycle traffic increased splendidly during the World Championships.

Interestingly, measuring in the start area along Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard during the race days didn't show any reduction in particles. This was largely due to the many diesel generators running in the area and used for the race - mostly by the media.

Hans Christian Andersen's Boulevard is a nightmare and a strange glitch on Copenhagen's journey to becoming a more liveable city. It is a wide boulevard with 50-60,000 cars a day (and about 20,000 cyclists) and it cleaves the city in two. There is little political will to do anything about it. Even the Dutch Fietsberaad was puzzled about how it was allowed to exist in their paper about Copenhagen - City Full of Cyclists.

Hanne Christensen from Miljøpunkt measuring from her Nihola cargo bike.

Measuring air quality along the route didn't produce any great results either. While the lycra-clad racers were C02-free, they were accompanied by a fleet of 100 Skodas speeding after them, an armada of motorbikes and helicopters and loads of diesel generators groaing away in the start area.

Elsewhere, however, a sharp reduction was clearly measured, almost from one day to the next. 30% in all.

There is a lot of talk about putting a congestion charge ring around Copenhagen, like in Stockholm, Oslo and London. It is estimated that this congestion charge ring will reduce the levels of ultra fine particles by 5-10%. We support wholeheartedly the idea of congestion charges but one of the problems is that it will really only reduce the level of private cars - which pollute 'less' that vans and trucks. Companies will just pay the charge and keep driving into the city while motorists will return to public transport.

In many European cities there are Environmental Zones which weed out the worst offenders. We blogged about this back in 2008 (are you embarassed City Hall?) Our former Mayor in charge of traffic and environment, Klaus Bondam, had a great idea that was never realised - when pollution levels are too high, you stop the traffic entering the city.

With all that said, we now have numbers showing how reducing car traffic in Copenhagen reduces emissions and improves air quality and public health. Bring on the congestion charges. Make them tougher than ever. Set an example. Copenhagen wants to have 50% modal share on bicycles by 2012... uh, no... 2015... uh, no... 2025. There is no way this will happen unless we stop ignoring the bull.

Regarding Klaus Bondam and his amazing work for cycling in Copenhagen: I don't know if it's more frustrating to live in a city without any visionary politicians at all or to have had one for four years - of the kind that only appears once in a generation - and then to be left in a vacuum of nothingness afterwards.

Oh, by the way... if you want to relax in the spot with the best air quality in Copenhagen, visit the Library Gardens between the Parliament and the Royal Library. It's an oasis for clean air.

The report from Miljøpunkt Indre By/Christianshavn is available - in Danish only - as a .pdf here.

Commerce and Bicycles

2011-12-22T22:53:00.000+01:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More bicycle

Our friend and colleague Thomas Krag presented this paper early in the millenium and we've long since thought it appropriate to translate it into English. At long last we're happy to present it here. We used some of the findings in an earlier article here on the blog - Save a Street - With Bicycles!

There is often a conflict of interest between shoppers’ wishes regarding parking and the actual plans to calm
traffic in the city, i.e. the efforts to promote bicycle traffic. In addition many retailers are of the opinion, that
cyclists are not good customers. There are a good number of studies available regarding shopping and traffic
behaviour, and attitudes towards the two, that can help bring some perspective into this discussion.

This paper will deal with:
- general trends in shop and retail development
- current knowledge of relation between transport and shopping patterns
- views and facts regarding types of customers and access to car parking
- perspectives in planning

It's also available as a pdf in English - 'Commerce and Bicycles' - as well as in the original Danish - 'Handel og Cykler'.

Innovative Bike Rack in Aalborg

2011-12-22T11:23:00.000+01:00

On a recent visit to the northern Danish city of Aalborg - to speak at a Social Media conference - I spotted these innovative bicycle racks outside the Nordkraft cultural centre. Aalborg has a healthy bicycle culture but they only have a modal share of about 20% or so.

These racks are a variation on the double-decker bicycle rack so often seen in Denmark, and these stands have spots for four bicycles. Two on the ground and two in the air. Space-saving solution that was used by two bicycles when I first checked it out and then two more when I left.

Plus, it looks lovely. Street art featuring bicycles and a practical parking solution all at once.

Double decker bike racks are nothing new. Many places in Denmark feature them - most often, it seems - at train stations. It never ceases to amaze me how people from places where bicycle culture isn't mainstream so often say, "how do you get the bike UP there?!"

We lift it.

Once you've seen a Copenhagen supermum lifting her upright bike up onto the top rack in a flash, you realise it's no big deal. If you - as an average healthy person - can't lift 20-odd kilos you may have other issues that need to be addressed. Sure, there are double-decker bike racks that have been designed that make it easier, which is nice, but decades of these racks in action show that in a mainstream bicycle culture they are well-used and work.

Support Dublin Cycling

2011-12-21T22:40:00.000+01:00

UPDATE: 22 December 2012: The City of Dublin has allowed for a six month extension, so that Dublin's cycling officer can keep his job. Result! Read more here.

Dublin City Council are set to end a key role aimed at promoting cycling and making road conditions safer for cyclists. They're sacking the city's cycling officer.

The city - every city - needs someone to speak up for bicycle users in planning issues, transport discussions, everywhere.

Please sign the petition: http://bit.ly/t6GXen
Campaign Video: http://bit.ly/uCqkiZ
Follow the hashtag on twitter: #dublincycling

Campaign Letter
Dublin Cycling Campaign Information: http://bit.ly/rMFcnd

Campaign in the media
Irish Times: http://bit.ly/sObhl2
The Journal: http://bit.ly/tKTsuE
Trade Union TV Video: http://bit.ly/shUx4V

Car Industry Strikes Back - Skoda

2011-12-19T08:36:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Cian for the link to yet another addition to our Car Industry Strikes Back series, this time from Skoda. Short and sweet, it features two kids who are executing a rather badly-planned escape.

"We need more space, Billy", says the girl when Billy drops the suitcase.
"I need more time, too", says Billy, after longingly glancing at the Skoda.

Escape aborted due to indequate planning. Bicycles are for kids. Bicycles are impractical for carrying things. Message sent.

Um... Why don't they have backpacks? Why doesn't Billy use the rope in his bag to tie some of the gear onto the bicycle? Why isn't the girl helping carry stuff? Why doesn't the girl have a bicycle - what kind of family does SHE come from, for god's sake?

It's an advertising bureau who had to come up with a film to match the Great Escape slogan and they were having a rough day at the brainstorm. Weak dramaturgy.

If they have two bikes they would be long gone and wouldn't get stuck in traffic. Haven't these kids ever seen ET?!

Maybe this is a societal warning. Maybe the ad men are sending secret messages. Maybe they're our allies and are telling us that our children spend so much time in front of the television and computer that they have haven't been allowed to develop basic skills through play that would prepare them for Great Escapes. They've grown up in Bubble Wrap society of bike helmets, Thudguard "safety hats" and Buddy Bumper Balls and are hopeless at preparing even a simple run away from home. They've grown up with the automobile dominating their every movement and have not developed the imagination that would allow them to think differently.

My kid could figure out how to get all that stuff on his bike. His girlfriend would have her own bike and they would be able to coordinate an effective escape. Hopefully they won't feel the need to... :-)

Then Skoda has this ad in the same series:

Rather liveable neighbourhood, lots of life on the street, but this guy drives an embarrassingly short distance from the park to his home. Everyone else is walking around and enjoying life except for him. Hmm. I'm really wondering now if the ad men are speaking to us in code.

The Future of Transportation?!

2011-12-16T10:58:00.000+01:00

It's 8:44 in the morning here in Copenhagen. It's Friday and the weekend beckons. I've started the day with a laugh. Not a smile or a chuckle. A good, healthy belly laugh. Thanks to our reader Baljeet, in Australia for the link.

You may know our "Car Industry Strikes Back series" here on Copenhagenize, wherein we bikeslap ads from car companies and car insurance companies for targeting bikes in their advertising because they are see as a threat to the market share.

Here's another example, but from an unexpected and highly-amusing corner. It's an appeal to Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese and it's endorsed by Terry Dodds, Group Manager Public Works for the City of Ryde, in NSW, Australia. I have no idea about Mr Dodds' involvement apart from his endorsement.

Watch the film. It's actually quite cool for the first two minutes. A great, inspirational build-up until 02:20... then... I laughed out loud.

The whole voiceover is inspiring for the first half.

"Never before has an opportunity presented itself that is so simple it can improve our urban transport problems and our way of life. An opportunity that can save billions of dollars in transport infrastructure. An opportunity that many countries have whole-heartedly adopted and are now enjoying the benefits of. The social benefits, the lifestyle benefits, the environmental benefits. It's an idea that is as simple as the wheel itself. It's the... Personal Mobility Device (PMD)"

THIS is solution for congestion, rampant transport costs, enivironmental concerns?! This is the new wheel? The new sliced bread? The PMD? There is nothing else? That's the gist of this film. The Final Solution for saving the planet.

That's IT? And let's see the studies for these stats, please. How about The Economics of Bike Lanes?

The film is well-made, but I'm sorry... the PMD?

The film makes it sound like countries around the world have vast armadas of these electric contraptions filling their sidewalks. Come on. Seriously. All the effort that went into this film and this is the point? The PMD?

"Forward-thinking countries are embracing this challenge head on. Australia is not." Mr Albanese is urged to make these PMDs legal on sidewalks in Australia. Because... um... this "archaeic law" restricting them is the only standing in the way between us and total planetary salvation.

Then there are the bits about how bicycles are inferior to these 'devices',

"In Canada, a study showed them to be far superior in stability to bikes and mopeds..."
Can we see that study please?

And this:

"Because they have an electric motor, more people will use PMDs over the physical challenge of a bike. White collar workers don't want to arrive at work sweaty. HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY LESS THAN 1% OF COMMUTERS CYCLE TO WORK?"

Yes, I've wondered. That's what I wonder every day here at work. But for the love Odin, this myth about sweat is starting to piss me off.

Canberra. 1950s. The PMD people don't want you to see this. Or these photos from New South Wales. Or these from Queensland.

Yes... we know that. But it's not because PMDs aren't allowed on sidewalks.

"Never before has an opportunity presented itself that is so simple it can improve our urban transport problems and our way of life. An opportunity that can save billions of dollars in transport infrastructure"... Yes there has been an opportunity. The bicycle transformed human society more quickly and more efficiently than any other invention in human history. And it's happening again, all over the world.

White collar workers - like all Citizen Cyclists - take it easy when they ride.

At the risk of sounding like Will Smith in I, Robot...

Listen. Fine with PMDs, e-bikes and all these vehicles. Fine that they are a supplement to the existing bicycle market. But please... let's keep it real. The bicycle has served us well for 125 years and will continue to do so. The massive marketing budget of the e-bike/PMD industry risks tipping the balance. We risk telling an entire generation who are just now returning to the bicycle that a motor is the only way to go and that 'old-fashioned' bicycles are 'hard work'. Despite 125 years of solid evidence to the contrary. This film is like so much of the marketing of e-bikes and other vehicles. It's a follow the money tale that paints a picture that is distorted and not a little ridiculous.

PMDs and Segways don't fight obesity and lifestyle illnesses. Bicycles do. We're still waiting for the studies that show the lessened effect on public health that e-bikes have - compared to bicycles.
PMDs and e-bikes are still largely coal/nuclear powered, depending where you live, so spare us the preachy 'oh so green' over-exaggerations.
Then there is the question of battery disposal and lithium.
And so on, and so on.

I don't give a toss whether Mr Albanese changes the laws regarding PMD usage on sidewalks. There will never be enough of them to matter. This film, however, highlights how the bicycle continues to irritate people who want to make money off of alternative vehicles.

You don't target something unless it is a real threat. The bicycle - in all it's simplicity - is the tool that will transform society and our cities. History is repeating itself.

Bike - Not As Dirty

2011-12-15T23:46:00.002+01:00

Hot off the YouTube. Fantastic, simple activism from Brazil. The stencil reads, simply, "Bike - not as dirty".

348 hits on YouTube as I write this. Let's make this viral.

Thanks to Henrik for the link.

Minority Report at US Border

2011-12-12T18:20:00.004+01:00

A very good friend of mine sent me this description of a journey he took from Vancouver to Seattle. He had to clear US Customs and Immigration at the train station in Vancouver, before boarding the train.

At the Amtrak train station in Vancouver, I was passing through the US border inspection with my bike.

At the lineup control:

Guard 1: "Where's your helmet?"
Me: "It's at home."
G1: "Why don't you have it?"
Me: "I won't be needing it on this trip."
G1: "Why not?"
Me: "Because it won't be necessary for my type of biking."
G1: "So, you plan on breaking the law?"
Me: "Ummm... what law?"

