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Cycling in Copenhagen is – as with most cycling in Denmark – an important means of transportation and a dominating feature of the cityscape, often noticed by visitors.〔(The Top 10 cities to visit in 2009 ), TimesOnline〕 The city offers a variety of favourable cycling conditions — dense urban proximities, short distances and flat terrain — along with an extensive and well-designed system of cycle tracks. This has earned it a reputation as one of the most—possibly ''the'' most—bicycle-friendly city in the world. Every day are cycled in Copenhagen, with 36% of all citizens commuting to work, school or university by bicycle; in fact, almost as many people commute by bicycle in greater Copenhagen as do those who cycle to work in the entire United States. Cycling is generally perceived as a healthier, environmentally friendly, cheaper and often quicker way around town than by public transport or car and it is therefore municipal policy for the number of commuters by bike to go up to 50% by 2015.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Grønne cykelruter ) 〕 == History == Bicycles became common in Copenhagen at the beginning of the twentieth century. The city's first bicycle path was established on Esplanaden in 1892, another early example are the paths established around The Lakes in 1910, when the existing bridle paths were converted into isolated cycleways to accommodate the heavy growth in cycling at the time.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Brief History about Copenhagen )〕 In 1890 there were 2,500 bicycles in the city, just 17 years later that figure had increased to 80,000 and Copenhagen was already considered the top cycling city in Europe. In the 1920s and 1930s the popularity increased even further. As a spectator sport, six-day racing became popular in the 1930s. The first race was held in 1934 in the original Forum Copenhagen and its popularity peaked in the 1960s. During World War II, petrol was strictly rationed, making cycling the dominant form of transportation in Copenhagen. Also during the 1940s, the first recreational bicycle routes were developed through green spaces in the periphery of the municipality. Starting in the 1950s, Copenhagen experienced a decline in utility cycling due to increasing wealth and affordability of motor vehicles. While no bike paths were actually removed at the time, new road construction omitted bicycle infrastructure, and many bike lanes were curtailed at intersections to increase the throughput of cars by adding turn pockets and other car related infrastructure in its place. At the same time car traffic increased dramatically on existing streets without bicycle infrastructure, decreasing the cyclists sense of safety on those streets. During the late 60s and early 70s the modal share of bicycles fell to an all time low of 10%. With the energy crisis which hit Denmark harder than most countries, and the growing environmental movement in the 1970s, cycling experienced a renaissance. The Government was forced to introduce car-free Sundays to conserve oil reserves. Many city dwellers thought it was the best day of the week, and the Danish Cyclists Federation which had been on life support for years and were nearly in a coma, experienced a rapid and massive increase in membership during the 1970s and 1980s. Bolstered by the increasing membership and new enthusiastic younger grassroots, it organised massive demonstrations in Copenhagen and other major cities, demanding better infrastructure and safety for the city's cyclists. Another grassroots action cited for helping cycling infrastructure on the political agenda was operation "White Crosses" where white crosses were painted on the streets where a cyclist had been killed in traffic. These protests and actions came at the same time as a number of planning reforms were initiated nationally, which gave individual citizens the opportunity to have direct influence on new planning and zoning laws in their communities, and with that came a clear demand for segregated cycle paths.〔 Although the first separate cycle tracks were constructed much earlier, they did not become the norm until the early 1980s. As in many other cities planners suggested to avoid interfering with car traffic on the main roads, by using a 'back streets strategy' of cycling routes on quite residential streets, but uptake was low and the vast majority of cyclists refused to deviate from the more direct routes. Protests continued and on 4 June 1983 the Danish Cycling Federation, at a large bicycle demonstration, gave a "Cyclist Award" to Jens Kramer Mikkelsen in the form of a two metre long curb. Mikkelsen was the head of the traffic department and later Lord Mayor. The curb was placed on the bike lane on Amagerbrogade at the corner of Hollænderdybet. The gift was a symbol of the bicycle federations desire to have segregated bicycle facilities build on direct corridors, which happened to be along major streets, in order to make bicycle journeys competitive in time and effort. Politicians, although not very eager, gradually took up building cycle tracks on main roads and also began to develop its first coordinated strategies for increasing cycling in the municipality.〔 Since 1995, when the city started its monitoring system, cycling has constantly risen, reaching 41% by 2004〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bicycle Account 2004 )〕 and 50% by 2010 for residents living within the city of Copenhagen.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.kk.dk/sitecore/content/Subsites/CityOfCopenhagen/SubsiteFrontpage/LivingInCopenhagen/CityAndTraffic/~/media/439FAEB2B21F40D3A0C4B174941E72D3.ashx )〕 In the 18 municipalities that make up the Copenhagen metropolitan region (Hovedstadsområdet) an area of approximately and a population of 1,2 million, 21% of all trips were done on bicycle by 2011. During the same period, from the 1980s until today, the network of cycle tracks and paths within the city of Copenhagen has almost doubled in length reaching in 2010 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cycling in Copenhagen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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