The Bakfiets is doing well, thank you for asking! And to all of you who think commuting by bicycle through the winter is not possible I tell you, it is. It’s even possible up here in Stockholm with a cargo bike and it’s lots of fun.
PS. I will update the gallery as snow keeps falling.
The cycling mode-share in Stockholm decreased in 2014 (compared to both 2012 and 2013). The 7-8% we’re at today seem quite far from the 15% target set for 2030 and if the Capital of Scandinavia was only counting on natural growth to become a world-class cycling city, well, not only will we fail to achieve 15% but we already have.
I was recently on a two day business trip in Copenhagen and planned to use some “alone time” to ride around the city and roll over the Bicycle Snake (Cykelslangen). I obviously needed to get my hands on a bike first and, since I could only pick one up after 18:00 on the first day and had to return it early in the morning on the second day, I decided to skip bike rentals and went for a city bike instead.
The City Bikes are available 24/7, 365 days a year. Each city bike has a touchscreen tablet used for navigation, payment and guiding to points of interest in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg.1
Wha?! Could it be that simple? Because it sure isn’t in Stockholm where one has to first get a card from one of the retailers2 to be able to get a bike between 6:00 and 22:00, from April 1st to October 31st only3.
Sure getting your hands on a card (3 days minimum for 165 SEK) isn’t that hard but it’s an extra inconvenient step in the process and being able to register an account directly from the bicycle’s screen and ride for 32 SEK an hour or 88 SEK + 8 SEK an hour with a monthly subscription is just very, very much easier and cheaper for short stays.
If one wants people to get around on bicycles one has to make sure those bicycles are easily accessible at all time for those who don’t own one for whatever reason. Some might not like Copenhagen’s bike share system and criticise but I, as a tourist, really enjoyed the experience.
If you build bike paths, cyclists will come. If you build great bike paths, even more will come. And so what do I see less than five minutes into the ride? Something I haven’t seen so far in Stockholm: a roundabout where cyclists are given a lane within the junction and not around it.
In Copenhagen, cyclists are clearly not second-class road users. They enter, flow around the central island and exit the same way cars do. Cyclists never have to cross one of the roads leading to or leaving the intersection and stop -like they often have to when the lane is outside the island- because a driver could not enter and stopped right on the cyclists and pedestrians paths.
It does not seem much but it makes a huge difference. It also sends a strong message: cyclists are part of the normal traffic flow and share the road.
Now, I don’t know how bicycle thefts are dealt with in Denmark but when it comes to sending the right (or the wrong for that matter) signals for a better cycling mode-share Sweden has a lot to improve.
According to the Swedish government valuable police time being is wasted by officers forced to deal with unnecessary reports and complaints and the interior minister, Anders Ygeman, suggested that police either drop the complaints without processing them or simply stop taking such calls altogether.
Ygeman believes that “it would benefit everyone if insurance companies did not require a police report when it comes to minor offences, such as a stolen bike or a camera.”
Yes, to Sweden’s interior minister, stealing a bike is a minor offence. It doesn’t matter if it was the bike you used every day to commute to work and/or drop off your children at kindergarten. It was just a bike. Now, if you just had a car instead…
In the U.S., “Cargo Bikes” are becoming quite popular with families, especially in pedal-friendly communities. Families are using the bikes to do everything they do with cars — taking the kids to school, hauling groceries or running errands — without the hassle of finding parking. Some do it to help the environment or to exercise, while others say it is an easier, more fun way to get around. – Wikipedia
Stay tuned.
http://www.ladcyklar.se/bakfiets/
Riding a bike for one hour extends the average cyclist’s life by the same amount of time, according to a study in the Netherlands, which also found that they live six months longer than people who do not ride bikes.
There was a time when I thought n+1 was the right number of bicycles I had to own. But as I grew older and got other things and people to spend time with and take care of, more equipment did not mean more time in the saddle.
Quite the opposite actually and I sure never really needed these two Centurion Le Mans mixte bicycles I’ve had for almost 6 years and barely used. I wanted them gone before winter and put an ad on Blocket (Sweden’s Craigslist) in October last year. I quickly realized I’d better be selling skis at that time of year though.
That horse was in pretty good condition and I had just replaced both tires with brand new Schwalbe but a guy actually offered me less than half the price I was asking for to, and I quote, “help me get rid off it”. I removed the ad instead and put it back online last week: the horse was sold less than a hour later. Blocket in a nutshell.
I’ve now got 4 bikes -a commuter to display the Brooks saddle I got when I turned old, a full suspension mountain bike to jump on & off curbs in the neighborhood, a cyclocross to ride on roads and a hard-tail mountain bike to carry my kid around- and it’s about the right number.
Sweden hasn’t experienced such a wet May since 1962, according to meteorologists, with double the average rainfall for this time of year across much of the Nordic nation.
