Stockholm; the bike trend continues

The number of bikes in the streets of Stockholm have ben increasing fast and steady for several years. Latest surveys shows that this positive trend continues. Politicians has also recently realized the incredible possibility's that lies with increased city biking and are now planning to invest big bucks in bicycle infrastructure.

The payback time of such investments should be very short when considering factors such as improved mobility, lower costs for car infrastructure, lower air pollution, lower noise pollution, decreased health problems and increased feeling of well being for the citizens of Stockholm.

DN have a good article on the subject it is worth reading mainly as it includes a few wise words from fellow bike blogger Elin Bandmann from Put the fun between you legs.

Death by truck

An interesting article in SVD today says that out of the 7 latest accidents where bikers have been killed in Stockholm 6 were caused by trucks turning right at an intersection. A study by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine shows that trucks were involved in 43% of all deadly bicycle accidents in London although trucks only represent 4% of traffic.

This is totally unacceptable. We can not have vehicles in crowded city's that kill people following simple traffic rules. You should be able to cross an intersection at green light with your bike without risking being killed by a truck!

The solution to limit access of heavy vehicles to city centers is discussed in the article. This has several other environmental benefits as it also lowers noise and air pollution. However there is also practical issues with this solution.

There has, for a long time, been special rear view-mirrors for trucks that gives the driver a better view of what is below him. Making these mirrors a standard requirement for trucks and educating drivers on the importance of using them might be a way to at least start reducing this type of accidents.

Trends in car traffic

Over a long period of time car traffic in Sweden have just increased. Few years like the oil crises 1974 and 1981 or in the crisis in the 1990s there have been single years of negative growth of car traffic.


However in both 2009 and 2010 private car traffic have been lower than the previous year. This is the first time ever with negative growth two years in a row! In Malmö and Lund the figures follow the national development closely only that changes seem to be smaller in Lund and larger in Malmö compared to national trends. For 2011 however car traffic seem to be growing again. For the first 9 months there seems to be a growth of car traffic of 1.3% at national level.

(*2001 based on monthly flow values)

The decreases in average car kilometers per person does not really mean less motorized traffic in Malmö and Lund as any of these decreases is more that well overrun by increases in population and workplaces. Also commercial traffic is excluded. There will be more on car traffic on MLCC in the future as there is an article on traffic and peak oil to come that have quite a different angle than you might be used to.

Sources:
www.trafa.se/Statistik/Vagtrafik/Korstrackor/Korstrackor-baserade-pa-flodesmatningar/
www.trafikverket.se/Om-Trafikverket/Trafikverket/Manatlig-trafikrapport/Trafikvolym-vag/Statistikarkiv-Trafikvolym-vag/
www.scb.se/Pages/Standard____313065.aspx

Making up statistics

They say there is no worse lay than statistics. In today's DN there is a good example.

Trafic reasercher Irene Isaksson-Hellman from insurance company IF says that the number
of killed and seriously injured bikers has increased recently. This is simply not true. Looking at official statistics it is clear that the number of killed bikers have not increased. from 2009 to 2010 there was a decrease of 33% in the number of bikers killed. For the first 8 months of 2011 the same historically low level remains. The number of bikers seriously injured is more steady but also declining. from 2009 to 2010 there is a decrease of injured by 11% and for the first 8 months of 2011 there is a very tiny increase (3%).

What is Ifs interest of trying to fool people into believing biking is dangerous? Well less bikes means more cars. More cars means more traffic insurances for IF.

Meeting on new biking strategy for Lunds Kommun

Important Notice Below!


On 28 September there will be a meeting at Lunds Stadshall on a new bicycle plan to improve for bikers in Lund. This is a very welcome initiative from Lunds Kommun so please try to take some time of to join with some personal input. Don't forget to announce your intention to come to Katrin Andersson (katrin.andersson@lund.se) no later than the 22 of September.

Important Notice:

I just recived an E-mail from Katrin saying that this meeting is only open for officials in the Lunds Kommun administration. Later on there will be other outreaching activities.

