Copenhagen Transport.

Metro.

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Front of train Photo - Copenhagen, Denmark

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The Copenhagen Metro is probably the smartest system I have seen anywhere. It was little surprise to me to learn that it had been voted best Metro in the World for 2008 and 2009. The system is new and still relatively small but expansion continues and as more stations open it will become one of the favourite ways for visitors to get around the wider city.The Metro trains are driverless but there is staff on the trains and platforms to help passengers. Their job is to assist, guide, provide information and inspect tickets. The Metro uses exactly the same tickets as the city buses and S-trains in the greater Copenhagen area. Tickets and ten-trip cards can be bought from the ticket vending ma...Read More

The Copenhagen Metro is probably the smartest system I have seen anywhere. It was little surprise to me to learn that it had been voted best Metro in the World for 2008 and 2009. The system is new and still relatively small but expansion continues and as more stations open it will become one of the favourite ways for visitors to get around the wider city.

The Metro trains are driverless but there is staff on the trains and platforms to help passengers. Their job is to assist, guide, provide information and inspect tickets. The Metro uses exactly the same tickets as the city buses and S-trains in the greater Copenhagen area. Tickets and ten-trip cards can be bought from the ticket vending machines located at the stations. Be warned! Ticket control can be performed during and on the stations after your trip has ended. If you are found to be travelling without a valid ticket, you are likely to be fined.

Current travel information is displayed on the trains and stations. This includes who long before the next train arrives, train destinations and stations it serves and any system delays. During morning and evening rush hour, trains arrive and depart every four minutes. This stretches to every six minutes during the midday period and between 6pm and midnight. From midnight to 5pm trains arrive every 15 or 20 minutes.

One of the best things to do is to ride in the front seats of the first carriage. There is a huge window in front of you so you can watch as the train negotiates the tunnels at great speed. We did this three times and each trip was as good as the other. I think the regular travellers thought we were mad!

In each Metro train, call points are located next to the doors. By pressing these call points you can get in touch directly with the Metro control room staff. All stations also have these points. There is a green button for information and a red button for emergencies.

The system has been designed to be used by people with disabilities. The trains have a step-less entry allowing users of wheelchairs to board unassisted. Bikes are allowed on the system except during rushhour but you need a bike-ticket to travel. There are parking facilities for bikes at all stations. Dogs are also allowed except near seats reserved for allergic passengers. Small dogs, placed in bags, travel free of charge while leashed dogs require a dog-ticket. Smoking is not permitted anywhere on the trains or stations.
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S-Train.

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The S-train network is basically a suburban rail network. It connects the city center with the suburbs of Copenhagen, and has close to half of the stations within the urban city. The first line was opened in 1934. Today the network forms the heart of the public transportation infrastructure in the city, serving around 360,000 passengers a day. It is entirely owned and run by DSB S-tog A?S. We found it an extremely efficient system and were impressed by the size, cleanliness and comfort of the trains.The system is complemented by the Copenhagen Metro and an extensive bus network. Although owned by different companies, the systems use interchangeable tickets. There is around 170 km of dual t...Read More

The S-train network is basically a suburban rail network. It connects the city center with the suburbs of Copenhagen, and has close to half of the stations within the urban city. The first line was opened in 1934. Today the network forms the heart of the public transportation infrastructure in the city, serving around 360,000 passengers a day. It is entirely owned and run by DSB S-tog A?S. We found it an extremely efficient system and were impressed by the size, cleanliness and comfort of the trains.

The system is complemented by the Copenhagen Metro and an extensive bus network. Although owned by different companies, the systems use interchangeable tickets. There is around 170 km of dual track and 85 S-train stations. At most of the end stations other types of trains are at hand for travel to the most remote areas of greater Copenhagen - or for travel across the Oresund to Malmo, Sweden.

In the city center, the trains run below ground level with one underground station. Outside the inner city it runs in the open, often on embankments. The S-train rail network consists of a central section that splits into three radial lines at each end, as the lines reach the outer regions of Copenhagen. The S-trains run on standard gauge railway tracks and are powered by overhead wires. The trains are 8-car articulated units.

The red S-trains will take you to, from and around Copenhagen and most of North Sealand from approximately 05:00 - 00:30 during weekdays. The trains begin to operate a little later in the morning during weekends. On Friday and Saturday the trains run once an hour during the night. In the city centre they run once every half hour. Every first Sunday of the month in 2010 you can ride the S-trains for free.

All public transport in Copenhagen, as well as the rest of the country, operates on a zone system. The smallest ticket is the two-zone ticket which costs 23 Kr for adults (11.50 Kr for children under the age of sixteen), and can be purchased from ticket offices, vending machines and bus drivers. Two children under the age of eleven can travel for free with one paying adult. It allows you to travel around Copenhagen in two zones (the zone where you stamped or purchased the ticket plus one adjacent zone) for one hour. You can switch freely between all trains, Metro, and buses within this hour, as long as your last trip starts before the time is up (your ticket will be time-stamped in fifteen minute intervals).

