MALMO-MAZING

A Sunday afternoon visit to Malmo, Sweden opened my eyes and blew my mind!

LOVE the triple accordion electric bus.

So Malmo. Let's talk about this city. It's just across from Copenhagen and accessible by train. It has a population of about 350,000 and is the second largest city in Sweden. It's cost of living is estimated to be about 30% less than Copenhagen. Sweden also has a lot of immigration and about 25% of the population is either foreign born or has a foreign background. This was immediately obvious as getting off the train in Malmo felt much, much more diverse than Copenhagen.

We took a train across the sound to Malmo. The trains are run by a private company.

I'm a sucker for good pavement markings for people walking.

Other immediate impressions of the city. There were wide ROWs and a very clear delineation of space for people walking, people biking and people driving. There were way more people getting around by scooter and transit instead of the swarms of bikes like you see in Copenhagen.

Notice the delineation of space. People walking, people doubled up on a scooter and people waiting for the bus.

This was clearly an older part of the bicycle network but still a lovely corridor connecting housing, schools, public spaces and shopping.

In addition to the clear delineation of space, there were amazing "secondary" facilities for people riding bikes that can make a world of difference such as great route signage and a bicycle station with an air compressor to fill tires.

This "bike station" was front and center and well used.

Bike wayfinding signage.

The bicycle facilities were great and I appreciated their attention to detail but really, the bus rapid transit took my breath away. Why? It was extremely popular. It had exceptionally short headways. It was clean. It was comfortable. It was easy. It had great signage and information. It was fast. It was electric.

So, so, so crowded on a triple electric accordion BRT.

The BRT had their own lanes but even on the "open" roadway lanes, I saw maybe 15 cars while taking this bus around town. Tons of people are moving in the city but it appears that very few people are moving in individual cars. And between the electric buses and few cars, the city felt very calm and quiet. It was heaven.

This is a major arterial near a freeway entrance and a BRT line. Notice the limited person in a mobility device and the information sign.

Just great real time information signs everywhere.

And the genius details. I recognize "tap to pay" isn't exactly new but this is my first time just tapping my credit card for my fare. It was SO INCREDIBLY EASY. I'm sold on this technology. No transit cards. No tickets. No change. Just your credit card and "boop" your fare is paid!

This was worth the trip for me.

I appreciate the priority for prams.

What's next is a bit mind blowing and hard for me to conceptualize in the US just from it's shear size and use. But man is it good.

Visit to the Malmo C "Bike & Ride"

Obviously an investment but one heck of a Bike & Ride. But if your comparison is a Park & Ride with all the bells and whistles, I'm sure this facility cost pennies to the dollar for housing the same number of cars.

Very clean. Very safe. Very secure.

This is maybe a 1/4 of the number of parking spots.

And I'd be remiss if I neglected to show another example of great public spaces. On our tour around town we stopped by the water (which was super accessible by transit) and enjoyed some evening sun and great summer energy. People need and want public space and the example in Malmo was quite enjoyable.

If I've learned anything on this trip, it's that Scandinavia sure loves docks.

Waterfront access for the people!

I experienced and learned so much in such a short amount of time. Sweden and Malmo has a lot of lessons for us. We headed back on a Sunday evening with zero train reservation and while I can't remember the train frequency, I'm sure it was probably every 10 minutes or so.

Clean, easy and accessible.