Introducing the Me-mover

The Me-mover is like nothing I have ever seen. It is not a bike but still it works in many ways like a bike. As it has three wheels it is more stable than a bike at slow speeds jet it is almost as fast as a bike and it leans in curves. The innovative company behind the Me-Mover is located in Copenhagen and it is possible to pre-order a beta model of the vehicle already now. I cant wait to try one of these out in real life.

Bike Smut

Today at Mitt Möllan in Malmö the group Bike Smut will make some kind of performance including showing some "bike porn" movieclips. If interested read more in this Sydsvenskan article. I dont get it but I guess it is art and thereby considered very important...

To sexy to bike in New York

According to this article 31 year old dutch girl Jasmijn Rijcken was stopped by a New York police officer claiming she was a disturbance to traffic biking in a short dress and boots. Someone should stop this police officer for being ridiculous. You sometimes see things making you cry out for a fashion police force. That however is kidding, this is for real, or is it? There is some doubt in the article.

Stockolm - Taking after Malmö and Lund

Stockholm are now planning to take after Malmö and Lund in their broad efforts to promote biking according to DN. The efforts will include upgrading of the bicycle infrastructure but also "Bike Boxes" that make room for bicycles by red lights in front of the cars. There is even lobbying going on to change national laws so that bikers will be allowed to turn right at red lights and go against traffic on one-way streets according to this article in Dn and this article in Aftonbladet. Just shows that things have to happen in Stockholm before national policy can change. Biking in Stockholm is up 200% (!) in the last five years. Although the levels are still low the potential is for sure high when infrastructure now is being put in place.

Improvments in Intermodal transport knots

Or to keep it simple, more bicycle parking by buss stops. Lunds kommun have looked thrue the needs of bycycle stands on all buss stops in the kommun. The buss stop Höjdpunkten by the SonyEricsson headquarters is one of those that is in great need of new bike stands.

And here you go! Plenty of new bike stands.

Malmö Lund Cycle Chic In the News

Today there is an article on Malmö Lnd Cycle Chic in Skånska Dagbladet. Check it out.

Malmö and Lund; Swedens best Cycle Citys

In a report from the Swedish bicycle association 17 Swedish kommuns are evaluated on how bicycle friendly they are. Standing out as better than all the other kommuns are Malmö and Lund. The evaluation was done with Kommuns that chose to participate which makes you guess that the report includes more of the Kommuns with high ambitions for biking rather than the ones with low or no ambitions. Last year Malmö Kommun came in second in the same survey after Varberg while Lunds Kommun did not participate. Here is the concluding graph of the results of this years report:

Well done! It is not stange that Malmö and Lund also tops the statistics for cities were most trips are done by bike in Sweden, 43% of all trips in Lund and 30% of all trips in Malmö. Download the full report from the Swedish Bicycle organization here.

Cargo bikes in public work no.1

Here is the kindergarten Fågel Blå on a road trip. This Kindergarten is using two Christiania bikes to take the kids on excursions around town. Each cargo bike can take up to 6 little ones which is actually a lot more than a normal car. The Christiania bikes are so far only used by Fågel Blå in Lund but in Malmö several kindergartens use the bikes on a daily basis. The bikes give the kindergarten much needed freedom to go outside the restricted and crowded preschool environment and instead the kids get to excperience the citys parks, close nature and cultural sites.

You can read more about Fågel Blå and their cargo bikes in this Sydsvenskan article. In the article you can also see a picture of the potable toilet they allwys bring on their trips.



Stay put for the "Cargobikes in public work no.2" update tomorrow.

Bike Kitchen Premiere!

Last Thursday was the grand opening of Stapelbädden, the all activity house that is now home to Sweden's first Bike Kitchen. At the opening there was food, wine, live music stand up comedy acts and much more including the photo show with Cycle Chic Malmö Lund pictures. I have not had time to upload my photos and write until now but is sure was a great opening party.

Note that the Stapelbädden house has got a sloping roof. This is because it is located in the old Kockums shipyard. They used to build entire ships on this house and then just let them glide with the slope into the water.
One thing I really liked about the opening part was these cool roller-skate girls that kept riding around everywhere.

