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Too Many Bikes? Challenges in Europe's Cycling Boom


Photo Gallery: Too Many Cyclists on the Road? Photos
Ursula Bach

More bicycles were supposed to make Europe's cities more livable. Instead, the popularity of two-wheeled travel is causing problems in some cities in Holland and Denmark, where traffic jams and parking shortages are common. Still, planners remain optimistic.

The bike path is completely full -- in pairs or three abreast the cyclists roll past the stoplight at a snail's pace. They pass by biker-to-biker for a good 80 seconds before the gaps between them finally start to widen. The scene at a Copenhagen intersection is captured in a YouTube video, which shows what can happen when a third of a city's population travels every day by bike.

Urban planners in Denmark and Holland are well acquainted with problems like these. Cycling has been heavily promoted, and more and more people are taking to the pedal -- but eventually cycling paths, bike racks and other parking areas have begun to run out of space. The bike boom -- long seen as the universal solution to roads jammed with parked cars, dead inner cities and other urban maladies like noise, smog and lack of exercise -- threatens to choke on its own success.

Take the example of Groningen, a city in the northern Netherlands. Out of a population of just under 200,000, there are 375,000 bicycles, and 50 percent of all trips are made by bike. "We are very proud of our high share of bicycles, but the success has also caused problems," Jaap Valkema, the city's bicycle commissioner, recently said in a panel discussion at the Velo-City urban cycling conference in Vienna. One must keep in mind, cautioned Valkema, that public opinion can always flip. "We have to take action," he said.

Groningen Wants 65 Percent Bike Traffic

Urban planners in Groningen flipped the switch some 35 years ago. That's when they cut off all automotive traffic through the city center. Cycling became the most flexible and popular means of transport. But even if a bike takes up less space than a car, it became difficult to find space to cycle in Groningen's center.

To get the chaotic bike parking situation under control, the city has laid out red carpets where bike parking is not permitted. Parking areas are then demarcated in turn. Ten years ago, there were 3,000 bicycles parked in front of the main train station," said Valkema. Today there are 10,000, he added, primarily because of the rising number of students in Groningen. Soon that number could be as high as 15,000 or 17,000. A parking garage has been built at the station to accommodate this flood of bikes. "It may be that we have to start charging for parking," said Valkema, "at least for more than a day."

The city wants to increase the share of cycling traffic -- the so-called Modal Split -- to 65 percent by 2030. To achieve this, the city has planned a new parking garage with spaces for 1,200 bikes. In addition, traffic planners want to route car and bike transportation more consistently. Instead of broadening bike paths, they will soon reclassify entire streets as cycling roads.

Cycling Infrastructure Pays Out

Copenhagen is grappling with similar problems. The most heavily frequented bike paths headed to the city center are, at the most, 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) wide. As long as the light is green, a steady stream of cyclists flows by at around 20 kilometers per hour (12 mph). But at some point the light turns red -- and then patience is called for. "Sometimes the bike path is so full that I need two, three traffic light phases before I'm able to cross the intersection," says Niels Torslov, the Danish capital's chief traffic planner.

This year alone, the city has invested €22 million ($30 million) to adapt and expand the current infrastructure. "We are focussing on the areas of the cycling network where there are often traffic jams and that are unsafe," says Ayfer Baykal, Copenhagen's deputy mayor for environmental issues and technology. She considers those millions a good investment. "Of course cycling infrastructure costs money, but it is a very effective and affordable way to improve mobility in Copenhagen," she adds.

The bicycle boom is causing problems in the German capital, as well. "There is a lack of space on the roads," says Burkhard Horn, a Berlin traffic planner. "The bike paths are too narrow. Sometimes 30, 40 people will be waiting at a traffic light." There have also been conflicts between fast and slow cyclists, because many bike paths -- especially older ones -- don't offer space for overtaking other bikers.

Anger on the Sidewalk

Horn also worries about increasing conflicts with pedestrians. These also go back to poor planning. Years ago, bike paths were often built into sidewalks -- inevitably bringing pedestrians and cyclists into uncomfortably close vicinity. And on some streets without bike paths, some cyclists prefer riding on the sidewalk rather than the street, because they feel safer there or because the pavement is smoother to ride on. In the bicycle metropolis of Copenhagen, cycling on the sidewalk is, incidentally, absolutely taboo.

In Berlin, the problem is slowly being resolved: The city is adding cycle lanes to existing road surfaces. But because money is scarce, there won't be a physical separation, such as a curb, as is customary in Denmark and Holland. The price for this is that cars continue to misuse bike lines as parking spaces.

But where this journey is headed is well known to Horn, the traffic planner: "We need to reallocate space for bicycles. That is inevitable. The space will be taken from cars."

Discuss this issue with other readers!
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1. Bike as Vehicle
Jim in MD 08/08/2013
In many ways, it's a great problem to have. As a similar article in the BBC showed though, some of the bicycle traffic has come from public transportation rather than private cars. It may be time to make bike lanes a part of the road and demand that cyclists obey traffic signals. I have been cycling since my youth, about 35 years now, and feel safer in well-behaved traffic than on a bike lane.
2. Bike not vehicle
ozzage 08/08/2013
That would certainly solve the bike traffic jams because many people wouldn't cycle any more Countries like the Netherlands didn't get a high modal share for cycling by making cyclists mix with motorised vehicles! As the article suggests, the answer is further segregation and the removal of more motorised traffic from routes.
3. Bikes will win
goatfarmer 08/09/2013
Bottom line: bikes are cleaner, more space and fuel efficient and health-promoting for the rider.
4. Those bikers ...
susiwolf 08/09/2013
In Germany the 'fights between bikers and car-drivers' are sometimes rebellious ... this is a fact. What is the solution ? Take 'em all in/on "shared space" and you'll find an improvement. The risk of driving and cycling (together) at reduced speed in cities on same lanes will be followed by reduced rates of accidents ... for sure. Regardlessness turns out to be the major problem when driving or cycling ... Come to see Finland: It's always a good example for that cooperation !
5. Riding on the sidewalk
spon-facebook-1299840128 08/09/2013
I'm sorry, but riding on the sidewalk is not taboo in Copenhagen. My girlfriend does it every day, and so do many, many others. Most take care not to inconvenience people walking, realizing they are the ones breaking the law, but not all show such consideration. When my girlfriend was pregnant, there was an incident where she was carrying heavy groceries home on a snowy day. The bikepath only had a narrow free trail on it, so a guy chose to ride on the sidewalk. He came up right behind her, and with no attempt at politeness whatsoever, told her to step aside, so he could pass. So there is definitely no taboo. Actually, when the authories notice that a stretch of sidewalk is often used as bikepath, they have occasionally decided to just solve the problem by running the bikepath across that particular place, making it legal to ride there. So Copenhagen even sometimes rewards that behaviour.
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