The Copenhagen City Council produces a Bike Audit every couple of years in order to track bicycle usage in the city and plan more bike lanes and other infrastructure.
When they compare the 2006 Audit [Cykelregnskab 2006] with the one from 2004 it shows that the average amount of kilometres the average Copenhagener rides is unchanged. 1.2 million km each day.
Around 50% of cyclists ride up to 50 km each week. Then there is a group of 15% who ride more than 100 km each week.
The numbers for cyclists who ride up to 30 km each week show some interesting results:
34% ride up to 30 km a week to work.
68% ride up to 30 km a week on non-work related errands.
17% ride up to 30 km a week for recreation.
The latter means that 73% use their bikes for non-recreative usage. It is a means of transport, first and foremost, and not a conscious fitness-related vechicle.
That cycling is a good form of exercise, however, is the most important reason for riding for 19% of Copenhageners.
Another 38% mention excercise as one of the reasons.
In comparison, 51% of people say they ride because it is easiest and 45% say they ride because it is fastest.
In 2006, 36% of Copenhageners rode to work. The goal in the City's Cycle Policy is that 50% of the citizens will ride to work and educational institutions. The goal was previously 40% but has now been raised.
The City cites that improved infrastructure, including better controlled bike parking facilities are necessary if the magic 50% goal is to be reached.
Source: Copenhagen City Council's Cykelregnskab 2006
It's all so simple if we want it to be. For almost a century we have been asking the same question in our cities. "How many cars can we move down a street?" It's time to change the question. If you ask "How many PEOPLE can we move down a street?", the answer becomes much more modern and visionary. And simple. Oh, and cheaper. Let alone the fact that the model at the top can move 10 times more people down a street than the model at the bottom. When I travel with my Bicycle Urbanism by Design keynote , I often step on the toes of traffic engineers all around the world. Not all of them, however. I am always approached by engineers who are grateful that someone is questioning the unchanged nature of traffic engineering and the unmerited emphasis placed on it. I find it brilliant that individual traffic engineers in six different nations have all said the same thing to me: "We're problem solvers. But we're only ever asked to solve the sam...