Copenhagen - The Best Cycling City in the World

Copenhagen is crisscrossed by hundreds of cycle tracks, cycle lanes and green cycling routes. Read more about our work for making the best cycling city in the world even better.

Copenhagen is known all over the world for its many cyclists and cycle tracks. More than every second Copenhagener hops on the bike every day to go to work or school, and the number of bicycles crossing the inner city has surpassed the number of cars long ago.

It is estimated that cycle traffic will continue to grow in the coming years. That’s why we are futureproofing Copenhagen’s cycling infrastructure by developing a coherent and attractive network of cycling tracks. The goal is for even more people to choose the bicycle when going to school, work, leisure activities, or shopping. We will reach that goal through comprehensive strategic and analytic work to further develop cycling conditions.

On this page, we have gathered the newest analyses, evaluations, and strategies that hopefully will inspire not only professionals, but all others interested in working with cycling too.

Strategies and guidelines for The Best Cycling City in the World

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Good, better, best. The city of Copenhagen’s bicycle strategy 2011-2025

The vision for our efforts is that we want to be the best cycling city in the world. That requires cycling in Copenhagen to be safe, fast, and comfortable for everyone, no matter how experienced the cyclist is. The cycling[HLK1]  strategy also features the PLUS-net, a prioritised network of cycling connections with especially high requirements for cycle track width, maintenance, and snow clearance.

Download „Good, better, best. The city of Copenhagen’s bicycle strategy 2011-2025“

Bicycle accounts – facts about cycling in Copenhagen

Every second year, the City of Copenhagen publishes a bicycle account, presenting the status about reaching the goals set in the bicycle strategy. The bicycle account has been published since 1995 and gives a good overview of what kind of improvements have been made for the cyclists, but also about what can be done even better.

The Bicycle Account 2022

Download The Bicycle Account 2022

The Bicycle Account 2018

Themes: bicycle parking, cycling superhighways, socioeconomic benefits of cycling related to health and reduced congestion, social aspects of cycling and mobility, future tendencies, and innovation within cycling.

Download The Bicycle Account 2018

The Bicycle Account 2016

Themes: cycling- and pedestrian bridges, optimising space, regional connections

Download The Bicycle Account 2016 

The Bicycle Account 2014

Themes: commuter traffic, cycling commuting, safety, cycling superhighways

Download The Bicycle Account 2014 

The Bicycle Report

The yearly Bicycle Report is directed towards the Technical and Environmental Committee. The report gives an overview of the City of Copenhagen’s prioritised cycling measures, their effects, status of the politically set goals, and measuring of citizen’s satisfaction. The report also makes proposals for specific initiatives that can be relevant for budget negotiations.

NB! From 2020, the Bicycle Report is replaced with a yearly Mobility Report that does not only cover cycling but gives an overview of all measures within mobility. The Mobility Report is therefore a manifestation of a more holistic approach to different modes of traffic that both compete with each other, but also support each other.

The Bicycle Report 2023

Download Mobility Report 2023

The Bicycle Report 2022

Download Mobility Report 2022 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Report 2021

Download Mobility Report 2021 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Report 2020

The main focus areas in the Bicycle Report 2020 are developments in cycling traffic and the existing goals. The following six themes have been chosen as the most important future focus areas for cycling:

  • Cycle tracks
  • Cycling superhighways
  • Green cycling routes
  • Bicycle parking
  • Shortcuts for cyclists and deprived areas
  • Pre-analyses for cycling initiatives

Download the Bicycle Report 2020 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Report 2019

The main focus areas in the Bicycle Report 2019 are developments in cycling traffic and the existing goals. The following four themes have been chosen as the most important future focus areas for cycling:

  • Cycle tracks
  • Cycling superhighways
  • Bicycle parking
  • Local cost-efficient measures

Download the Bicycle Report 2019 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Report 2018

The main focus areas in the Bicycle Report 2018 are developments in cycling traffic and the existing goals. The following six themes have been chosen as the most important future focus areas for cycling:

  • Bicycle parking
  • Cycling superhighways
  • Cycle tracks and safe schoolways
  • Bridges and tunnels for cyclists and pedestrians
  • Bicycle streets
  • Green cycling routes

Download the Bicycle Report 2018 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Analysis 2017

The main focus areas in the Bicycle Report 2017 are developments in cycling traffic and the existing goals. The following four themes have been chosen as the most important future focus areas for cycling:

  • Implementation of Bicycle path prioritisation plan 2017-2025
  • Cycling measures following urban development
  • Bicycle parking at traffic nodes
  • Additional measures that maximise the socioeconomic gains

Download the Bicycle Report 2017 (in Danish only)

The Bicycle Report 2016

The main focus areas in the Bicycle Report 2016 are developments in cycling traffic and the existing goals. The following three themes have been chosen as the most important future focus areas for cycling:

  • Accessibility
  • Safety and perceived safety
  • Bicycle parking

Download the Bicycle Report 2016 (in Danish only)

Bicycle parking and cycle tracks – prioritisation plans

Prioritisation plan for bicycle parking

Better bicycle parking is one of the prerequisites to get more Copenhageners to cycle. Therefore has the Co-Create Copenhagen strategy set a goal, that 70% of Copenhageners should be satisfied with bicycle parking in 2025.

Download Bicycle parking prioritisation plan 2018-2025 (in Danish only)

Prioritisation plan for cycle tracks

Cycle track prioritisation plan 2017-2025 replaces the previous plan from 2006. The plan has to ensure that the continued development of cycling network in Copenhagen creates the biggest possible value in form of better accessibility, safety, and perceived safety for the cyclists.

Download Cycle track prioritisation plan 2017-2025 (in Danish only)

Mid-term evaluation of Cycle track prioritisation plan

Technical and Environmental Administration conducted a mid-term avaluation of Cycle track prioritisation plan in 2020. The evaluation follows up, how many of the initiatives of the plan are realised, and which ones are still waiting for their turn. The evaluation also contains an overview of existing knowledge about forecasting the future cycle traffic.

Download Mid-term evaluation for Cycle track prioritisation plan 2017-2025 (in Danish only)

Cykelfokus 2024 – Copenhagen’s bicycle infrastructure standards

"Cykelfokus 2024" is Copenhagen's standards for bicycle infrastructure. The standards aim to contribute to a safe and bicycle-friendly design of bicycle infrastructure and road projects. Specifically, the sections concerning bicycle streets, cycle path widths, how bicycle and other infrastructure work together, and bicycle-friendly intersections have been updated in "Cykelfokus 2024”.

Download “Cykelfokus 2024” (in Danish only, will be translated to English soon)

Contact

Mobilitet

Islands Brygge 37

2300 København S