... then I'm waved over the inspection desk ...

Guard 2: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Seattle"
G2: "Where's your helmet?"
Me: "I didn't bring it."
G2: "You ride without one?"
Me: "Depends on the situation."
G2: "Are you aware that it's the law in the state of Washington?" (Ed: It's not, he's wrong)
Me: "I wasn't aware of this."
G2: "So, you were planning to break the law on purpose?"
Me: "I had no intention of doing so."
G2: "Do you think I should let you in to my country knowing that you intend on breaking the law?"
Me: "Ummm... I assume 'no?'"
G2: "Don't assume; the answer is NO. How do I know you aren't going to commit other crimes?"
Me: "I understand. So what is your decision?"
G2: "I'm going to let you thorough on the condition that upon arrival you purchase a helmet. If you are cited for biking without a helmet, I will know because I'm going to check your file later today. If that's the case, you will have trouble entering the US again."
Me: "Thank you, I'll buy a helmet."

So, all in all, I boarded the train scared, rattled and angry. I didn't know how to handle myself and I never expected anything like it. I wondered if he was bluffing, but I wasn't going to risk anything seeing as I need to re-enter the US on other business throughout the year. Upon arrival, I went to a LBS to consider a helmet and the store guy said at least half of his friends have been cited for not having a helmet--but he doesn't use one if he can help it. There are plenty of painted bike lanes everywhere. I bought a helmet. But I felt more than ever that my side of the planet needs serious help.

So. It begs the question. Do US Border Police harass every motorist entering the country?

"I can see on your speedometer than your car is capable of exceeding US and State speed limits."
"Um. Yes."
"Are you aware that exceeding the speed limit is the law?"
"Really?"
"Do you think I should let you in to my country knowing that you are driving a car capable of breaking the speed limit?"

Do they check their files later in the day? Nah.

This is police stupidity. Ignoring the Bull so blatantly that it hurts. On their website the tagline is "Securing America's Borders..." Yeah, right.

Together with Chicago's ridiculous new pedestrian flags this week, I too, wonder how liveable cities free of automotive tyranny will ever gain purchase in some regions. Sigh.

The Speed of Travel

2011-12-12T12:29:00.000+01:00

Personally I think speed limits are too high, too dangerous, for me to drive a car. I have recently chosen not to drive a car before the city lowers the speed limits to 30 km/h, and have cut up my drivers license into many very small pieces.

The decision came after a Copenhagen driver in a moment of misreading traffic, while doing 60, where he should have done 50, hit a mother and her 10 year old daughter, the daughter died and the badly injured mother had to attend her funeral on a stretcher. I think the driver was in a situation, most drivers have experienced many times, except a mother and her daughter walking in a pedestrian crossing coincided with his path. I will not risk being that driver.

No matter our choice of transportation, the average speed from door to door is of some importance, often of the utmost importance. So is the economy, yet few people balance the cost and time of travel. Thus when we contemplate a congestion charge in Copenhagen motorists become somewhat agitated. Lowering speed limits to a general 30 km/h attracts the same strong feelings.

Some find this natural, but I find it very strange. The average speed in Copenhagen for cars is below 30 km/h, though the general speed limit is 50 km/h. Congestion and traffic lights define most of the delta. Even though it serves no purpose, we do still have 60 km/h roads paved through residential neighbourhoods, school streets even.

Now Copenhagen isn´t a large city, if you cross town it is a 6 - 10 km ride. If you lower speeds to 30 km/h, crossing the city would take 5-8 minutes longer, unless you are not driving at four o´clock in the morning, and unless lower speeds equals a better traffic flow, less traffic lights, better synchronisation between bikes and cars. In reality we are talking maybe 2-3 minutes delay, if any.

Lower speeds does also mean less noise pollution, less air pollution and in case of an accident survival chances of soft victims, increases from 40 to 80%. Safer traffic is a primary motivator of people driving a bike, and more importantly of people letting their children ride a bike.

Curiously on all US military bases, the speed limit is 16 km/h, no matter the vehicle in question, the organisation in the world, with the most risk assessment experience.

If you then add the finance dimension to the equation, I am sure you will choose to cross town on your bike.

I think few people do the math, adding all the expenses of owning a car, depreciation of the value, interest on the loan, petrol, insurance, small repairs, service charges, oil, bridge toll , green owner taxes, parking, parking tickets, speed tickets etc.

Owning a Opel (Vauxhall) Meriva 1.4, a modest car, and driving 10.000 km a year, it will cost you about 3.5 months of work if you are a nurse, a police officer or in an equal pay grade. Then the average speed in the city of less than 30 km/h will be reduced to about 10 km/h, on average., I think most people do travel faster on a bike or in public transportation. The car should only be your option, when you need to bring heavy goods and have no alternative, or you accept and respect yourself as a lazy person with a huge surplus of time on your schedule.

In all of this I have not even included time to find a parking spot, and walk the final leg of your journey

One final curiosity about speed is the Copenhagen Police. They blocked the wishes of the city council to reduce speed limits, citing motorists will not respect the new lower limits. I never heard such an argument before. but in all their decisions, the Copenhagen Police have a clear track record of prioritizing the mobility of motorists over safety of all other commuters. This is in particular strange, as the majority of commuters in Copenhagen do NOT travel by car. Of course the Police do mostly use cars, they have less bikes than they have horses I believe, even less officers patrol on foot.

Ask your politicians to lower the maximum speed limit in your city to 30 km/h and 20 km/h in residential neighbourhoods and school streets. It is not just safer, its faster!

Car Industry Strikes Back - Chevrolet Colombia

2011-12-12T11:51:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the next installment of the Car Industry Strikes Back series. On today's programme, we'll be travelling to Colombia, where Chevrolet desperately tries to reverse the tide of demotorisation and the rise of the bicycle.

This series highlights how the car industry, around the world, are shifting the focus of their advertising to go after bicycles and ridicule bicycle users. A clear sign that bicycles as transportation are gaining in influence. When you become a target for the car industry, you're doing something good.

If the 'oh so green' colour of the above graphics isn't cheesy enough, the text is:

"At the moment I ride a bicycle but with ChevyPlan I can now afford a car"

While Bogota's fame as a bicycle city from the early 90's is waning (police confiscating bicycles from cyclists who don't wear helmets, etc), the city is still more bicycle-friendly than many other places. A new bike share system has brought the bicycle back to the surface and this is how Chevrolet saw fit to react.

Offering citizens to bury themselves in debt, contribute to making the streets unsafe and adding to the emissions levels in Columbian cities.

What a deal!

Here's the site for ChevyPlan Colombia. Be warned, ridiculous singing will blare out of your speakers.

If you fancy letting them know that they're silly, here's a link to a contact form: http://www.chevyplan.com.co/Chevyplan/Chevyplan/paginas/documento.aspx?idr=1474

For more from the Car Industry Strikes Back series, here's the link to the posts - Car Industry Strikes Back.

Thanks to David in Bogota for the link.

Copenhagen Christmas Tree Transport

2011-12-11T11:16:00.000+01:00

UPDATE.
Typical. Write a blog post and then two bikes with christmas trees roll past your window. So here's an update.

Above: Sorte Jernhest cargo bike, complete with tree and kid wearing an elf hat heading home in the evening. Fantastic.

This lady rolled past my window pulling her tree on a trailer.

Getting close to Jul here in Copenhagen. Christmas tree sellers are occupying squares all around the city. Many people use their bicycles to get the tree home.

Here's a collection of the shots we have of people moving their trees home by bike.

This lady had just bought a jule tree and the seller was helping her strap it to her bicycle. It took some work and discussion but they finally succeeded. She didn't have far to go, so she walked her bike with the tree attached.

Here are some more photos from the archives:

This gent was followed by two kids and his wife on bikes behind him on the cycle track. Heading home with the family tree.

You don't see many bicycle trailers in Copenhagen, but sometimes they do come in handy.

Here's me and the kids a couple of years ago when we had a Longjohn to get around.

It was a squeeze, but the kids love a squeeze. They had a ball.

Smaller trees need no more than a bicycle to transport them.

Ditto.

I Got My Bike Back!

2011-12-10T22:48:00.000+01:00

No, it wasn't my Bullitt, unfortunately. But two weeks before the Bullitt got stolen, my other bike - pictured above - was nicked. It's a 1955 Swedish Crescent. Bloody irritating. Vintage bicycles are in high demand at the moment, fetching a high price. Bicycles that only three years ago wouldn't even garner a second glance by bicycle thieves are now targeted.
I was sad to see it go but didn't bother blogging about it.

However.

A month or so ago, Hans from Larry vs Harry was standing with Claus, who works at Larry vs Harry. Hans spotted a bicycle rolling past and noticed that it was the Crescent. It's an incredibly unique bicycle and it's hard to miss. Hans mentioned it to Claus. Claus - the reigning Danish cargo bike champion by the way, we call him Copenhagenthighs - took matters into his own hands. He hopped onto his Bullitt and set off after the Man on the Crescent.

He gave him a bit of a shock braking hard next to him and shouting "Where the hell did you get that bike!?" The guy riding the Crescent was not a little spooked. He explained that he had bought after seeing an ad on the bulletin board at at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Copenhagen University for 500 kroner.

For a bike that can fetch 4000+ kroner at the moment, that was a bit disappointing, but hey. The guy was cool about it and instantly agreed to deliver the bike back to me. Claus called me from the spot and told me about it.

A week later, an Austrian guy studying here in Copenhagen came by. Elio. My favourite Austrian of the month. He had the Crescent with him and was happy to hand it back. I promptly gave him four beers out of the fridge for his trouble.

Brilliant. Not only is this social media lark sometimes quite cool, I'm also grateful for Hans and Copenhagenthighs for keeping their eyes on the street.

The whole Bullitt episode earlier this year was a brilliant rush but this little episode also help restores my faith in humanity.

I attended the TEDx Copenhagen Community Event last week and one of the TED talks we saw was Jonathan Zittrain about Random Acts of Kindness. I feel it appropriate to embed it here:

Thanks to Hans and Claus and also to Elio!

Danish Cycling Pioneers: Carl Georg Rasmussen

2011-12-10T12:11:00.001+01:00

At long last, here is the first film in the series of Danish Cycling Pioneers, complete with subtitles. A portrait of Carl Georg Rasmussen, inventor of the Leitra - the first velomobile of the modern age.

At the opening of the Bicycle Innovation Lab last month, Carl Georg was honoured for his contribution to Danish cycling culture.

Here are some of the photos from the opening day:

We were overwhelmed by the response and the gifts/greetings from the City of Copenhagen's mayor in charge of traffic and enivironment, Danish State Railways, Danish Eco-Council, Copenhagen's Bicycle Office, you name it. Basically, all the important players on the bicycle culture front supported us at the opening.

We're humbled and thrilled.

World's Most Northernly Cargo Bike

2011-12-09T09:44:00.001+01:00

Vis World's Most Northernly Cargo Bikes på et større kort
Perhaps because we are snowballing towards winter we are focusing on northern climes at the moment here on the blog. We also have cargo bikes on the brain because of our work on the Cyclelogistics project.

Whatever the case, we are obsessed by finding the world's most northernly cargo bike since blogging about the Christiania Bike in Greenland and the world's most northernly bike lane. Above is a map with the three contenders so far. Although based on coordinates, this first cargo bike is in the lead:

Reykjavik, Iceland.
Longjohn Cargo bike.
From Alex Shepard on Flickr.

Trondheim, Norway.
Larry vs Harry 'Bullitt' cargo bike.
While not as far north as Reykjavik, this may be the World's Most Northernly Bike Messenger...
Thanks to Larry vs Harry for the photo.

Nanortalik, Greenland.
Christiania Cargo Bike.

UPDATE:

We got excited when Jan, in the comments, sent us off to Longjohn.org to see about a man with a Longjohn in Sitka, Alaska. One glance at Alaska on the map and we were sure we had a contender. However, Sitka is on the same latitude as Denmark. Nevertheless, it's in ALASKA - with all the northern romanticism that name contains. So here it is.

Know of any others that could compete for the title? Send us an email at copenhagenize [at] gmail [dot] com with "Cargo Bike North" in the subject field. Or add links to the comments.

World's Most Northernly Bike Lane

2011-12-08T21:13:00.001+01:00

In the previous post we started the search for the northernmost cargo bike in the world. One of our readers, Stefan, led us to another northern pearl.

Is this the world's northernmost separated bicycle infrastructure? The film is from Longyearbyen - Long Year Town - on the archipelago of Svalbard, now belonging to Norway.

The islands were discovered by a Dutchman, Willem Barents, and claimed by the Danish King Christian IV (Norway was a part of Denmark until 1814) - so right there are good and understandable reasons for the existence of a bicycle culture.

