It's been a crazy past 3.5 days in Copenhagen (it feels like I've been here for so much longer), but I finally have some down time to gather my thoughts and first impressions about the city and its bike infrastructure.
Biking in Copenhagen
To describe the infrastructure for people reading from home, most of the bike lanes are separated from the car lanes with a curb, so they are higher up, and then the sidewalks are one curb step up from the bike lanes. There are many parts that have concrete to make a ramp so that it's easier to get up when you're crossing the street or when you have to go onto the sidewalk to get to a shop.
People here put their hand out to the right to make a right turn, and put their palm up to signal that they are stopping. To make a left turn, they first go forward then stop and turn their bike towards their desired direction (using the stopping signal with their hand) and then when that light turns green, they continue.
Positives
One of the first things I noticed about this city is the tiny infrastructure additions people might not always think about that are important to the people biking here, such as foot rests at stoplights, a yellow light before the green so you know to get your pedals ready, slanted trash cans for people on bikes, and concrete ramps. These all make it so much easier to get around even though they are just simple add-ons.
I also like how there are laws in place so that if you collide with a car in any way, the driver will be responsible. This creates a feeling of biking in the city where you can trust that cars won't hit you or be aggressive towards you which makes the experience so much more enjoyable than being in the US.
There is also a huge amount of public space here, including parks, plazas, playgrounds, docks, and beaches. Most things are accessible to and built for everyone of all ages and backgrounds. I've seen a lot of kids biking on their own as well people in motorized wheelchairs in the bike lane. I think the environment surrounding these Danes contributes to their trust in each other because much of the city is space for everyone, so they know each other and feel a sense of community.
Lastly, from my excursion outside of the city, it was nice to see that, for the most part, the infrastructure continued on when you leave the city center and even get into more rural roads. There were gravel paths, grade-separated paths, and I only encountered one road without any bike infrastructure.
Negatives
After a day of biking in Copenhagen, I got yelled at for the first time by a lady in her car for not riding single file. One of the things I don't like about biking here is that you aren't able to ride side-by-side with someone and talk to them. This is pretty surprising to me because everywhere else seems to have these open public spaces that foster community and connection, but it's frowned upon if you aren't riding single file, and the bike lanes are so narrow that it's sometimes impossible to ride next to others and still allow people to pass you. Don't get me wrong, I would be grateful for this infrastructure in the US, but it still feels like it is missing the social aspect that makes commutes a lot more enjoyable.
Additionally, the process of left turns here seem a bit unnatural and are hard to get used to. It also doesn't work well if you are waiting to turn in the middle of a large group, because you will have to overflow into the car lanes. It might be because I'm not quite used to the process yet, but I would rather make a left turn as we do in the US or have a designated space that is big enough for everyone waiting to turn.
Lastly, trying to take our bikes on the train was a rough experience for us. We had 8 people, but there are only 6 bikes allowed on each train, so we had to take two different trains at different times and two of us had to bike an hour and a half back or to another train station. I thought that because there is such of a bike culture here, there would be a bit more space on the trains for bikes. I've heard that on some trains in the US there is an entire car for bikes, which is weird that we are doing that better than a place with better bike infrastructure than us.
Despite these negatives, I have generally felt so much safer biking here than in the US; I feel a lot more relaxed and I feel as if I am actually welcome on these roads, which is something I don't think I could really say about anywhere I've biked before. The first time biking here was such a freeing feeling, like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders because I don't have to worry about risking my life when I'm going somewhere, which was such a cool experience. I'm also really enjoying the city, the beautiful water and beaches, the public parks, and everything in between (except for the lack of public toilets and water fountains), so I'll give a quick recap of the things I've been able to see and the activities I've done.
