BY RHIANN MOORE
It’s safe to say that cycling is pretty much the best; unfortunately, a lot of cities aren’t the best for it. Although it may take significant time and effort for a city to truly transform itself into a bicycle haven, many have already proven it’s possible. The following cities show the rest of the world how it’s done with their bike-friendly infrastructure.
Copenhagen, Denmark
This has been noted many times, but never forget that when it comes to cycling, Copenhagen is king of the world. They’ve invested over 134 million euros in their biking infrastructure in the last decade and they show no signs of slowing down. With 16 new bridges in construction for bikes and pedestrians, it’s no wonder that 62 per cent of their citizens bike every day while only 9 per cent drive.
Utrecht, Netherlands
Utrecht surpassed Amsterdam in the rankings this year. Though the city may be small, it has been doing big things for bicycle improvement. They are currently planning to build 33,000 new parking spots for bikes at Central Station by 2020. That’s on top of the 12,000 they already have. Being unable to find bicycle parking is a huge deterrent to cycling, so this is no small feat. They also recently installed “Flo” an innovative digital speed detection system that lets participating cyclists know if they need to speed up or slow down to get the next light.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Although they haven’t really updated in a while, Amsterdam has been a standout cycling city for a long time. They have some seriously impressive plans, but unfortunately they have failed to move past early stages for quite some time. So while the city is ranked higher as a bicycle hot spot, it needs to work a little harder to catch up to places like Copenhagen.
Strasbourg, France
France has some excellent cycling locations such as Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes – but none of them hold a candle to Strasbourg. It is the first city in the country to achieve a 16 per cent modal share for the biking community. It is also actively planning to build ‘bicycle superhighways’ that feature routes to suburbs and neighboring towns.
Malmö, Sweden
Malmö has been innovating in the cycling world like crazy since 2015. They’ve opened a Bicycle Hotel, upgraded their infrastructure, started distributing cargo bikes from the train station and are piloting garbage collecting on bikes. There is even a bicycle ferry in the works that will connect the city to #1 cycling city Copenhagen, helping to strengthen bicycle tourism in both cities.