Longyearbyen is the world's most northernly town and has a population of just over 2000.

Stefan pointed out a few highlights on this "bicycle ride to the sailing club", as the title says in Norwegian.

1:10 - It's not quite a cargo bike, but a bike with trailer!

From 1:40 to 4:04 they have separated bike/pedestrian path all the way through 'downtown,' complete with bike symbols on the signage. That is just amazing!

It's kind of hard to make out but I'm quite sure they have bike racks in front of the hospital at 3:05 and the hotel at 4:06.

In total I count about 31 bikes just from this trip!.

Amazing indeed. Bicycles parked outside of many of the houses, bike racks, a separated bicycle path (shared with pedestrians, which is cosy) and all of this within spitting distance of the North Pole. Traffic planners were thinking bicycle, even here. Planning for bicycle traffic, however modest. Staring the Bull in the flared nostrils and implementing Best Practice so as not to ignore the beast. And it's not like there aren't motor vehicles in the town.

Send this to your local traffic planners and embarass the hell out of them. I'm sure there is a drop in bicycle traffic in the winter, but there is still infrastructure in place to accomodate for bicycles during the 'warmer' months.

Here's a photo from Flickr with three people cycling out to "Mine 3" on Svalbard. Note the rifle on the person on the right... this is polar bear country. Thanks to reader "ejg" for the link to this.

Now if only we can figure out if there is a cargo bike in the town, we'll have a winner of the world's most northernly cargo bike!

Visit Svalbard.

Greenland Bicycle Culture

2011-12-08T09:38:00.001+01:00

A friend of ours, Theis, is in Greenland at the moment on a film shoot. He took this photo of a citizen in Nanortalik on his Christiania cargo bike. It was only a balmy -10 C at the time but getting around the town is easy peasy on human-powered wheels.

Greenland is an area we haven't covered much here on Copenhagenize. We've noticed that many Danish online bike shops are keen to point out that they send to Greenland. Being a part of the Danish Kingdom, it's no surprise that bicycles play a role in Greenland. Seeing an iconic Christiania Bike 'up there' is just extra cool.

So we were wondering here at the office. Could this be the world's most northerly cargo bike? The coordinates for Nanotalik are 60°08′31″N - 45°14′36″W. It probably isn't, as Nanotalik (meaning 'Place of the Polar Bears' in Kalaallisut) is on the southern tip of Greenland, which means cargo bikes in Uppsala, Sweden, just north of Stockholm are farther north. Not to mention other Swedish, Icelandic and Norwegian towns.

We started looking around for photos from other Greenlandic towns. We found some kids riding regular bikes in Qasigiannguit, a third of the way up the west coast of Greenland - scroll down on this website to see them.

So farther north we went. Almost as far as you can go. On medieval maps Ultima Thule was used to describe any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world". Thule became the name of a town in Northern Greenland which later became a US Air Force base in 1953. The indigenous population were relocated - without being asked if it was okay with them of course - by the Danish government acting on American wishes - because they were too close to Thule Air Base. Nevermind the fact that they were there first, long before airplanes, Ballistic Missile Early Warning Systems or (not so) secret CIA planes carrying illegally detained prisoners were invented, but hey.

The town they were forced to call home was called Thule, too, but it has since be renamed Qaanaaq. It's 107 km from the air base. The point is.... it's damn far north. A search for photos of bicycles produced this shot from the Qaanaaq tourist site:

The caption on the site, in Danish, "Boys on bikes on the beach".

And this shot from the hardware store in the town shows that bikes are on sale:

But we're still looking for the world's most northerly cargo bike. If there is one in Qaanaaq or at the air base - 76°31′52″N 068°42′11″W - then I'm sure we have a winner.

Don't Forget Japan

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000+01:00

For all the talk of Denmark and the Netherlands, many German cities and the rising stars of Bicycle Culture 2.0 like France, Japan is so often left out of the equation.

It is quite amazing to me how many aren't aware that Japan is the third great cycling nation after DK and NL. Even urban mobility colleagues often say, "really?" when I highlight this fact.

This film is a long series of clips that show what kind of bicycle nation Japan is. It's all there. Sorry. Yet another country (and it's an automobile powerhouse, a rich country, a country with cities that have narrow streets, etc etc) to either make other cities feel hopelessly insecure or... further empowered to catch up.

Be sure to click over to the Vimeo page to read the text from the guy who made it. He's had enough of sub-cultural bicycle niches. He wants Bicycle Society.

Here's an excerpt:

"According to my crude interpretation/analogy a society that cycles is more equal to the one that doesn’t.
Here in Japan grannies do it, kids do it, salary men do it, so do Yankees, the yakuza, teachers, nurses, office ladies, students, fashionistas, moms carrying an entire family, farmers, delivery men, chefs, the police, old men do it slowly with their knees sticking out, fixies, hipsters, local councilors, udon deliverers, students and anime characters do it too.

And they do it on the footpath and without fancy lyrca, fancy bikes and helmets too. They just do it. People cycle because it makes sense.

And it’s not that they don’t like their cars in Japan. It’s just that cycling makes sense."

Repeal Helmet Laws to Boost Cycling

2011-12-05T00:30:00.000+01:00

A new paper is out from Prof. Chris Rissell at the Sydney School of Public Health at the U of Sydney. Repealing Australia's archaeic helmet laws, and following the example of Israel and Mexico City - would cause a massive boom in cycling levels.

Here's the summary of the paper:

Helmets OFF to legislation
Cycling levels in Sydney could more than double if laws forcing cyclists to wear helmets were repealed, according to a new research published today in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia.

One in five adults surveyed in Sydney said they would ride a bicycle more if they did not have to wear a helmet, according co-author Professor Chris Rissel from the School of Public Health, at the University of Sydney.

Researchers involved in ‘The possible effect on frequency of cycling if mandatory bicycle helmet legislation was repealed in Sydney, Australia: a cross sectional survey’ interviewed 600 hundred Sydney adults to identify preferences for wearing bicycle helmets.

“People who ride occasionally and younger people were most likely to say they would ride more if they didn’t have to wear a helmet, but significantly, one in five people who hadn’t ridden a bicycle in the last year also said they would ride more,” says Professor Rissel.

Professor Rissel says that the NSW state government’s targets to increase cycling could be easily achieved by repealing bicycle helmet legislation without spending millions of dollars on new bicycle paths.

“Occasional riders and those people who don’t see themselves as a ‘cyclist’ represents a large number of people. Even if only half or a quarter of these people did actually start riding, it would more than double the number of people cycling now,” Professor Rissel says.

The research also found that almost half of the respondents said they would never ride without a helmet. While more than 14 percent said “all the time”, and over 30 percent said “some of the time”, the rest were unsure.

Support for mandatory helmet wearing was low among people already cycling according to Professor Rissel.

“Overall, one third of respondents did not support mandatory helmet legislation. There was an inverse association between riding frequency and support of the helmet legislation, with those not riding in the past year most likely to support helmet legislation, and more frequent riders less likely to support it,” he says.

Professor Rissel said that lots of people would still wear a helmet, but removing the legal requirement to wear a helmet would encourage more people to just hop on a bike.

“Public bicycle share schemes around the world where helmets are not required to been worn have shown how safe cycling really is,” says Professor Rissel.

“There have now been over six million users of the ‘Boris bikes’ in London and distances cycled total over 10 million kilometres with few serious injuries. In the first three months the accident rate was estimated to be 0.002 percent.”

There are similar observations from other schemes. The bike share schemes in Brisbane and Melbourne are operating at 10 percent of comparable international schemes because of helmet legislation.

Results:
One in five (22.6%, 95% CI 18.8-26.4%) respondents said they would cycle more if they did not have to wear a helmet, particularly occasional cyclists (40.4% of those who had cycled in the past week and 33.1% of those who had cycled in the past month).
Almost half (47.6%) of respondents said they would never ride without a helmet, 14.4% said ‘all the time’, 30.4% said ‘some of the time’ and the rest were not sure.
One third (32.7%, 95% CI 28.5-37.0%) of respondents did not support mandatory helmet legislation.

Here's the link to the paper:
The possible effect on frequency of cycling if mandatory bicycle helmet legislation was repealed in Sydney, Australia: a cross sectional survey - Chris Rissel and Li Ming Wen.

Why Do We Keep Expanding the Infrastructure For Cars in Our Cities?

2011-12-04T23:16:00.003+01:00

In Copenhagen we like to be proud of cycling. The municipality even claims to be a city of bikes. For good reason too, neither our royal family, nor anything else consistently promotes Copenhagen as effectively these years, as our bicycle culture.

The bicycle culture portrays Copenhagen as a modern sustainable capital, a family-friendly environment, equally inviting to students and a workforce of resources, a profitable population it would seem. Specifically because families with small children, in the last decade, have almost stopped migrating to the ´burbs the city economy is better than ever. And, I would argue, has a more healthy demographic. A capital should attract citizens in all stages of life.

Yet the city has for sixty years been developed to favour cars, more than any other mode of transportation. A development which continues when the city reprioritises sidewalks and cycling lanes in favour of more car-parking. When the city uses 2-3 times as much money annually on new car parking, than on improving city space for cyclists, runners, and pedestrians.

Planning for even small parts of the city to be car-free is considered as likely as expanding the city to planet Mars. In a city, where only 20% own a car I suspect there would be a market for developments entirely dependent on public and active modes of transportation (bikes, walking and running).

“The cars must be allowed” as the dominating party, the Social Democrats, like to trumpet. Ask them why, and they will reply something like “because people drive in them”. The rhetoric is well thought out. I suspect the car represents the rise of the worker to a level equal to the bourgeoisie. A symbol they can´t leave behind despitethe climate crisis, oil-dependency, thousands killed annually by accidents and pollution, ten thousands more suffering from chronic illnesses.

In most cities, space is a scarce resource, and the closer you get to the city centers, square-feet value keeps appreciating.

Cars are poison in such an equation (unless you own a lot of land). A car demands as much as five parking spaces in the US according to UCLA planning professor Donald Shoup. A study at University of Purdue - "in a midsize Midwestern county; they found that parking spaces outnumbered resident drivers 3-to-1 and resident families 11-to-1” perfectly in line with Professor Shoup's findings, as well as those of Todd Littmann of Canadian Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

I have not been able to identify any such Danish studies, and the municipality does not register parking spaces outside the paid parking zones or even total number of parking spaces in connection with new developments. But the city statistics shows 20% have a car, almost 100% have a bike, car-parking outnumbers bike rack spaces 2.5 to 1. Though a parking space for a car provides space for 8-16 bikes, and despite car parking is up to 1600 times as expensive. Still the city will invest much more in car parking every year than they have historically have ever used on bike racks.

Parking is central to the concept of the car, as it spends maybe 22 hours a day being parked. But even when it does drive, it is incredibly ineffective in the city space. In a given amount of time and space, you can move 5-7 seven times as many people by foot or on a bike, than in a car. Busses and light rail are even more effective. If you have a two lane road (in each direction) with one lane dedicated for light rail and one lane for bikes and pedestrians, and wanted the same traffic capacity for cars, you would need some 20 lanes in each direction. It seems to me that it must be evident for anyone who cares to consider the facts, that cars can not be a prioritized part of the traffic mix in any city.

The Bicycle and the Bush - Man and Machine in Rural Australia

2011-11-30T11:07:00.001+01:00

I'm reading an amazing book at the moment, after a correspondence with a reader.. It's called The Bicycle and the Bush - Man and Machine in Rural Australia. The author is Jim Fitzpatrick

Books about the historical role of the bicycle are always a fascinating read for me. Just when you think that everything has been uncovered, nuggets of historical goodness are dug up, cleaned and polished for all the world to see.

At first glance, the title seems a bit optimistic. Surely there can't be THAT much to write about on the subject. The Bicycle and the Bush, however, is filled with brilliant stories, anecdotes and historical references. Australia is in no way a shining light for bicycle culture in a modern context but what an astonishing role the bicycle played in building the nation between 1890-1920.

It never ceases to amaze me when writers produce a work that requires so much research. In addition to a constant flow of nuggets, the book is richly illustrated.

At left: An advert from 1895 for a bicycle messenger company serving the towns in the goldfields of Western Australia. We're not talking about the Village to Madison Avenue here. This is REAL bicycle messenger stuff. Pony Express go home.
At right: A bicycle ambulance that ran between Cobar and Wrightville in New South Wales. This photo is from 1904.

Here's a map of the rabbit fences in Western Australia. The maintenance was done on bicycles along the routes.

At left: Strawberry pickers on an early version of the recumbent. This version actually had a purpose.
At right: A bicycle on the border between Queensland and Northern Territory in 1910. Workers, including sheep shearers, used the bicycle to travel around.

