Pedal power Boost for bikes as Copenhagen adds more green waves

Hitting a green wave? It’s the best feeling, especially when you're in a hurry,” said the actor Samuel Traum, unlocking his bike by a Copenhagen intersection amid a throng of commuters on two wheels. “The opposite, a red wave, is the worst.”

- Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent

For those of us who don’t live in cycle-friendly Copenhagen, the green wave that Traum describes is a system started by the city authorities 16 years ago. To encourage bike travel, they synchronised traffic lights on several crucial roads so that a rush-hour cyclist travelling at about 20km/h (12mph) could catch green lights all the way.

Green waves will now spread to 15 more routes after the municipality approved a range of cycling provisions in its budget this month.

“The idea is nice because usually the lights are set at the speed of the cars,” said Lars, 33, an analyst, cycling down Nørrebrogade, where the first pilot project began. “I wish it would be expanded.”

Like many cities in Europe, Copenhagen became a city of cars after the second world war. However, in the 1970s it began to fight back against the traffic, with huge bike protests that pushed the municipality to build a vast network of cycle lanes. If every city had as many, a study found in June, the total carbon pollution from private vehicles would fall by 6%.

But officials admit that even Copenhagen is struggling to cut car use among those who travel into the city from outside. The construction of cycle superhighways has helped commuters reach the outskirts by bike, but red lights slow them down when they reach the streets. It's here that transport planners hope green waves will help.