Every morning, thousands of commuters crawl bumper-to-bumper along the motorways leading into Copenhagen, collectively wasting an estimated 350,000 hours in traffic jams each day. Now, Copenhagen’s Climate, Environment and Technical Mayor Line Barford (Enhedslisten) wants to do something about it — but says current legislation is tying her hands.
A simple idea blocked by red tape
The proposal is straightforward: build more “Park and Ride” facilities at train stations outside Copenhagen, so commuters can leave their cars behind and take a train for the final stretch into the city. Fewer cars on the motorway, less congestion, cleaner air.
“If we want to tackle congestion, it’s essential that we get more drivers onto public transport,” says Mayor Line Barfod of the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten). “An obvious solution is to expand parking capacity at train stations around Copenhagen.”
The catch? Copenhagen is legally not allowed to spend its municipal funds on infrastructure in other municipalities.
A success story that needs scaling
The concept has already proven its worth. When Køge Nord Station opened in 2019 — purpose-built as a Park and Ride hub directly adjacent to the motorway — it quickly became a hit among commuters. The facility has just been expanded to accommodate 900 cars.
Commuter Nicoline Lykke-Rasmussen is one of thousands who parks at Køge Nord each morning before taking the train into the city. She saves half an hour each way.
According to the Danish Road Directorate, 43 percent of all traffic congestion in Denmark occurs in the Capital Region, with the heaviest queues forming on inbound routes each morning.
Trekroner: A prime candidate
One location repeatedly flagged in transport studies is Trekroner Station in Roskilde, where demand already exceeds supply — more cars arrive each day than there are parking spaces. The joint municipal secretariat KKR Hovedstaden has proposed expanding the station’s capacity from 102 to 900 spaces.
Roskilde’s Mayor Tomas Breddam is enthusiastic, but candid about the financial reality: “We are more than happy to provide the land, but we simply cannot afford to fund an expanded parking facility ourselves.”
700 million kroner sitting idle
Copenhagen collects over 700 million kroner in annual parking revenue, a significant portion of which is currently handed back to the state. Mayor Barfod is now calling for a rule change that would allow the city to redirect some of that money toward Park and Ride infrastructure across the greater Copenhagen area.
With Danish parliamentary elections approaching, Barfod is making a direct appeal to incoming MPs: change the rules so that municipalities can both spend funds across borders and repurpose parking revenues for public transport improvements.
“Christiansborg politicians need to act,” she says. “Both to allow us to invest outside our own borders, and — even better — to let us use parking revenue for exactly this purpose.“
