Tag: stockholm

thank you for cycling, autumn 2013 – tack för att du cyklar

Back in May Stockholm ran the “tack för att du cyklar” (thank you for cycling) day. As a thank you for cycling, improving the environment and reducing traffic congestion in central Stockholm, each person who passed a designated station between certain times was given a hi-vis vest so they can be easily seen, a map of cycle tracks in Stockholm and a leaflet with some helpful safety tips such as “wear a helmet, it’ll protect your head.” I hadn’t started cycling then but I heard that many people thought it had been a great success. Unfortunately those people do not seem to have been cyclists.

What the organisers had failed to realise was that the people who are cycling at these times are mostly not casual cyclists. They are aware that they need to be seen and not hurt, they know their route and they certainly know that a helmet will protect their heads. In short, the “thank you” wasn’t really much use to many people.

On the 25th of September it was time for another thank you. This time I was one of the people who passed through Norrtull between 0700 and 0830. I was excited to get into work and look in my goodie bag to see what I’d got and if the organisers had listened to those who thought that May’s attempt had fallen a bit flat.

The answer? Apparently not…

Thank you for cycling, autumn 2013

I know that at least one person in my office cycled in that day just to get her goodie bag and that’s great. But one day isn’t going to solve things. A better idea would be to solve the underlying issues. Sort out the bumpy and difficult to ride on cycle paths, make it easier to cross Norrtull without standing still at the lights for 10 minutes (yes, I do actually stop for lights), stop having bike lanes that just suddenly vanish without trace or warning. Maybe then more people will feel encouraged to take up cycling to work on a more permanent basis.

thank you for cycling – September 25, 2013 – tack för att du cyklar

On September 25, the City of Stockholm and Naturskyddsföreningen (the most influential nonprofit 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”).

Cycling in Stockholm

In order to get one of the 100,000 bags you will have to ride by one the following 17 check points:

  • Alvik (Alviksplan)
  • Liljeholmsbron (east side)
  • Ekelundsbron (Solna)
  • Slussen – bike service available
  • Årstabron
  • Skanstull
  • Götgatan (by Katarina bangata)
  • Hammarbyfärjan (Södermalm)
  • Roslagstull (north side) – bike service available
  • Stadshuset – bike service available
  • Norrtull
  • Lidingöbron (Ropsten side)
  • Sankt Eriksplan
  • Raoul Wallenbergs torg
  • Älvsjö station (by the bicyle pump)
  • Kista – bike service available
  • Hökarängen

Will you commute by bike on September 25 and ride by one of the check points to get a bag? What do you think the goodies will be this time?

were people cycling back then?

Sometimes we wonder how it was back in the days. Were people cycling in Stockholm or just walking because, you know, they did not have carbon frames, spandex clothes & GPS trackers, right? Could they possibly commute on two wheels without these basics back then? Well…

Cycling in Stockholm, 1945
1945 – one car to smoke them all

Cycling in Stockholm, 1946
1946 – bike parking facilities (replaced later with beautiful asphalt)

Cycling in Stockholm, 1946
1946 – Stockholm Central Station before mad taxi drivers conquered the spot

More bicycling vintage pictures of bicycle cycling Stockholm here thanks to Stockholmskällan.

thank you for cycling – May 22, 2013 – tack för att du cyklar

On May 22, the City of Stockholm and Naturskyddsföreningen (the most influential nonprofit 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”).

Cycling in Stockholm

In order to get one of the 100,000 bags you will have to ride by one the following check points (see on a map):

  • Alvik (Alviksplan)
  • Hornstull
  • Ekelundsbron (Solna)
  • Slussen – bike service available
  • Årstabron
  • Lilla skanstullsbron
  • Hammarbyfärjan (Södermalm)
  • Roslagstull – bike service available
  • Stadshuset – bike service available
  • Norrtull
  • Lidingöbron (Ropsten)
  • Sankt Eriksplan
  • Raoul Wallenbergs torg- bike service available
  • Älvsjö station (by the bicyle parking)
  • Kista – bike service available
  • Hökarängen

Will you commute by bike on May 22 and ride by one of the check points to get a bag? What do you think the goodies will be this year?

Hammarbybacken, dual slalom 2013

It was a fine spring Sunday afternoon in Stockholm and while skiers & snowboarders enjoyed one last ride on the (short) slopes of Hammarbybacken mountain bikers were back on the saddle for some dual slalom racing on the steepest side of the hill.

Hammarbybacken, dual slalom - 2013

Because of the 11 stitches I currently have between the legs (I might write about that later but I’m still not sure it would make a good story) I’ve been off the bike for the last two weeks and could unfortunately not join the 18 or so riders in what looked like great fun. Instead of the goggles I put on my nicest sunglasses and brought the camera to support my friend Yoann (#15 but he got eliminated in his first qualifier), shoot some action and work on my tan.

