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Peddling power of the pedal – Local officials get behind Denmark’s bike-friendly ways

June 23, 2004 /

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Women running errands in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark, use bicycles provided by the city. A majority of Copenhagen’s 1.7 million residents use bicycles as their primary form of transportation. Officials in Denver and Colorado want local residents to recognize the economic and social benefits of cycling and are developing plans to that effect.

By Christine Tatum
Denver Post Staff Writer

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2228852,00.html

Copenhagen, Denmark – Denver could learn a thing or two from this country, where every day is Bike to Work Day.

The 14,000 Coloradans expected to trek on two wheels to and from their jobs today aren’t doing anything special by Danish standards. Nearly all of the 1.7 million people living in Denmark’s capital city consider cycling their primary means of transportation.

It’s easy to see some of the economic and social benefits that come from all of that peddling in this and other parts of the world. Yet those benefits are often difficult to put a dollar value on – which is what many politicians require before making sweeping policy changes.

But that hasn’t deterred a growing number of government officials in the United States – and people such as Denver lawyer Robin Hunt – from steering more Americans toward cycling.

"It might be hard to come up with exact estimates, but even people who love their cars have to admit that the amount of money and resources we could save society by rethinking how we move from point A to point B is staggering," said Hunt, who chairs the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee. "It boggles the mind to think about how much real estate alone is paved and dedicated to the storage of what is typically a single-occupant vehicle."

Land planners throughout Colorado are becoming even more aggressive champions of all things bicycle-friendly.

Denver officials are pushing a Multimodal Access Plan aimed at making it easier for people to walk, bike and use mass transit. Boulder and Longmont last month joined Denver and 26 other cities across the nation in winning the status of "Bicycle-Friendly Community" from the League of American Bicyclists, a lobbying group.

"There are sights, smells and all sorts of experiences people have when they aren’t speeding by a shopping center at 55 miles an hour," Denver planning director Peter Park said. "They might make an impromptu visit to a restaurant or step into an art gallery. That, too, should be viewed as potential economic benefit."

In Copenhagen, buses and bicycles rule the roadways. Modern-day Vikings stream down expansive bike lanes the width of a car lane. Some Danes ride with their hands in their pockets while others send text messages, chat on the phone or snack. The most daring read magazines and newspapers.

To accommodate visitors and folks wanting to run quick errands, Copenhagen provides 1,300 bicycles at 125 designated racks scattered throughout downtown. Users deposit about $3 into a bike frame to unlock it and get the money back when they return it. Advertisers, including Coca-Cola Co. and the local zoo, pay to have messages plastered across the bike frames or spokes, making it easier to spot stolen bikes. Riders caught with city bikes outside of designated areas face heavy fines.

Indeed, American auto enthusiasts are often quick to point out that the Danes’ sensibilities about transportation are driven largely by strict laws that discourage car use. In Denmark, a driver’s license can cost well more than $1,000, and parking fines for even minor offenses usually start around $80. Parking meters in the heart of Copenhagen must be fed $3 an hour. The cost of gasoline hovers at the equivalent of $5.25 a gallon.

According to the Denver Regional Council of Governments, a consortium of municipalities and county governments, Americans would be paying close to $9 a gallon for gasoline if taxpayer subsidies of autos were reflected in fuel taxes.

"That’s because other taxes cover the costs of road building, maintenance, parking space, police services and losses from accidents, pollution and congestion," the government council’s website states.

Hunt, the Denver lawyer, estimates that he saves $20 a week in fuel because he rides from his Park Hill home to his office on the 1900 block of Sherman Street most days.

He’s eager to see a little more Denmark in Denver. Like many Danes, he has come up with a way to occupy his time while riding. Hunt said he often thinks up haiku poetry while riding. Among his latest verses:

Belching foul exhaust, Big HazMat rig protects me from global terror.

"Bike to Work"

Events scheduled during the week of "Bike to Work Day":

Today through Friday

RTD Bikestation, Market Street Station, 16th Street and Market Street, Denver

Today

Bike to Work Day Happy Hour, Old Chicago, 1102 Pearl St., Boulder

Bike to Work Day Happy Hour, Handle Bar & Grill, 305 S. Downing St., Denver

Bike to Work Day Happy Hour, Colorado Coal Company Steakhouse, 578 Briggs St., Erie

The Great 55th Street Egg Relay, 55th Street and Central Avenue, Boulder

Bike tune-ups at Boulder’s Farmers Market, 13th and Arapahoe streets, Boulder

Thursday