Dublin and London make Copenhagenize list of Top 20 Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities

I liked cycling in Vancouver when I was there, it was lovely. I would put that on any list.

I cycle one third of my 9 mile commute on bike lanes through wandsworth and clapham common, a few more on quiet back streets, and the last couple going into the city are busy.

I have to comment that my average speed on the bike lanes, while i ride slower along them, is higher than the sections on the both busy and indirect back roads as I am not having to wait for busses, stop at lights, be prepared to give way to every car that I see who may not see me. It is much nicer to ride through too, the air doesnt taste bad like on CS7/the blue car parking lane, and it is a whole lot more relaxing. I ride VC on the roads and would wear technical stuff and change at work anyway but I would happily ride all the way in on cycle paths, I dont think it would slow my journey much if they were well done.

I definitely take the point that Copenhagenize are anti vehicular cycling, but i think that is because VC is a cycling response to an undesirable cycling-for-transport environment, having to share roads with the kind of driving that we see in London: fast, often unaware how close is too close, not always looking out for cyclists.

It is the kind of cycling environment that works for people who are confident/really want to ride, but it is uninviting for everyone else and not good for children. If you really want to allow everyone to go by bike you have to make cycling a safe and appealing option so that people who currently drive feel that cycling might be nice and that they would be safe doing so. Infrastructure definitely helps with that, but it has to be good infrastructure, not just the odd bit of paint on the road positioned where it won't inconvenience motor traffic.

The mistake the copenhagenize people make is assuming VC cyclists are against cycling infrastructure full stop. I think most of us would welcome good infrastructure where we would feel safe riding with our families. But bad infrastructure which herds cyclists into dangerous situations (for example the roundabout at E&C) can be more dangerous and worse than none.

Philadelphia might never make the list. We have posted signs around the city limits that say, "Welcome to Philadelphia, A Bike Friendly City" but that's mostly an empty gesture. Unfortunately most of the bike lanes disappear into car traffic lanes every time you need to cross a bridge, or sometimes they just fall off into a ravine where the edge of the road is eroded away. Nearly all of the "bike paths" are actually "multi-use paths" which means cyclists, joggers, dog-walkers, etc. are pitted against each other. And there is a huge population of novice hipster cyclists who don't have a clue how to use their bikes responsibly and constantly run down pedestrians, aggressively cut off motorists, and generally ruin the reputation of the other 90% of cyclists.

I'm glad they didn't create a list of cycle unfriendly cities they would of run out of paper. But Plymouth, Devon would of had a mention lol....

Hmm… but there are plenty of cyclists in Holland that don't hang about I've seen rush hour in a Dutch city and there were lots of people who were definitely riding as fast as they could - I didn't have to look too hard to spot some in Lycra either. There were also streets in Rotterdam that didn't have segregated cycle lanes so the locals on their bikes were also out there mixing it with the motorised traffic. Haven't Dutch and German businesses for years been required to provide showers, changing facilites, and cycle parking for their cycle commuting employees? Someone must surely be using these?

As for London aren't Boris bikes for simply hopping on and off of? They are certainly very visible in Central London these days and seem to have plenty of takers too with many Londoners, especially rail commuters, seemingly treating them as another branch of the public transport system.

It seems a bit rum to me for a city like London to have seen a simply massive growth in the number of people riding bikes on its streets and then for campaigners to complain that all these new people on bikes are the wrong sorts of cyclist and are part of the problem not the solution.

Whether it results from the larger geographical scale and so longer commuting distances, or from cultural differences, or from political/legal environment, there is no doubt that the London cycle commuting culture is predominantly Vehicular - own the road, take the lane, keep up with the traffic, get out of my way if you are slower. Adonis on a bike, that's me, in my lycra or shorts/Tee in all weathers, on my fixie/carbon road bike/skinny tyres. I'll shower when I get to the office and change into my suit there.

All of that is a huge turn-off to ordinary folk who are potential cyclists, and until London can overcome the barriers to normal folk who would just like to hop on and hop off, without changing their clothes or kitting themselves out to look like an alien, it doesn't deserve to be in the top 100 cycling cities.

I was surprised Rotterdam didn't make the top 20, that's a big city that is certainly more cycle friendly than any UK city I've ridden in - whether you are riding on the road , where there are no cycle lanes, or in the segregated lanes

Hmm, Helsinki and Stockholm both should be higher on that list. And I'd rather cycle round Edinburgh than London any day, so where is my former home city on that list? I've never cycled in Barcelona but having been there a few times I'm not sure I'd want to as it makes London seem calm and laid back. I go to Paris a lot and wouldn't want to cycle there either.

As for Buenos Aires being on the list at all...

I've cycled in Berlin and Munich and can confirm that they are indeed very good for pedalling around.

Hmm, really Dublin? Granted there is a very successful bike-hire scheme and there are bike lanes in various areas but Dublin Buses total lack of respect to cyclists is unbelievable! 'I'm pulling out, if you don't get out of my way I'll turn you into a hood-ornament!'

I've been commuting all year round and the only hassle I've has been from Dublin Bus.

Well Summarised, Tony. The Brits have longer commutes and need to cover the distance in a reasonable time. Even on a commute from east London to the City I think wearing some cycling kit makes a big differenc. Especially proper shorts.

"I were right about that saddle."

the point on 'gearheads' needs addressing too I'd say. Cities like London are never going to be like Copenhagen because they are much, much bigger, and so are commuting distances. I got back in to cycling in the early 90s and my commute from a not particularly distant suburb to the edge of central London was an 18 mile round trip.

On average Brits commute the longest distances in Europe they are also work the longest hours - so for a lot of people riding fast or setting of much earlier are the only options when it comes to cycling to work and getting there on time.

If you are going to work up a sweat it makes sense to wear technical kit - for a start it dries out quickly for the ride home and is a lot less anti-social than sitting around all day in clothes that got a pre-work drenching in perspiration.

Why only one Dutch city? If this was an objective study, every Dutch city would be on the list.

London is much improved in recent years and deserves credit for that but to rank it equal with Helsinki suggests that this list is nonsense.

The only reason I can think of for Helsinki not being higher is that they did away with their City Bike scheme.

And where the hell is Oslo on the list? Yes it's hilly in parts, but you can take bikes on the Metro: I've seen mountain bikers in full downhill rig using it as an uplift service.

On that latter point, Copenhagenize cautions that Londoners should “Stop whining that the Danish and Dutch experiences can’t be transferred to London and start thinking more seriously about proper infrastructure so that you don’t end up being a whole lot of gearheads swarming around the odd Citizen Cyclist.”

Given that whoever writes on Copenhagenise seems to have a bit of a problem with 'vehicular cycling'
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/07/vehicular-cyclists-secret-sect.html

and that infrastructure is the solution to everything
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2011/08/case-for-bicycle-infrastructure.html

- I'd treat anything written on there with a *huge* pinch of salt.

When taxi drivers stop driving dangerously close to me, then I'll believe that London is a bike friendly city. Until then, a lot still needs to be done.

Really?

Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Montreal and Portland I can understand but the rest? San Fran is probably safe to cycle in but those hills!!!