A three-zone ticket from the airport to the central city costs 34.5 Kr. The two big railway hubs are Central Station (Hovedbanegården/København H) with S-trains, intercity trains and buses, and Nørreport Station with S-trains, metro, regional trains and buses.
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Buses.

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At Central station Photo - Copenhagen, Denmark

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While many locals opt for bikes, Copenhagen does have a fairly extensive and efficient bus network. It can be troublesome, though, for visitors to figure out what line to take to their destination as there is little in the way of network maps available at bus stops and schedules rarely include the entire route. This is where our Copenhagen Cards came to the fore because we could just jump on and see if the bus was going in the general direction we wanted. If it turned, we jumped off and tried another bus.There are several types of bus available: regular buses are simply denoted by their number (eg. 10). A buses (eg. A2) are the backbone of the city's bus network which consists of six diffe...Read More

While many locals opt for bikes, Copenhagen does have a fairly extensive and efficient bus network. It can be troublesome, though, for visitors to figure out what line to take to their destination as there is little in the way of network maps available at bus stops and schedules rarely include the entire route. This is where our Copenhagen Cards came to the fore because we could just jump on and see if the bus was going in the general direction we wanted. If it turned, we jumped off and tried another bus.

There are several types of bus available: regular buses are simply denoted by their number (eg. 10). A buses (eg. A2) are the backbone of the city's bus network which consists of six different lines with frequent departures and stops. During the day time there are no schedules as buses depart every two to six minutes. Many stops do have a small electronic display showing how many minutes are left until the next bus arrives. S buses (eg. 300S) are long express services with few stops and extend far into the suburbs, usually across the radial suburban train network or along corridors with no rail service. They can also be useful between points in the centre as they are faster than other lines.

E buses (eg. 173E) are express rush-hour services of little use to visitors as they mainly service commuters. One exception is line 20E which runs between the central square Kongens Nytorv and the DFDS (Oslo/Szczecin ferries) and cruise terminals. N buses are a network of ten bus lines operating at night between 1AM-5AM daily, when normal traffic is halted, and they are much more frequent at weekends.

The only bus map that we saw in Copenhagen was the one in the Copenhagen Card booklet. This was a good map and showed how bus routes connected with the rail network but frankly if your stay in the city is only for a few days it is probably not worth your while to try to understand the system.

There is a variety of bus serving each route. Some are normal single buses, others are long articulated vehicles and there are also some double-decker units
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Bicycles.

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Bicycle lane Photo - Copenhagen, Denmark

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Some say the fastest and most flexible way of seeing Copenhagen is on a bike. Forty percent of Copenhageners use their bike everyday and the city has been designed to cater for cyclists with separate bicycle lanes on most larger roads. Cyclists are often allowed to ride both ways in one-way streets. If you are not used to biking in a busy city, be very careful in Copenhagen particularly in peak period as the locals ride fast and leave little room for leeway. Don't expect to get a warning when someone wants to overtake you. Always keep to the right and look behind you before you overtake someone — otherwise you could cause some nasty accidents.In the center of the city, you can get around b...Read More

Some say the fastest and most flexible way of seeing Copenhagen is on a bike. Forty percent of Copenhageners use their bike everyday and the city has been designed to cater for cyclists with separate bicycle lanes on most larger roads. Cyclists are often allowed to ride both ways in one-way streets. If you are not used to biking in a busy city, be very careful in Copenhagen particularly in peak period as the locals ride fast and leave little room for leeway. Don't expect to get a warning when someone wants to overtake you. Always keep to the right and look behind you before you overtake someone — otherwise you could cause some nasty accidents.

In the center of the city, you can get around by the free public city-bikes. These are specially painted by various sponsors and are very simple bikes that you can find on special stands near major places like the main train station, Tivoli Park, the port and numerous other racks throughout the central city. After you insert a 20 Kr coin, akin to the system used for some shopping or airport trolleys, you can take the bike anywhere you want as long as you stay in the inner part of the city marked on the map on the bike. If you are caught outside these borders, you could be faced with a fine (around 1,000 Kr). When you return the bike to some stand again (not necessarily the same one), you will get your money back.

A word of warning though! Don't take away city-bikes that you see somewhere that are not on a stand. There are high chances that somebody will soon return for it and by taking it away you not only deprive them of their transport, but also their money. You will be very unpopular if the user arise while you are getting ready to leave. During the winter you will not find (m)any bikes, as they are being repaired in the local prisons as part of community service.

As an alternative to the city bikes you can rent a bike and these are far more comfortable. You can find a little bike rental shop called CPH bike rental on a side-street to Nansensgade on Turesensgade 10, five minutes from Norreport station. They rent bikes on a daily basis and use the proceeds to finance the shipment of used bikes to Africa. They also arrange city tours and sell picnic baskets. Their prices start at 60 Kr for six hours bike rent. Another bicycle shop is at the Central Railroad Station, where prices start at 75 Kr a day/340 a week.
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CityCirkel bus.

