Copenhagen Bicycle Identity Crisis
(cc photo by NicestAlan)
Today I got to go on a bicycle tour of Copenhagen guided by two representatives from the Dansk Cyklist Forbund (Danish Bicycle Federation). It was a great way to learn about Copenhagen’s bike infrastructure by actually riding around and experience it, stopping periodically to have things explained. I’d been to European cities with impressive bicycle infrastructure before—Berlin and Stockholm very recently—but those places seemed like a difference in degree compared to the United States. Copenhagen was a difference in kind. There’s just not—at all—a sense of danger or even competition with the automobile. On streets that are heavily trafficked, there are bike lanes, and the lanes are usually physically separated from the road. On streets where there aren’t bike lanes, there isn’t much traffic. And most of all there are tons of people on bikes wherever you go. Thirty-seven percent of Copenhagen commuters use bikes. And given that presumably some people are walking to work, some people are using the bus, some people are using the Metro, and some people are using the S-Tog the resulting situation is one in which cyclists and drivers are really equals.
It’s actually impressive to a degree that’s somewhat unsettling. Regular bicycle commuting in the United States is, among other things, a somewhat meaningful identity category. Initially it’s thrilling to see so many of “your people” everywhere. But looking closer you start to see exactly what was explained to me—the whole reason you have so many people biking around is that cycling is totally mainstream in Copenhagen and doesn’t constitute an identity at all.
From a policy perspective, what you’re basically seeing in Denmark is path-dependency on steroids. Back in the 1970s there were a substantial number of cyclists in what I guess you would call the “pre car” mode where people ride bikes because the country is too poor for everyone to afford a car. Then came the oil crisis and driving got even more expensive. And alternative policies started to be explored where for the first time the country started consciously trying to encourage bicycling. And the policy was never really dropped. So you have lots of cyclists which creates a constituency for more infrastructure which leads to more cycling which creates a constituency for more infrastructure. Denmark is the country with the highest share of GDP going to taxes, and part of that is very high taxes on cars and on gasoline so even though Denmark is a very rich country today lots of families still have a strong financial incentive to limit car ownership and car use.
I think you can already see embryonic versions of this positive reenforcement cycle in some American cities—New York and Washington to name two—but it still looks very different and I think something dramatic would have to happen to really change the path dependence dynamic. Then again I think that if you look at where oil prices were before the financial crisis hit it’s not all that unlikely that something dramatic will happen, comparable to the oil crisis of the seventies. At any rate, the current center-right government in Denmark hadn’t actually been very interested in bike-promotion over the past eight years (the Copenhagen city government is another matter) but no they’ve changed their tune and are appropriating about $200 million in competitive grants to municipalities for bike projects.
43 Responses to “Copenhagen Bicycle Identity Crisis”
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October 5th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Any juicy Copenhagen scandal involving Big Bike lobbyists?
October 5th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
When I moved to Sweden, I told all my Swedish friends how much I loved biking in Sweden as it was so safe (it is compared to the U.S.). Every single one said, it ok here but you should go to Denmark, it is really great to bike there.
Denmark’s biking prowess is known by everyone in Scandinavia.
October 5th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
From a policy perspective, what you’re basically seeing in Denmark is path-dependency on steroids.
Why do you see Denmark this way and not the US? ISTM that the US government works just as hard to push cars and car-based infrastructure (roads paid for out of general revenues, mandatory parking, ultra-low-density zoning, and let’s not forget bailing out the automakers and most recently, outright paying people to buy newer cars) as Denmark’s does to push bikes.
You see roads with bike lanes as unusual because you’re from the US, but how would a Dane see our miles and miles (well, to them I guess it would be kilometers and kilometers) of sidewalkless and often shoulderless roads inhospitable to bikes and pedestrians alike?
