Bike Butlers and other services

The City of Copenhagen has been on a 'charm offensive' since April 2010. The goal is to get more people to use the bike racks around the city's Metro stations, instead of leaning them up against everything else. Here's the simple trick. If you park your bicycle illegally, the City will move it over to the bike racks. Instead of finger-wagging, they will then oil your chain, pump your tires and leave a little note on your bicycle asking to kindly use the bike racks in the future. How brilliant is that? And the great thing is that the initiative has worked. "It's about getting people to stop parking their bicycles in areas that emergency service vehicles need to access if there is an incident at a Metro station", said Project Leader Poul Erik Kinimond, as his colleague Morten Schelbech oils a chain in the background. Twice a day they move bicycles at the city's largest Metro stations. "We're been called "Bicycle Butlers". People really like what we do". The City of Amsterdam is considering Bike Butlers in an innovative plan on a cycling parking garden called "The Low Lijn". This is a reception facility for cyclists who park under this garden where they find first a lounge, with services like lockers, make up mirrors, police post, toilets, ticket terminals.