In the news today: bikes outnumber cars for the first time in Copenhagen
In Copenhagen, which I had to pleasure of visiting in May, the balance has finally tipped so that more bicycles (265,700) have been counted than cars (252,600) in the city centre. The figures are a daily number, though it’s not clear whether this is a yearly, monthly, or other average.
Key Facts:
City: Copenhagen
Population: 600,000
Investment in cycling infrastructure: £115m (1bn DKK) since 2005
On this sunny Sunday morning, I decided to cycle along my current favourite route, heading south out of Birmingham towards Worcester. The first few miles are along the Birmingham & Worcester Canal towpath, recently refurbished through the Birmingham Cycle Revolution. I then switch to the NCN5, which initially follows quiet paths along the Rea River Valley, before moving onto residential streets in a suburban area. Moving further away from the city, the route takes less-used and narrow back roads out towards the countryside and continues in this manner into Worcestershire.
For a leisurely weekend ride, such routes are undoubtedly the best: quiet, scenic and above all traffic-free. They have their downsides though: cycling through a park requires a certain degree of skill to avoid dogs and children running across your path for a start and you will likely not be taking the shortest route to your destination. Sunday: fine; Monday, heading to work: not so fine. For the purposes of commuting, cyclists prefer a shorter, more direct, even if busier and more dangerous route.Continue reading
I found an interesting question on one of the Linkedin groups I belong to and felt compelled to write an answer. As it turned out to be a pretty complete response, I deemed it worthy of its own blog entry, so here it is.
This is a great question which I have pondered somewhat in the past, so it’s great to try and put these thoughts in writing. The methods with the most potential in my opinion are buses and bikes. As to how to encourage walking to a station? Presumably only by deterring driving by car!
In situations where walking or cycling is not suitable, be it due to weather, distance or convenience, buses seem like the obvious answer, provided that they have an advantage over taking the car. In simple monetary terms, a return journey to the station by bus must be cheaper than a day’s parking ticket at the station. More importantly though, the bus timetable must be suitably synchronised with the train one to ensure convenient connections. This should be relatively simple to arrange in a sleepy commuter village.
As to cycling, the answer is relatively straight-forward – ensuring that the bike which is left at the station remains safe. Although cycle boxes may be an attractive idea, they take up far too much space to be an effective solution anywhere with more than 50 bikes. There are in my opinion two key criteria to meet for someone to leave their bike at the station: ensuring it is protected from thiefs and the elements. The latter is ensured by bike shelters closed in on as many sides as possible. The former, by installing CCTV cameras and optionally having ‘guards’ patrol the racks, as well as by encouraging cyclist to register their bikes. The solution feels simple enough to me.
My experience spans reaching train stations semi-regularly in three very different cities. In Oxford, I lived too far from the station to walk so, as a poor student, cycling (there and everywhere else) was the only option. However, the bike racks were perhaps the most crammed I have seen anywhere. In the commuter town of Harpenden (Herts), there was a vast car park alongside the track which caused endless traffic jams on the main Station Road leading into the centre. Walking or cycling past the long queue of frustrated drivers was therefore very satisfying. Finally, in Edinburgh, I commute out of town at 8am – the 20min bus journey drops me off outside the station with a slightly excessive 15 mins to buy my ticket and board a train for a 20min train journey, which is followed by another 20min walk (or a 5 min cycle ride on the rare occasion the weather is clement – at least going ‘against the flow’ means there’s always space for my bike).
To summarise, what will encourage walking, cycling or using public transport to catch the train? A smoother and friendlier journey than getting there by car – something well within reach if it is planned properly.
A few weeks ago, I came across the Guardian’s Bike Blog which contains entries on a variety of cycling-related issues. The blog has all manner of content: some entertaining, some serious, some informative, some just to rant, some to make you think. The bottom line is that it presents views on issues relevant to cycling but it is also a platform for discussion and the generation of issues.
Guardian have even published a book which compiles some of the most interesting posts: the aptly-named “Cyclebabble“. I believe that this should be compulsory reading for anyone working in a position where they can do something about the topics raised.
For those not in the know, “Boris Bikes” is the popular name of the London Bike Hire scheme (officially “Barclays Cycle Hire“) which allows anyone to ride around London for free (almost). The basics are that you pay a £1 fee (by debit card) to gain 24h access to hiring bikes. You then insert your card again and obtain a ‘release code’ to take your Boris Bike from the stand. If you cycle around and return the bike within 30 minutes, you don’t have to pay a penny. And if you need to go further, just wait a few minutes, then get another bike and continue for another 30 minutes absolutely FREE. Docking stations are located roughly 300m apart, so you should always be within reach, both at your departure point and destination, of one of the 8000 bikes which form part of the scheme which was launched in the summer of 2010.
Having never lived in London itself, I have only used the bikes occasionally, but my experience has been positive and I think that the scheme is a fantastic idea, despite the criticisms which follow. 😉 The process of acquiring a bike could be made a little smoother (for those who don’t have a release key which literally frees a bike in seconds), as the touchscreens of the terminals seemed a little unresponsive – then again, probably a design decision to make them durable. The bikes themselves are heavy. Very heavy. Luckily, London is mostly flat so instead of complaining about the robust design, enjoy the wide saddle and thick tires, which actually make for a pretty comfy ride. My biggest concern remains London traffic, but as more Boris bikes are seen on the streets, drivers become more aware of them and safety increases in numbers. Meanwhile the mayor is doing his best to improve cycle paths and lanes, going as far as constructing “cycle superhighways” – arteries to connect outer boroughs with the centre.
Undoubtedly, bikes aren’t for everyone, but if you can see the benefits of picking one up to get from A to B instead of packing onto the ever-crowded tube, you can enjoy the sights above ground, save some money and feel good about getting some exercise.
While recently visiting Århus in Denmark, I was pleasantly surprised by the city’s green credentials. Separated from the main street, a cycle path runs alongside the pavement. This is a typical street in Aarhus and the sight is probably not surprising in a city where approximately one in four people use their bike to get to work, already far ahead of the European standard. In fact, the ambition is to increase this proportion even further.
It is very clear while getting around the city that pedestrians and cyclists are given due consideration by drivers. This undoubtedly leads to less behaviour perceived by non-cyclists as ‘reckless’ and has an overall beneficial effect on how cycling is seen. Similarly, the relatively low amount of car traffic is noticeable in Aarhus when compared to the number of bikes on the streets.
Of course, this is all due to the excellent cycling infrastructure which does not just mean cycle paths. Wherever these cyclists go, they need a place to leave their bikes. The multi-level bike storage units found near the main railway station (pictured) was the first I had seen anywhere. Also noticeable was the lack of heavy theft-proof locks – most bikes only had an in-built rear-wheel lock which meant the bike was not attached to a permanent fixture, as in the case of the stylish bamboo-framed specimen pictured below.
Despite being Denmark’s second largest city, Århus is still relatively small, so this can go some way towards explaining why cycling is popular: the distance to travel likely isn’t great and the city is mostly flat. However, I believe that above all, the tendency to cycle is simply part of the culture and this is perhaps the hardest factor to influence when attempting to bring cycling to another city.
Visiting Århus has been really inspiring: seeing a city function so well with relatively few cars on the roads leaves me hopeful that many more places can follow in the example to bring about a shift in the modal split of city travel.