Best Bicycle Cities (2007)
AskMen.com published in 2007 a Top 10 of Bicycle Cities, about best cities in the world good for bikes. They looked at how well-connected and incorporated are the bike lanes and paths into the city’s major downtown routes, at the efforts in innovation in accommodating cyclists despite the confines of an urban setting, at the low risk to have your bike stolen, at the overall cycling infrastructure provided by several world cities to ride your bike in.
While North America tries to accommodate increasing numbers of cyclists, many European prototypes have already engineered cities with the bicycle in mind. Among them, Scandinavian countries boast many bustling city centers designed around the bicycle.
1. Amsterdam
Amsterdam remains the bike capital of the world. 40% of all traffic in Amsterdam comes from bikes. Cycling is such an integral part of Amsterdam’s cultural fabric that seemingly everything is done on a bike: policemen, mothers with children, politicians …pedal.
2. Portland
Portland is the only urban center to have seen a decline in greenhouse gas emissions in urbam America. Cycling has emerged in Portland as a social issue that people can be enthusiastic about. Traffic congestion in the Eastside Hub has dropped while the number of cyclists has tripled over the last years. By constantly adding bike lanes, paths, boulevards and bike parking, cyclists from all walks of life are coming out of the woodwork.
3. Copenhagen
In Copenhagen, although nearly everyone in Denmark owns a bike. The city boasts the world’s most successful community bicycle program and can be called a city of bikes. Bike paths occasionally have independent signal systems and are mostly separated from the main traffic lanes. Tourists who don’t have a bike can pay a deposit, then drop the bike off at one of the many racks available throughout the city.
Here are the top 10 bicycle cities designated by this survey:
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Tags: Amsterdam, AskMen, Best Bicycle Cities, Copenhagen, Denmark, Portland, Surveys, Worldwide Surveys
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