Bike numbers trump cars in Copenhagen for the first time

Fresh counts out of Copenhagen are for the first time indicating that more bicycles are taking to the streets in the city centre than cars.

The high modal share capital has seen car use declining and bicycle use increasing since around the 1980s, according to historical data. At the latest count of central traffic figures show that over last year some 35,080 more bicycles are on the streets, bringing the daily total to approximately 265,700 people cycling.

At the latest count, 252,600 cars were tallied against the 265,700 bicycles. These numbers were formed using a combination of bi-annual counts and the cities 20 permanent bicycle counters.

With generous investment in cycling not only paying off, but actually being expanded upon, the city has in the past ten years gained from €134 million in investment on infrastructure and high profile bicycle bridges to push cycling’s modal share higher.

For detailed accounts of the city’s gains and district-by-district breakdown of which areas are performing best, head over to Copenhagenize.

To read more on Copenhagen and other cities around the globe making strong investments and modal share gains, head over to our series on building for cycling here.