Hi, Cyclist! Your Bicycle is Here

The area surrounding the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, is a labyrinth of construction as the City is renovating the on-street facilities and making it a nicer place. The result is that there is less space available so the City of Copenhagen has these signs up on Købmagergade, near the station. We are always thrilled to Copenhagenize Consulting's "Hej Cyklist" behavourial communication template in use. This campaign was developed for the City by the consultancy Atkins Danmark. It reads:

Hej Cyclist! Can't you find your bicycle?
It's now parked in Rosenborggade.

In order to create space for everyone, we've drawn a bicycle parking zone here on Købmagergade. Bicycles parked outside the zone may be moved to the bicycle parking zone in Rosenborggade.

They include a little map so you can find your bicycle. How lovely.

Around the corner, here are the bicycles that have been moved. A cool design of the photo that combines the bicycles on the sign with the bicycles parked behind it.

It reads:

Hi, Cyclist!

Your bicycle is here. If your bicycle wasn't parked in the parking zone on Købmagergade, we moved it here. Now there is better space for everyone.

Here's the other angle.

Up by the station, here is some more temporary parking. Looking forward to when the station area is finished being renovated, but we like the fact that these racks are placed smack in the middle of what used to be motor vehicle lanes.

Here are some related signage examples:
"Maybe We Moved Your Bicycle" - polite signs from the City of Copenhagen let bicycle users know where to find their bicycle when it's been moved away from emergency exits leading up from the Metro.

"Copenhagen's Bicycle Butlers - Park Illegally and get your chain oiled and tires pumped". The Bicycle Butlers have been a massive success.

"Walk your bicycle on the train station platform" - A firm message but with a soft and appealing graphic.

7550 New Bike Parking Spots at Copenhagen Central Station

For all of Copenhagen's badassness as a bicycle city, there remains one thing that the City still completely sucks at. Bicycle parking at train stations. At Copenhagen Central Station there are only about 1000 bike parking spots. Danish State Railways can't even tell us how many spots they have. They're not sure. Even in Basel they have 800+. In Antwerp they have this . Don't even get me started on the Dutch. 12,500 bike parking spots are on the way in some place called Utrecht . Amsterdam has a multi-story bike parking facility, floating bicycle barges round the back and are planning 7000 more spots underwater . Even at the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, the recent and fancy redesign failed miserably in providing parking that is adequate for the demand . Architects once again failing to respond to actual urban needs. It is time to remedy that. Here is my design for 7550 bike parking spots behind Copenhagen Central Station. Steve C. Montebello i...

Traffic Safety Orgs Speak for Themselves - Not the Rest of Us

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The Race for Lithium for Electric Cars and Bicycles

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia. Photo: Ezequiel Cabrera/Wikipedia The coming boom in batteries to electric cars and Lazy Bikes (electric-assist bicycles) means a boom in batteries with which to run them. A new race for natural resources has begun. Enter Lithium, the world's lightest metal. For 150 years it's been nickel and lead that have been used in batteries but the advent of lithium technology has allowed for a revolution. Longer battery life, lighter batteries in our laptaps and mobile phones and iPods. Lithium weighs 1/20th of what nickel and lead do. Lithium is also used in anti-depressive medicine, ceramics and nuclear power. With all this talk of electric cars and bicycles, the demand for lithium is on the verge of exploding. Lithium is the new oil. Enter Boliva. This developing country sits on at least half of the world's supply of lithium, most of it in underground salt layers beneath the world's largest salt flats in Salar de Uyuni , in south-west Boliva. Betwee...

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