three new stops for the harbour ferry

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Until the end of last month, Havnebuser - the harbour buses or harbour ferries in Copenhagen - have run from Refshaleøen, at the north end of the harbour, to Teglholmen in the south harbour with eight ferry stops. *

Now, there are two new stops in the south harbour and in April the service will be extended north with the ferries sailing on from Refshaleøen to Nordhavn and a new ferry stop at Orientkaj.

Islands Brygge, on the Amager or east side of the harbour, about 600 metres south of the bridge at Fisketorvet, and Enghave Brygge on the west or city side of the harbour, came into operation on 27 February.

These will serve new areas of housing, on both sides of the harbour, close to HC Ørestedværket - the power station, constructed in the 1930s, that is now an important and iconic historic building in the south harbour.

These new stops are almost opposite each other, so they also provide an important cross-harbour link for pedestrians and cyclists. The Enghave Brygge ferry stop will be less than 200 metres from a new metro station that will open in 2024 and Islands Brygge Syd is just 300 metres from the edge of Amager Fælled so there will be an important link from the city side to the large and popular open area of park.

In April, when the harbour ferry service is extended on from Refshaleøen to Nordhavn and a new ferry terminal at Orientkaj, the journey time from Nyhavn to Orientkaj will take 39 minutes.

Movia, the operating company, have added two new electric-powered ferries to their current fleet of five. The electric ferries came into service in 2019 and each can carry 80 passengers and with space on the front deck for eight bikes and four wheelchairs or prams.

These ferries provide an important and successful service for commuters but there is a growing problem with overcrowding because they are now also a popular water bus for tourists.

For safety, the number of passengers on each ferry is strictly controlled - at busy times people are counted on and counted off - so it is frustrating if you wait for a ferry but do not manage to get on because not enough passengers have disembarked. The ferries now run every 30 minutes so more ferries at peak times might help but differential pricing with preferential rates for commuters has to be considered.

the metro, the bus and the ferry January 2019
new ferries for the harbour May 2020

press release on the new stops from movia

the ferry stop at Nyhavn and the new apartments on Papirøen

 
 

* a ferry stop at Holmen Nord - north of Operaen and just south of Nyholm - was closed when it was found that the new electric ferries could not manoeuvre safely around the large number of hire boats in the tight space at the bridge where Danneskjold Samsøes Allé crosses over the channel between Tømmergraven - the inner area of water - and Flådens Leje and the main harbour

new electric buses in Copenhagen

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one of the new electric buses on its route out to Refshaleøen in front of Christiansborg - The Danish parliament

 

On Sunday 8 December, following a trial period of two years with electric buses on the 3A cross-city route, 48 new electric buses were rolled out on the routes of the 2A bus between Tingbjerg and Refshaleøen and the 18 bus that runs between Legravsparken, to Ørestad Station and on out to Emdrup Torv.

Buses on the 2A route are from the Dutch manufacturer VDL with nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries that weigh 3 tonnes. Charging is generally at the end stations at Tingbjerg and Refshaleøen and for 6 hours at night in the garage.

The buses on route 18 were made in China by BYD and have lithium iron-phosphate batteries that are charged only at the garage which takes three-and-a-half hours.

These electric buses are three to four times as energy efficient as diesel buses and are much quieter particularly when they pull away from any stop.

It has been calculated that 11 million annual passenger journeys are made on these two routes and the electronic buses will reduce CO2 emissions in the city by 4,300 tonnes annually.

In Copenhagen, politicians have decided that all diesel buses will be replaced with green electric buses by 2025.

Movia

 

the maps of the two bus routes from Movia are highly stylised but they emphasise the important intersections of bus routes or the interchanges at stations for the Metro and suburban train services for a joined-up public transport system

the metro, the bus and the harbour ferry in Copenhagen

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With the start of a new year this is clearly a time for new plans and new schemes in the city. On the 24th January, the government launched a reorganisation of public transport in Copenhagen.

Metroselskabet - the company who now control the city Metro - will be combined with Movia who run city bus services and the Havnebuser or harbour ferry service.

The new overarching organisation is to be called Hovestadens Offentlige Transport / Metropolitan Public Transport or HOT for short and will cover the provision of transport across 34 municipalities.

Will HOT replace or at least change the responsibilities of DOT - Din Offentlige Transport / Your Public Transport that was set up in 2014? This was formed by DSB - the operators of regional trains - with Movia and Metroselskabet in order to coordinate strategy and to provide a single access point for passengers who need information about ticketing and times and so on across the system.

The reorganisation appears to be a sensible attempt to coordinate transport across the city and certainly at a sensible time … so before the completion and the opening of the new inner ring of the metro. Metroselskabet was set up by the city and by the port authority and has been organised primarily for the construction work and for the completion and opening of the metro system and not for the ongoing running of the metro system.

However, there has already been criticism - not least from Movia.

Current transport is organised across the region - so across Sjæland - and includes the suburban rail system but at this stage, as far as I can see, the S trains will not be included in the remit of the new body. Some have also been critical because this does not include any new money so seems to be simply about co-ordination and synchronisation and does not tackle capacity or improvements as such with no provision for additional equipment. This is important because the current metro line is running at almost full capacity … good in terms of the economics but not so good for passenger comfort.

To be fair, it may well be better to make further decisions after the new metro line opens this summer because the new line is bound to establish very different travel patterns for people in the city … at the very least it creates important new interchange points for swapping between one mode of transport and another and in the months after the opening will certainly reveal new congestion points in the system.

Metroselskabet
Movia
DOT

note:

Back in June, Movia announced that new harbour ferries will go into service in January 2020. These will be electric - recharging overnight but also topping up batteries at both ends of the route at Refshaleøen and Teglholmen. The new service will run every 30 minutes. As the service carries 425,000 passengers each year, this is an important and - with so many new apartments being built at the south harbour - a significant part of the city transport system.

an extended bus designed for an extended route

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A new design of bus has been introduced on one of the most heavily used bus routes in the city that runs across Copenhagen from Husum Torv to Sundbyvester.

The new 5C is five metres longer than the old 5A buses they replace but they hold far more passengers - in fact 65 more so up to 147 people - and there are more doors with five entry / exit points along the length of the bus and these can be opened by passengers - with large push buttons on the doors - rather than just being controlled by the driver - so more like the system passengers are familiar with on suburban trains.   

There will be significant environmental gains as the buses are CO2 neutral - fuelled by Biogas, they will emit 72% less NOx and 33% fewer particles and there is also a reduction in noise when compared with the old buses.

Statistics for this route are astounding - there are 20 million journeys a year - and, with the new larger buses and new stretches of dedicated bus lane to relieve some congestion on the route, the passenger numbers are predicted to increase by around 5% to an average of 2,200 people an hour. To put that into context Copenhagen airport had just under 29 million passengers last year.

This is an important example of co-ordinated planning as the buses have been funded by the municipalities of Herlev, Copenhagen and Tårnby and upgrading the route has included those new dedicated bus lanes - to reduce delays - and work on new bus stops with wind breaks and more digital traffic information. 

 

more information on the web sites for movia and State of Green