Yesterday morning I received an email from my father, attached with photos of some new bicycle parking facilities in the city of Malmö– the cycling capital of Sweden. Previously he has sent me pictures of typical, everyday cycling in Malmö, which I shared in a post. This time it’s pictures of new bike corrals in central Malmö.
One of the benefits my father points out is that not only does the on-street bicycle parking provide space for outdoor dining on the sidewalk but the outdoor seating is also further away from noisy cars and their exhaust than typical outdoor dining with curbside parking we are familiar with.
The red silhouette of a car demonstrates how space efficient the bicycle parking is and provides a slight buffer from the adjacent traffic. The corrals are popular and service many more customers than the automobile parking spaces they replaced. Of course, we are lucky enough to finally have similar bicycle parking facilities in LA area now, Long Beach has a handful of bike corrals and LA got its first bike corral in Highland Park (pictured below)
A look at Highland Park's bike corral, and its space efficiency
As a Malmö native and current Angeleno its great to see both cities further embrace bicycling as a mode of transportation. With cycling representing 30% mode share in Malmö, they must be doing something right and if Los Angeles implements similar facilities concurrently it gives reason to be optimistic for the future of cycling in LA. Naturally there is more to Malmö than bike parking, and I plan to share what the city has to offer when I visit in June to see my Swedish relatives there for the first time in several years. That’s right– Walk Eagle Rock is going to Malmö! The trip is primarily to see my family but if I snap a few photos of ways the city encourages walking and cycling while providing safe facilities I’ll be sure to post them here.
Right on! Malmö on a LA bicycle blog. I like it.
I welcome you to Malmö in June, maybe a coffee and I may show you some goodies from a bicycle perspective.
Me again!
Forget to tell the “story”. Where the cool bicycle stands are, cars parking was before. The bicycle stands were put there to show the space a car occupy in the city, a bit of a provocation according to the guy who took the descision. They will be replaced with “ordinary” stands and the “cool ones” will be moved to create even more bicycle parking where it is car parking today. Malmö is working hard to make it easier for cyclists and they are succeeding pretty well according to me.
Thanks for the background story!
I’m very pleased to see this! I’ve been to L.A. two times but only seen a handful of cyclist. I got some more info if you need about this racks. I’m working for the city of Malmö and are responsible for placing the racks onto the street.
Have a good one.
Olle,
Malmö
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