Aalborg experiments with bike sharing in rural areas

Can electric soft mobility propel the way forward in the countryside?

Danish society prides itself on being one of the most cycling-friendly and cycling-adapted ones in the world. However, that phenomenon still largely remains an urban affair, whereas the situation in the rural districts is a bit more complex, given the reduced availability of specialized infrastructure and the longer distances to be covered.

This is where a new experiment comes in with the aim to solve at least some of these challenges and to make cycling a more attractive option for rural folk in Denmark. Nine villages located in the Aalborg municipal territory will take part in an experiment for a rural bike-sharing service.

Two of these, Ajstrup and Tylstrup, are the first localities where the service trial is scheduled to start this week. These villages will have shared electric bikes available to their residents for a duration of eight months.

Via a website, it will be possible to rent electric city bikes, electric mountain bikes and electric cargo bikes for a day, a week or a whole two weeks at reasonable prices. The payment goes towards maintaining and servicing the bikes. 

In this way, users are kept completely free of maintenance and service, and only have to be responsible for charging the batteries while using the bikes and when returning them.

Stress-free mobility

Villages surrounding the city of Aalborg often serve as bedroom communities for people working in the city proper. That’s why, the traffic in the mornings and evenings can experience occasional and inconveniencing jams.

The current experiment is based on a previous shorter experiment, which took place in two other Aalborg rural localities – Vodskov and Frejlev. Residents of these villages, who participated in the projects, reported experiencing greater freedom plus reduced stress from avoiding traffic jams.

In fact, the impetus for the current trial comes from LAK (The Villages in Aalborg Municipality) association. After Ajstrup and Tylstrup, the bike-sharing service will go to Vaarst and Fjellerad, Nøvling and Nørholm as well as Kongerslev, Nørre Kongerslev and Komdrup to continue the experiment.