Malmö
Sweden’s third-largest city rides like the best. Malmö has spent the past 25 years building a coherent, dense bicycle network that makes everyday trips feel simple, safe, and fast. Cycling is now central to daily life and still growing, with modal share reaching 27% in 2024.
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Malmö’s cycling network is coherent and dense, offering a high share of fully separated tracks and an estimated 49 km of protected bicycle infrastructure per 100 km of roadway. Inspired by neighboring Copenhagen, attention is paid to micro-design, rendering the network legible and accessible. Steady public investment has delivered underpasses and bridges that stitch together the formerly industrial landscape, while commitment to the “Bicycle Plan” continues closing gaps and upgrading existing connections. In partnership with the region, Malmö is building a cycle-highway that ties outer districts to the city-centre and connects to surrounding cities to support daily commuting. The current efforts to complete missing links, improve existing ones, and develop new long-distance routes will undoubtedly grow usage in the years ahead.
Looking beyond infrastructure, Malmö excels at the details that make biking effortless, providing cyclists with abundant parking areas (about 66 spaces per 1,000 residents), public air pumps, legible signage, and footrests at signals. Bike-to-rail trips are facilitated by the standout parking facilities at train stations: safe, and convenient for commuters, these offer roughly 5,000 spaces across the three stations. The city is reclaiming car space for playgrounds and school streets, increasing the city’s accessibility across all ages and abilities. Finally, a notable indicator of Malmö’s bicycle friendliness is the widespread use of cargo bikes by families and businesses; new developers are encouraged to include bike pools with cargo options, and cargo-bike logistics is embedded in delivery systems.
“ Malmö remains a city where it’s pleasant and convenient to ride a bicycle. ”
Cycling network : still some missing links / connections, keep on developing the cycling infrastructure, especially in the city outskirts. For equity, ensure all districts away from the city benefit from the infrastructure.
Creating an educational program to teach cycling to children could be developed.
In order to build on their strong foundations, Malmö must now close up the remaining gaps, with special attention given to the city’s outskirts. This will ensure that every neighborhood can enjoy the same protected infrastructures. Pairing the strong network with a city-wide learn-to-ride program in schools will create a new generation of confident and safe cyclists, all while ensuring every family will see cycling as an easy, everyday option.
