Copenhagen claims title as world’s most bicycle-friendly city

Copenhagen has surpassed Amsterdam to be named the most bicycle-friendly city in the world, according to the Copenhagenize Index 2015  – thus named, because Copenhagen is the city to aspire to in terms of being bicycle-friendly.

Copenhagen boasts 400 km of bicycle lanes, more than 50% of Copenhageners commute by bicycle to work everyday and the bike is by far the most common and preferred means of transport.

Add to that, the government continuously invests in new infrastructure. Two new bridges over the canal opened in December 2014. The famous Cykelslangen (“bike snake”) elevated bike ramp has captured the citizens’ imagination and provided an important mobility link across the harbor. Four new bicycle bridges are on the way and cross-town routes are being upgraded.

About the index
The Copenhagenize Index, published biennially by the urban design consultancy Copenhagenize Design Company, ranks 150 cities around the world with a population of over 600,000 (with a few exceptions) in terms of being a bicycle-friendly city.

Amsterdam has topped the previous indexes in 2011 and 2013, with Copenhagen as the runner up.

With the Danish and Dutch capitals leading the pack, Dutch city Utrecht came in third, followed by Strasbourg (France) and Eindhoven (the Netherlands).

The top 10 was rounded up by Malmö in sixth – which made strides up from ninth in 2013 – Nantes (France), Bordeaux (France), Antwerp (Belgium) and Seville (Spain).

The top 20 also included Berlin (12), Buenos Aires (14), Paris (17), Minneapolis (18) and Montreal (20), while Munich, Budapest, Nagoya, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro slipped out of the top 20 for this year’s edition.

See the index  here

Denmark was recently named most bicycle-friendly country in Europe. Read more  here.