At left: An early cargo bike in Australia.
At right: The insurance industry - just like today - was keen to shock people into buying insurance. An early Culture of Fear advert for bicycle insurance.

Here's the description of the e-book from the Amazon site:

The Bicycle and the Bush looks at the bicycle’s use in rural Australia from 1890-1920. It is one of the most unusual, innovative explorations ever undertaken into the role of a transport device and its relationship with a society and its environment. This book surveys the machine's introduction, manufacturing, sales and distribution in Australia, and its broader social impact upon urban society, women, the Australian language, and racing, among other things.

Australia is the size of the continental United States. In 1890, beyond the few inland towns of note, it was mostly the province of sparsely distributed agriculturalists, pastoralists, miners, and keepers of isolated telegraph stations and government outposts. There was a need for travel between the widely spaced settlements and isolated homesteads, and the distances travelled were large by world standards; in few other countries did people move so far as part of their regular work routines.

The machine's use ranged from rabbit fence patrols and telegraph line repairmen, to nearly all shearers being mounted on them for nearly 2 decades. On the Western Australian goldfields, in particular (an area the size of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah combined), the remoteness of early settlements led to the most unusual and extensive network of bicycle paths in the world at that time, based upon camel tracks used to supply mining settlements.

The Bicycle and the Bush - Man and Machine in Rural Australia is a must read for Australians suffering from short memory loss. It shows how the bicycle built the land and will hopefully help change the modern perception of the bicycle as being merely a toy for some men in tight-fitting man-made fibres on the weekend. It is also perfect for anyone interested in bicycle history.

It's an e-book and it's available at Amazon. At $8.00, you can't afford not to.

Don't forget the Subversive Bicycle Photos series from here at Copenhagenize.com. We have photos from Canberra, New South Wales and Queensland.

Save The Street With Bicycles!

2011-11-29T15:39:00.001+01:00

Photo from the Facebook group Red H.C. Ørstedsvej! (Save H.C. Ørsteds Street!)

Just when you think you've seen it all, you inevitably see something weird. I was sent a link to a Facebook group called Save H.C. Ørsteds Street! A street in Frederiksberg - the neighbourhood in which I live - is under attack, one would assume. The small businesses in the street started a group to raise awareness about it and they all blacked out their windows in protest, as you can see in the photo above.

Now this being Frederiksberg, in the heart of Copenhagen, it wouldn't be surprising that you'd assume that some evil plan was underway. Something that would jeopardise the quality of life here in Denmark's most densely-populated neighbourhood. What, pray tell, could this Imminent Threat be? Dare we ask?

Um... it's bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming.

Believe or not, once in a while we do still experience minor protests regarding changes to the traffic situation. There aren't many streets left in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg that don't have separated bicycle infrastructure. 35 odd years of implementation of cycle tracks - a great many kilometres running past shops - and yet there is no documentation that it is a negative thing. On the contrary. The benefits are massive for shop owners, local citizens and the quality of life in a neigbourhood. We know this in Denmark and they know it in the Netherlands and other European countries. We've known it for more than three decades.

I want nothing more than for the small, lovely shops on H.C. Ørstedsvej - between Thorvaldsensvej and Rosenørns Allé - to thrive, profit and continue to contribute to life in this wonderful neighbourhood.

It's hard to figure out what they want. The redesign of the stretch will remove some car parking and, apart from cycle tracks, the road will be traffic calmed by creating a dog's leg to slow down the cars. Most of the blacked out shop windows read "No Car Parking Means Shop Death!" Although some said that they supported bicycle infrastructure, just not removing parking.

When all you have to go on is vague perceptions and ideas, without any knowledge, your message is going to be vague.

So I'm going to do two things. I'm going to highlight why they are dead wrong and then I'm going to tell them how to increase sales.

Why They Are Wrong
First of all, they are basing their protest on perceptions, and nothing more. I joined their Facebook group and asked nicely for their documentation. One of the women said they didn't have any and furthermore, they didn't need any!

"Of course you can protest without numbers and facts - just look at Nørrebrogade, Blågårdsgade and Gammel Kongevej, all of which have been thriving shopping districts. I don't think anyone has gone to the trouble of making numbers and facts in fancy reports, but the business association on Nørrebrogade has said that their business dropped between 50-80%..."

Firstly, the reference to Nørrebrogade is far-fetched. The redesign of that street coincided with the global financial crisis. Shops in all neighbourhoods experienced a drop in earnings and using the widened bicycle lanes and car-free zones as an excuse was regarded as weak and irrelevant. Not to mention lacking in credibility. The people who actually live in the neighbourhood and use the shops supported the redesign of the street with a massive majority. They wanted a nicer place to live and shop.

What is most frustrating is that this reliance on perception, instead of facts and figures, serves little purpose. You would think that these shop owners would do research before starting a campaign. Most information is readily available on the internet. I've found the necessary numbers and facts today - although I have a number of documents on my computer already.

They're wrong because removing car parking, calming traffic and putting in cycle tracks will NOT result in "Shop Death". There is no documentation supporting their claims. There is, however, plenty of documentation to show that things are going to get better for the shop owners and the neighbourhood.

Shop owners have a tendency to overestimate the transport forms their customers use to get to the shops. That they overestimate it here in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg is beyond me, but hey.

Here's a graph from three Danish cities showing that shop owners seem to think there are far too few parking spots but that the customers don't agree with them.

Here's a graph from Cologne (Köln) showing that shop owners are way off in estimating how many of their customers arrive by bicycle. You may recall that IKEA here in Copenhagen were suprised to learn that 25% of their customers arrived at the big box stores by bicycle or public transport. Here's how they reacted to THAT news.

Here is a graph from Oslo showing that earnings from customers are pretty equal - interestingly motorists who park in nearby streets spend more money - I'll get to that in a bit. But, again, shop owners are way off in guessing what transport form their customers use to get there.

So let's look at some numbers regarding cars.

H.C. Ørstedsvej is in a neighbourhood in the city of Frederiksberg. So what about the car ownership levels here?
- 63% of families in Frederiksberg DON'T own cars. That's a lot of people who won't really be bothered about fewer car parking spots.
- Furthermore, car traffic has fallen 3% since 2009 and this trend seems to be continuing.
- Virtually everyone in Frederiksberg has a bicycle.
- 36% of the population use a bicycle to get to work or their place of education.

H.C. Ørstedsvej runs roughly between two neighbourhoods in Copenhagen - Nørrebro and Vesterbro - which could easily be considered catchment areas for these small shops. What about car ownership in these places?
- Nørrebro has the lowest car ownership in the nation. There are only 129 cars for every 1000 citizens.
- Vesterbro is low, too. Only 137 cars for every 1000 citizens.
- The average in Copenhagen is 169 cars for every 1000 citizens. That means that 70.9% DON'T own cars.

What about traffic volume in the neigbourhood?
- There are 11,000 cars driving on H.C. Ørstedsvej each day. Most are people passing through. The street is not a main thoroughfare - it's a short cut for motorists bustling from A to B. (or parasites, as they can also be called)
- There are 6500 bicycles on the street each day. The street doesn't lead to the Copenhagen city centre, where most bicycle traffic goes to and from, but on the two streets that flank H.C. Ørstedsvej: 4600 cyclists on Nyelandsvej and 7690 on Godthåbsvej. There are no numbers for Thorvaldsensvej from the City of Frederiksberg but we estimate that the number is between the two previous ones.
- Being a densely-populated neighbourhood, pedestrian traffic is considerable, as well.

Just looking at those numbers - who could possibly be worried about removing car parking? Ah... but then there is still that nagging misconception about "cyclists". Even in the heart of Frederiksberg - in the heart of Copenhagen 'The City of Cyclists', bicycle users don't seem to be taken seriously by these shop owners. Let's mythbust, shall we?

First of all, the ever-popular blogpost here on Copenhagenize.com Cyclists Are Better Shoppers Than Motorists is worth a visit/revisit. Loads of stats for shop owners and bicycle advocates.

And here are some more graphs:

Here's how people get to shops related to distance to destination. Walking and cycling are the prime modes of transport for trips under three kilometres - which certainly applies to the shops on H.C. Ørstedsvej. And it's a national statistic so you can bet it is even rosier in densely-populated neighbourhoods in the cities.

In Breda, Netherlands, they learned that while cyclists spend less per visit than motorists, they visit shops more often and therefore are bigger spenders than motorists on a weekly basis.

The same tendency can be seen in Utrecht, Netherlands.

If you are a shop owner in a densely-populated neighbourhood in Denmark - or anywhere really - and you want to not only survive but also make a good living out of your business - embrace the bicycle user and the pedestrian. Cyclists are also more loyal to the small shops in their neigbourhood, as are pedestrians.

If you want to create a shopping district that is attractive to visitors and that improves the quality of life in the neighbourhood - embrace the bicycle user and the pedestrian and fight for traffic calming and lower speed limits.

Here's a rundown of the benefits of bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming:
- Traffic calming and lower speed limits increase the perception of the street as being a nice place to be. In Berlin, cross-neighbourhood traffic - pedestrian and bicycle - boomed when 30 km/h zones were put into place.
- Traffic calming reduces noise pollution which contributes to a nicer neighbourhood/shopping district.
- Bicycle lanes (when properly placed along the curb) act as a traffic calming buffer and then also increase the number of pedestrians. The sidewalks are simply nicer to walk along. Pedestrians are a benefit to small shops. Ever heard of window shopping? Kind of hard to do when driving past at speed in a car.
- Bicycle lanes - not surprisingly - increase the number of cyclists. In Copenhagen, when a street is redesigned with bicycle infrastructure, there is as a rule an increase of 10% or more in bicycle traffic.
- Bicycle lanes increase property values.

How H.C. Ørstedsvej Can Thrive and Profit
Like I said, I want nothing more than these shops in this neighbourhood to rock and roll and thrive. Small shops have a tough time of things and yet they contribute so much to the liveableness of a neighbourhood. What can they do to ensure that this happens? Not least in the midst of a continuing financial crisis? Easy.

- If they're going to protest, they should protest that the City of Frederiksberg's plans for the street are simply not visionary enough.

- They should ask for more parking spots to be removed, keeping only loading zones in place for morning deliveries, like in the centre of Copenhagen.

Instead of one parking spot for a single-occupant vehicle, how about six parking spot for customers who spend more money, like this one on Gammel Kongevej down the road?

Or even more bicycle parking/traffic calming like these racks on Nordre Fasanvej?

Or parking zones like in Copenhagen?

- They should lobby for 30 km/h zones. That would add a fantastic sense of niceness to the street and draw even more bicycle traffic and pedestrians - and their wallets - to the district.
- They should arm themselves with documentation (see all above) in order to present their case to the City of Frederiksberg.
- They could even lobby for making the street a pedestrian zone, with benches and room for markets. People would come from all over the city to shop there. If they pulled THAT off, they would reap the benefits of branding and they'd be famous.

The future is bright for the shopping district, but it could be so much brighter.

Copenhagen Bicycle Traffic Flow

2011-11-28T10:44:00.001+01:00

I often return to this graphic that shows the flow of bicycle traffic in Copenhagen between 06:00 and 18:00 on weekdays. I found it in a City of Copenhagen brochure a couple of years ago and spiced it up a bit. For a larger version, view it over at Copenhagen Consulting's website.

This is the traffic volume for bicycles and scooters - although scooters hardly amount to anything so you're basically looking at bicycle traffic. Only the main streets are featured and the thinnest lines represent 2000-2999 cyclists a day. They get thicker as they approach the city centre as other cyclists join the flocks from the neighbourhoods.

The thickest lines in the middle represent 20,000 + cyclists.

The graphic shows the municipality of Copenhagen and primarily the flow of traffic to and from the city centre. It excludes the urban sprawl surrounding the city and all the bicycle traffic there - to and from work/train stations/schools.

Here is the map that corresponds to the graphic:

Vis stort kort

Can You Afford NOT to Use Your Bicycle for Commuting?

2011-11-27T15:45:00.001+01:00

Here's the first of what we hope are many enlightening blogposts from a Copenhagen colleague Lars Barfred.

Lars has worked in managing positions for a number of large corporations in sales, marketing and finance for more than a decade. In recent years, he has dedicated himself to facing the challenges we face with climate change and with our consumer society. As a father he wonders what world our children will inherit from us. He has a bachelor in Organisation and Strategy (HD) and a masters in International Marketing Management.

Health and physical exercise are among his primary interests as well and bicycles fit into this equation rather nicely. He firmly believes that the bicycle is central to making better cities and healthier and happier populations.