October 5th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I work with a couple of Danes who make Matt’s point about taxation on the automobile: in most of Europe, a new VW Golf will cost you around $30-35k. In Denmark, they pay close to $80k for the same car. A Volvo? Forget it, you’re looking at over $100k.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
“Any juicy Copenhagen scandal involving Big Bike lobbyists?”
Actually Copenhagen’s mayor for technichal and enviromental issues had a bit of an embarrasment this summer, as it turned out that the municipality had paid for a trip he took to Paris.
A lot of Danish celebs and politicians rode on bicycles from Denmark to Paris (injuring two government ministers on the way!). They all paid for the ride themselves. The mayor for tech had the municipality pay for his trip “in order to promote Copenhagen as a biking city”. Yeah right.
Lot of huffing and puffing and he ended up paying the money back.
So yes, we do have bike related scandals.
/Limagolf
October 5th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
People assume that good biking cities have always been good biking cities. That’s not true. 40 years ago Copenhagen was as dominated by cars as American cities are today. Here’s a before and after from Holland.
It takes effort to get from the car-dominated equilibrium to the people-dominated equilibrium but it’s worth it.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Car makers and car dealers have bitched for years about the taxes on cars, because their profit margins are greatly reduced. They have to almost dump the cars here to make up for the high taxes. I bought a 1-year-old Suzuki Alto for about $20k. There’s also a yearly tax one has to pay, the amount being determined by the size of the car engine and the weight of the car. I pay about $100 a year, while mu co-worker pays $600 for his 1.6 litre gas guzzler. People grumble here about the car prices, but most accept the politics.
If you want to talk to a high ranking of Denmark’s 3rd largest union, I work in the media dept. Just e-mail me.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Sidewalks are nice. Sidewalks allow for walking, which is a noble activity. As Nietzsche said, all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. Biking? Not so much. Biking is for little kids. If your an adult and somewhere is too far to walk, drive a fucking car.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I mean “you’re.” Hell, I’m just trolling anyway.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Bonus points for bringing Nietzsche into it though.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
[...] For All Filed under: Transportation — by teofilo @ 4:35 pm This discussion of bicycling in Denmark is interesting, and it reminds me of a similar dynamic that I’ve [...]
October 5th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
You see a similar identity dynamic involved in other environmental lifestyle areas, like how organic foods and fuel efficient cars are considered “luxury” items for upper crust people. It’s certainly a start (and probably inevitable) but it’s only when these things become mainstream that society starts really reaping the benefits. You knew that already, of course.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
anyway, Nietzsche was just trolling too.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
The way the bike lanes are situated in the picture are definitely convenient for cyclists but I found they can be quite dangerous. As you can see in the picture there is a bus there, and there are times when people waiting for an approaching bus may meander into the bike lanes or queue up outside of the bus and block the lane. Pedestrians also have to be careful with their packages and arm swinging, because it could knock into someone approaching from behind.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Here is pressing question: How do bicycle commuters in Europe not look like they just rode a bike to work?
Perhaps there is just a higher tolerance level for being a bit rumpled in Europe, though whenever I’ve been working in Europe I never noticed any one looking particularly unkempt. In fact, what I’ve noticed is the opposite. Europe is one of the last places where the men’s tie is still the norm.
I’m assuming that people aren’t showering once they arrive at work. And even if they had a change of clothes in their bag that still doesn’t explain the non-rumpled look since putting clothes in a bag, then biking to work on a hot day, is a sure-fire recipe for looking like you had stuffed your clothes in a bag and rode to work.
I not trying to be glib. I honestly want to know the answer since I live in Seattle and my office is moving to a new location that is about 2 miles from my house. I’m going to start biking but I don’t want to look (or smell) like 2 miles of bad road when I get to the office.
Is the secret the bikes since the Europeans have commuting bikes rather than the American road bikes? Is it the quality and style of the clothes? Or can European just pull off the looking good in clothes with a few wrinkles because, well, they aren’t American?
