Biking in Malmö First Impressions

I was surprised by how different the biking infrastructure and experience was in Malmö. The vibe on the streets was significantly less busy then the Copenhagen streets but the infrastructure seemed comparatively underdeveloped in some parts. However, the pedestrian infrastructure was extremely developed and I noticed that, in the city center at least, people tended to park their bikes and traverse on foot even if bicycles were allowed in the area. One comparison I found interesting was the differing opinions between the intensity of drivers in Copenhagen vs Malmö. Cass found the Malmö drivers more intense and I found them tame compared to the Danish. I found people were generally more forgiving of small mistakes, such as stopping without putting your hand up, lingering in the crosswalk, or biking through a yellow. The bike lines are much more entangled than they are in Copenhagen, which is an aspect that I did not like.

The intersection we stopped at before our last stop, with two two-way bike lanes, a pedestrian lane, car lane, and a dual pedestrian and bicycle crosswalk seemed cluttered and difficult to use compared to Copenhagen. While I initially disliked the left turns in Copenhagen, I eventually got used to them and apreciated the uniformity in movement and how other bikers, cars, and pedestrians, were predictable in their movements. The intersection in Malmö forced pedestrians to cross over two roads of two-way bike traffic, with cyclists turning left or right in front of them. I had grown used to the single lane and direction bike lanes in Denmark and find them safer and easier to use in comparision. However, I did like how removed the bicycle lanes flet from the street in Malmö. I noticed many of them used a similar method to Eugene, placing parking in between the street and bicycle lanes, creating a buffer. I think a lot of difference I noticed, such as the intensity and amount of drivers (which I perceived as less then Copenhagen), are attributed to the decreased urbanism of Malmö. I believe that a lot of the infrastructure in Malmö is worth exploring in Eugene since they seem to have similar levels of population size and density, at least compared to Copenhagen. I am excited to explore Malmö infrastructure on my own today and further observe how people bike infrastructure.