The Next Great Cycling City

Oslo is a city that is changing quickly. After electing a left-wing majority government in 2015, the city has implemented a number of sweeping changes to make their streets safer and to increase cycling numbers. It's still very much a work in progress, with new street design guidelines there's a lot of good progress in the right direction.

Will Oslo become the next great cycling city?

NJB Live (my live-streaming channel): @njblive

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References & Further Reading

Street Design Manual for Oslo

This video contains content licensed from Getty Images

[NotJustBikes]

It was great visiting Oslo, and it was incredible to see how much it had changed in the 5 years since I was last there. I had to be selective in what I showed and the video was still 20 minutes long!

Lots of great stuff is happening there and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 5 years

[luminescentlion]

Public transportation being too good for bikes is such an amazing problem to have.

[GoodStreeets]

"Bicycles aren't cars so they don't need roundabouts, signs, or traffic lights" Some UK Councils would get into a serious fight with you over that one

[tubz]

I love how "car centric by European standards" looks like the most walkable new urbanist places in America

[Foxor]

As a citizen of Oslo the bike infrastructure went from completely non existing to what you see today in 15 years. So in that sense it is pretty good. In the summer months you will on average see about a ten fold of cyclist. The majority of office buildings have accommodations for bike parking and also installed wardrobes and showers for people that want to use their commute as a workout.

[KannikCat]

One (remarkable to this north american) thing I noticed visiting the Nordic countries was that even if you just looked like you wanted to cross the street, every driver stopped to let you pass. And not just at a crosswalks -- right in the middle of a street. I even ended up crossing the street twice when I didn't need/want to, because I felt so compelled/embarrassed once everybody stopped! :P When you have a culture (and thus a driving culture) that is actually cognizant and conscientious of others around them, it must be so much nicer to be a cyclist, and I'd guess you'd need "less" infrastructure for the non-major-thoroughfare areas than in other countries as the danger from drivers would be less. (Not to say this is a reason _not_ to build any infrastructure, but priority and type can take this into account.) To be able to cycle on a side street and not need to be hyper vigilant to errant and aggressive drivers must be delightful. I only walked/transit when I visited, but next time maybe I should hop on a bikeshare. Thank you for this dive into Oslo's cycling!

[bababababababa]

Fun fact: Houston is almost 7 times larger than Oslo, yet Oslo has five metro lines, 6 tram lines, dozens of regional rail lines and a station that has almost 20 platforms.

What does Houston have? 😂

[peddfast]

Just to add, having grown up in this city, seeing where we started out to where we are now is a BIG difference. ALOT has happened in the just the last 5 years, and I think this video captures what a city in transition looks like.

[mathiaskilstihals]

Thank you for coming here and making this video! As a bicycle planner working in Oslo I can thankfully say «we’re working on it!» to most of the things you point out, like continous sidewalks and bikepaths. It hasn’t been included in our street design manuals yet and because it hasn’t really been considered before, other organizations are sceptical like you mention. Hopefully it will be included in our next update of the manual. We also work with building pilot projects with them right now.

That sign isn’t inside bike parking though, that is just our obsession with signage. It has a regulatory effect (makes it possible for us to ticket motorbikes that park in the bike parking in the front of the sign).

[SNeaker]

I went to Oslo in 2013 and I've never seen a city more under construction. There seemed to be more cranes than people. Now I feel like I have to go back to see the results of it all plus all this great new urbanism. (Though it was already a nice city and as you said, extremely walkable.)

[bearcubdaycare]

Oslo was a lovely city to walk around a decade and a half ago, even halfway across the city, when I lived and worked there a couple of months. It's nice that they're building on that.

[Josh-]

"... public transit here is TOO GOOD."
Just stick another dagger into my heart, please.
Signed,
Suburbia Resident

[languist]

I'm Norwegian, and I'm so delighted to see that Jason has made an urban planning video about Oslo! <3
Oslo has such great potential, despite the fact that Norwegians love to make fun of Oslo for how ugly it is.

[Homer-OJ-Simpson]

I appreciate how you point out some issues of Oslo's bike paths but also take into consideration that progress is progress and Olso has a long term plan. We can't expect a city to go from 0 to 100 in a short period. As the video pointed out, most roads need a complete rebuilt every 15-20 years so if you have a long term plan now, every year that a specific road hits that 15-20 year threshold is an opportunity to add good bike paths at no extra costs.

[davidcichowski]

I have an Oslo trip planned this summer and now even more excited to visit after watching this. Would like to invite you to explore the impressive nationwide bicycle infrastructure of South Korea. I just finished traversing the entire country riding from Incheon to Busan. South Korea is incredibly bicycle friendly even outside the urban areas. They boast a staggering amount of bicycle tunnels scattered throughout their rugged mountainous terrain. Unfortunately, South Korea is still very car dependent compared to most European cities however.

[JoshuaFagan]

The video only mentioned it briefly, but I adore the metro and tram system in Oslo. The metro is efficient, quite elegant, and much more comprehensive than one would expect in a city that is not really that large, and the tram system is vibrant, sprawling, and beautiful, especially in the summertime, as the trams glide along the lush grassy tram tracks, and I feel like I'm in an eco-futurist paradise.

[kekchanbiggestfan]

I think you’re right about the transit being so good that people don’t bike a lot. I figured I had to buy a bike when I moved to Oslo, but I never got around to it because walking everywhere was just fine with the metro and trams. A few months after moving, my health app told me my monthly exercise minutes had more than doubled even though I had never made a conscious decision to exercise more.

[transnaturalperspectivespo]

I’m a bicycle tour guide in Oslo and use the bike to get everywhere! Very much appreciate this video for your in-depth look on our infrastructure! Transition is the keyword! You pointed out some key places I also wish we had more stands for locking bikes and the questionable raised sidewalk with car level bike path is on my main commute and something i think about daily 😹 well done!

[XinHun]

I'm originally from the Netherlands and moved to Stockholm almost two years ago. True to my Dutch roots I cycle basically everywhere, and have seen a lot of similar things that you described about Oslo happen / exist in Stockholm. Truth be told, I don't know what the plans are for future cycle infrastructure development here, but I'd love to see you make a video like this about Stockholm in the future! Great video, I always look forward to seeing a new one pop up in my feed!

[swagcat]

Great video! Also, as a Lithuanian, I'd find it very interesting if you made a video like this about our capital Vilnius. It's made a huge effort in recent years to go from a very car centric city to something more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. There's plenty more work to be done but its definitely going in the right direction :D