October 5th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Yeah, does anyone remember the episode of The Office (season 3, fall 2006) where Jim arrived at work with huge armpit stains after an invigorating morning bike ride?
That would suck.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
It’s been discussed here a bit before, Choska, but your average Euro-cyclist who’s going to the shops or to work doesn’t treat it like the Tour de France. That’s left for weekends when the nice bike comes out. This oft-linked page, with its hint of “OMFG, suited cyclists!” in the captions, gives you a hint of how those sit-up-and-beg cyclists aren’t exactly whacking it on the big chainwheel.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
@Choska: It’s a combination of several factors. A few I can come up with:
1) Biking to work is mostly a Northern European habit. Even at the peak of summer, here in Scandinavia you don’t need to worry much about sweating in the sun. Your primary concern, appearance-wise, will be to have a rain poncho so you don’t get wet (but rain is mostly thin up North).
Actually, this is probably one reason that biking commuters aren’t a common sight south of the Alps: back in Italy I’d steam most of the year and get drowned in the occasional torrential rain, both of which were acceptable for a shaggy student but would have been a problem for a white collar
2) Biking is done at a leisurely pace, and on city bikes i.e. keeping an almost sitting posture. The relative flatness of Flanders, Denmark, and much of Sweden also makes biking less of a strenuous activity.
3) If the stereotypes are accurate and/or the Yanks I’ve met are a representative sample, there is a lot less body fat and therefore less sweating on this side of the pond
2 and 3 may be related to…
4) Get more practice! You definitely aren’t supposed to be sweating after just three kilometers of biking
October 5th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
(My apology for the abuse of smileys. I only noticed now that I put three in a single post! I assure you, the crassness was not intentional)
October 5th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Re: Here is pressing question: How do bicycle commuters in Europe not look like they just rode a bike to work?
My guess is this is is due to A) flatter topography than i to be found in most US cities. B) Milder climate (less hot-and-humid weather in the summer) and C) shorter distances to commute.
I ride two and a half miles to work along the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, and so enjoy two of three factors above. (All three when it isn’t summer). Except on the muggiest summer days I don’t arrive at work at all dishevelled. I keep a brush at work to deal with “helmet hair” and a small bottle of body spray.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
How do bicycle commuters in Europe not look like they just rode a bike to work?
I dunno, but I could tell you about my experience going to high school in Japan for a month as an exchange student. This was during July, the monsoon season, so it was nasty humid. I would generally travel to school with my host student by bicycle, and the route was mostly flat. It took 45 minutes, so I guess it was maybe 10 miles or whatever else a fairly leisurely 45-minute bike ride would get you.
Anyway, I would always get to school covered in sweat and try with limited success to clean up in the bathroom. I don’t know how they did it, but none of the Japanese had this same problem. At the time I was 16 and in reasonably good shape, not hairy and fat like I am now. As far as I could tell, the Japanese just don’t sweat.
As for the Europeans, maybe it’s just the weather.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Re Choska
Mr. Choska lives in Seattle and he is worried about high temperatures in the summer? He has to be kidding me.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I would also add a mechanical reason why it is easier to ride to work in work clothes in Europe. A lot of the bikes have massive/brilliant chain boxes/guards. Most American bikes do not include these. I suspect because single speed and/or planetary gears are also not as acceptable (for whatever reason) in the US.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I’ll take this opportunity to link to an art film a friend of mine did featuring bicycling in Copenhagen: Copenhagen Cycles, which was all done with hand made zoetropes.
I visited him there when he was working on it and was really struck by the amazing bicycle infrastructure, and the ubiquitous windmills. Not to mention the fact that Danes are fit in a not-unattractive way. A very appealing culture. And one that is well off enough that there are still plenty of people who buy and drive cars despite the over 200% tax.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Yes, because if there’s one thing exhausted, overweight single mothers in America – Latina, African-American, struggling white, whatever – want it’s to bike to work and back home, loaded down with bags of groceries, whatever else need be bought (maybe, oh say, a window air-conditiong unit) and/or their children.
