The Life-Sized City Blog

As the graphic above indicates, the potential for switching to bicycles and cargo bikes in European cities is impressive, according to a Cyclelogistics.eu baseline study. 51% of all motorised trips related to goods transport could realistically be done on bikes and cargo bikes. This is a good thing. Copenhagenize Design Company have been involved with the brilliant Cyclelogistics.eu project for two and a half years now. The project is aimed at promoting the use of cargo bikes in European cities. We've recently posted about our Shop by Bike campaign here in Copenhagen and for the past two and half years there have been great initiatives in all of our partner cities. Our partner in Graz, Austria - FGM Amor - have spearheaded a Cyclelogistics baseline study about how much of the the goods transport in a city could realistically be switched to cargo bikes and bicycles . In the above graphic you can see what the transport equation looks like in European cities. T...

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...

One of life's necessary evils is a trip to Cheaptown - aka IKEA. Like everywhere else on the planet, IKEAs in Copenhagen are located in big box areas outside of the city. There are two within 10 km of our flat and I headed out to one of them to buy some boxes for my son's room. He has 15 kg of LEGO and when we redid his room we figured some stackable shoe boxes on the wall would be great for the LEGO. If we need some bigger things from IKEA, we will usually grab a car from our car share programme . But on a Saturday morning I hopped on the Bullitt cargo bike and headed off to get the boy his boxes. As you've probably gathered by now, there are separated bike lanes basically anywhere you want to go in Copenhagen. Even places you DON'T want to go, like IKEA. Here's a little photo series of my Tour de IKEA 2009. In the above photo an onramp leads to one of the main motorways into/out of Copenhagen. The bike lane I'm on continues down under the ramp, while the cars...

Thanks to BlackSeaFleet for the link to this great shot. A hunter cycling home with his quarry. It's from the strange Fail blog , who seem to think this is strange, but it gets a Copenhagenize thumbs up for innovation and balls.

Photo: Per Wadskjaer for IKEA IKEA of Denmark is now starting a new concept at their Danish stores. They did a bit of market research and found that roughly 25% of their customers rode their bikes to the stores or took public transport - even though most of then are located outside the cities in large commerical centres - some call them Big Box Districts - which are located outside the city centre. In Copenhagen we have two IKEAs. One is about 10 km from the city centre, the other is about 20 km. I, myself, have made the former trip several times on my 3-speed, carrying all manner of cumbersome goods home to the nest. It's great to learn that so many other IKEA customers ride their bikes out there, too. Doesn't surprise me, really, that so many Danes ride to such lengths for such purposes. But it is cool that IKEA respects the fact by launching a concept that celebrates the fact. And remember kids! Cyclists make better shoppers than motorists! Photo: Per Wadskjaer for IKEA IKE...