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TRANSPORT

Swedes ‘dependent’ on their cars: study

50 percent of Swedes drive their cars every day, according to a survey conducted by auto group BIL Sweden and Sweden's National Automotive Association (Motorbranschens Riksförbund - MRF) published on Friday.

Swedes 'dependent' on their cars: study

More than half of Swedes consider themselves “completely or fairly dependent” on their car, according to the study.

“The survey confirms our image that cars solve many people’s daily struggle for time, particularly for families with children,” Jessica Alenius, deputy CEO of BIL Sweden, said in a statement.

However, this goes against a report published in 2010 by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturskyddsföreningen), which claimed that half of all car trips in Sweden are shorter than five kilometers.

“In cities the quick trips are even more frequent. And even shorter,” wrote the agency.

Short car journeys of this sort are especially targeted as “unnecessary” in the Swedish Road Administration’s (Vägverket) report “Sustainable Travel” (Hållbart resande), which points out that these are the most easily replaced by alternative modes of travel: walking, cycling, car-pooling or using public transport.

The survey conducted by BIL Sweden also showed that Swedish women’s car ownership is on the rise.

“Public debate generally makes it sound as if men drive more, while women use more public transport, which is incorrect. Today, cars are the number one form of transport for both women and men,” said Alenius.

Although more women may be purchasing cars than previously, other statistics show that the vast majority of all car trips in Sweden continue to be made by men.

A recent study in Malmö showed that if men began using the same means of transport as women for trips of five kilometers or less, car journeys would decrease by 19 percent, bus trips increase by 26 percent, and trips made on foot increase by 12 percent.

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TRANSPORT

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

Lines M3 and M4 of the Copenhagen Metro are back in service having reopened on Sunday, one day ahead of schedule.

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

The two lines had been closed so that the Metro can run test operations before opening five new stations on the M4 line this summer.

The tests, which began on February 10th, are now done and the lines were running again as of Sunday evening, a day ahead of the original planned reopening on Monday February 26th.

“We are very pleased to be able to welcome our passengers on to our two lines M3 and M4,” head of operations with the Metro Søren Boysen said.

“The whole test procedure exceeded all expectations and went faster than expected and we can therefore get a head start on our reopening now,” he said.

Time set aside for potential repeat tests was not needed in the event, allowing the test closures to be completed ahead of time.

“Several of our many tests went better than expected and we have therefore not used all the time we needed for extra tests,” Boysen said.

The two lines serve around one million passengers every week, according to the Metro company.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen city government greenlights extension to Metro line

The new stops on the M4 line will be located south of central Copenhagen in the Valby and Sydhavn areas. The will have the names Haveholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and København Syd (Copenhagen South).

The M3 and M4 lines, the newer sections of the Metro, opened in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

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