Do Bike Share Systems Create a Strong Cycling Culture?

The 519,000 people who live in the City of Copenhagen together own 560,000 bicycles. Despite the high rate of bicycle ownership, Copenhagen does have a public bikeshare system, which has existed since 1995. Users can deposit a 20DKK coin (approximately $3.76 CDN), and use the bike anywhere in the City Bike Zone, receiving their 20DKK upon returning the bike.

Image source: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/09/bike-share-design-competition-for.html

The City Bikes are easy to spot, and yet I've rarely seen them in use during my morning commute to downtown Copenhagen. I asked a few locals about the public bikeshare system, and it appears that they prefer using their own bicycles, claiming the system is used primarily by tourists. The City of Copenhagen seems to know this fact, and is committed to enhancing the current bikeshare system, as illustrated in this quote by Mayor Klaus Bondam:

"Much has happened since this Bike Share v. 1.0 was launched and, over the past ten years, many large cities now enjoy exciting, new bike share systems. From Barcelona to Beijing, a new generation of bike share systems have blossomed. To the delight of locals, tourists and commuters alike.

Copenhagen is a unique, world-class cycling city and this fact should be reflected in the city’s bike share system. Our city is the best example of how the bicycle can become the preferred form of transport in a modern city. An attractive and modern bike share system can contribute to strengthening Copenhagen’s bicycle culture. Therefore The City of Copenhagen is pleased to launch an open design competition in order to determine how a bike share system v. 3.0 would look and work in the city in the future."

The winning bike.
Image source: http://www.cphbikeshare.com/winners.aspx

With a winner being chosen, the City of Copenhagen appears to be moving forward with upgrading their current bikeshare system to one that caters to The Commuter, The Tourist, and The Copenhagener. More about the competition here. Although bikeshare systems seem to have less effect in countries with a strong cycling culture (for example, the Netherlands has no bikeshare systems, even though their cycling rates reach as high as 50-60%), they are making significant impacts in other parts of the world.

Public Bicycles in Zhangjiagang, China. Image taken from Bike Share Philadelphia Facebook Page
(http://www.bikesharephiladelphia.org/)

Going back to the question "Do Bike Share Systems Create a Strong Cycling Culture?" - I'd say most definitely yes. If you look at the successes of bikeshare systems around the world, you'll see that this is true. Take these examples:
- Paris' bikeshare system logged their 100,000,000th trip last week. Watch the video.
- With only 2 small areas served, Seoul's bikeshare system in Korea surpassed over 100,000 trips since 2010. Read more.
- Since 2009, Dublin Region's bikeshare system has had over 500,000 trips with a population of 1.2 million people.
- Two different bikeshare systems in China have 100,000 bicycles combined! To provide a scale, the entire country of France has less than 42,000 bikes in their public bikeshare systems.

From my experiences, people want to cycle more, but they want to do so safely and efficiently. And why not? Cycling is cheap, environmentally friendly, healthy, and enjoyable. If we want a sustainable future for the Region of Waterloo and beyond, we need to start thinking seriously about cycling.

Information sourced from Copenhagenize.com and The Bike-Sharing Blog.

What does a bicycle trip to the mall look like?

If you shop at a mall in Canada, there's a significant chance that you arrived by car. You are also probably greeted by a massive parking lot, filled with cars, exhaust, and people scrambling to the mall entrance.

Malls do exist in Europe, and many people arrive to this one in Copenhagen by bike. Watch the video below of my short bicycle trip to the mall. I've added comments at 00:31, 00:46, 01:04, 01:14, 01:30, 01:53, 01:55



What does your trip to the mall look like? Record it!
- If you bike, install a cheap bicycle camera mount (step by step video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hGYSNbUbb0)
- If you drive/walk/take transit, just record your trip!

First Impressions of Copenhagen

I've finally arrived in Copenhagen, and my experiences have been nothing short of phenomenal. Before I came here, I knew 37% of Copenhageners cycled - but that's just a number that can be difficult to visualize. What I've been seeing is surprising, inspiring, and almost surreal. At any time of day, in any part of the city, you'll likely see one or all of the following:

1) Cyclists.

