The streets of Copenhagen have been filled with bikes with blue tires. Recognizable for the Dutch bicycle brand Swapfiets. Five years ago, the brand made its entrance to Denmark. Now half a decade has passed, and they reached an amount of 29.257 rented bikes in total.
By: Hanna Urfjell Pedersen & Bente van Diepen
One step into the Swapfiets store in Copenhagen, and you are surrounded by the familiar blue wheels. This well-known Dutch vehicle is hard to miss throughout the city. Not unfamiliar to the Dutch civilians, where the bicycle brand Swapfiets originally comes from. This brand offers customers a way to rent a bike through a monthly subscription.
Swapfiets was founded in 2014 by three students from Delft. A few years later the brand expanded to several cities abroad and established in Denmark in the cities Copenhagen, Århus, Odense and Aalborg on 21 of august in 2018. Two years after launching the bike reached 14,500 subscriptions. Now five years later they have almost reached 30.000. This consisting their 4 bikes Original, Deluxe 7, Power 1, and Power 7.
This type of transportation is by no means limited to the Dutch population or the residents of the respective country with a Swapfiets store, in this case, Denmark. In 2020, it was revealed that nearly 40% of the customers were international. This international friendliness is evident as soon as you step into the store. There are signs with opening hours and explanations in English, and the staff primarily communicates in English with the customers in the store.
This story is for an audience in The Netherlands and could be published on https://www.noordhollandsdagblad.nl.