Currently, more than 1.1m km are covered by cyclists in Copenhagen – every day! 36% of Copenhageners choose to go by bike to their place of work or education. This amazing number of cycles is presumably a world record and constitutes an important part of Copenhagen’s identity. Our cycle culture has evolved and developed over many years, helped by ongoing investment in cycle tracks, cycle routes etc. Many Copenhageners want more and broader cycle tracks, more green cycle routes free from car traffic, green waves between traffic lights and better cycle parking facilities, also at their workplaces. During recent years, we have built a new bridge over the harbour for cyclists and pedestrians. A similar one has also been built over Åboulevarden. Many new cycle stands have been set up and several campaigns have contributed to better and safer cycle traffic. The initiative will continue, and will be intensified. Conditions for cyclists will improve further, so that even more people will choose to transform the journey to their place of work or education into a bike ride in eco-metropolis Copenhagen. Cyclists already contribute to holding down CO2 emissions from traffic compared to other major cities. When we achieve our goal of 50% of Copenhageners cycling to work, we will reduce CO2 emissions by a further 80,000 tons per year in the traffic of Copenhagen. We would like the new cyclists to be car drivers discovering the many advantages of cycling: no time wasted in traffic jams, better health, less CO2 and cheaper transport.Read more about Copenhagen's biking strategy here.
The best alternative to cycling will be public transport, which must also be improved. Investment in ease of travel by metro, bus and so on will ensure that public transport is the preferred alternative to cycling, rather than the car.
We must keep up the speed! In recent years, economic growth in the Copenhagen metropolitan area has developed positively. The regional gross domestic product has grown by 22% over ten years. This has also stimulated transport growth on our roads. Against this background, a number of municipalities have created the Municipal Forum. The vision of the Municipal Forum is to maintain a well-functioning transport system that ensures a free flow of traffic to everybody’s advantage. We see this as a basic precondition for continuing growth and prosperity in the metropolitan area. For this reason, we must meet the challenge presented by the traffic. In addition, car traffic is by far the greatest cause of air pollution in Copenhagen. The air can and must be even cleaner than it is now. The goal is clear. People should be able to move around in Copenhagen and breathe the air without risk to their health. Like the majority of major European cities, Copenhagen has difficulty in living up to the air quality requirements for nitrous dioxide (NO2) and large particles (PM10). By 2015 at the latest, we must be able to meet all the national and international limits for material in the air which can be damaging to our health.