Jeez, you’d think being a progressive might entail recognizing that not everyone is a college-educated, Feministing-reading, affluent white twentysomething dude or dudette. But no, of course not.
Sadly, there are days when Matt’s knowledge of American society (the people who live here, what they’re like) seemingly rivals William Kristol’s pre-war grasp of Iraq. Though, to his credit, Matt hasn’t gotten anyone killed so we can better appreciate the comic aspects.
Okay, since Matt has shown over the years that he’s incapable of reporting and seemingly only learns about his fellow humans from charts or while attending paid-for junctions maybe someone could sponsor a junction for him in our very own America. Heck, he could start in a hilly section of D.C. talking to some women who didn’t go to Harvard and don’t read Feminsting. Women who clean hotel rooms, say. Oh, ask them about biking as an option, dude. How important better bike paths would be for them.
Seriously, perhaps Unite Here (D.C.’s hotel workers union) could sponsor a junket for Matt in his own Washington. What a learning experience that could be! From there perhaps he could see the south in August. Then he could go somewhere where there’s ice on the ground for months and months. He could learn then how important massive funding for bike paths is for working moms, urban and otherwise, in the U.S.
Matt loves a good chart. He might want to look at a few that show the snowfall in Detroit annually or the heat in the Phoenix or Houston in summer or just the physical condition of actual working men and women and the hours they work. Then he could tell us again about the percentage that needs be allotted for bikes here, that and how relevant life for young Danes is to the actual circumstances and needs of working women in American cities.
October 5th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
You know, you’re absolutely right. We should make it our business to learn nothing from other societies. It does nobody any good to report on how other cities choose to spend their public dollars. Working D.C. moms should be forced to continue to be car-dependent, and have no affordable child care or health care options. The fact that Danes have managed to create an urban infrastructure where normal working people of all ages and incomes routinely bike where they need to go (not just young hipsters) should be of no interest whatsoever to working moms in the States. They should be encouraged to keep their heads in the sand and pay no attention to how much of their tax dollars go to support a petroleum and automobile dependent existence. Right on!
October 5th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Purity troll is pure.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:04 am
I suspect because single speed and/or planetary gears are also not as acceptable (for whatever reason) in the US.
Single speed bikes are not acceptable in the US because of the lack of Performance
October 6th, 2009 at 12:27 am
“I think you can already see embryonic versions of this positive reenforcement cycle in some American cities—New York and Washington to name two …”
Ok, but name the others!
Denver? Boulder? Portland? Seattle?
October 6th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Makes me wonder where the Netherlands stands on the bike friendly scale – not just at the city level, but as an entire country. And it would take care of the issue of identity – the Dutch consider themselves to be world famous for their bicycling ways.
Of course, Dutch bicycle infrastructure is possibly less impressive than Copenhagen’s – but then, with Dutch population density, the incessant bicycle traffic jams during certain times in certain areas are probably unavoidable.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Wow, from that last troll you’d think that a safer bike lane would somehow force everyone else off the road!
I think compared to both Copenhagen and most US cities, Berlin happens to be a relatively easy place to drive. Extensive public transit and a great bicycle infrastructure with offset lanes provide appealing alternatives for most commutes, which keeps car use down to a level that allows traffic to move swiftly. Even in neighborhoods as dense as Manhattan it’s not very hard to find parking.
So here, if you were this hard-working Straw Woman, struggling to get an air conditioner home to all her hungry babies after a double shift at the hotel, you’d be a lot more likely to get home before your double-wide burns down, and not knock off a Lycra-clad Straw Cyclist on the way.
October 6th, 2009 at 7:24 am
‘Wow, from that last troll you’d think that a safer bike lane would somehow force everyone else off the road!’
