More info on his visit to Copenhagen here and here. The Vancouver Sun also has an article, in which he tears Vancouver a new asshole by arguing that its self-image as a bike friendly city is nothing compared to Copenhagen:
"You have to be a road warrior with helmets and reflective strips to brave Vancouver streets on a bike," he said. "In Copenhagen they are in their street clothes, in high heels."The episode airs next Sunday, Nov. 16. You're supposed to be able to watch the trailer here, but it seems a little finicky.
"We always hear about how liveable our city is and how great our bike culture is," Cullis-Suzuki said.
"That's such a load."
"When the emphasis is on people, rather than cars, you end up with a very different city," Suzuki said.
1 comment:
I spent parts of three summers living in Copenhagen about 10 years ago and it was indeed very bike friendly. I have difficulty imagining any major North American city ever being able to be close.
There were dedicated bike lanes along many busy city roads. The ones I recall were almost as wide as a car lane and sometimes slightly elevated - between the level of the road and the sidewalk. Vehicles were not allowed into the lanes at all. If you were waiting for a bus you had to be extremely careful when it pulled up to remember there was a bike lane between you (on the sidewalk) and the bus (still on the road - not in the bike lane). It was very easy to walk out in front of a moving bike.
As most of us know many Europeans including business men and business women think nothing of cycling in their best dress clothes to work/school. Of course the Danes also have a reknown transit system to fall back on. It is famous for always being on time.
Many Danes have a somerhus or summer house (what we would call a cottage) on the coast. I can recall an elderly female relative riding her bike the hilly few km into town and back every morning to pick up fresh milk and groceries - in a dress and shoes with heels of course. I tried her bike once. It was a single speed with what seemed like a huge gear. She was in her late 60's.
We all know of the exhorbitant price of gas in Europe. I wonder if Suzuki will mention the tax on car sales in Denmark. My uncle-in-law who's an accountant and not prone to joking claimed it was %300. No that was not a typo.
BTW the Danes have a great social system, but they also pay (or used to pay) 27% sales tax and almost everyone paid 50%+ income tax. One of their ideas that melded cycling with a social network took place about 15-20 years ago. The city of Copenhagen bought thousands of bikes. They were painted in a bright distinctive paint scheme and left all over the city in special racks. The idea was that you used one till you got where you were going to then you left it for the next person. Didn't work. You're saying 'd'oh of course it didn't.' But in the past it might have. Historically their social systen worked really well with Danes having a strong sense of community and responsibility to one another. There was never a problem of people taking advantage of the system. That's all changed with exposure to outside influences in the last 20 years, but that's another story.
Sorry, very long post, but my way of saying Copenhagen is an incredible city, but it'll never happen here for lots of reasons.
Gary
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