Dreams On Wheels

Cycle culture is what you make it May 30, 2009 at 11:04

During my many meetings with foreign visitors I am often confronted by the same question: “What is the secret of Danish cycle culture and how do we learn it?”

A simple question which takes a number of second thoughts to answer. One thing is that Denmark isn’t a paradise for cyclists. It’s so windy that a world-famous wind turbine industry has grown rapidly thanks to a well-based home market. And Danish cities are not as densely populated as in Holland, where 2-3 people live in the same space as one Dane. So even though our cities are rather flat, we do have much longer distances to cope with than the Dutch. In general there’s a limit of 25 minutes in each direction to and from work where most people are willing to consider cycling as an option. This often equates to 7-8 kilometres, and our major cities are much more spread out than that.

This is why green waves and lots of priority projects for cyclists have been implemented in some of the most cycle-friendly cities like Odense and Copenhagen - to enlarge the catchment area for potential cyclists.

Another issue is our informal clothing - even in banks, ties aren’t always required and sporty clothing is widely accepted for daily use. Showers are possible in many workplaces - otherwise a clean T-shirt will do in most cases.

We all cycle and almost everyone has a bike. Theft is a widespread problem - but statistics say that you may wait for 30 years to get your bike stolen. And in some cases it’s your own fault because you didn’t lock it well enough. Our basic insurance always covers bike theft, and someone could see this as an opportunity to get a new bike…

So is all this the secret of Danish cycle culture? - no, not quite. Similar Danish cities vary widely in their proportion of cyclists - some have double that of others. The reasons are many: a lack of local cycle policy and cycle promotion, car-oriented traffic planning, too easy access to car parking and no official high status for cycling. So cycle culture is what you make it - even though we do have a fine basis for cycling, Great Britain should have just as many cycle trips per capita as we have - but that’s another story!

by Troels Andersen, Cycling Consultant to the City of Odense

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