Hammarbybacken, dual slalom - 2013

Sun, snow & mountain biking: an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon if you ask me. More pictures can be found in this folder.

bike lanes network gets 250 million Swedish kronor upgrade

As more and more people choose to commute by bike the city of Stockholm needed to revisit the relatively low investments made in the cycling infrastructures over the past few years (decades?).

Even if Stockholm is a rather nice city for bike commuters some had to leave the bike home (long before the winter came and commuting by bike became a real challenge) because of overcrowded lanes (150,000 cyclists every day) and the risks it might mean for someone who is not use to handle a bike just like another part of the body.

Long story short, the Committee on Transportation will go through a first 246 million Swedish kronor (38 million U.S. dollars) batch of improvements and initiatives next week out of the 1 billion Swedish kronor (157 million U.S. dollars) budget set aside for cycling infrastructures.

new bike lanes on the horizon

Stockholm’s cycling network is getting major attention right now (Lilla Västerbron, Kymlingestråket, Perstorpsvägen and Flatenvägen are first on the list and planned for 2013) and will develop together with other big projects and changes in Stockholm’s landscape (Slussen and Hagastaden for instance).

All of that sounds good to my bike commuter ears but there is no such thing as a free lunch and here’s the catch.

Stockholm will gradually become a better and safer city for cycling. But it will eventually get crowded in many places and we just can’t make bridges wider for instance.” – Ulla Hamilton, traffic commissioner

This post is my own interpretation of this article published in Dagens Nyheter on January 30, 2013.

Sweden Bike Expo, Stockholm

I don’t really know what I was expecting from Sweden Bike Expo (a bicycle fair in Stockholm) apart from having a nice time with a couple of friends but in retrospect I must say I was a bit disappointed.

I knew I was going to see bikes, lots of bikes and there were bikes, lots of bikes. Lots of racers and mountain bikes and very few alternatives but one cargo bike, a couple of single speeds, 3 “Dutch bikes” (yes, three), some electric bikes and – maybe it was well hidden and I missed the stand – no cyclo-cross.

Sweden Bike Expo, Stockholm

When you go to a bike fair you must be prepared to see bikes – no doubt about that – but I guess I was looking forward to discovering “new things”, some cool accessories and smaller brands than Trek, Corratec & Scott. To simply put it I was looking forward to seeing things that are not all over the magazines. Some “out of the ordinary bike porn” would have been very appreciated and I certainly did not go to Sweden Bike Expo to buy lycra clothing and tires on sale (the sales area was surprisingly the most popular part of the fair it seems).

But I did find one interesting accessory: the Tacx Lumos. It’s probably not a new concept and might have been around for a while but I’d never seen it before. The Tacx Lumos are basically drop bar caps that replace regular caps but provide better visibility thanks to the back/red & front/white LED lights they are.

Tacx Lumos

Since I don’t ride a racer I haven’t tried them myself but it’s an interesting and rather non-intrusive piece of safety on a commuter bike (if you commute with drop handlebars that is).

Don’t get me wrong though. I was a bit disappointed but I still enjoyed the fair and good company. It was a well spend Saturday morning in November Stockholm and I even got a brand new ice scraper! Seriously? Ice scrappers for goodies on a bicycle fair?

new bicycle hire scheme on Djurgården

Since yesterday (November 8th, 2012) a new bicycle sharing system – Djurgårdscykeln – operated by JCDecaux & Kungliga Djurgårdsförvaltningen is running on Djurgården and is open 24/7 all year round.

The 50 available bikes are not part of the existing SVD Stockholm City Bikes network but can be used (for free) if you already got a City Bikes card or an active public transport (SL) access card. If you are like me and have neither of those cards you can opt for the 3 day access costing as little as 10 SEK.

There is currently one docking station located by Cirkus close to the main entrance to Skansen, the famous open air museum. You can rent a bike for 3 hours at a time and up to 8 times within 24 hours.

Link to Djurgårdscykeln: http://djurgardscykeln.se/en/

do as I say and not as I do

I found that picture in the newspaper last Friday but unfortunately could not find the online version on DN.se.

police at work on Södermalm

Tommy Åberg was riding his bike on Blekingegatan (south of Stockholm) when he came to a police car parked on the bike lane. He thought something wrong was going on (like a robbery) at first and decided to have a quick look around. But the emergency seems to have been of a completely different nature: the law enforcers needed a little sugar kick and were just buying some candies.

was Södermalm hit by Sandy?

I’m not sure what’s wrong with Södermalm. Either it’s in a different timezone than the rest of Stockholm and they don’t know we turned back the clock one hour for winter time (and forgot to reprogram the street lights) or the island was hit by Sandy on its way to the US and electricity has not returned yet but on thing is for sure: it’s pitch dark on Hornsgatan between Slussen and Mariatorget after 16:00. Below is what one could see from the saddle yesterday evening. Pretty much.

pitch dark on Hornsgatan, Södermalm