The Life-Sized City Blog

I've been helping out John Pucher from Rutgers University with some statistics for a new book he's writing. We were looking into bicycle parking in Denmark. I found the numbers to be interesting. The infographic above (hopefully) spells it out. Total number of parking spots at 297 Danish train stations and the number of spots reserved for bicycles and cars, including the occupancy rate of those spots. It applies to the national rail network and the S-train network serving Greater Copenhagen. I've combined the two in the stats. There are many trains that have, not surprisingly, occupancy rate of + 100%. A town like Lystrup has a bicycle rack occupany rate of 283%; 250% in Mørke, 147% in Odense, 208% in Svendborg, 121% at Copenhagen Central Station. The country's busiest train station - with S-trains, Metro and regional trains - is Nørreport with 102,189 passengers a day (53,004 arriving/49,185 departing). It has 996 bicycle parking spots (it's going to be renovated ...

I headed west last week for a meeting with the Danish company Veksø , who produce urban furniture as well as the bicycle counters that featue in so many Danish cities, as well as international cities. There are 33 bicycle counters in 10 Danish cities alone. On the way to Fredericia - "Gateway to Jutland!" - the Intercity train stopped at a few stations, one of them being Middelfart. From my seat I watched three ladies in wheelchairs boarding the train. The conductor and a stationmaster worked quickly and efficiently to get each lady onto the lift, raise them to the level of the train and get them on board. This is a major route that connects east and west Denmark, there are timetables to be kept, and still Danish State Railways take the time to get three passengers with special needs on board. It was impressive to watch. In a perfect world the platforms would be level with the trains but there are different models of trains - regional and national - so this isn't possi...

Danish State Railways [DSB] have been doing some good things for bicycles this year. First they made it free to take your bicycle on the S-Trains serving Greater Copenhagen . Now it seems that people transporting their bicycles by train can exploit their travel time a little more effectively. DSB had a competition for customers where ideas for how to improve service were sent in. Four customers had the same idea and it was the idea that won. Placing bicycle pumps in the existing bicycle compartments. Not bad. Not bad at all. The pumps will be installed in the new year. In addition, DSB are doubling the capacity of the so-called flex compartments to allow for even more bicycle capacity. At left: A bicycle/pram/wheelchair compartment on a Copenhagen S-train. At right: the flexible wheel holders hold the back wheel and allow for swaying movement. When DSB announced that bicycles were now free on S-trains, they put up this tunnel on Nørrebrogade - the busiest bicycle stre...

Recently the Danish State Railways [DSB] announced that bikes are now free on all the S-Trains in the Greater Copenhagen area. It was pretty big news here but DSB launched a comprehensive campaign to let the people know about it. On the busiest bicycle street in the western world, Nørrebrogade, they put up a mock S-train carriage on the bike lane. The morning bicycle rush hour on this street, which averages 38,000 cyclists a day, would find it hard to miss the advertising campaign. Whether people rode through the train tunnel or past it. On this stretch the bike lanes are double wide, around 5 metres. When the cyclists stopped at the red light up ahead, they were given a brochure about the fact that bikes are now free on the trains, as well as a free ticket for the train. Rather cool. Print adverts in a variety of themes about the new initiative feature prominently in the city these days. This advert on an outdoor ashtray, featuring beer glasses as wheels, reads: "Invite your bic...

It was announced today that Danish State Railways [DSB] will allow bicycles to travel free on the red S-trains that serve Greater Copenhagen and suburbs. It is a test period that starts this Friday and that will last for the rest of the year. DSB hope to make everyday journeys easier for Copenhageners and encourage more people to use their bicycle. It normally only costs 12 kroner [$2.25] for a bicycle ticket - even less if you buy a ten trip card, as above, but completing removing the need for a ticket will encourage many more people to combine train and bike on their daily journey. All the rules about taking your bicycle on the S-Train still apply, it's just free now. The S-trains have about 7.5 million passengers a month. DSB is not concerned about the increase in bicycles in the specially designed bike/pram/wheelchair compartments. " We have personnel on board to help people move around and rearrange so there is space for everyone. We are very confident that there will b...

The Copenhagen Central Station has been the most massive bicycle magnet in the country for a century. The streets around the station are flooded with bicycles. Plans were revealed today for a new parking complex with room for... 7000 bicycles! behind the station. »Now more than ever there is a need for bike parking at the train stations and the problem won't get better with the coming Metro extension construction around the city", said Klaus Bondam - Mayor in charge of the Dept. of Transport. The idea is to widen the bridge behind the station - Tietgensbroen - so that it covers more of the railyard. The design for the new bicycle parking will be decided through an architecture competition that will start in the new year. The parking complex is expected to be finished in 2013. It will be financed by the City of Copenhagen, Danish State Railways and Banedanmark. 7000!

All the underground stations on the new Copenhagen Metro have bike parking rooms. I never use them myself but the few times I've peeked inside... ... there is always loads of room. There is a bar on each wall, but bikes are just leanding on their kickstands. The Metro is brilliant but it doesn't go many places outside of cycle range - the red local trains transport you farther out into the suburbs - so there isn't that much use for the parking rooms I suppose. The Metro was voted as the World's Best a couple of years ago and is quite cool. The URL is nice, too. www.m.dk .