I do doubt this is referring to me, but I was about to note that the only way to actually reduce some of Netherlands’ bicycle traffic congestion was to actually get cars off the streets.
Berlin is really very good, though Karlsruhe also does a pretty good job with public transportation and bicycling – without having any notable offset bicycle lanes, and without spending a lot of money. Though apart from being really flat and each hosting a major federal institution (OK, the Bundesverfassungsgericht isn’t that major in most ways), Berlin and Karlsruhe don’t share too much.
But what Germany has (and I certainly assume other countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, etc) and the U.S. truly lacks, is simple training in school (3rd or 4th grade, called Fahrradausbildung/bicycle training) about how bicyclists are supposed to act in traffic – and what the children learn is then easily carried over into their adult lives if they are behind the wheel of a larger vehicle (after all, a notable number of Germans never get a driver’s license).
Everyone learning at a basic level about how to act as a Verkehrsteilnehmer – a hard word to translate, actually, since it implies that one is a part of the flow of traffic, not merely a passive observer without responsibilities – is a major part of creating a bicycling identity, and one that most Americans have absolutely no idea about. A typical German bicyclist’s ‘identity’ is formed in elementary school with all of the other kids of the same age they live among, which is one of the simple explanations why bicycling is anything but edgy in Germany. And in many places, they can only ride their bicycles to school after having successfully passed this police supervised (yes, the police have people whose main job is to teach children how to be safe in traffic) class – another built-in incentive to actually learn about bicycling, as it is one of the major ways to show that you are no longer a little kid.
This is the simplest explanation why Germans, Dutch, Danes, etc aren’t idiots on two wheels or four – they learned early the importance of keep idiocy off the streets, for everyone’s clearly understood good, including most definitely their own. Combined with treating bicycles as just another element of how people get around where they live, bicycling just doesn’t offer too much in the way of identity – unless you count the sport rider wannabees, but since most of them are pretty amusing looking, it takes a certain thick skin to actually decide to make a statement wearing pink Telekom lycra, including not realizing what the statement actually is. (And no offense to the real sport riders, of which there are many, but anyone who has spent enough time in Germany knows exactly who I mean – they also tend to be the same sort of people that spend thousands of euros on neon colored leather/helmets for motorcycle riding.)
October 6th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I honestly want to know the answer since I live in Seattle and my office is moving to a new location that is about 2 miles from my house.
You can feel confident biking to work and you’ll look fine. 2 miles on a bike, unless you’ve got a steep uphill, is barely enough to break a sweat once you get in decent shape even on a hot day.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:42 am
> But what Germany has (and I certainly assume other
> countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, etc) and
> the U.S. truly lacks, is simple training in school
> (3rd or 4th grade, called Fahrradausbildung/bicycle
> training) about how bicyclists are supposed to act
> in traffic – and what the children learn is then
> easily carried over into their adult lives if they
> are behind the wheel of a larger vehicle (after all,
> a notable number of Germans never get a driver’s license).
I remember back in the 1960s my useless, rotten-to-the-core US urban public school district and police dept held exactly that class, around 2nd grade IIRC. Of course it fell victim to the budget cuts in both organizations in the 1970s.
Cranky
October 6th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Here is pressing question: How do bicycle commuters in Europe not look like they just rode a bike to work?
Being danish I feel obliged to answer this: I bike 12 km to work (each way) and I usually wear t-shirt in the summer, and have a shirt in my bag. If you fold it correctly it won’t crumble (that’s my 9 months of military conscription showing through).
If I’m weaing nice clothes (on my way to a wedding for instance), I just bike slower. Or take a taxi or whatever.
It’s NOT a religion, it’s a convenience. Remember: the money saved by not having a car, will earn you lots and lots of money for taxies.
/Limagolf
October 6th, 2009 at 9:10 am
What everyone else said, Choska: two miles isn’t that far.