Professionally, Lars works with Agenda 21 offices in Copenhagen and the Danish car sharing initiative, DelebilFonden. On an NGO basis he works towards a more sustainable Copenhagen, as well as a city more welcoming to people, rather than cars.

Every time you can bike, instead of getting into a car, seize it !

Most likely you can, from a monetary point of view, but how about time wise?

I will argue you should prioritize to bike whenever you can, even though, in some cases it may take substantially longer for you to make your trip.

In everyday life I think most of us consider modern man, very modern. We tend to thing of our species as highly evolved, having invented more stuff and knowledge in the last couple of decades, than all of history before. While this is probably a correct assumption, in my mind, it does not include our species, physically and mentally, just our behaviour.

Our body and mind is exactly the same as it was 75-150.000 years ago, when we hunted down animals by out running them, persistence hunting as it is known. We only have to travel back a hundred years to find ancestors, with a whole different activity pattern, than our own. Well, we only have to travel to different parts of the world really.

Compare this to our lifestyle, travelling by car, access to food in abundance, passive work in front of a computer, if we need to speak to a person few meters away, we will call them on their mobile, as if we actually walk to their office, they may not be there.

According to Harvard University professor of medicine, John J. Ratey. The average activity level of people in the industrialized part of the world is 38% of what our body and mind, was developed for. Even if you do the weekly 3-4 hours most governmental health organisations tend to advocate, you do not exceed 50% of what you were born to.

Luckily our metabolism is really skilled at moderating the energy consumption and variations in activity and intake of energy. But as the obesity epidemic is evidence to, our metabolism cannot battle energy-rich foods in abundance, and obesity may even be the lesser evil of lack of activity.

A very telling graphic, documenting the effect of our modern lifestyle. Source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.

As it turns out, our brain is dependent on a high activity level to function normally,

The brain constantly rewires and reroutes connections, this ability is so strong, that if you remove half of the brain of an infant, it will develop to become a well functioning adult, with only minor lack of functionality.

The ability to rewire it self is enhanced by an active lifestyle, an essential ability as we grow older and parts of our brain deteriorates, due to presenile dementia, Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease. A high activity level will reduce symptoms, in some cases almost completely, of these age conditioned diseases.

What happens during physical activity is the brain increase (normalizes really) production of a number of new brain cells, proteins and the blood flow in the brain increases.

Our Brain is flooded with “norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)." (John J. Ratey). Many more processes may be involved, but these we know about by now. This increases our learning ability almost instantly, stronger executive function, reduces depression, increases concentration and lightens up our mood, producing a general feeling of wellbeing and happiness.

This not only enhances daily life and a longer well functioning life expectancy, it is also of great benefit to ADHD patients, people suffering from depression and other psychological disorders. In many cases exercise work as well as any drug, but with considerably less side effects. Have you never experienced depression, keeping an active lifestyle will increase the chance that you never will.

Though all of this is scientifically documented and generally acknowledged, many MD´s will not include an active lifestyle or a hard focused training regime in their treatments. Yesterday I read the new Director of the National Board of Health (Sundhedsstyrelsen), Else Smith, was quick to denounce running a marathon as being unhealthy, in an interview in a newspaper (Politikken 26/11-2011). Copenhagen University Professor of Medicine Bente Klarlund tested some recreational athletes who ran a marathon a day for a week, and concluded, they were physically stronger at the end of the week.

One of my favourite runners, Jesper Olsen, who runs around the world, recently ran from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Africa, he runs 40 – 50 km a day, and took his first day of rest in Sudan. Jesper is not a competition runner, and what he does most people could do, provided they wanted to. As Comedian Eddie Izzard demonstrated, when he commenced on 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief, though he had no prior history of long distance running;

Comedian Eddie Izzard, on the road to

completing 43 marathons, though lacking any

long distance experience

“Izzard clocked up more than 27 miles – further than a marathon – every day, six days a week, since he set off on July 26.

The man who trained for only five weeks before his Herculean effort found things became much easier once he hit the road.

When he started, he was completing the daily distance in around ten hours. By the time he had finished he had halved his time to a little over five.”

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

There is little evidence that you can practise too much, though you can certainly progress to fast, your joints and tendons must be given time to strengthen accordingly. Your activities can also be too narrow in scope, variation is important.

This week I practised 18 hours spinning (in door cycling) and rode my bike outside about 6 hours. This is about 6-7 times as much exercise as the government advocates as the minimum, but much closer to the activity level, nature developed my body for. I really feel good about this level, its challenging, I sleep well, but less. I feel more energetic, strong, even at the end of the week. I tend to eat less candy and snacks, my mood is better. It is probable that the recommendation of 3-4 hours a week, is more based on what the health boards believe is realistic to encourage, and will not scare to many people away.

Most data suggests that more activity is better. It is doubtful that with a full time job and a family that deserves your attention as well, you can find time to do too much exercise.

To do effective exercise, the discipline needs to involve the largest muscles, such as the thighs, the buttocks and the hamstrings, which running, bicycling and cross country skiing does. The bicycle is gentle on joints and tendons, provided you do not stretch your knee fully during revolutions. Runners are often injured, which is why bicycling is the best base exercise you can find. Let 50-80% of your exercise be on the bike, for recreation and commuting, and then complement your practise with a full body strength regime and for example cross country/city running.

In my mind its doubtful, you can do enough exercise, seize every opportunity, remember that half an hour commuting on the bike, is environment friendly transportation time, but practise time as well.

Avoidable Tragedy with 30 km/h Zone?

2011-11-25T16:42:00.001+01:00

Join the Facebook Group 30 kb/h for 30 km/h zones in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg

Last night a tragedy took place right down the street from where I live with my children. A mother and daughter were crossing the pedestrian crossing. A car stopped for them but a van didn't fancy stopping and overtook the stopped vehicle on the right. He plowed straight into the mother and daughter without even braking.

They were knocked 23 metres down the street.

The 10 year old girl died today at the National Hospital. The mother is still in critical condition at time of writing.

Tragedies like this are always more intense when they happen in your neighbourhood or happen to people you know. It is quite impossible as a father to NOT think about my own children - 9 and 4 - who also use pedestrian crossings in the same neighourhood. Those thoughts and feelings are something I try to keep private.

What this post is about is that this tragedy - and others like it - could quite possibly have been avoided. If it wasn't for the increasingly car-centric attitude that grips Copenhagen and Denmark.

This is about 30 km/h zones. Two years ago I blogged about 30 km/h zones for the first time here on Copenhagenize.com. Amazingly, I remain the only person in Denmark who talks about them. Amazing because we have a great deal of knowledge about the positive effects of 30 km/h zones in urban areas and yet the Danish police and politicians remain silent on the issue.

There are many culprits, not least the man who killed the girl and critically injured the mother. He probably won't go to jail for what could easily be considered a murder. He'll be punished, of course, but the punishment will be shockingly inappropriate to the crime. We'll never change perceptions about how dangerous driving is unless people are punished accordingly. Unless driving licences are revoked permanently.

The Danish police are also a primary antagonist. They are a constant source of irritation because of their reluctance to change the status quo in the traffic. They do not support lower speed limits, even though the Danish Road Directorate has recommended it. Compared to other police forces in Europe they have little interest in what other cities and police forces are going and they rarely embark on study trips to learn from other experiences in other cities.

The politicians in Copenhagen and Denmark are also shockingly silent on the issue of lower speed limits. You need a magnifying glass to find references to them in the press and they are often just passing comments. No serious efforts are made to make our cities safer and to reduce injuries and prevent deaths for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Danish Road Safety Council are the automobile industry's best friends. They have had a few campaigns aimed at motorists, including one called "Ta' Toppen af Farten" - something like "Cut Down Your Speed a Bit". They have never gone after motorists in any effective way - never trying to change the perception of driving as normal, merely carrying on the same old, same old status quo.

Today I was sitting with my friend from Classic Copenhagen and we were rather outraged that over 70 cities in Europe have implemented 30 km/h zones and yet Copenhagen is doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. The man who killed the girl was doing 60 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. The mere fact that there are 50 km/h zones in Denmark's most densely populated city - Frederiksberg - is an outrage.

It came out today that the City of Frederiksberg knew that the location of the tragedy was dangerous. In this article in the national paper Politiken it states that "The City of Frederiksberg has known for a long time that the location is problematic for the pedestrians who try to cross Rosenørns Allé."

Last September (2011) the city decided to improve safety at the spot. Their plan? Putting in a wider median between the two crosswalks at the intersection and putting up blinking yellow lights to warn motorists that they are approaching a pedestrian crossing.

Did they consider improving safety by listening to the experiences from the rest of Europe by reducing speed limits to 30 km/h? No.

A couple of flashing lights in a 50 km/h zone. Letting the parasites roll freely through our city streets.

Today we started a Facebook group advocating 30 km/h zones in Copenhagen. We call it 30 kb/h - the kbh is the abbreviation for Copenhagen in Danish. Please pledge your support by joining the group. If you have any other links to studies/articles about the benefits of 30 km/h zones, please add them here to the comments or to the Facebook page page.

Here's why 30 km/h zones make a difference. And why this tragedy may have been avoided. This also applies to cyclists, of course.

More on 30 km/h zones:
Amsterdam's 30 km/h zones

Barcelona's 30 km/h zones

British campaign 20's Plenty - for 30 km/h zones

20mph speed zones cut road injuries by 40%, study says

Effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London, 1986-2006

Wheel Art

2011-11-24T23:14:00.001+01:00

This is wild and I don't care who knows it.

Rubber Clarification

2011-11-24T10:31:00.001+01:00

A while back we blogged about the beautiful vintage bicycles of Ferrara.

One of the photos was of a rubber thingy attached to handlebars, something many bicycles featured. We were wondering what they were for and you readers had two main theories. One was that it was for stopping shopping bags from sliding down the handlebars. Completely feasible. The other was protecting the handlebars from scratches when leaning them up against walls.

Thanks to our reader, Sauro, in Venice, we now know the truth.

They're called "paramanubrio" - handlebar protectors. Sauro was kind enough to send us these two photos illustrating their use. Sure, they protect the handlebars, but perhaps more importantly, they protect the wall from unsightly markings. I'll bet they're perfect for shopping bags, too.

Yet another fantastic accessory from mainstream bicycle culture. How many other simple and yet functional ideas have gone lost since bicycle culture faded away in the 50s and 60s? I shudder at the thought. We are, however, on the lookout for more.

Toyota - Car Industry Strikes Back

2011-11-23T08:32:00.001+01:00

Here's the latest installment in the Car Industry Strikes Back series here on Copenhagenize.com. This time from the land of the rising fun. Nippon.

Toyota, like the rest of the car industry, is worried about the increasingly negative perception of the automobile, rising oil prices and the demotorization of our societies.

After decades of transport dominance, the car industry is under threat, not least by bicycles as transport, but also public transport.

How to tackle it? Famous person. Ridicule. A slogan or two. A series of high-end commercials based on a much loved Japanese anime series.

Cue hapless (car-less) geeky guy on an outing with his girlfriend, using public transport. Enter cool guy with a Toyota who drives off with the girl. Geeky guy subservient in front of famous person character (Jean Reno as Doraemon) begging for four wheels.

TOYOTA. REBORN.
FUN TO DRIVE, AGAIN.

In this commercial from the series, all the proud national symbols are manipulated and forced to serve Toyota's striving for profit.

Yes, they're worried, the car industry.

Thanks to Santo Isaac on Twitter for the link.

Good Goods Tranport

2011-11-20T22:15:00.001+01:00

I've been moving stuff by bicycle lately. In lieu of my Bullitt - thanks to everyone who asks about it but no, it hasn't been recovered ... yet - I use my Velorbis. The front rack is a godsend. Above, I was heading back from a second-hand shop. Nothing massive, just a chair and some stuff in a bag.

It's interesting when you're strapping something to a bicycle in Copenhagen. You notice many eyes on you when you're trying to figure out how best to get the stuff to stay on the bicycle. You're watched by people on the streets and you can see it in their eyes... they're watching you and figuring out how they would do it. You feel pressured, in a way. "Am I doing it right?" "Do they see a different way of doing it that I've missed?" Once you get the stuff on and strapped down and start riding away, the interest fades. Done deal. He's off.

With the grand opening of Casa Copenhagenize - Bicycle, Bed and Breakfast - I needed some extra linen and duvets, etc. Here's my load from Jysk; two duvets, linen, four sets of duvet covers and pillow cases, two pillows, nine towels, a lamp and some other stuff.

Another trip to IKEA yesterday. A table, a big lamp, a whole bunch of picture frames and a pile of other stuff that you end up buying when you're at IKEA. You know, stuff you don't need.

Here's a post from a couple of years ago about what it's like to ride to the big box IKEA north of Copenhagen.

