In April 2013 KTC undertook a study tour to the Danish capital, Copenhagen (CPH). See here for our blog post summarising why we went and our experiences and our impression of the city in our souvenir pull-out. CPH was certainly very interesting and left us all with a positive vibe about sustainable travel, but the real question is “Can travel in Bristol ever be like it is in CPH?”
The most obvious difference is the topography, CPH is very flat whereas Bristol has a few hills (often stated as reasons not to cycle) but hills are not the only barrier to cycling or places like Norwich would have a similar mode share to CPH. CPH also benefits from wide streets to provide segregated space for cars, cyclists and pedestrians.
CPH has a similar sized travel to work area (TTWA) as Bristol, with a similar number of people living within it, but the CPH TTWA has a rail/metro system with over 100 stations compared to Bristol which has 25. Public Transport in CPH is not run by commercial organisations and ticketing is integrated across modes and operators. Good public transport is essential to reducing reliance on the car.
Other factors to consider include CPH being a capital city, where investment is often prioritised, and Denmark’s lack of a car industry which frees the Government to tax car use without worrying about the resulting job losses. Finally but maybe most importantly there is the culture: car drivers, cyclist and pedestrians are courteous to one another, and nobody seems to race around the city. There are some fundamental differences between the two cities but with a clear vision and enough time the only thing in Bristol which cannot be changed is the hills.