2) Parked bikes. 

3) Bike lanes.

I didn't have access to a bicycle the day I arrived, so I experienced the city as a pedestrian. I walked the streets casually, took photos, and was comfortable and relaxed. Yet today, after purchasing and finally riding a bike, I felt entirely different. It was as if a surge of adrenaline shot through the handle bars as I pedaled, pumping me with feelings of excitement, power, and freedom. These feelings, coupled with the fact that cycling in Copenhagen is fast, safe, and convenient, has helped me better understand why so many people here choose bicycles over cars.

As mentioned previously, I'll be uploading videos on my Copenhagen experience, and the first one is almost complete. Here are some topics I'd like to address in these videos - please let me know which you'd like to see most, and if you have any other ideas.

1) People's thoughts on helmet use
2) Relationship between drivers and cyclists
3) Cyclist trip destinations - where are they going?
4) Transporting goods (large and small) by bicycle
5) Bicycle parking
6) Public's perception of visible bike counters
7) Interview with professionals from the Danish Architecture Centre, Danish Design Centre, and more.

Hope you enjoyed this first blog post - more to come!

Best regards,

Joshua Joseph
Director, Active and Community Transportation
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
josephmjosh@gmail.com | 519-897-5394
Josh on LinkedIN

Let's begin the Copenhagen journey!

Hi all,

Just a quick update that I'll be flying out of Canada today. I'm hoping to add a video within the next couple days. Looking forward to starting a lively discussion - your involvement in asking questions, commenting, and even submitting your own photos, videos, etc. would be extremely valuable in comparing cycling between Copenhagen and your city.

Talk soon,

- Josh

Joshua Joseph
Director, Active and Community Transportation
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
josephmjosh@gmail.com | 519-897-5394
Josh on LinkedIN

Josh's Copenhagen Vlog 1: Introduction

Hi all. I'll also be posting videos documenting my experiences in Copenhagen. Check out the first introductory one below, and stay connected.



Joshua Joseph
Director, Active and Community Transportation
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
josephmjosh@gmail.com | 519-897-5394
Find Josh on LinkedIN

50,000 petition signatures - is it possible?

Our Region of Waterloo Bike Share Petition has been quite successful so far. To date, we've garnered over 900 signatures in approximately 2 months, from both students and residents in the Region of Waterloo (and even some support from people in the U.S and Europe). I plan on providing Regional Council with the petition signatures, as well as preparing a presentation on the benefits of cycling and bikesharing. It is my hope that these efforts will show Regional Council that residents are serious about sustainable transportation, and that we expect future investments in cycling infrastructure.

I'll most likely be closing the petition in late November, and presenting to council in December. Therefore, that leaves approximately 5 months to gather as much community support as possible. How many signatures do you think we can get by then? Let's have a look at the numbers:

Total Population of Region of Waterloo (including students): 534,900
Est. Population of University of Waterloo: 25,000+
Est. Population of Wilfrid Laurier University: 15,000+
Est. Population of Contestoga College: 5,000+

From my experiences, most students seem to support cycling, and are enthusiastic towards the idea of a bikeshare system. If we assume that 80% of these students can be reached through Facebook and Twitter, that's 36,000 potential signatures for our petition. Social media allowed us to gather hundreds of signatures in a very short period of time. And since we have plans to reach residents of the Region of Waterloo as well, there's plenty of opportunity. Looking at these numbers, is 50,000 signatures really an unrealistic goal?

Clearly, it depends on a variety of factors. As we move forward with this initiative, we'll have a better idea of a realistic petition goal. Until then, goals will be set incrementally as we continue to work diligently towards this important initiative. Ultimately, we need this to be a community initiative, where people take it upon themselves to spread the word, get involved, and strive for a more sustainable future that involves cycling.


Joshua Joseph
Director, Active and Community Transportation
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
josephmjosh@gmail.com | 519-897-5394
Josh on LinkedIN