GREATER Manchester’s cyclists got a taste of Denmark’s bicycle-friendly life last week, when a pop-up, Copenhagen-style bike café arrived in Whitworth Park.

The Bike Life report will gather the views of residents in Greater Manchester about cycling

Baristas at the café on a tricycle, hosted by the charity Sustrans and Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM), gave away free coffees and Danish pastries to anyone who posed for photos and gave their views on cycling in the city.

Selected photos will be used in Greater Manchester’s first Bike Life report, which includes results of a biennial survey of attitudes to cycling. The method is based on the Copenhagen Bicycle Account, which helped to make Denmark’s capital one of the world’s most bike-friendly and ‘liveable’ cities in the world, with over a third of commuters riding a bike.

As part of research for the report Sustrans and TFGM are doing telephone interviews with 4000 residents across Greater Manchester about cycling in the city region to find out what would encourage more people to try two-wheeled travel. The results will be released in the Bike Life report in October and will help to identify barriers to cycling in Greater Manchester and inform future investment.

.Bike cafe in Whitworth Park

Rosslyn Colderley, North West Regional Director for Sustrans said: “The Danish capital of Copenhagen was recently voted as the happiest city in the world and it’s no coincidence that over a third of its residents feel safe enough to travel around by bicycle for everyday journeys. Greater Manchester has the potential to massively increase levels of healthy, active travel and create a cleaner, safer city, in which people choose to live because of a great quality of life.”

Helen Ramsden, Head of Active Travel and Travel Choices at Transport for Greater Manchester said: “The Bike Life report will gather the views of residents in Greater Manchester about cycling and will help us to shape our future cycle plans.

“The report is all part of our commitment to making cycling accessible for everyone which includes investing in cycle routes and cycling parking as well as working with schools, workplaces and communities to encourage people to give cycling a go.”

Copenhagen is widely acknowledged as one of the most liveable cities in the world. The city has produced a biennial Bicycle Account since 1996, which helped remove the barriers to cycling and significantly increased the number of people choosing the bike as a form of transport. As a result 36% of journeys to work, school, college and university are now made by bike.

Sustrans is collaborating with seven cities to create Bike Life reports on current attitudes and barriers to riding bicycles in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Greater Manchester and Newcastle. Bike Life is supported by The Freshfield Foundation.

For more information on Bike Life look up www.sustrans.org.uk/bikelife

The Copenhagen Bike Cafe is part of a series of events, activities and workshops throughout Greater Manchester in June to celebrate cycling. For more information about events as part of Bike Month look up http://www.loveyourbike.org