Bike Kitchen will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays 16.00-20.00 and Sundays 12.00-17.00
Visit the Bike Kitchen blog here.

Biking in Stockholm is finally prioritized

In today's DN there are two articles on biking in Stockholm. Biking in Sweden's capital city have been much debated the last years as the numbers of bikers have increased by 80% in 10 years. During this time the improvements in bicycle infrastructure have been minimal. Now as Dn reports there is a new plan to prioritize biking and making cycle possibilities more equal to those of cars and buses. Biklanes will be widened and better connected.
In the same paper there is also an article which headline indicate that the Stockholm air quality is to bad to be biking in. The article says that your life could be shortened by a week on average by biking an hour a day in this air. On the other hand the article also says that at the same time the excersise you would get from that hours biking would at the same time prolong your expected life time with a considerably longer period of time.

Bike Kitchen Malmö - Video

On Thursday the 31 of March, what is belived to be Swedens first bike kitchen, will open at Stapelbädden in Malmö. We meet up with Ola and Bertil, the founders of bike kitchen, to get to know more. Bike kitchen or Cyckelköket in Swedish will be a place where you take your bike and fix it yourself using the tools that will be available as well as guidance from the Bike kitchen crew. There will also be a plentiful supply of abandoned bikes that can be used for spare parts or even as foundation for a brand new bike. All in all a very good idea!

Malmö Lund Cycle Chic will be showing pictures at the opening party for Stapelbädden and Cykelköket. There will be a report on this house worming party later on.

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Every fifth Swede considers to buy a new bike this spring

According to a survey quoted in DN today every fifth Swede is considering to buy a new bike this spring. Well... New or used would be more correct as almost half the deals are done over the net where secondhand site Blocket is the largest actor. Se if you can find a "new" bike on Blocket.

Puerto Alegre Critical Mass Massacre

This absolutely crazy incident in Puerto Alegre Brazil is among the worse seen. However this is quite the way the car once became the hegemonic mode of transport in western countries. "stay of the road or get killed" was what happened in Europe and North America when rich people started driving cars back in the days. The same thing is happening still today in developing countries.

The risk of getting killed by a car is 10 times higher in Africa than in Europe. As there are at least 10 more cars per person in Europe than in Africa this would mean that the risk that an African car kills someone is 100 times higher than a car in Europe killing some one. (this is not Swedish road safety figures we are comparing with but average EU statistics)

Having that dangerous machines running free is only possible if the accessibility of the, rich and powerful, car driver is valued higher than the lives of the poor and powerless.

Fortunately the lives of the public is, now days, highly valued in the developed world. Still however, the accessibility of non car drivers are being sacrificed for the sake of the car drivers accessibility.

I apologize for the commercials in the start of the video. Aftonbladet is getting payed not Malmö Lund Cycle Chic.

€ 1.3 million to better biketracks in Stockholm

There has been complaints at the low rate of investment in the Stockholm bike infrastructure for some time now. Today Swedens largest morning paper DN announces that at least somethins will be done. The money will go to better bike lanes in Tegelbacken. The entire plan for bicycle infrastructure in Stockholm will be finnished in the fall and we hope that it will include much larger investments.

Swedens best bicycle politician back in Lund

Yesterday the Swedish bicycle association, Svensk Cykling, awarded the politician that best have emphasized the positive effects of biking during the last year. The winner was Karin Svensson Smith from the green party. During most of 20010 Karin have been active on a national level as a member of parliament. Now she is back as a local politician in Lund and have great plans for us two wheelers. She anounced at the price cermony that she is about to put in a suggestion for a "bicycle highway" between Malmö and Lund to make things easier for bicycle commuters. In Malmö, Swedens second best bicycle politician, Karolina Skog, also from the green party, share her ideas. Lets hope this "highway" becomes real real soon. There is a strong need to do something about the existing bicycle path between the city's and upgrading from a path to a highway is the way to go.