But if it’s longer than just two miles, or if you have a steep uphill stretch in your commute, or if it’s the summer (Seattle might not get too hot, but it obviously does get humid), then just wear workout clothes while biking in, put your nicer clothes and a towel in a backpack and change in the bathroom at work.
One of my coworkers is a bit of a fitness nut; he bikes in to work even in the winter (DC winters may be mild compared to further north, but it’s still not what I’d call biking weather) and it’s something like a 10-mile commute. I’m not sure if he showers, but he commutes all decked out in spandex and stuff and changes clothes either in the bathroom just down the hall or in the locker room on the first floor. If your office has a gym and locker room and shower, that’s the obvious answer.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:59 am
@6 chrismealey
Great links. Thanks.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:13 am
@35 Limagolf: “It’s NOT a religion, it’s a convenience.”
Well said, sir.
Unfortunately, here in American, our automobiles are both a religion and a convenience. We need a little Central Planning here in the good ole USofA, to break of us of our lunacies. It will make us stronger, as a people, less sheeplike.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:33 am
America is doomed if it needs “central planning” to get its lazy ass on a bike. Screw bike lanes. If you really know how to ride one you’ll mix it up with the cars. A little BO never hurt anybody either. I say drop out of NATO, the UN and stop pretending to defend all these Europeans, who according to everybody here do things so much better, and start putting in bike lanes with all the $$$ will be saving.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:59 am
#33: Everyone learning at a basic level about how to act as a Verkehrsteilnehmer – a hard word to translate, actually, since it implies that one is a part of the flow of traffic, not merely a passive observer without responsibilities – is a major part of creating a bicycling identity, and one that most Americans have absolutely no idea about.
Part-by-part, a Verkehrsteilnehmer is a transportation part-taker, or a transportation participant.
Germans not only bike with more of an understanding of how to behave in traffic, but also drive that way too. To get a license, you have to take like 25 hours of professional instruction, which includes night driving, autobahn driving, and various other situations, as well as some practical instruction in the mechanics of automobiles. My experience driving with Germans or in Germany is limited chiefly to highways, but I’ve always noticed that people sorted themselves properly into lanes commensurate with their driving speed. They also don’t speed up and slow down at random on the highway like some American drivers do, and keep to the right except when passing.
While some of the difference between how road participants behave in Northern Europe versus the U.S. may be to these policy and infrastructure differences, I think there’s a strong cultural component in that in the U.S., driving is a right and it’s what adults do. When you’re in the “it’s my right” mentality, it’s harder to get people to drive with other drivers or with the orderly flow of traffic in mind. It’s also assumed that driving is universal (hence the use of driver’s licenses as general-purpose ID cards, which is kind of strange if you think about it) and that walking or cycling or public transportation are non-default, alternative means of getting places, which gives drivers the unthinking comfort of being the norm.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:29 am
whoops, “Verkehr” = “traffic”, rather than “transportation”.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Car driving culture in Germany is rather worse than in the US.
Many Germans drive way too fast and many of those think the best way to tell someone he is driving “too slow” is by driving 3 meter behind him. The right lane driving thing is simply regulation. Bad regulation if you ask me by the way. Slower speeds for everyone, so that everyone can stay on his lane alow to lower the engergy consumption and the number off traffic jams and also make driving far more comfortable. On a German Autobahn you either go with the trucks* or you drive left/right all the time.
*Which probably isnt that bad off an idear, they dont drive much slower than normal US traffic. But you know sometimes we all are very impatient and irrational…
October 7th, 2009 at 1:25 am
‘Car driving culture in Germany is rather worse than in the US.’
Well, this was a thread about bicycling, and it would be absurd to argue that German drivers are worse than American ones in terms of dealing with bicyclists in traffic. Speaking as an American living in Germany for a couple of decades, and who rode a motorcycle in both countries, it is true that German drivers tend to be too fast. On the other hand, they do have the advantage of actually being competent drivers, with vehicles in well maintained condition.