Park the car and pedal

More from the City of Cyclists. Go to the link detailing Copenhagen's love affair with cycling and down load the great short film directed by my friend Michael Thomas.

Park it and pedal

A new concept uses rent-a-cycles to solve city commuters' parking problems
A car park firm has come up with an answer to Copenhagen's inner city parking problems, using the nation's cycling tradition as the solution's vehicle.
ParkCity, owner of Denmark's largest car park, has developed a concept called Park & Pedal, which hopes to put the city's less-congested car parks to good use.
'The concept is that drivers can park their cars in our lot at Israels Place, and then have a bicycle there reserved for them for an extra 100 per month,' said Frank Nielsen, ParkCity's manager.
Park & Pedal allows the customer to keep the cycle as long as he or she likes, and they can return it when picking up their car again.
Nielsen said that there are many open parking spots at the underground lots, but that some lie too far away from a person's workplace.
'If you park the car and still have a ways to go to work, you can just as well bike instead of walking or being a victim of the Metro's repeated delays. Bicycles are and will be the quickest, most flexible and, not least, most environmentally friendly means of transport in a big city like Copenhagen,' said Nielsen.
The new concept is only a week old, but is already becoming popular.
'For me it's the perfect solution,' said ParkCity customer Michael Lagoni. 'I live 40 to 50 kilometres away, and it nicely fits my needs that I can cycle the last bit from the car park to work.'
The Copenhagen Post