The most bike-friendly cities according the Copenhagenize Index 2015

The most bike-friendly  cities according the Copenhagenize Index 2015

The report Copenhagenize Index 2015 ranks the twenty cities in the world more suitable for cyclist where the bike is used by the population as much as the other means of transportation. Or even more.

What is the most friendly city for cyclists, where everything is designed to facilitate travelling by bike? If youask ten passersby, the most likely answer would be Amsterdam, and this would be « almost » right. The Dutch capital, in fact, has just lost the record to another large and virtuous city from Northern Europe, Copenhagen.

A confirmation comes from the Copenhagenize Index 2015 report, which ranks the twenty most friendly cities towards who travels by bike, drafted by the Danish company of urban plannig Copenhagenize; the fact that this year’s winner was the Danish capital may sound suspicious, but experts ensure that Copenhagen has won the leadership of the standings with honors, after years of improvements in terms of sustainable mobility.

This index has considered 122 cities all around the world to choose the best twenty, all of which mid  or large sized (more than 600.000 inhabitants). Each was given a score (0 to 4) over thirteen quality criteria, plus bonus points (maximum 12) in the case of special efforts to improve the situation. Among the evaluated parameters, concrete policies for cycling, the presence of appropriate infrastructures, but also the culture itself of the population, how much it accepts cyclists together with other road users, how many women ride bicycles in proportion, and how much the bike is used as a means of daily transportation instead of just for recreational sports.

Contributing to the Danish record were several infrastructures completed recently, including the bicycle snake, an elevated path that runs through the heart of Copenhagen. Results have been seen immediately, with daily bicycle usage risen in two years from 36 to 45%.

These efforts provided to the Danish capital the bonus points which enabled it to overtake Amsterdam, which would have an higher base score but has slowed down a bit in terms of new projects.

In the top twenty positions of the ranking there are seventeen European cities. French ones are three (Nantes, Bordeaux and Paris), the Spanish two (Seville and Barcelona), new entry in the top 20 for the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

Completing the list of the top twenty positions we find three American cities: Buenos Aires, Minneapolis and Montreal.

Here is the complete ranking of bike-friendly cities.

1) Copenhagen

2) Amsterdam

3) Utrecht

4) Strasbourg

5) Eindhoven

6) Malmo

7) Nantes

8) Bordeaux

9) Antwerp

10) Seville

11) Barcelona

12) Berlin

13) Ljubljana

14) Buenos Aires

15) Dublin

16) Vienna

17) Paris

18) Minneapolis

19) Hamburg

20) Montreal

Image credit:  http://blogs.dwight.edu/