Newsletter #3

NEWSLETTER.

JULY2011

Bicycle Account creates better bicycle conditions

The City of Copenhagen has just published its Bicycle Account 2010, which shows the advances in cycle traffic in the Danish capital – and where there is room for improvement.

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Cycle City 2.0

The Danish cycle cities are continuously working to brand themselves. Just recently, Odense has started a comprehensive process. This has involved a change of name, a payoff, and a whole new visual identity.

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GPS-tech makes cycling fun!

Kids are increasingly being transported on the back of their parents’ car instead of riding a bike. Many Danish municipalities wish to change this development. One way is to combine new technology with an old story!

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X-tra bikes on the S-train

The first S-trains with double space for bikes are now up and running. S-train has introduced one-way traffic in the new bike compartments to make it easier and faster to get on and off.

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CYCLING EMBASSY OF DENMARK SECRETARIAT: DANISH CYCLISTS’ FEDERATION, ROEMERSGADE 5, DK-1562 COPENHAGEN K, DENMARK WWW.CYCLING-EMBASSY.ORG / INFO@CYCLING-EMBASSY.ORG

Bicycle Account creates better bicycle conditions The City of Copenhagen has just published its Bicycle Account 2010, which shows the advances in cycle traffic in the Danish capital – and where there is room for improvement.

By Steffen Nørregaard Rasmussen, Danish Cyclists’ Federation

Since 1996, every other year the City of Copenhagen has issued a bicycle account that, in dry figures, analyses the development of the city’s cycle traffic. The account is made by collecting different pieces of information about the conditions for cyclists in Copenhagen. In addition, it focuses on the number of accidents, economic and environmental gains, sense of safety, and new initiatives.

“The citizens of Copenhagen and other interested parties can see what we are doing, and the politicians can monitor if the declared goals have been reached or if they are reachable.

Furthermore, the bicycle account makes it easy for us to pass on information in-house between our different departments,” he says.

Get started!

Copenhagen was the first city to make an actual bicycle account, but gradually more Danish cities have followed suit.

And according to Ulrik, there is nothing to do but start if you want to make a bicycle account in your own city: Greater sense of safety triggers more cyclists More than 1000 of the capital’s cyclists have participated in the analysis answering questions on their level of satisfaction on a number of areas. One of the goals of the City of Copenhagen is for 80% of all cyclists to feel safe. In 2008, this number was only 51%, but the latest bicycle account shows that now 67% feel safe on the cycle tracks. Moreover, never before have cycling Copenhageners covered more kilometres per day. In 2008, Copenhageners cycled 1,17 million kilometres per day, while in 2010, they covered 1,21 million kilometres per day, which is a daily increase of 40.000 kilometres.

“Just get started. The first one doesn’t have to be big and fancy. What is important is to get started on the process, which is first of all the collection of data. When that is up and running, making the bicycle account becomes much easier and more natural,” he says.

You can read the City of Copenhagen’s Bicycle Account 2010 here: www.bit.ly/jgi3m4 Photos: Troels Heien / Monoline

These are just some of the numbers you can find in the Bicycle Account, and according to Ulrik Djupdræt, Traffic Planner in the City of Copenhagen and co-author of the Bicycle Account, the account helps make the city’s work to promote cycling more transparent and makes it easier to estimate where extra effort is needed.

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Cycle City 2.0 The Danish cycle cities are continuously working to brand themselves. Just recently, Odense has started a comprehensive process. This has involved a change of name, a payoff, and a whole new visual identity.

By Connie Juel Clausen, City of Cyclists - Odense

Step 1: the visual identity A flexible and vivid visual identity is crucial for a successful branding. So, Odense’s new visual identity contains a number of isolated elements: stylized bike parts, a cloud, and a fixed range of colours. The elements and colours can be combined in numerous ways and can be used in all media from film and living images to print and web.

It is an identity that is always recognizable – despite the fact that is has great flexibility. And on top of being very simple in its expression, it goes well with images from the real-life City of Cyclists.

Branding that gets you recognized on the street The purpose of the massive branding is to make people familiar with the visual identity, so they will recognize it when it is used in campaigns and other activities later on. So Odense is facing a long strategic haul. Over the next three years, this will increase Odense citizens’ awareness of the city’s many opportunities for cyclists.

Cycling isn’t just about traffic and road regulations. It has just as much to do with pleasure and lifestyle, and this has changed the way in which the Danish cycle cities brand themselves.

More than ten years have passed since Odense created their former brand, Cycle City Odense. Much water has passed under the cycle bridge since then, so it was time to revise the brand and re-launch the cycle city, 2.0 – this time under the name, City of Cyclists.

The purpose of the massive branding of Danish cycle cities is very simple: to make more people cycle. Because if a municipality wants to sell itself as a cycle city, it is no longer enough to invest in kilometre upon kilometre of asphalt, you need to invest in communication too.

City of Cyclists - Odense The physical framework for cycling in Odense has been good for many years. The city was formerly known as, Cycle City Odense – the city with many cycle tracks and ditto cyclists.

Under the new name, City of Cyclists, Odense has upgraded its brand both visually and communicatively. The first larger branding exercise has just been completed – including a film and massive outdoor marketing – all of which is part of a larger and more general branding strategy.

In the beginning of June 2011, City of Cyclists launched a Facebook profile, which received over 1800 “likes” in the first two weeks.

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GPS-tech makes cycling fun!

