The Ministry of Transport has named Odense Denmark's National Cycle City. It's a 4-year project with the primary goal of increasing the share of cyclists and the number of bicycle trips in Odense and continuously improving the safety for cyclists. The Ministry of Transport, the Road Directorate and Odense Municipality support the project.

The goal of the project is very ambitious, since Odense already has the country's highest share of cyclists and longest bicycle trips. Up through the 90s, Odense experienced a growth in bicycle trips of approximately 50 percent, and a simultaneous drop in accidents of approximately 20 percent.

There are still many problems that need to be solved, so Odense's cycling potential is still not fully exploited. There are many short trips where the bicycle could replace the car!

Therefore, we have to focus not only on continued expansion of the infrastructure, but also on issues like safety, fun experiences, rights, accessibility, service, maintenance and quality. Odense wants to be a lab and a model city for inspiration in Denmark as well as abroad.

More than 50 demonstration projects will be conducted between 1999 and 2002. These projects involve a combination of means, such as top priority to bicycles, campaigns etc.

The first trip of the day often determines the means of transportation the rest of the day. This made it important to put focus on parents and how they transport their kids.

Campaigns play a crucial part of the strategy of Odense Cycle City. Experiences in Odense clearly show that it is crucial continuously to accompany investments in physical improvements for cycle traffic with campaigns in order to promote, motivate and secure cycling. Furthermore, through campaigns it is possible to communicate with the inhabitants and promote bicycling as a liberating, fun and well function transportation form which creates social activities for the whole family.

Campaigns in Odense Cycle City are defined by a high degree of activity and self-participation of the members involved - the strategy is to engage the participants physically in order to "reach" them mentally. Thus, highly expensive written material only plays a minor role in the campaigns. Instead focus is placed on action, social experiences and person-to-person contact between campaign staff and participants.

A campaign in Odense Cycle City is always tested in a small scale the 1st year. The experiences and evaluation from this then make up for a campaign in full-scale the 2nd year. Campaigns are all held at very low costs thus close co-operation with private companies and sponsorships plays a crucial part. Odense Cycle City also puts great effort to seek an anchoring of the campaigns within the organisations/institutions involved.

Many of the campaigns are directed towards children and young people - the philosophy is that it is easier to establish good than to change bad traffic habits. These campaigns focus on transport to and from day care institutions or schools thereby also addressing the near family as well as the staff in the institutions. By addressing the secondary target group the hope is to create role models and good ambassadors for the children.

Campaigns for children rule out any finger wagging, instead the tone is focused on the many rewards like fun, experiences and freedom the bicycle gives - whether the children cycle alone or together with their parents.

The success of such campaigns depends on the participants' engagement and motivation therefore happenings, smaller gifts, rewards and competitions play a large part. The contact staff in the institutions or schools are especially gifted in order to engage their help.

Competitions during the campaigns can often be divided into two areas: group competition and individual competition. Group competition creates a positive pressure as well as a social feeling within the group and is especially effective in relation to full-scale campaigns. Individual competition often maintains the engagement during the campaign and focuses on creativity and mental hygiene of the individual.

During the last two years a large number of cycle trailers for transport of goods and children have circulated among 100 day care institutions (a total of approximately 6,000 children and their families). The trailers are placed free of charge at parents' and staffs' disposal within a 3 months period. During this period a number of events and competitions are put forward in order to maintain the motivation.

A full service is offered every 3rd month by a certified bicycle technician to optimise security. The cycle trailers are all sponsored and each year put out for public sale at reduced costs. The campaign that has been held at very low costs has been very successful and effective and is now adopted by a large number of other municipalities in Denmark.

Free Wheeling - a campaign directed towards students in 6th/7th grade and their families - is based on a large group competition combined with many smaller individual competitions. These competitions are accompanied with educational material plus a large number of smaller activities and happenings.

In the group competition the students are all equipped with a cycle computer on their bike. Each class then competes with one another. Bicycles are offered to students with no bikes and full service is offered during the competition to secure safety. Most of the material, gifts and equipment are sponsored.

The campaign has been launched as a test campaign this spring, i.e. 1 school has participated in order to collect valuable information for next year. The campaign has been very promising and half of the community's 35 schools have already signed up for next year.

Cyclists have bike paths - in some places. Otherwise the traffic areas are primarily made for motorized traffic. This is unfair and unequal. Bikes already make up a large share of the traffic, and bikes are 100 percent eco-friendly and - perhaps most important - they are a healthy means of transportation.

All technology in the road system applies to cars, for instance traffic lights at intersections, parking search systems, and directions. In Odense, we actively question and debate this unequal prioritization, and as the first city in the world, we have introduced a special green wave for cyclists between two intersections controlled by traffic lights.

In addition, we have reversed the priority in places where cyclists cross roads with light traffic. That means that cars have to stop for cyclists. This way, we get rid of the old fashioned idea that cars have top priority everywhere.

Good quality means higher status. We believe that by always choosing the highest quality in all solutions for cyclists, we can persuade a lot more people to start cycling.

Odense has established more than 2000 new bicycle parking spaces over the past two years. Each solution stresses beauty, aesthetics, and particularly design and functionality.

At Odense Central Station, we have opened a new underground parking lot for bikes, featuring video surveillance, music, special locking arrangements, water fountain, baggage lockers and showcases for bicycle equipment. This parking lot expresses a standard that even the finest car parking lots can hardly live up to.

In connection with the parking lot, a company has opened Denmark's most spectacular bike store with quality bikes and equipment, bike rental and repair shop.

The town hall square hosts an annual bicycle festival, and there is no admission for low quality bikes - in other words, no bikes under 400 Euro.

Quality also extends to the upkeep of all bicycle paths in Odense. This means that tasks like putting down even surfaces, keeping the paths free from dirt, garbage, broken glass and so on, and snow clearing are carried out at the same high level as on the largest roads in the municipality.

The municipal road inspectors must inspect all bike paths regularly - on bike, of course. We have also formed a special "bicycle-reporting-group" who ride around with digital cameras and mobile phones, observe and report information to the municipal service departments so that all problems can be fixed immediately.