STOCKHOLM — There is really nothing enjoyable about hopping on a bike in the dead of winter just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle.
But that’s what Mattias Johansson, 42, does pretty much every day of the week as a participant in a winter biking project in the Swedish city of Luleå. Even when it’s minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
“You get cold, you get stiff but then I guess you get some kind of good feeling afterwards that keeps you doing it again and again,” he explains.
Johansson is one of 13 participants in the municipality’s winter biking project that examines all aspects of encouraging year-round biking. Similar projects are underway in many parts of Sweden and its Scandinavian neighbors of Norway and Finland, where the governments are pumping in millions to encourage people to bike more.
For biking in the winter, Johansson says he opted for an electric cargo bike, a three-wheel bike with a large bucket for storage in front, which costs between $2,000 and $5,000. But with Sweden’s newly implemented electric bike premium, Swedes can receive up to a 25 percent discount — up to $1,200 — when buying an electric bike.
Since applications opened on Feb. 1, some 10,000 people have applied. The idea is that electric bikes might inspire more people to use bikes as transportation rather than for exercise or as a hobby.
With a paralyzed leg, Johansson says he wanted the stability a cargo bike offers in case the roads got icy, but the bike is also great for giving his children, ages 6 and 9, a ride to school and for picking up groceries on the way home.
“They love going in that box, in summer my daughter bikes on her own bike but she really likes this,” he says.
Temperatures well below freezing and huge piles of snow plowed over bike paths would normally have made cycling to work impossible in many parts of Sweden. But in order to reach the government’s ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2045, Swedes need to drive less and bike more, even when it is cold.
To encourage this, the Swedish government is putting money into projects on improving bike-friendly infrastructure. The government has allocated $24 million in 2017 and this year to promote a national biking initiative. Another $60 million is being spent this year on sustainable transportation and inner-city infrastructure. Additionally, more than $120 million has been set aside for the electric bike premiums program.
To reach equally ambitious climate goals the Norwegians and Finns also are trying to get people to bike more.
In Norway, the estimated cost to reach the goal of a zero increase in car traffic is $7.6 billion between 2018 and 2029. It’s unclear how much of that will go directly to biking initiatives. About $9.7 million will be spent this year at the municipal level to increase walking and biking.
In Finland, the budget is yet to be approved but the government is suggesting a similar premium program for electric bikes, at 3 million euros, or about $3.7 million. The Finnish government also is considering how to increase biking through infrastructure investments. No cost estimates have been calculated.
And the benefits, if they succeed, are potentially great. In Sweden, for example, one government report notes that people who walk or bike at least 30 minutes a day are found to measurably reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
“It is for public health and the environment mainly, but it would also free up space in the cities and we can use that space for better things than roads and car parking,” says Matti Koistinen, head of the Finnish Cyclists’ Federation.
An estimated 12 percent of all trips in Sweden, 4.5 percent in Norway and 8 percent in Finland are done by bike, according to figures from government studies conducted in 2014-15. All three countries survey the travel habits of their citizens every four years.
A recent spike in bike sales and preliminary figures from measuring stations along popular commuter routes in Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki suggest increased investments in cycling infrastructure such as parking spaces has happened in all three countries since the last survey.
“I would say the change has come in the past two or so years,” says Morgan Andersson, head of the Norwegian Cyclists’ Association.
Unlike Denmark, where 26 percent of all trips are done by bike, Sweden, Norway and Finland share similar challenges. Denmark is comparatively flat and the climate is milder. For the northern Scandinavian countries, long distances and lack of infrastructure make it harder to choose the bike. Snow and cold weather are also a main reason why many people only bike part of the year.
“That is why our priority this year is to clear the bike paths first, which has been quite a challenge, since we have had more snow so far than we normally get in the whole season,” says Helena Lindvall, head of the winter biking project in Luleå.
In addition to snow clearing, projects across the region are examining other ways to encourage sustainable traveling. In a recent Finnish study, 25 percent of respondents said lack of infrastructure was a problem, 21 percent pointed to poor maintenance and 13 percent cited the ability to haul more cargo and passengers as priorities.
“We don’t just want to create the right environment, we also look at how we can change people’s attitudes,” Lindvall says.
Changing attitudes will have spillover effects. A greater use of larger cargo bikes, for example, will create a need for parking spaces. Workplaces will need to be viewed as biker-friendly, such as offering access to showers at work.
Another issue is overall road safety, says Morgan Andersson. Much of the biking infrastructure in both Swedish and Norwegian cities is tied to car traffic, with a thin white line being the only thing separating cyclists from drivers.
“If they want people to bike more, people have to feel safe,” Andersson says. “Not feeling safe on the roads is a big reason why people don’t bike.”
In Norway, he says, the government has announced ambitious goals of a zero increase in car traffic — walking, biking and public transport would cover increased public transportation — but has so far been unwilling to make the investments required to promote cycling.
More effective investments have been done on local levels. The city of Oslo recently offered an electric bike premium similar to the Swedish premium that was so popular it ran out of money within a few months. In Finland, a national electric bike premium, like the one in Sweden, is likely to be approved his year, says Matti Koistinen.
It is still uncertain if these efforts will have the desired effect. Last year was another record year for car sales in both Sweden and Norway, while Finland saw a slight bump in new car registration.
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However, Norway can boast that 20.9 percent of all cars bought in 2017 were fully electric and more than 50 percent were either electric or hybrid models, according to official statistics.
But as Helena Lindvall points out “to change people’s attitudes, to change the norm from driving to biking, takes a long time.”
Johansson says he is unsure he will keep up the winter biking.
“I probably won’t bike frequently in the winter. But definitely in the summer.”
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Scandinavian Governments Push Efforts to Increase Biking originally appeared on usnews.com