Kids are increasingly being transported on the back of their parents’ car instead of riding a bike. Many Danish municipalities wish to change this development. One way is to combine new technology with an old story!

By Marianne Weinreich, VEKSØ & Morten Riisgaard-Dam, Aros Kommunikation

Mette Olsen, who is class teacher for the winning class in Helsingør in 2011, is very enthusiastic about the campaign and believes that the use of GPS-technology has a large part in motivating the students and getting the support of the parents.

“We haven’t cycled during school hours, but the students and their parents could keep track of the results on the class smartboard during the entire campaign. The students have cycled together on many trips – especially long trips in the weekends, so they have also benefitted a lot on a social level.

At the same time, the parents have really supported them by accompanying them on the long trips,” says the class teacher, who is herself a born competitor and has encouraged the students to continue cycling for Dr. Glob for the entire campaign.

Student from the winning class uploads her cycled kilometres to the campaign website.

The cycle campaign ”Around the World in 80 Days” targets 12-13 year-old school students and, to go straight to the point, the idea is for the students to compete together as a class to see whether they can ‘cycle’ around the world in 80 days.

The students take turns at cycling with a GPS, which registers the number of cycled kilometres. Next, they upload their results on the campaign website. For every kilometre they cycle, the circumnavigator, Dr. Glob, moves one corresponding kilometre on his trip around the world on his flying Mondovelo. On the campaign website, the students can keep track of Dr. Glob’s progress and of how far the other classes have cycled. The challenge is: Can the classes circumnavigate the globe in 80 days – or in other words, cycle 40.000 km in 80 days?

Every time the students pass one of the sprint cities along the route, Dr. Glob sends them a postcard with funny stories from the city he is visiting. This way the students learn about different places in the world, and the teachers can integrate it in class if they want.

En route to Beijing. The campaign website makes it easier to keep track of the class position in the competition.

Competition powers up the pedals The competitive element and the idea that all the participants are assisting Dr. Glob becomes an engine that keeps the students motivated for all 80 days. However, the students are also motivated by cold cash, too: the class that cycles most kilometres wins money for a class trip so the students can celebrate their victory. In addition, they can win smaller amounts during the campaign if their class sends Dr. Glob into the various sprint cities. The student in the class who contributes with the most kilometres wins the GPS, or the municipality can choose to collect them so they can use them in next year’s campaign.

Results that rock The setup of the campaign makes it possible to reach a group that can be difficult to influence – and to keep their attention for a longer period of time. So far the campaign has run in the municipalities of Aarhus and Helsingør. Evaluations show that 2/3 of the students cycled more during the campaign than usual, and that about 40 % cycled on trips where they would normally have been in the back of a car.

The results of the campaign have also called forth a marketing award on the grounds of the campaign’s outstanding method and its ability to create results and behavioural change with the target group. The assessment also highlighted the use of the GPS devices as a central and motivating tool.

See more at www.80dage.dk/helsingor or contact Marianne Weinreich at maw@vekso.com or Morten Riis-Damgaard at mrdam@aroskommunikation.dk for further information.

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X-tra bikes on the S-train The first S-trains with double space for bikes are now up and running. S-train has introduced one-way traffic in the new bike compartments to make it easier and faster to get on and off.

By Helene Gram

middle of the train, but which are not used much.

Passengers bringing baby carriages on the S-train have the possibility of being in the passageway as well, while bikes are only allowed in the bike compartments.

For more information on bikes and the S-train please go to: http://www.dsb.dk/s-tog/kampagner/s-tog-og-cykler/

The Copenhageners love to cycle and to take their bikes on the S-train. In 2010, S-train made it free to bring the bike on board, which has been a growing success, so now S-train is remodelling 10 trains, making space for twice as many bikes.

There will be one-way traffic in the new bike compartments, so you enter at one end and exit at the other.

“In order to make it faster and easier for cyclists to get in and out of the S-train, we have decided to introduce one-way traffic. In addition, the new bike compartments have room for twice as many bikes as usual, and we can spread out the bikes along the platform because the new bike compartments are located in the middle of the S-train,” says Sales Director at S-train, Niklas Marschall.

Popular bike/train combo As the Copenhageners are a most bicycle-friendly lot, S-train is continuously working to improve the conditions for cyclists on the S-train. An analysis from April this year shows that a third of all passengers have taken advantage of the possibility of bringing their bike on the S-train for free, and 91% are very positive about the idea whether they take their bike on the S-train themselves or not. Moreover, it makes even more people choose an eco-friendly means of transport if they combine bike and train. A whole 27% of the cyclists state that they wouldn’t have taken the S-train if they couldn’t bring their bike for free.

In 2010, the number of bikes on the S-train more than doubled which meant that almost 5 million cyclists brought their bike on board. S-train is currently remodelling 10 trains to make more room for bikes.

Photos: Klaus Holsting

“We want to help make Copenhagen the world’s best city for cyclists and create even better conditions for cyclists. At the moment we are putting up bicycle pumps at a number of stations, making bicycle ramps, more bicycle parking facilities, and now also twice as much room for bikes on the S-trains,” says Niklas.

Bike compartments in the middle The new bike compartments are located in the middle of the train. This takes the pressure off of the many passengers who prefer to use the doors at the ends of the train. The remodelled trains have pronounced coloured stripes on the sides of the train leading the way to the bike compartments.

In connection with the introduction of the remodelled trains, S-train is also making an extra effort to draw attention to the existing bike compartments that are already located in the

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