The Life-Sized City Blog

This article has been updated and appears on Medium.com So what exactly happens when you're a major train operator and you suddenly make it free for passengers to take bikes on your trains? We know that some rail operators in various parts of the world would have you believe that chaos would ensue and that they would lose passengers. Numbers from Greater Copenhagen and Danish State Railways (DSB), however, seem to indicate that the opposite is true. The S-train network that serves Greater Copenhagen is arguably the most integral part of the public transport mix in the region. Buses, Metro and regional trains are vital parts of the network, but the red S-trains stretching out into Europe's third-largest urban sprawl are in many ways the backbone. The S-train network - with 2 Metro lines at bottom right. Bicycles were allowed on the trains for a fee, which was never prohibitive. Until 2010, that is. In that year, DSB announced that bicycles would be made free on all their...

UPDATE 10 OCT 2014 The Copenhagen bike share bikes we talk about in this article have been on the streets for a few months now. The goal is that each bike is used 3 times a day - by local commuters. So far they are used 0.8 times a day - by tourists. Oops. Fail. These $10,000 shiny toys are already a tourist gimmick - like the originals in Copenhagen - and that does not encourage locals to use them. Locals never want to looks like tourists. Keep reading for more rationality. ---------- While La Rochelle, France can boast about having started the first proper bike share system in the mid-1970s , Copenhagen introduced the Bycyklen - City Bike - in 1995. Picture above and below, the bikes were cute gimmicks that lasted until late 2012. They worked on a shopping trolley system - put a 10 or 20 kroner coin in and get it back when you return it. The bikes were horrible to ride and it didn't take long for them to become tourist magnets. Most Copenhageners wouldn't touch th...

I just recieved a quite brilliant text message from Danish State Railways. "Congratulations with your birthday tomorrow! You can travel free in all zones on the S-train (the trains serving Greater Copenhagen) on your birthday. Just show your ID, your DSB loyalty card and this text message on the train." This is brilliant customer care. Free trains on your birthday! I'm stunned and pleased. More from DSB: This is how DSB markets their bicycle-friendliness in a mainstream bicycle culture This is back when they made it free to take your bicycle on the trains. This is their idea of having bicycle pumps on their trains.

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...

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...