And let's not forget that IKEA in Copenhagen loan out free trailers and bicycles for their customers.

Australia's Helmet Laws

2011-11-19T17:05:00.001+01:00

Laughed out loud more than once.

Copenhagen Bicycle Parking Checklist

2011-11-16T19:23:00.001+01:00

The City of Copenhagen has published a little folder called Checklist for Bicycle Parking - (opens as .pdf, in Danish). It is part of the City's "City For Everyone" (By for alle) strategy, based on the Principles of Universal Design. The City for Everyone strategy is mostly aimed at accessibility for pedestrians, mobility impaired, the elderly, etc. Here's an English brochure the City has about it (pdf).

Here's a translation of the Checklsit for Bicycle Parking.

What is good bicycle parking?
It is not only of great importance to cyclists but also for people who use the space where bicycles are parked. Lack of bicycle parking - or badly designed bicycle parking - results in bicycles being parked in inappropriate spots and that restricts accessibility in the city. It is therefore very important that bicycle parking is included in urban planning and that is is designed correctly.

Good bicycle parking makes it easier and more convenient for cyclists to move around the world's best bicycle city. At the same time it ensures better accessibility to all the things the city offers for all the other citizens. The checklist contains eight short and concrete considerations that should be included when creating new bicycle parking facilities.

1. Are the bicycle racks close to the destination? Maximum 30 metres away.
2. Are the racks placed optimally in relation to the destination? For example in relation to access.
3. Is there sufficient space between the racks to ensure access to them? There should be a minimum of 150 cm free space for putting the bikes in and taking them out. 200 cm is preferred.
4. Does the number of racks match the number of bicycles at the location?
5. The bike racks should be of a good quality - see the design manual - and have 50 cm between each bicycle.
6. Is there niveau-free access to and from the racks?
7. Does the location of the bicycle parking require lighting to achieve a satisfactory level of sense of security?
8. Does the cyclist have a good overview of the whole parking facility? This applies mostly to larger parking facilities in order to ensure sense of security.

The 'City for Everyone' project has seven 'commandments' regarding accessibility that the employees at the City's Technical and Emvironmental Administration (Transport and Environment Dept.) must use when working in the development of more accessible public spaces.

1. The City should be designed for people of all ages with different needs.
2. We will work towards a safe, secure, pleasant, convenient and comfortable city.
3. Accessibility must be improved each time an employee of the Technical and Environmental Administration is involved.
4. Accessibility is a natural part of our daily work in the Technical and Environmental Administration.
5. Our point of departure is in existing solutions and processes.
6. We will use Copenhagen solutions - for example, the Copenhagen sidewalk, etc. (the Copenhagen sidewalk is a design. Paving stones and cobblestones)
7. Accessibility funds must give accessibility to the City.

Copenhagen in 1962

2011-11-14T08:11:00.001+01:00

Here's an old travel film from PanAm, from 1962, about Copenhagen. It's long so what I'd like you to do is:

jump forward to 18:37

on the timeline for some brilliant footage of Copenhagen.

While I know that all taxis in Denmark are equipped to take two bicycles, I didn't know that this was also the case in 1962.

Here's the direct link to 18:37 on YouTube.

Thanks to Eric for the link.

Danish Cycling Pioneer - Carl Georg Rasmussen and his Leitra

2011-11-11T21:23:00.001+01:00

At today's opening of the Bicycle Innovation Lab in Copenhagen we presented the first film in our series about Danish Cycling Pioneers. First up is the Grand Old Man of velomobiles, Carl Georg Rasmussen, inventor of the Leitra.

We spent the day at his workshop in the country north of Copenhagen and filmed him talking about his passion, his career and his love of his product.

Carl Georg is 76 years old now and he still cycles 10000-12000 km a year. He recently returned from Stockholm in one of his velomobiles (as they're called today).

The series is about these individuals and the products they invented. The formation of the idea, the techniques used in developing them and their entire journey.

It took two energy crisises in the 1970s for Carl Georg to finally go to work on the Leitra - the granddaddy of all modern velomobiles. He is a civil engineer and he worked on designing planes and gliders. This expertise led to his basic idea for the Leitra. His philosphy was to make a cycle that worked and then afterwards place a cover onto it.

His first prototype was finished in the early 1980s and he continued to improve upon the design for many years afterwards. As a boy of 15 he saw a drawing of a kabinecykel - "cabin bike" - in a hobby book from a 1930s model made of wood and he went to work building a version for himself which he rode around in for a couple of years. It was heavy, however, and his work in airplane design later led to his use of plastic and carbon fibre for the shell.

He called it Let individuelt transport - or Light Individual Transport - and shortened it to Leitra.

Interviewing Carl Georg was a pleasure. So many fantastic anecdotes. Like when he was pulled over in 1982 by the Copenhagen police. They wanted to know what on earth he was riding in. "A cycle with weather protection", he replied. They called the station and were told to confiscate it immediately. It sounded dangerous, the way the officers described it. He got it back after writing to the Ministry of Justice's traffic division after convincing them that it was actually a great machine. He took it to the State's car inspection and they approved it except for one point. His eye level was too low and they wouldn't approve it.

Fortunately, he had a friend with an MG sportscar and he went to his place and measured the eye level with a ruler. Discovering that his friend actually sat 2 centimetres lower in the MG than Carl Georg in the Leitra.

Another letter to the Ministry. He asked them how they could let MG cars drive around, approved, on the streets with such a low eye level. Shortly afterwards he recieved approval to ride the Leitra in Denmark.

Denmark has never been a great velomobile nation. Carl Georg has survived thanks to loyal customers in Germany, Holland and Austria. He mentions that the Dutch brands, who started ten years after him - and inspired directly by him - had a much easier time of it. They had a home market right away, whereas 80% of the Leitras produced were exported.

Carl Georg has taken part in all manner of bicycle events. Paris-Brest-Paris, Sjælland Rundt in Denmark and many others. His Leitra performs impeccably.

I had a go, as well. I can't see myself ever owning one, to be honest, but my goodness what a brilliant ride. I got out smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Choosing Carl Georg as the first in the series of Danish Cycling Pioneers was a given. The man who gave Europe the velomobile and who dedicated his life to his work. We salute him. And thank him for his contribution to cycling.

See also www.leitra.dk

The Traffic Garden in Utrecht

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000+01:00

Another pearl from Streetfilms.org. The Traffic Garden in Utrecht. Teaching children to cycle, drive and walk - together.

Bicycle Innovation Lab - Denmark's First Cultural Centre for Bicycle Culture

2011-11-09T09:56:00.001+01:00

This Friday, in Copenhagen, Copenhagenize Consulting is proud to present the opening of Denmark's first cultural centre for cycling - Bicycle Innovation Laboratory. Together with our colleagues at the NGO Miljøpunkt Amager we've created a space where Danish bicycle culture can be celebrated, as well as further developed.

The Bicycle Innovation Lab - B.I.L. for short (which, by some strange coincedence looks remarkably like the Danish word for car - 'bil'... hmm) has been made possible through funding from the government's Bicycle Fund (Cykelpuljen) administered by the Danish Road Directorate.

We had long thought that Danish bicycle culture needed a physical home. A place where ideas could be fostered and discussed. A launch pad for innovation.

This Friday that home will open its doors to the public. Danish bicycle culture enjoys global exposure thanks to the internet and not least thanks to both Copenhagenize and Cycle Chic. We can now offer not only citizens but visitors to the city a place where they can enjoy a focused view of our diverse bicycle culture.

Our inspriation sources for the cultural centre include the Danish Design Centre and the Danish Architectural Centre.

B.I.L. will be many things gathered under a big bicycle umbrella. The nature of the funding means that B.I.L. will grow along a upwards curve. In the first phase:

- There will be a Bikeotheque - a library where people can borrow various bicycles for three or four days.
- We will create a forum for keynote speakers from around the world to present their ideas on urban cycling.
- We have built a workshop for citizens to come and learn to build their own frames, work on their bicycles and, hopefully, develop new ideas.
- We'll be leading urban planning bicycle tours in 2012 for interested parties.

The list of upcoming projects is long and exciting but let's just get this puppy inaugurated first, shall we? We're done painting, welding, sawing and building. We are looking forward to sharing now.

And we'll kick it off at 11:11 on 11.11.2011.

Here's the Facebook group, too.

If you're in Copenhagen on Friday, you're welcome to come to an Open House between 14 - 17.

Bicycle Innovation Laboratory is located at:
Prismen
Holmbladsgade 71
2300 Copenhagen S.

Hope to see you there!

Occupy Wall Street Needs BIKES!

2011-11-08T09:08:00.002+01:00

A request for cargo bikes and trailers - as well as regular bikes - from the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Wonderful.

This is what CycleLogistics is all about. Getting things done by bike.

Hope they can get some bikes donated.
Thanks to our reader, Katie, for the link!

Parasites and Living Lungs

2011-11-07T22:11:00.000+01:00

Golly. What a lovely place to live.

When I was in Ferrara, Italy a couple of weeks ago I was having a good chat with a colleague who works for the City. We were looking at a map of the city and he was filling me in about the various traffic and bicycle-friendly initiatives in place. For example, Ferrara doesn't have a congestion charge - it has a congestion BAN. Non-residents are not allowed to enter and goods transport must pay a fee. Eight cameras are installed around the city to photograph number plates. If you're caught in the city without a permit, you are fined €100. Ah, simplicity.

Anyway, he was telling me about a main route through the city and plans to tackle the motorists who use it. He called them parasites. I thought it was a bit out of character for him but he kept using the word. Finally, I had to ask why he was using the word and he looked at me quizzically and said that it was simply the word they used.

Parasites.

First attested in English 1539, the word parasite comes from the Medieval French parasite, from the Latin parasitus, the latinisation of the Greek παράσιτος (parasitos), "one who eats at the table of another" and that from παρά (para), "beside, by" + σῖτος (sitos), "wheat".
Coined in English 1611, the word parasitism comes from the Greek παρά (para) + σιτισμός (sitismos) "feeding, fattening".

What a great word. The host organism is, of course, the city off which they feed. The streets outside my flat as I write this are relatively free of parasites. The ones that plague Copenhagen aren't your traditional parasites. They aren't noctural. They desert their host organism on migratory patterns, scurrying back to their formicaries in the afternoons, only to return to feed upon their host in the morning. To continue their infestation and causing all manner of illnesses that the host organism is unable to defend itself against.

Traffic pollution with its toxic emissions and noise pollution, a lower perception of safety for pedestrians and cyclists, traffic accidents that kill and maim, reduced property prices and so on.

Parasites. It's a brilliant way to describe the motorists who roll down these streets, contributing nothing to the liveableness of my neighbourhood and others, hardly making a dent in the economic well-being of the shops, paying their taxes in other municipalities. Rumbling past, spouting the residue of their combusted fossil fuels behind them to the funky tunes on their radio while they text away on their telephones.

It's an epidemic and yet there is no Dustin Hoffman to help us. Only visionless politicians worried about getting elected for another term, organisations and NGOs who have become too politically correct to rock the boat and traffic planners who geek out over technical manuals and aerial maps instead of remembering what it is like to be a human being on the streets.

And I'm referring to Copenhagen. I know how much more infested other cities are.

On the flip side I tweeted a thought today: "Bicycle users are the transportational lungs of a city. Let's do what we can to get more of them, shall we?"

A simple sentiment. Forests and green spaces are often referred to as lungs in countries and cities. Bicycle users are much the same. I certainly don't hope my body is used to convert carbon dioxide but the 37% of my fellow citizens who choose to ride a bicycle each day are a rolling metaphor for photosynthesis - as are all bicycle users in any city. What a lovely word. From the Greek φώτο- [photo-], "light," and σύνθεσις [synthesis], "putting together", "composition". Using the energy from sunlight to do their magic.

For every kilometre we roll, we are putting money into the pockets of the state and the municipalities. 23 cents for every kilometre in Denmark. For every kilometre driven by a motorist, we as a society pay out 16 cents. Net loss. Parasitism at its finest. And that latter number is even with 180% tax on cars in this country. I shudder to think what the net loss would be in other countries.

Do I get a tax break for cycling in my city? Not that I'm aware of. Free bicycle every couple of years? Nope. A discount for not owning a car on my car share subcription? Nah. I get safe, secure infrastructure to ride around on with my children - I'm grateful for that. But I'd rather do it without the parasites in the car lane next to me. Give them tramways down the main arteries - like we had for decades and decades last century. Subsidise public transport - it's Europe's most expensive - and let the parasites evolve into useful creatures. I can live with that.

