Today was a long one, but a good one as Morton from Copenhagenize gave an awesome lecture on the bicycle system of Copenhagen. Something I really enjoyed that Morton mentioned was that he is not a bicyclist, but rather a user of a bike that rides it everyday because it is the fastest and easiest way to get to work. For the Danish, it is about how many people can be moved down the street, not how many cars, buses, or bikes. The bicycle, they have found, is the most efficient way to do that. In fact, 62% of Copenhageners bike to work or education every single day. We toured around on bikes after his lecture and Morton showed us around, putting his words into action and discussing the political and financial reasons for the bike infrastructure.
Chip, Mikah, and I went out to explore the streets after lunch and our debrief. We biked mostly on curb separate bike tracks with space for three or four bikes to be comfortably side by side in between the street and the sidewalk. This is typically a shared space with all types of bikes, cargo bikes, e-scooters, and the occasional moped. At one point, we were backed up at a light with about 20 bikes in front of us and another 10 behind us. However, with bike congestion there is hardly any need to stop and go when the light turns green because everyone just hops on and goes. There is almost always room on the left too to pass or be passed. Biking places is by far the fastest mode of transportation in Copenhagen and I have found myself able to get to anywhere in the city in a relatively quick amount of time.
One more observation I had was that there is spaces for bike taxis to park and to hang out. However, I did not see anyone actually using a bike taxi because everyone just had bikes of their own. This may have just been the time I saw them, but it seems bike taxis would not be as popular in a city where everyone is already biking.
There are many different ways to transport bigger items on bikes and cargo bikes seem to be a very popular option for moving something that does not fit in a backpack or basket. There were bikes with smaller cargo spaces in the front, as well as ones with bigger storage spaces that were wheeling behind. We even saw someone carrying a newly purchased television, balancing it on his handlebars and doing his best to maneuver through the lanes.
The streets in Copenhagen are quite different than anywhere else I have been and a big reason why is because of how many more people are out on bikes or walking than in a vehicle. Now, this might fluctuate more when it is not summertime and I continue to be excited about coming back for fall term to see the differences. There are also so many more tourists and less locals than there will be in the fall and I believe there could be drastic differences in the way locals and tourists bike around.
