One European bicycle culture consulting firm, Copenhagenize Consulting, released there results for a study exploring the world’s most bicycle friendly cities. By no coincidence, this index is named after the world capital for bicycle culture, Copenhagen. The index takes 20 major cities and analyzes them on 13 categories, including; advocacy, bicycle culture, bicycle infrastructure, perception of safety and social acceptance to name a few. Each category was rated on a scale between zero and four points, with twelve bonus points built in for any impressive efforts or features. A total of 64 points are possible. To almost no surprise, Copenhagen and Amsterdam took the top two spots out of the twenty. Ironically, Amsterdam placed first on the Copenhagenize Index with a score of 54 while Copenhagen scored 52. Many cities that we usually don’t associate with bicycle friendliness came in on the list, including Budapest, Guadalajara, Dublin and Rio de Janeiro.
However, my first question upon seeing this index was “Where does New York City come into place?” Well, New York City has a cozy spot right at the bottom (20 out of 20 cities, scoring 29). This is a great start for New York City, however there is so much more to accomplish. Plans to integrate bicycle usage into the City’s infrastructure are in development. According to the report, New York possesses great responsibility as a city with international influence.
Visit the Copenhagenize Index website to view the complete report.
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