Day 1
This was an exhausting but incredible day. I got no sleep on the plane, which got into Copenhagen at 8 am, then I was able to navigate the metro to get to the hostel, store my bags in a locker, and go out and explore so that I didn't nap and could adjust to the time zone. First, I went to a pedestrian shopping street called Stroget, which was pretty cool to see, then after some down time (but no sleeping, trust me) at the hostel, I went out for lunch with some others and we walked around the waterfront, which was my first experience seeing the public spaces, especially the swimming spots down near the docks, and all of the bikes.
After some introductions, we finally got our bikes and were assigned to follow someone and copy everything they do for about twenty minutes. At first, I thought this was a weird assignment, but it was actually very valuable to learn about the infrastructure and how everything works, like the hand signals.
After getting lost more times than I could imagine (which I never felt unsafe doing because you can bike on pretty much every road here), I arrived at a park for dinner and to get to know everyone. It was a cool experience to get to know people that have the same interests as me because I've never known anyone in person as interested in bike infrastructure as I am.
Day 2
We started the day with a scavenger hunt, which was fun and insightful because we got to experience more of the infrastructure in places we hadn't been yet, while also seeing some cool things, like the picture perfect Nyhavn.
Afterwards, we did a tour with Bike Mike, which was really interesting because we got to learn some history about the city and see some cool historical sites. It's nice to see how everything was preserved and repurposed so well, because I know some sites in the US have not been preserved nearly as well. This was also insightful because we had such a big group riding around during the tour that it seemed to be too much for the infrastructure and it showed that Copenhagen is not really a place where large groups of people can ride together, mostly because the bike paths are too narrow (but Bike Mike also took some crazy shortcuts).
In the evening, after dinner at Reffen (a place with endless food options and another public space that is nice to see as crowded as it was), we got to take part in the celebration of midsummer. This was super cool because the public spaces were filled with so many people and so many bikes and there was a feeling that we were part of this huge community as we sat on the waterfront in Nyhavn and listened to live music while the fire on the water was burning; I felt like even though I'm not from here I was part of a special moment and I had a lot of fun celebrating and riding home with everyone in the dark.
Day 3
I decided to join the small group on the ride to the Louisiana Art Museum, which was long and tiring on our little grandma bikes but also really fun experiencing the coastline infrastructure outside of the city and seeing the museum. All of the art was super cool and I really enjoyed everything about the museum: the architecture, the choice to have sculptures outside, the trails by the beach, etc.
After the museum closed, we decided to take the train back instead of biking another 3 hours, but taking our bikes on the train was a surprising struggle and it was sad to see there were only six bikes allowed on the train (and despite the cool train ride, we all felt super bad that we didn't bike back instead of Marc and Mindy). Overall this was a very hectic but interesting journey and I would definitely say I had a good time.
Day 4
Today isn't over but I wanted to talk about what we got to see. We went to a neighborhood called Nordhavn, which was super cool in its use of sustainability and design that was clearly built for people. A couple that lived there was kind enough to show us their building, which had a play area for children, and a rooftop community area and garden.
The streets were all clearly made so that people could feel safe and connected enough to walk to stores, and that cars would almost feel uncomfortable. It was cool to see that a lot of the cars were hidden in underground parking garages that people had to pay for, which is a cool way to keep cars for those who absolutely need them and to also discourage them for people who could live without them. On top of the non-underground parking garage, which is lined with green walls, there is a gym/playground that seemed to be in use by a lot of different people of all ages, which is an interesting way to use all of the space available.
I thought this area was very cool because there was a mix of different housing styles and residents (including student housing), designs that were super creative, a swimming spot nearby, and the feeling that everything was made for people to take up space there without a car. By doing this, they were able to give business to small businesses, and give people multiple options of things to do in their free time, from children playing on playgrounds, to adults paddleboarding on the water.
Afterwards, I had an insightful conversation with a couple people and got to hear thoughts about Copenhagen from different perspectives that I hadn't thought about yet, which was super interesting.
I feel like this post was super long, but I've had an eventful past three days and I've been gathering a lot of thoughts about the city and the design/infrastructure here. I'm super excited to meet some of the people more involved in planning this week, so more adventures to come!
- Lauren