In preparation for our recent overseas jaunt, I began reading the mycopenhagen blog, which is described as "a blog about Copenhagen - about what goes on in politics, business and the arts in beautiful Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark."
Tuesday's mycopenhagen entry is particularly instructive, as well as timely considering my goal of beercycling in Denmark next summer. It is reprinted here, in its entirety.
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How biking saves Copenhagen money
Today, the municipality of Copenhagen released its latest bicycle accounts. Yes, that is right - a calculation of the economic pros and cons of biking in Copenhagen.
I am sure it is a complicated calculation but the idea is simple - you take the externalities into account of, say, a population that is getting healthier by biking, the savings made from not having to repair the roads so much and so on.
So it seems that it saves society 1,22 kroner - 0,23 US dollars or 0,16 euros - every time a Copenhagenista (or her male equivalents) bike one kilometer.
Oh, and on the other hand every car-kilometer represents a COST to society of 0,69 krone - i.e. 0,13 US dollars or 0,09 euros.
One more reason, I guess, of bringing out those bikes - as 37 pct. of Copenhageners already do for their daily commute.
If anyone needs even more arguments in favour of non-motoring wheels, there's a wonderful site dedicated exclusively to biking in Copenhagen - now, how is that for niche media? It is called Copenhagen Cycle Chic and that is exactly what it is.
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3 comments:
I've made auite a few trips to Austria and Germany over the last 7years and am still always amazed at the sheer number of people who bike, the massive amount of infrastructure dedicated to bike/walk paths in both countries and the availability of incredibly affordable public transportation.
It's not just the larger urban areas that have these advantages. My wife's hometown is a little smaller than New Albany and the town in which her family currently resides is probably about the size of Sellersburg. The bike paths go from city to town, through and over mountains, anywhere you may want to go. Drivers are courteous, allow bikers the room they need and bikers show the same courtesy. I realize it's not popular position in most areas in the US, but it's kind of inspiring to me and, I think, part of the reason why countries like Austria rank high in survey's regarding "Best Places to Live".
Even outside of bicycles, I think about things like this every day as I watch autos, including those belonging to the police and fire departments, do three blocks' worth of backtracking and unnecessarily turn through multiple pedestrian crosswalks each time they try to reach almost any destination in our older neighborhoods owing to the inefficiency of one-way streets.
And then I listen to those doling out the money tell us how we can't afford a two-way conversion or bike paths because they have to pinch pennies to pay for gas, maintenance, and to replace high mileage vehicles.
As if balancing our entire transportation scheme on one leg wasn't enough, we've decided to shoot at its foot.
Ted and I were blown away by the public transport infrastructure in Bamberg, Germany, (bike, bus, subway, and rail) during our recent trip. My experience was identical to Bayernfan's.
As easy and as fun as it is to bike for recreation in Bamberg, the real benefit is that one can safely use a bike for everyday errands and short travel. The health benefits alone are worth the efforts.
As we upgrade our streets, we should add a network of bike lanes/paths in New Albany to facilitate the same thing. It makes so much sense it's bound not to happen.
Maybe if we feigned opposition to bike paths we'd get it done quicker.
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