The capital bore the brunt of the recent downpours. In fact, Stockholm hasn’t had such a rainy month at this time of year for more than two centuries and the recent soggy weather has dampened a number of major events in the city including the annual marathon.1
According to meteorologists it’s been raining quite a lot in May. It didn’t take me complex mathematical models and insanely expensive hardware to figure that out but I guess that sort of lines are for people who never go out so keep up the good work, you’re on the right track! Now if you want cheap and accurate weather data you could also ask any daily bicycle commuter in the streets and she could tell you that. She probably wouldn’t know about two centuries ago but even if she said so you couldn’t prove otherwise.
If there’s one thing cyclists don’t like and don’t forget though, it’s wind. She could also tell you it’s been windier (last year was also windy) than all those years (at least two centuries) she’s spent in the saddle around Stockholm. So back to work weather boys, you’ve got a cyclist to catch and question!
http://www.thelocal.se/20150601/may-weather-in-sweden-was-worst-since-1962 ↩
On May 27, the City of Stockholm and Naturskyddsföreningen (the most influential non-profit environmental organization in Sweden) will give goodie bags to cyclists around Stockholm as a thank you for riding a bicycle (“tack för att du cyklar”).
In order to get one of the bags you will have to ride by one the following 17 check points:
Will you commute by bike on May 27 and ride by one of the check points to get a bag? What do you think the goodies will be this time? Or, if you’re reading this afterwards, what did you get?
On September 17, the City of Stockholm and Naturskyddsföreningen (the most influential non-profit environmental organization in Sweden) will give goodie bags to cyclists around Stockholm as a thank you for riding a bicycle (“tack för att du cyklar”).
In order to get one of the 150,000 bags you will have to ride by one the following 17 check points:
Will you commute by bike on September 17 and ride by one of the check points to get a bag? What do you think the goodies will be this time?
By going to a bike expo you probably couldn’t tell that the largest cycling crowd out there just wants to go from point A to point B and has no or very little interest in carbon frames, electronic shifting and power meters. Too few manufacturers try to innovate and spend time and money on designing accessories for casual riders. So when I saw the bike basketlid booth at Sweden Bike Expo and after I talked to guys for a couple of minutes I knew I had to write about their fantastic product.
The bike basketlid is the modern storage solution for active bikers and can easily be fitted on to any bicycle model. It has an easy open and close lid equipped with a lock that enables you to leave your belongings in the basket.
The bike basketlid is (surprise! surprise!) a basket with a lid that can be locked. The idea and realisation is so simple that one could wonder why bicycles (the ones with a basket) aren’t equipped with such a thing already.
And, the company behind the product being Swedish (Solna), I could not leave Sweden Bike Expo behind without mentioning this brilliant accessory. The wife already loves it and she’ll be a first adopter, for sure. For more information, feel free to visit their website or Facebook page.
The plan was to keep track of my relationship with the commuter over a 12 month period but I’m afraid it won’t happen. I’m sure my 3 month old baby girl has something to do with it as she likes to go to the stables at night and play with the bike computer but I obviously will never be able to prove that she pressed the reset button (if you really want to know, on October 31st, the screen said 115 kilometres which is pretty much what I rode in the last 4 days of that month).
So no figures for October 2013 but a (new) picture of me riding to work instead. Beautiful autumn in Stockholm and, as you can see, snow is late this year.
But let’s change subject to what made my day miserable yesterday: I commuted by public transit. Due to circumstances beyond my control I have been commuting to Kista the last two days (which for someone living in the southern parts of Stockholm is close to the worst punishment ever) and, to make things even worse, commuter trains traffic was cancelled after a freight train derailed right before Stockholms södra yesterday morning.1
One could argue this was bad luck and – hopefully – does not happen often but it still shows how fragile Stockholm’s rail infrastructure still is in 2013: one train derails and thousands of commuters are affected. Only two tracks (one way) support all traffic at this particular location and even a minor glitch has enormous consequences. But the issue is being addressed and the Capital of Scandinavia will spend one billion Swedish kronor on the cycling infrastructure over the next two hundred years. Oh wait… Does the railway network also need maintenance and improvements now?
The rest of the journey was business as usual with a traffic stop on the subway red line, a quick switch to the green line in Slussen and a I-am-glad-I-am-in-good-shape-and-can-walk switch to the blue line at Stockholm’s central station. Kista, here I am, one hour later.
I’ll spare you the details of the never ending commute back home via the brand new tramway line because… I just want to forget about it and pretend I did not just waste another hour of my life.
Anyway, I was not going to endure the SL pain two days in a row and so, today, I rode my bicycle instead: 20 kilometers in 50 minutes (one way). Now tell me: what was I thinking yesterday when I chose public transit over the fastest means of transportation in any (relatively) big city around the world? But like October’s mileage, I guess I’ll never know.
http://www.thelocal.se/20131112/rush-hour-derailment-snarls-stockholm-train-traffic ↩
Bicycle commuting is the use of a bicycle to travel from home to a place of work or study — in contrast to the use of a bicycle for sport, recreation or touring. – Wikipedia
You can find the 14 islands bicycle commuting squad on Strava. Feel free to join the club and help us ass polishing some leather. With love.