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The city has recently introduced a new CityCirkel bus, specially geared towards tourists. It runs a circle around the inner city stopping at many of the main attractions. The small eco-friendly electric buses runs every seven minutes (M-F 9AM-8PM, Sa 10AM-4PM, Su 11AM-3PM) and can be hailed whenever one passes by if there are green dots on the curb. On streets with heavy traffic they also use regular bus stops. You use the same tickets as all other public buses and trains. The electric driven CityCirkel buses take you to some of Copenhagen's top attractions such as City Hall Square, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, the Tivoli, The National Museum, Christianborg Palace, Nyhavn and The Round T...Read More

The city has recently introduced a new CityCirkel bus, specially geared towards tourists. It runs a circle around the inner city stopping at many of the main attractions. The small eco-friendly electric buses runs every seven minutes (M-F 9AM-8PM, Sa 10AM-4PM, Su 11AM-3PM) and can be hailed whenever one passes by if there are green dots on the curb. On streets with heavy traffic they also use regular bus stops. You use the same tickets as all other public buses and trains.

The electric driven CityCirkel buses take you to some of Copenhagen's top attractions such as City Hall Square, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, the Tivoli, The National Museum, Christianborg Palace, Nyhavn and The Round Tower. The buses are shorter and narrower than ordinary buses, therefore, they can run in the narrow streets of the medieval city where the ordinary buses cannot. However, the CityCirkel buses still connect with other means of public transport at City Hall Square, Kongens Nytory, Copenhagen central train station, Nørreport and Vesterport stations as well as with the water buses.

The buses stop at the normal bus stops, wherever it is possible. But the CityCirkel buses also have their own bus stops, and in some places they can be hailed with a wave. A ticket costs 23 Kr. With time, the plan is to make the buses completely free of charge, but for now tickets can be purchased on board the bus. Remember to have coins ready. The CityCirkel runs on a circular trip which takes about an hour if you stay on board. Some visitors do the whole trip then decide where to alight on the second time around.

The small buses can hold 20 passengers, and have been specially designed to cruise the city centre streets of Copenhagen that are not serviced by the regular bus service. There are currently 11 of the yellow buses that run on electric batteries and produce virtually no noise. They are charged each night.

One further option is the CitySightseeing bus that runs three hop-on hop-off tours around the city in open-top double-decker buses. The main line leaves every 30 minutes, while the two other lines depart every hour in high season (Jun-Aug). Outside the peak season, services are halved. The price is 150 Kr for a one day ticket or 220 Kr for a two day ticket which also includes the DFDS canal tour boats.
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Copenhagen Card.

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While central Copenhagen is relatively small and quite walkable, most visitors will find that there is need to use some public transport. Over a four-day period, my wife and I used the train, Metro, bus and harbour buses. The great news is that with Copenhagen Cards, we travelled free each time. That not only saved cost but also time. There was no queuing for tickets and no deciding about how to pronounce the required destination. We discovered that the card covered an area way outside the city so we could visit regional attractions such as Elsinore, Hillerod and Rockilde. We had 72-hour cards and would thoroughly recommend them even at the cost of around $85.The card has several other att...Read More

While central Copenhagen is relatively small and quite walkable, most visitors will find that there is need to use some public transport. Over a four-day period, my wife and I used the train, Metro, bus and harbour buses. The great news is that with Copenhagen Cards, we travelled free each time. That not only saved cost but also time. There was no queuing for tickets and no deciding about how to pronounce the required destination. We discovered that the card covered an area way outside the city so we could visit regional attractions such as Elsinore, Hillerod and Rockilde. We had 72-hour cards and would thoroughly recommend them even at the cost of around $85.

The card has several other attractions however. More than 60 museums and attractions that normally charge an entry fee are free with the card. It also offers discounts on many other attractions, activities, restaurants, car rental and on Scandlines’ crossing between Demark and Sweden. It even provided free travel to and from Copenhagen airport.

Obviously, the value of the card to you depends on how many attractions you visit and how many transport tickets you avoid. On a rough count, we would have needed to buy about 12 transport tickets each at a cost of around $4-5 each. We also visited something like 10 museums and other attractions which normally charge up to $12 each. Then add about 4 discounted purchases and you see we got good value. But even if we had only broken even, the convenience was wonderful and was probably worth at least $25 to us.

A real bonus is the Guide that you get with the card. It is in Danish, English and German and it contains maps pinpointing where all the participants in the scheme are located, rail and bus route maps, and tour suggestions depending on your interests. Then there is a complete listing of all attractions, restaurant, shop, etc. that offers value to the card. Each has a detailed description so you can see if it is of interest to you. If you only visited things mentioned in this book, you would probably see and do every worthwhile thing in the Copenhagen region. If you wanted to check out everything it would take you much longer than 72 hours, however. The way the information is presented is excellent. There are many similar cards in cities around the world but the booklet with this card is probably the best and most comprehensive I have ever seen. Full marks to Wonderful Copenhagen for this.

There is also a 24-hour card available at 229 Dk or around $45 but you would really need to be very organised to make full use of that
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