My friend Lars often dishes up great Facebook updates. Here are some recent ones:

More people ride bicycles to work and education than cars.
23% of Copenhageners have a car - 100% have a bicycle.
Nevertheless there are 2.5 times more car parking spots than bicycle rack spots.
One parking spot costs between 50 and 800 times more than a bike rack.
A parking spot takes up 12.25 times more space than a bike rack.
Society earns money for each kilometre driven by car and makes money every time someone rides one kilometre on a bicycle.
Cars kill around 1000 Copenhageners a year and make thousands more ill.
Nevertheless, the five political parties in City Hall have spent 1.2 billion kroner (€161 million) on new parking spots for cars since 2005 - but have no programme for bike racks.
What's this all about?

And then this list of nine things to do in Copenhagen:

1) Transform Hans Christian Andersen's Boulevard (busiest thoroughfare and most polluted) into a tramway and bicycle street flanked by a non-commerical tree-lined allé like Prado in Havana.
2) Transform Søgaderne into Denmark's largest playground for children and adults.
3) Car-free city centre.
4) Make Israels Plads into a square without traffic except for busses on Frederiksborggade.
5) Create drive-in bicycle parking facilities over the railway lines by Central Station, Vesterport, Østerport. Drive-in bicycle parking under Nørreport. 3000-5000 parking spots for bicycles each spot.
‎6) Bicycle express routes in and out of the city that follow the S-train net - with underpasses and overpasses so you can ride from Køge, Farum, Hillerød, Frederiksund to Copenhagen.
7) Cover the entire railway yard by the Central Station and make the countries largest sports facility.
‎8) Free choice between a resident's parking permit for 4000 kroner (€537) - instead of the current 600 kroner (€80) - a year or a free car share subscription, paid by the city.
9) All A busses (main routes) converted to tramways.

All rather simple ideas. None of them are out of reach of visionary politicians. We just need the visionary politicians.

We need the exterminator to rid us of pests.

We need people who can see the value in creating an even greater armada of living lungs and who dare to move towards that goal.

Vintage Parking Lock - Husqvarna

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000+01:00

Took me a while to figure this one out. I've acquired a vintage, Swedish, Husqvarna bicycle from 1948. If you turn the handlebars quite far to the side, there is a little click sound. A friend of my Ivan enlightened me. It's a parking lock and it used to be standard on many bicycles back in the day. Like the lifting handle for Citizen Cyclists I've written about before.
You have a kickstand and you park your bike. The front wheel will often fall towards the lean and that makes the bicycle less stable. With the simple parking lock it keeps the front wheel straight when parked. Simple design solution. Love it.

Love it so much I made a film about it. Because it can be hard to explain what the hell it is I'm on about.

Newspaper Carrier for Bicycles

2011-11-06T15:41:00.001+01:00

Quite possibly one of the coolest vintage accessories I've ever acquired. The newspaper carrier. I bought it at a bike shop in Ferrara, Italy. My Italian collegues, upon seeing it, all remarked "Ah, yes, very normal in Italy". It was a "must have" moment at the bike shop.

This model is designed not only to carry your newspaper, but it's wide enough for you to fold your paper to the article you're reading and ... well... read it whilst cycling. These were, I found out, very widespread in Italy for several decades. In Ferrara I spotted a few of them and one man rode past with his paper folded as such. I missed the photo, though. Of course I had to buy a copy of the legendary La Gazzetta della Sport newspaper with it's famous pink paper to put on the newspaper rack.

I'll just have to avoid riding past areas that feature this sign, I suppose. Spotted in the Netherlands.

And while my newspaper carrier is more practical than reading a paper like this guy in this middle of the night shot at a historic Six Day Race, he certainly looks cool.

There are other kinds of newspaper holders in Italian bicycle history. This style is merely for carrying your paper. Sheesh. Can't even use it for reading it. How impractical.

So many beautiful and practical accessories in bicycle history. So many of them relegated to the history books by four decades of branding cycling as a sport or recreation and not much else.

Here's an earlier post about Reading on Bicycles from Copenhagenize.

Cars and Sharks

2011-11-03T14:00:00.000+01:00

Sharks, Pools & Bikini Babes: What Can Go Wrong? - Watch more horror
What we have here is a brilliant metaphor for our Ignoring the Bull concept. It's fantastic.

Our reader, Paul, sent us the link. Deep in the forest of The Culture of Fear, the voice of rationality is a mere whimper. People go to amazing lengths to justify ignoring the problem - all manner of excuses are invented. The automobile is the shark. The pool is our cities. It's all spelled out right here, in typically corny, Hollywood fashion - which is often simple and effective.

Sure, the voice of rationality in the trailer may not be appropriate to translate directly over to a bicycle context. "Don't go in the pool..." cannot become "Don't ride your bicycle..." but apart from that, this is a fine illustration of the folly of the Culture of Fear and the effect it has on our lives.

Another good piece of satire relating to the Culture of Fear is this clip from an American sit-com:

Ferrara's Vintage Bicycle Fleet

2011-11-02T19:18:00.000+01:00

Many things amazed me about visiting Ferrara, Italy last week. It's a brilliant cycling city with 30% modal share. They don't have a congestion charge, they have a congestion BAN. You pay to get into the city centre if you have stuff to deliver and you can have a resident's permit if you live inside the old city walls. But other than that it's a no-drive zone. There are eight locations with cameras tracking number plates and if you're in there without a permit you get sent a €100 fine.

I've recently blogged about the amazing amount of elderly bicycle users in the city. Both the women as well as the gentlemen - over at Cycle Chic. I've never seen so many bicycle users over 'a certain age' in one place anywhere in the world.

Another thing that kept astounding me was the bicycles. Easily 80% of the bicycles ridden in the city are vintage. The bike racks outside the train station alone must be the greatest gathering of vintage bikes in one spot on the planet. Each and every day of the year. Seriously, if you're into vintage bicycles this is where you go to drool. I have no idea how to even angle this blogpost into any form of structure.

Rod brakes. Everywhere. Easily 40-50% of the bicycles have them. Brilliant.

It ain't just vintage bicycles by known brands like Bianchi. I spotted dozens of brands I've never heard of and am unable to google.

Piaggio bicycle seat. Wider than thou.

Retro (style) skirtguards and front/back racks and skirtguards abound in Ferrara.

I'm quite sure I had grips like these as a kids. I'm also quite sure I miss them terribly.

Don't even get me started on the chainguards.

The number and style of the mini-bikes in the city would have Copenhagen fashionistas sobbing into their Gucci scarves.

Like in any mainstream bicycle culture, personalisation is at a premium.

Vintage head badges. Sigh.

Anyone know what that rubber thing is? I saw them on loads of bicycles.

I found a cool bike shop - mostly a repair shop but with vintage, restored bikes for sale in the window. A 1920 Raleigh with original components anyone? €1000.

A Vicini ladies bicycle with toolbag - €450.

A second world war British army bike with original leather straps for carrying the rifle. €400.

The girl who owns the bike shop was cool and we had a chat about all the bikes. I asked her - and at several other bike shops - where it was possible to buy vintage bikes like the ones on the street. Nobody knew. The girl said that it was hard to find them. "People don't sell them often", she said with a shrug. "They just like them too much." When I tried to press her a bit on the subject she shrugged again. "I don't think about bikes when I'm off work. I have other interests." Brilliant. She is a bike shop owner and mechanic who lovingly restores vintage beauties but bikes are not her whole life. I loved that comment.

Her shop was filled with vintage parts, too. Lying around in baskets. I asked if some of them were for sale but she wasn't keen. "I need them to repair the old bikes in the city", she said rather matter of factly.

A few bits and pieces were on sale she told me.

Wheel locks and bells.

Dynamo motors, headlamps and head badges.

I spotted this lifting handle on one of the vintage bicycles for sale. She said they used to be normal on Italian bikes but hard to find these days. No, it wasn't for sale. You may remember this lifting handle that used to be standard on Swedish and Danish bikes back in the day.

I did purchase a newspaper carrier for the handlebars from the shop... photos coming as soon as it is installed on my bicycle.

And, rather appropriately given the fact I was attending a CycleLogisitics meeting, a cargo bike selling nuts.

See the whole photo set Ferrara's Vintage Bicycles on Flickr.

Promoting Cycling Effectively

2011-10-31T21:08:00.000+01:00

A couple of years ago the national government announced a economic package for promoting cycling and building infrastructure. We posted about it in "94 Billion for Bikes" in early 2009. In the latest round of project funding, we at Copenhagenize Consulting received funding for two different projects. One is Bicycle Innovation Laboratory - Denmark's first Cultural Centre for cycling (more on that in the coming days) and the second project is a research project regarding marketing bicycle ridership.

We have teamed up with Thomas Krag Mobility Advice in the application and the project. Tomorrow we have a focus group seminar with various professionals to gain feedback moving forward. It's a very exciting project and we're looking forward to the continued work. We have had interest from a number of large cycling organisations about a further development, as well. On this blog we often highlight positive campaigns for promoting cycling - as well as the negative ones. Here's the rundown of the project.

Effective Bicycle Promotion
Development of methodology to determine the effect on messages regarding marketing of bicycle traffic.
Thomas Krag Mobility Advice & Copenhagenize Consulting

Promoting cycling is not only a question of improving the conditions for bicycles (or making the alternatives less attractive), but also marketing cycling. While we here in Denmark are rather good at creating bicycle friendly infrastructure, we have far less experience with effective marketing of cycling as transport.

Traditionally, individual transportation choices are linked to objective conditions (distance, infrastructure, weather) although it is evident that there are also - as with other consumer choices - a number of non-rational and highly emotional factors involved. Knowing these factors and ways to influence them will be the key to a more effective marketing of the bicycle, which would mean that we could achieve a higher effect in encouraging the growth of new cyclists and reducing the number of those who give up
the bicycle.

Theory and method
Promoting cycling is all about behavior modification, and can be tackled with the so-called trans-theoretical model. The trans-theoretical model works with a curve that describes the various stages of “will do it or not considering doing it at all” through “can well imagine that” to “do it every day.” The model was developed for use in health behaviors (diet, smoking), but is also used previously in connection with transport behaviour.

The individual’s placement on the curve indicates whether there is frequent cycling or not, and how far someone that usually doesn’t cycle is from taking up cycling as a mode of transport. If a larger group is examined, the result will tell you how developed a bicycle culture is, just as repeated studies will be able to show whether or not the bicycle culture is moving forward or backward. As well as showing whether potential bicycle promotion initiatives have had any effect. This also applies if the effect has
not yet manifested itself in a large group of cyclists.

One objective for this project is to develop a measurable method that is so sensitive that it not only puts the individual at a given step of the curve, but provides a continuous measure of where each individual is located. The measurement method will be developed based on the experiences of others in the mobility sector and inclusion of the latest knowledge on the emotional impact of consumer behavior, not least neuroscience marketing.

With such a sensitive method of measurement will have a tool to assess whether or not - and to what extent - explicit or hidden messages about cycling affect respondents. The measurement method will then immediately be able to tell what works best in promoting cycling.

It is expected that people who seldom or never cycle are more susceptible to messages about cycling than daily cyclists. The former group - far more than the latter - must base their ideas about cycling on conjecture and remote experience. This group of non-cyclists (or seldom cyclists) who are already the primary target for promotion campaigns, will be the best group to use in connection with this method. Once the measurement method is in place, it will be used to test different messages that implicitly or explicitly deal with cycling, since the goal is to determine how these messages affect the respondents willingness to cycle. The material to be used will be in part from previously used campaigns, as well as material (text, photos and video) produced specifically for the project.

Project Organisation
The project will be implemented in close cooperation between Copenhagenize Consulting and Thomas Krag Mobility Advice, two partners with core competencies in bike culture, bike marketing and transportation behaviour.

Expected results
- Measurement method which can be used to assess the effectiveness of message on individuals’ willingness to cycle.
- Increased knowledge about the messages that works (achieved through the use of measurement).
- Recommendations based on the obtained test results.
- Summary Report describing the method and gained knowledge.
- Informing the reference group and engaging them as a spin-off.
- Publication of results on the Internet, in articles and at conferences.
- Use of the results of in municipal bicycle promotion activities.

A conservative estimate is that more effective local cycling campaigns can lead to increased cycling activity to an extent as without the knowledge gained and the cost saved would be:
1 to 10 million Danish kroner more per year. (€133,300 to £1,333,300 per year)

Pedala Zezinho!

2011-10-29T19:18:00.000+02:00

This is brilliant. Fixing kids' bikes in Sao Paulo.

Pedala Zezinho is a project that took place in the south zone of Sao Paulo, Brazil, at Campo do Astro. During three Saturdays in September, 2011, 210 bikes were inspected and 150 were fixed. For more information, visit aromeiazero.com

Copenhagenizing Copenhagen

2011-10-24T23:02:00.002+02:00

We always have a bunch of ideas kicking around at Copenhagenize Consulting. We are always working on individual, tailor-made solutions when we work with other cities - every city is unique - but last month we decided to try out some ideas right here in Copenhagen. In our own backyard.

