23 November 2007

Socially Acceptable Transport

Intersection Friends (by [Zakkaliciousness])
It has to be said that biking in Copenhagen - or anywhere for that matter - is an inherently sociable affair. Off to the cinema? A party? To university? You ride your bikes together. Have a chat.

We're not wanting to sound all organic and ultra left-wing here, but riding your bikes and chatting in the fresh air is quite enjoyable. Beats sitting in a car in stop and go traffic anyday. Although biking can't compete with that wonderful road movie feeling when we drive to France or Italy in the summer. Both worlds have their charms.

Hi (by [Zakkaliciousness])
Then of course there is that wonderful, oft-repeated Copenhagen experience of meeting someone you know while riding about, like the two Copenhageners above. Happens pretty much several times a week. Especially on the busy bike lanes that feature between 10,000 - 25,000 bikes a day... you're bound to see people you know while riding to work.
Street Kiss With Bystander (by [Zakkaliciousness])
Bike lanes are also aesthetic forums for a goodbye kiss. Shortly after this shot was taken, they both sped off in different directions. We're quite sure, however, that they'll hook up again later.

With all that said, it may not be wise to pedal happily along, chatting with a friend, if you don't have dedicated bike lanes or live in a city where motorists are not yet used to sharing the road. But we'll leave it up to you.

One of us has whipped up a little set over at Flickr called Biking With Friends wherein you'll find several other socialable photos from Copenhagen of locals.
Or click on one of the photos below to hop right in.
Friends (by [Zakkaliciousness]) Duo (by [Zakkaliciousness]) Couple (by [Zakkaliciousness]) Holding Hands (by [Zakkaliciousness]) Festival Mood (by [Zakkaliciousness]) Double * (by [Zakkaliciousness])
at

7 comments:

  1. VillagePeeps23 November 2007 at 19:02

    cool site. i made it a link from my site, point n controversy. i like to cover various cool current events and other things. i'm on blogger at http://pointcontroversy.blogspot.com.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous23 November 2007 at 22:29

    Oh boy I wish cycling in London were like that ... two cyclists side-by-side? They'd be driven off the road.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous24 November 2007 at 18:34

    Great blog.
    Even though more people are cycling in London if the government were to deliver on just some of their promises there would be many more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Colville-Andersen24 November 2007 at 20:03

    Thanks all, for commenting. London is making good headway by all accounts. It would be great if the city was the first really large city to make the push for a decent bike culture.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous24 November 2007 at 21:34

    You got Treehuggered yesterday. :-) I subscribe to your feed. It's always a pleasure looking at your photos. :-) Congratulations on such a great project!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous25 November 2007 at 19:44

    We're getting there in London, partly because all other forms of transport are at or above capacity. But cycling in London is not for the faint hearted... I'm not sure what more could be done to get people onto their bikes, but certainly the more of us there are, the safer it becomes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Colville-Andersen26 November 2007 at 09:55

    Thanks, anabananasplit. it seems that treehugger is good to us lately.

    and disgruntled... the more the merrier. the more that ride, the more the councils will have to act. london is quickly becoming a bike conscious city, which is great.

    ReplyDelete