Letters to the Editor: If Copenhagen can switch to cycling, why can’t L.A. do more?

To the editor: The city of Copenhagen, Denmark, where most road trips are done by bicycle, should be an inspiration to politicians and transportation planners in Los Angeles County.

I am under no delusion that bicycle commuting will replace cars as a significant percentage of daily commutes in the near future. But if just a “backbone” system of a few north-south and east-west paths or protected bike lanes can be built in the next decade, many cyclists would use them. Such a backbone system would prompt smaller cities and other jurisdictions to build connectors, creating a real network.

It would take some time, but it can be done at a cost much less than some of the other transportation projects now in the planning stage. Copenhagen might not be duplicated in car-centric Los Angeles, but it gives us a vision of a better transportation future.

Mike Sovich, Glendale

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To the editor: I’d love to see Los Angeles adopt a bicycling strategy like Copenhagen, but can we build a consensus about how we’re going to do it? What will it take?

I’d love to bicycle more, but I won’t until I see separate, protected lanes — and a lot of them.

Keith Malone, Montecito Heights

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To the editor: Two things stand out about Copenhagen.

First and most importantly, the city is flat and relatively small. Second, this article mentions some bikes stopped at a red light in Copenhagen — that would never happen in Los Angeles.

Bikes are heavily used in some flat areas of Los Angeles; visit the USC campus for an example.

Keith Price, Los Angeles