Bike firms reject helmet rules aimed only at Copenhagen tourists

Bike rental companies and cycling advocates have rejected proposals for tourists in Copenhagen to wear specially coloured helmets, saying the measure would be stigmatising. The proposals will be discussed by politicians and industry representatives at Copenhagen City Hall, DR reports.

Copenhagen Lord Mayor Sisse Marie Welling of the Socialist People’s Party has suggested that tourists using electric bicycles could be required to wear helmets in a distinctive colour. Other proposals include requiring them to complete a form of cycling licence before using the city’s cycle paths.

Christian Bergmann Mølgaard, head of Nordic markets at Donkey Republic, said the helmet proposal would be difficult to implement. About 70 per cent of the company’s Copenhagen rentals are made by local residents, he said.

“How am I supposed to distinguish who should wear a helmet and who should not, and what colour it should be?” he said.

Mølgaard also described a helmet requirement aimed only at tourists as a branding mistake for Copenhagen as a cycling city. “I think many people would experience it as stigmatising if tourists had to wear helmets,” he said.

Kenneth Øhrberg Krag, director of the Danish Cyclists’ Federation, also opposed the idea.

“What about Swedes or people who live in Jutland and do not cycle every day? Should they also have to wear something? I think that is a really bad idea,” he said.

Both the federation and Donkey Republic nevertheless say action is needed. There are currently 13,000 shared electric bicycles from various companies and platform-based rental services in Copenhagen.

“There are far too many, and the municipality knows that too, but it does not have the legal power to regulate them,” Mølgaard said.

He supports giving municipalities more authority to decide how many rental bicycles may operate on their streets and pavements.

Krag said the number of electric bicycles in Copenhagen had “got out of hand”. Electric bicycles are heavy and accelerate quickly, he said, and may not be the right choice for tourists. He believes visitors should generally use an ordinary bicycle instead.

He also supports some form of instruction before tourists enter Copenhagen’s traffic, but not a formal cycling licence. A video introducing traffic laws and Danish cycling culture could be an alternative, he said.

Donkey Republic has already worked with the Danish Road Safety Council to give new users with foreign telephone numbers three cycling tips through its app. The advice covers keeping to the right and using an arm signal when stopping or turning.

Mølgaard said the tips should be mandatory for all rental providers. He also called for more safe places where inexperienced cyclists could practise before riding in the city.

Voi, which rents out bicycles and other vehicles, said it was open to considering separate training for visitors on Copenhagen’s cycling rules and norms. The company’s head of public policy, Øystein Rikheim Sundelin, said most of its users were Copenhagen residents and that it was positive when tourists chose shared bicycles instead of cars or taxis.