UTOPIA WORK PACKAGE 5.1 REPORT
Evaluating Demonstration Projects > Project 8

The Bicycle lift and free city bikes in Trondheim, Norway

Trondheim (140.000) in Norway has the kind of hills, which loom large on the psychological horizon of the average cyclist.

While the local authority was building an extensive network of cycle paths, the planners in Trondheim felt that some help was needed for getting commuting cyclists up a few particularly steep hills lying between the suburbs and the city centre.

Design Management AS developed a bicycle lift – an equivalent of a ski lift - and a prototype was installed in 1993. It involves an electrically operated underground cableway in a housing, which forms a normal pavement curb up the hill. Footplates are anchored to the cable at intervals of 25 m. They are concealed within the housing, emerging only when you insert a key card in the control panel. Put a foot on the slanted footplate and you are gently pushed up the hill at a speed of 6 km/h.

The prototype is 130 m long, has a 1:5 gradient, and carries 300 cyclists per hour.

The Bicycle Lift demonstration project was initiated by a partnership between the inventor, local industry, the Municipality of Trondheim and the local Public Roads Administration.

The main objective of the project was to test an innovative new technique for assisting cyclists up steep hills and, thus, to encourage the use of bicycles in the city.

Initially there was a lot of scepticism among the general public, politicians and the media which, over the 6 years, has changed to enthusiasm. Without claiming that this is solely a result of the Bicycle Lift, the last year’s growth in cycling has probably been higher in Trondheim than in any other Norwegian city. The lift alone is pushing 30,000 cyclists uphill every season (six months).

During six years of operation there have been no accidents or injuries on the lift. In the area close to the Bicycle Lift, cycling has increased by 150 % since 1993. A users survey tells us that 50 % of the Bicycle Lift users are students, and 20 % of the users commute more by bicycle due to the lift. 72 % of the users want more lifts to be installed in Trondheim. 96 % are willing to pay for bicycle lift trips. It is expected that a yearly subscription fee of 25 ECU, covering 3000 subscribers, would cover both the operating and the investment costs of a new 250 m Bicycle Lift planned on another steep hill in Trondheim.

The Bicycle Lift offers entertainment as well as sustainable transport, and has turned out to be a big tourist attraction in Trondheim.