Bike Lift 'Trampe' Stimulates Cycling
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY 
on 01.29.07
Trondheim, a university town and also Norway’s third largest city, has more cycling traffic than all the other Norwegian cities. 90% of the 30,000 students use their bicycles as their main source of transportation. This fact is slightly surprising because the city’s geography is anything but flat. In an effort to promote cycling, the city has invested roughly NOK 20 million ($3.2 million) over the past 20 years to create a cohesive network of bicycle infrastructure in the city.
One of the most important - and unusual - infrastructure elements is the bicycle lift 'Trampe'. 'Trampe' works much like a ski lift except that it is integrated into the bike path. To use it one needs a key card which can be obtained from the nearby bicycle repair shop Sykkelbua (address: Øvre Bakklandet 35). At the bottom of the steep 130 meter long hill cyclists place their right foot on the lift and receive a push which transports them upwards at a comfortable speed of 2 meters per second. Since its introduction in 1993, 'Trampe' has assisted more than 220,000 cyclists.
City planners take note: according to a recent survey, 41 % of the lift users claim they're using the bicycle more often because of 'Trampe'. Increased bicycle use and other human powered transportation cuts down on CO2 emissions. Creating infrastructure that is bike friendly stimulates use and is one way towards sustainable urban transportation. ::Autoblog Green ::Rocketboom
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This is an ingenious idea. If more cities around the world would invest in infrastructure projects such as this, we could drastically reduce greenhouse gases released from motor vehicles. San Francisco comes to mind as a perfect candidate for this type of project. The price tag isn't that bad either, definintely in the affordability range of most modern cities who really want to make a difference!
I love this idea too, but it seems like it's an escallator... which uses energy all the time, whether or not some one is on it. Can someone clarify?
When I was in high school, one thing everyone noticed about the exchange students was "the smell." They didn't seem to shower as often as we Americans, and they smelled like it.
How does this relate? Well, people in the US seem obsessed with looking and smelling clean. Bicycling makes you hot and sweaty, even if you ride in the dead of winter.
Yes, you can shower when you get to work. (If there are showers at work. And that's a big 'if.') But when about when you've got to run to the pharmacy or to the market? People will look at you funny and scrunch up their noses at you. Kids will hold their noses. I know. I've seen it.
So the problem with bicycling, at least in the eastern US where summers mean 80% humidity or more, isn't so much the effort as it is the sweat.
It's why I bought a $2500 scooter instead of a $1000 bicycle.
There are videos of this, or something like it, in operation on YouTube. I like this idea a lot, but the one I saw a video of looked like it could only assist one cyclist at a time.
The illustration atthe top of the post makes it look like it could do many. But the card requirement makes me think I was right in thinking it can only do one at a time.
I've often thought something like a simple ski tow for cyclists would be useful in Montreal, where most of downtown is built around a hill and there are some very steep slopes from the lower town up the escarpment, hard to climb unless you're in top shape, and worse in winter when you have to contend with ice. I think it'd be a hit if there was a version that could handle a lot of bike traffic vs the one-bike-at-a-time version.
Montreal? In Toronto we have this escarpment in midtown that separates two essentially flat layers. I proposed something like this at Casa Loma years ago (actually, I proposed a furnicular railway like they have up the escarpment at Niagara Falls) So bicyclists could do the excarpment home without killing themselves and people thought I was crazy, but now that there is proof that it works I may well try again!
Hi everyone, being a bike commuter in Trondheim I can shed some light here. Trampe does not use electricity constantly; the motor starts when you insert your card and stops a few seconds after the last passenger has reached the top. Furthermore the lift can carry several cyclists at the same time, I'm not sure of the details on how, but I've seen it:). It works surprisingly well.
With Trampe my 20 min. commute is only downhill, except the 100 meter hill that follows the bike elevator..(obviously a second one would have been perfect)
Unfortunately Trampe is operative now in winter....
greetings from Trondheim
@ Lloyd:
Another place this would work well in Southern Ontario is Hamilton -- the run up the escarpment (mountain) between the two St. Joseph's Hospitals would provide a great link between downtown (low cost living / vibrancy of Locke and James) with the Mohawk College campus. Maybe Mayor Fred will see something like this (or the tram in Seattle) as a way to link the upper and lower cities - especially as Hamilton seems ready to implement a BRT along the McMaster->Eastgate run (Main&King streets).
We'll take it! Cyclists (who don't all smell and don't all ride hard enough to sweat - by choice) need all the fun/quirky infrastructure additions they can get. It helps those new to cycling feel more comfortable and it gives us some needed visibility.
The Filmed by Bike film festival highlights innovative infrastructure like this from around the word, Submissions are limited to 8 minutes or less. DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES MARCH 1, 2007. There's a lot of cool street improvements and a heavy dose of bike culture.
Submit your bike films today!
Cycling is for EXERCISE. I *want* to ride up the hill! I can think of about 5000 types of bicycle infrastructure that would be more useful than this ridiculous and expensive gimmick, which would only be the butt of jokes in north america and would do nothing to encourage cycling. (more bike racks on buses, for one... which takes care of the riding up the hill problem too).
And to the person in Toronto who couldn't ride up to Casa Loma.... OMG! Sorry, but you're a bit of a wimp.