Copencycle: A city where cyclists reign supreme, and there are more parked bicycles on the streets than cars

Not so long ago, about ten years ago, the city government in Belgrade announced an ambitious project to drastically change the traffic hierarchy in which public transport, cyclists and pedestrians would gain priority over cars, by changing the city infrastructure in favor of the first three. Not only did nothing come of it, but in the past year or two, the traffic infrastructure for cars in the capital of Serbia has been expanding at the expense of new bicycle and pedestrian paths and additional lanes for public transport.

But, in addition to all this, in the aforementioned announcement by the city leaders of Belgrade from ten years ago, a detail that attracted special attention was that at that time they took Copenhagen, no less, as one of the model cities for improving the bicycle network and encouraging bicycle traffic. No less, because such an announcement by a representative of a city where, especially in the central core, bike paths are the exception rather than the rule, and where those that do exist are not interconnected, was both too bold and unrealistic. Because one visit to the Danish capital is enough to understand that Belgrade needs years and years not only to build a quality bicycle infrastructure, but also to encourage the daily mass use of this means of transport.

Why? Because in Copenhagen, cyclists rule, they are a kind of gods on the streets. The lanes, which are interconnected for kilometers and kilometers from street to street, are not occupied by anyone, nor should it even occur to anyone, because these lanes, located between the roadway and pedestrian paths, are in Copenhagen the same as runways for airplanes – they are intended only for non-motorized two-wheelers and for no one, but absolutely no one else. Anyone who steps onto a cycle lane, especially someone from the Balkans where cycling culture is almost non-existent, should be prepared for: “Cycle laneeeeeeeee!” Yes, an exclamation in English, because if you step onto that line, it’s clear to every Dane cyclist that you’re not a Dane.

In many streets, those lanes are not, like the few ones here, marked in red or white, but are only slightly separated from the pedestrian area and the roadway, but it’s enough to know who they’re for. For the sake of illustration, if you know that Denmark has about 5.9 million inhabitants and as many as 4.1 million bicycles, then it’s more than clear why you can see a cyclist passing you almost every second. And it is not a myth or an exaggeration when the famous Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen, playing the Danish Prime Minister, comes to work by bicycle to the Government building, because in fact, in everyday life in Copenhagen, many people go to work by this means of transport, and endless rows of parked bicycles can also be seen in the Christiansborg complex, which houses the Government, Parliament and the Supreme Court.

Yes, both there and in other parts of Copenhagen you will see many parked bicycles rather than cars. There are also some on the streets, it is not that there are none, but not nearly as many as one would expect in a capital city, and even the cars that do exist, as one can hear from the inhabitants of this city, are mostly electric. Moreover, you will not see parked cars in Copenhagen like you do here, in the parking lot, on the sidewalk and on the bike path. In fact, it is rare to see a large parking lot in the wider city center, because while numerous bicycles can be seen parked in rows on the streets, as well as public ones, cars are in garages, many of which are underground, especially those that are built in newer, more sustainable neighborhoods of the city such as Nordhavn.

In the wider city center itself, one of the striking details is that in many of the cobblestone streets and alleys that surround the unreal facades, there are not many tree-lined avenues, or trees at every turn. But that does not mean that Copenhageners do not like greenery and are not thinking about additional greening of the city, because in the coming years they plan to plant 100,000 trees throughout the city, guided by the fact that there are never enough trees, precisely because they are important in the fight against air pollution.

Green oases in this city certainly exist now, and one of the most beautiful ones is the park where Rosenborg Castle is located.

In Copenhagen, it is also striking that there are no containers at every turn, but at the same time, you cannot see a single piece of paper or cigarette butt on the sidewalk. The streets are clean, and the containers, when they are found, are, as expected, organized according to a system of separation of different types of waste.

During a walk through this city, which a group of journalists from Serbia visited during a media visit as part of the Pulse of Europe project funded by the European Union, attention is also drawn to the fact that graffiti and patterns do not “decorate old facades.”



An exception to this, but also to many other things that apply in other parts of Copenhagen, is the alternative district of Christiania, where other rules apply, rather than the rules of Copenhagen and the EU, which are clearly indicated at the entrance and exit to this specific district of the Danish capital.



A stroll through Copenhagen reveals some other interesting facts - wherever you find yourself in this city and feel that it would be good to have a snack, keep in mind that in Denmark, as in some other Scandinavian countries, you can pay with cards everywhere, not only in restaurants but also at hotdog-wurst kiosks and other places in passing that might, by mistake, resemble establishments that do not accept cards.

When it comes to food and service in restaurants, many other countries could learn a lot from the Danes. Because in Copenhagen, if you are having lunch in a restaurant, but at the end of the meal you want a dessert that they don’t have, for example an eclair, they will not convince you to eat something sweet there, but will direct you to a restaurant that has what you wanted.

Danish everyday life is expensive by our standards, but it is far from the case that everything in this country is charged. Those who like to walk and visit the sights can, for example, discover that entry to and climbing the Christiansborg Tower is free and can enjoy a magnificent view of the capital of the increasingly environmentally sustainable Scandinavian welfare state from there before returning home.

Dejan Aleksic

Sidse Babett Knudsen

Christiansborg

Christiania

Rosenborg

Nordhavn

bicycle traffic in Copenhagen

Pulse of Europe