The implications of a car dependent society are becoming increasingly severe with
congestion, pollution, carbon emission and health issues being some of the derivative effects.
Thus, a sustainable transition of the transport system is necessary. In this thesis, we will
investigate the combination of bicycle and train as a sustainable alternative to automobile
commuting in the Capital Region of Denmark.
The research topic of the thesis is instigated in a collaboration with the Cycle Superhighway
Secretariat, which currently are facilitating a project about intermodal commute in the capital
region. We have taken a practice theory approach to examining the mobility patterns of biketrain
commuters to gain a deeper understanding of the policy interventions beneficial to
support the mode.
To do so, we have analyzed two different commuting questionnaires, held 14 semi-structured
interviews with bike-train users, done observational studies at nine stations and held five
expert interviews with both planners and researchers of the topic. Furthermore, we have
been on a research trip to The Netherlands to see how the mode is supported in other
contexts. This have resulted in a scientific article about the mobility practices of bike-train
commuters, a visual analysis of how stations can be improved to accommodate the bike-train
practice and finally an essay which discusses under which conditions the bike-train mode can
contribute to a sustainable transition of the transport system.
We have found that the bike-train users are by no means a uniform group, but a distinction
can be made in how far the users travel on the bicycle part of their intermodal commute. Here
different compositions of bike-train travel require different elements in the commuting
practice. We suggest that the first course of action to support the bike-train mode could be
upgrading select transit hubs to accommodate the user group and discuss how the mode in a
long term perspective can be established and become a viable alternative to the car in a
sustainable transition of the transport system.