Earlier this year we blogged about how Copenhagen tries to keep Holding On To Cyclists by placing railings and footrests around the city to let bicycle users rest against them whilst waiting at red lights. Brilliant idea and we love it. The text on the footrest is a communications template we developed for the Bicycle Office.

These railings, are, however, limited in that these railings can only be implemented in certain locations where they don't interfere with pedestrian mobility. There are eight of them around the city now.

Copenhageners, however, will lean up against anything they can at red lights. We have a whole photo series dedicated to it. Have a look around the city. The metal poles are rubbed smooth by all the hands that rest against them.

There are many lightposts around the city that are positioned right at the stop line for bicycles so we developed the idea to exploit this space and cater to - if not the bicycle users' Desire Lines - then their "Stationary Desire Spots".

See our solution in the film, above. We call it the Copenhagenize Love Handle.
It was a massive success during the ten days of the pilot project. We placed six of them around the city, on busy bicycle routes. When the team was taking them down, people protested, saying they loved them. We also set out to track the behaviour change during the course of the pilot project. When a new "thing" appears on peoples' regular route, how long does it take for people to to notice the Love Handles? Would they use them? Answers: Two days. Yes.

The next prototype we whipped together was what we call the Copenhagenize Has Bin.

Before we made this prototype, you see, we had no bin... now Copenhagenize has bin.
Um... anyway...

A couple of years ago Copenhagenize Consulting suggested that the City of Copenhagen's Bicycle Office make rubbish bins tilted towards cyclists. We were thrilled when they finally implemented them. It wasn't quite what we had proposed - we sent them photos of Dutch "Blikvanger" - proposing something bigger, higher up and more noticeable, but hey. The city is bound by design guidelines and it was tough getting permission to alter the existing rubbish bins.

So... like with the Love Handles, we decided to just get out there and try out our own version. Rock and roll. Many of the Dutch blikvanger are on bicycle paths, away from roads. We wanted to make a portable rubbish bin that was easy to implement, easy to move and that could be placed on existing poles and masts in the heart of the city. This was more of a 'prototype' than the Love Handles but it, too, was a success.

It was hard to document people throwing garbage - we'd have to stand there for hours - but the nets did contain garbage. Loads of coffee cups and apple cores and banana peels. Things people consume on their bicycles. To be honest, we need to further develop the prototype, but we were so pleased to see that they were used. More of our friends noticed these than the love handles - probably because they were placed along crosstown routes along The Lakes, as opposed to the Love Handles which were on arterials leading from the neighbourhoods to the city centre.

All in all, it was fun. Designing, thinking out of the box, doodling, measuring, welding, implementing, documenting. A little bit of Copenhagenizing Copenhagen. We're now working on a concept involving Love Handles for another city, which will be fun.

Bicycle Rush Hour Copenhagen

2011-10-23T23:40:00.000+02:00

I was editing another film and this sequence stuck out. If you're riding the rush hour in Copenhagen on the busy routes, it's quite often that you won't make the green light and will have to wait for the next one. In the morning bicycle traffic on Nørrebrogade - the busiest bicycle street in the world - you can often miss two lights because of the wonderful flow of human powered traffic.

Cargo Bike Capital - Rio de Janeiro

2011-10-19T22:30:00.000+02:00

At Copenhagenize Consulting we're partners in a European Project, CycleLogistics, which will promote the use of cargo bikes in European cities for the next three years. It's a massive project and very exciting for our company, as well as the other stakeholders involved. Next week we're heading to Ferrara, Italy for the next CycleLogistics meeting.

Copenhagen, of course, is a benchmark city regarding use of cargo bikes. With around 40,000 cargo bikes in use in Greater Copenhagen each day, it's safe to say that cargo transport is mainstream in the Danish capital. A quarter of all families with two or more children have one and a growing number of services are provided via cargo bike.

All well and good. But let me introduce to you Rio de Janeiro, because there are a few tricks that city can teach the rest of us.

A few months ago I wrote about the cargo bike culture in Sao Paulo, which was fantastic to experience. I knew that Rio de Janeiro was going to be something special when I was picked up by friends at the airport on a cargo bike carrying a folding bike for me to ride.

One of the friends was Ze Lobo, who works at Transporte Ativo, and over my time in the city he filled me in about the state of the nation regarding cycling and, not least, cargo bikes. The latter is something worth broadcasting.

The active transportation NGO Transporte Ativo did a cargo bike count last year, focusing on the Copacabana neighbourhood in the city. It's worth mentioning that a lot of the perceptions of Rio and Brazil don't really apply anymore. The country and the cities are experiencing an economic upturn. Indeed, it's the only country I've been to over the past ten years or so where the almighty Danish kroner was rather unimpressive. Prices were largely the same across the board.

The point is we're not dealing with an underdeveloped city here - certainly not the Copacabana neighbourhood. So. Let's hear about the amazing cargo bike culture they have going on.

The Transporte Ativo report counted bicycle and cargo bike deliveries in fantastic detail.

Here's the rub: There are 11,541 deliveries made by bicycle or cargo trike every day in the neighbourhood. Eleven thousand five hundred and forty one. Making 23.082 journeys - back and forth.

As Transporte Ativo puts it: "One of the most important and expensive urban freight stages is the last-mile, when the goods are delivered from shops to consumers. Cargo vehicles powered by human propulsion have been used worldwide to reduce cost and air pollution related to the last-mile. Cargo bicycles are the best option for transporting goods over short distances and can easily be integrated into city’s busy streets. Its use lightens the burden of motorized transportation, such as congestion, parking issues, air pollution and its impacts on climate change."

Here's the area of interest.

Here is a graph about the kinds of establishments that were included in the count.

The numbers of bikes and cargo bikes that the establishments have.

The number of deliveries that the establishments make each day.

Here is an overview of the kinds of pedal power used by the establishments.

38 Bakeries: 1307 deliveries/day; 71 cyclists; 68 bicycles.

36 Construction & electrical supplies: 768 deliveries/day; 60 cyclists; 56 bicycles.

32 Laundries: 557 deliveries/day; 41 cyclists; 42 bicycles.

29 Supermarkets: 1398 deliveries/day; 86 cyclists; 79 bicycles.

22 Beverage Distributors: 1812 deliveries/day; 101 cyclists; 90 bicycles.

20 Pet Shops: 489 deliveries/day; 39 cyclists; 42 bicycles.

11 Retail kiosks: 96 deliveries/day; 16 cyclists; 14 bicycles.

9 Mattress stores : 68 deliveries/day; 9 cyclists; 9 bicycles.

6 Electronic workshops: 52 deliveries/day; 8 cyclists; 8 bicycles.

3 Flower shops: 50 deliveries/day; 5 cyclists; 5 bicycles.

2 Woodworks: 34 deliveries/day; 4 cyclists; 4 bicycles.

2 Cleaning supplies stores: 26 deliveries/day; 4 cyclists; 4 bicycles.

9 Freelancers: 160 deliveries/day; 9 cyclists; 9 bicycles.

2 Cobblers: 22 deliveries/day; 3 cyclists; 3 bicycles.
4 Auto parts stores: 40 deliveries/day; 5 cyclists; 4 bicycles.
5 Video rentals: 91 deliveries/day; 9 cyclists; 8 bicycles.
9 Butchers: 378 deliveries/day; 17 cyclists; 17 bicycles.
11 Bars: 68 deliveries/day; 10 cyclists; 15 bicycles.
42 Drugstores: 2377 deliveries/day; 132 cyclists; 124 bicycles.
35 Snack and juice: 844 deliveries/day; 57 cyclists; 51 bicycles.
32 Restaurants: 724 deliveries/day; 59 cyclists; 58 bicycles.

Here are the details of the establishments, the number of deliveries, cyclists and bikes/trikes.
372 Establishments
42 Drugstores: 2377 deliveries; 132 cyclists; 124 bicycles.
38 Bakeries: 1307 deliveries; 71 cyclists; 68 bicycles.
36 Construction & electrical supplies: 768 deliveries; 60 cyclists; 56 bicycles.
35 Snack and juice: 844 deliveries; 57 cyclists; 51 bicycles.
32 Restaurants: 724 deliveries; 59 cyclists; 58 bicycles.
32 Laundries: 557 deliveries; 41 cyclists; 42 bicycles.
29 Supermarkets: 1398 deliveries; 86 cyclists; 79 bicycles.
22 Beverage Distributors: 1812 deliveries; 101 cyclists; 90 bicycles.
20 Pet Shops: 489 deliveries; 39 cyclists; 42 bicycles.
11 Retail kiosks: 96 deliveries; 16 cyclists; 14 bicycles.
11 Bars: 68 deliveries; 10 cyclists; 15 bicycles.
9 Freelancers: 160 deliveries; 9 cyclists; 9 bicycles.
9 Mattress stores : 68 deliveries; 9 cyclists; 9 bicycles.
9 Butcheries: 378 deliveries; 17 cyclists; 17 bicycles.
6 Electronic workshops: 52 deliveries; 8 cyclists; 8 bicycles.
5 Video rentals: 91 deliveries; 9 cyclists; 8 bicycles.
4 Auto parts stores: 40 deliveries; 5 cyclists; 4 bicycles.
3 Flower shops: 50 deliveries; 5 cyclists; 5 bicycles.
2 Woodworks: 34 deliveries; 4 cyclists; 4 bicycles.
2 Cleaning supplies stores: 26 deliveries; 4 cyclists; 4 bicycles.
2 Cobblers: 22 deliveries; 3 cyclists; 3 bicycles.
Other: 180 deliveries; 23 cyclists; 22 bicycles.

The count found some interesting details hidden in the data, too:
- More than half of pet shop deliveries are for animal transport. Approximately 120 pets are transported by bicycle per day in Copacabana.
- In certain stores, flat tires virtually stopped after repairing puncture became rider’s responsibility.
- Some tricycles come to move more than 300 kg of cargo.
- The largest fleet is owned by a drugstore, with 13 bicycles.
- 95% of deliveries are within a 3 km range. 4% go beyond 3 km. 1% are in the immediate area.
- 95% of bicycles are property of establishments, 4% are property of employees,
- More than 50% of all travels include food.
- The count did not include the many custom-made trikes selling popcorn, churros, steamed corn and other foodstuffs.

In addition to the Transporte Ativo report, there was an annex produced by Transporte Ativo and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), which sought to discover further details and motivation behind this transport behaviour.

Main advantages of bicycle and tricycle use on goods delivery, according to the establishments managers.

Weight of loads delivered by tricycles and bicycles.

Accidents involving the bicycle deliverers.

Measures needed to provide greater traffic security and visibility, according to bicycle deliverers.

There you have it. Not a bad report at all, is it? European cities are moving forward with cargo bikes as a solution to the transport logistic problems. American cities are rising to the challenge, too. Then there's Rio de Janeiro. Just getting on with it.

Bicycle Infrastructure 'n Stuff in Paris & Bordeaux

2011-10-17T23:01:00.000+02:00

In Paris recently, on my way to Bordeaux to take part in an expert panel who analysed Bordeaux's proposed bike plan, I hung out with my friend Rebecca. We took Velib bike share bicycles to Montparnasse train station so I could catch the TGV to Bordeaux. Here's a new cycle track behind Parc du Luxembourg. Nicely designed.

My suitcase didn't really fit in the Velib basket. But I brought a bungee cord, 'cause I knew that. I prefer the racks on Bicing in Barcelona. You can squeeze anything in there.

When Velib started you could share the bus lanes in Paris. Great in that city because the buses stop so frequently. Then, I've heard, they disallowed cycling in the bus lanes. Now, on certain stretches, it's allowed again. Here, heading down towards Montparnasse. Nice and wide.

More infrastructure from Paris from other trips:

Bordeaux

Bordeaux has 9% modal share for bicycles in the city centre. Here's a cycle track (one of those pesky bi-directional ones, but hey).

A bike box. Pulling the stop lines back for cars is an incredibly effective traffic calming measure at intersections for cyclists and pedestrians alike. We've been doing it in Copenhagen since 2008.

Basic painted lane on a side street.

Cool, elegant bike lane pictogram near the station.

Bicycle signage.

Nothing like a 20 km/h zone complete with contraflow for bicycles.

Coolest graphic design I've ever seen on a bike share bike. It was a public competition to design the graphics and the logo.

And it's a great success so far.

Velorution in Paris

2011-10-16T11:47:00.000+02:00

Velorution Paris by yoruse
Great archive footage from Paris showing a bicycle demonstration. We're guessing late 60s. Let us know what they're chanting, French friends...