Trondheim, with its 150,000 inhabitants, is located in the centre of Norway on the country’s west coast. It plays host to a large university numbering 25,000 students. As the country’s third largest city, it is a fishing, business and tourist port.

Trondheim is also in the heart of the diversified industrial area, with canneries (fish), paper mills, metallurgical and mechanical industries and shoe factories. A service centre linked to oil activities in the North Sea is also present.

Trondheim’s alternative policy on transport got off the ground in 1989, when the “Trondheim package” was approved. It presents an investment worth 43.2 million € in the development of alternative transport (public transport and cycling in particular), measures aiming at making traffic safer and preserving the environment. The measures mentioned in the “Trondheim package” are essentially financed by income generated from urban toll, introduced in 1991.

Cycle tracks were built along main roads, in residential areas, in leisure areas etc. Cycling bridges offered the possibility of building many shortcuts as opposed to car routes and conditions for cyclists could be improved. With the same objective in view, new signposts for cyclists were put up on main roads.

Today, the cycling network spans over 100 km of tracks. Free City-Bikes are available (400 bicycles and 52 parking areas with bicycle racks) and a City-Bike pay-system is being researched. In the longer term, the travel plan in force (1992-1995) intends to extend the total length of the cycling network to 220 km. The new main target will be commuters for whom it is feasible to go to their place of employment by bicycle. Drafting a structured parking plan for bicycles in the town centre will also be a priority.

In the context of its policy to develop bicycle travel, the Trondheim municipality installed a slope-lift system specifically intended for bicycles. It runs by an underground cable drawing a foot rest. As the mechanism is underground, there is no visual pollution.

An electronic card therefore sets the slope-lift in motion. During the first four years of operation, it was distributed free of charge. Since June 1997, it has been sold at 12 €. The slope-lift operates from 07:00 am to 11:00 pm seven days a week, and even in winter, thanks to a cable heating system. It is 125 m long and it can climb up gradients of up to 20%.

There are 4,500 slope-lift access-card holders. 145,000 cyclists used the slope-lifts without any recorded injuries.

A survey that was carried out in 1995 amongst 700 users, delivered the following results: 

In many people's minds, cycling remains the poor man's means of transport and does not offer a solution to car traffic problems. Moreover, the risk of this equipment being seen as a mere curiosity and not as a serious tool in developing the use of bicycles, is very real. The cost of this equipment is not higher than that of creating a cycle track of the same length (125 m).

City of Trondheim - Public Roads Administration
Erik J. Jølsgard (Head of Traffic Safety Division), tel. +47 73 96 91 04

//1998

case

Urban Policy > Transport and infrastructure > Roads and road transport

Cycle routes