The overall traffic development across Öresund
Ten years with a fixed link
1 July 2010 is the ten-year mark since the Öresund Bridge opened. The considerable improvement in accessibility across southern Öresund accelerated an integration process between both sides of the sound, and mainly between the two largest cities of the region - Copenhagen and Malmö. All traffic has increased, but commuting traffic has definitely risen in particular.
Ferries in the north - bridge in the south
During the 1990s, between two and three million cars crossed Öresund. In 2009 the number of vehicles increased to 9.3 million; at the same time, 35.6 million travellers crossed Öresund by car, bus, train or ferry.- Traffic across Öresund 1990-2008
Source: Shippax and Öresund Bridge
After a minor downturn in traffic in the beginning of the 1990s, the number of cars crossing Öresund increased by an average of ten percent per year from 1995 to 1999. New routes, more departures, lower prices and economic growth in Denmark and Sweden were the reasons for the increase in traffic. The opening of the Öresund Bridge resulted in an even greater rise in traffic by 43 percent, and all traffic across Öresund grew by an average of ten percent each year during the period 2001-2007.
- Travellers across Öresund
Source: Shippax and Öresund Bridge<br />
However, 2008 was a particular year, since traffic across Öresund then increased by three percent - which meant an increase of 5.1 percent on the Öresund Bridge and a drop of 2.6 percent for ferry traffic between Helsingborg and Helsingør. This tendency remained in 2009, when all traffic across Öresund dropped by 1.2 percent. The Öresund Bridge had a slight rise of 0.5 percent, while ferry traffic dropped by 6 percent. The weak growth of these two years clearly marks the recession that had hit both Denmark and Sweden in the wake of the financial crisis.
Passenger cars make up the greater share, 92 percent, of all traffic across Öresund, while truck traffic comprises 7 percent and bus traffic one percent. 76 percent of all road traffic across Öresund is over the Öresund Bridge. 78 percent of passenger car traffic chooses to pass Öresund via the Öresund Bridge, while the ferries between Helsingborg and Helsingør have more than half (54 percent) of the truck traffic. 74 percent of all persons travelling over Öresund do so via the Öresund Bridge, either by car or by train.
Traffic across the Öresund Bridge
182 million people have crossed the Öresund Bridge either by train or car since it opened in 2000 - 111 million by car and 71 million by train. This is comparable to all of Denmark’s and Sweden’s populations taking the trip across the Öresund Bridge as many as thirteen times each during the first nine years. The 111 million passenger car travellers can be broken down into 48 million vehicles during the period 2000-2009.
Train traffic
Train traffic has undergone an amazing development. From 2001 to 2009, passenger rail traffic has increased from 4.9 million to 11.1 million passengers - an increase of 125 percent. In 2009, 56 800 passenger trains and 7 250 freight trains crossed the bridge.
The Öresund train has functioned mainly as an internal means of transport within the region, with 90 percent of the passengers travelling regionally. Four of five train passengers live in Sweden and one in five in Denmark. A very small percentage of passengers are foreigners.
Commuting is also done by rail, where about 60 percent of the travellers on the Öresund train are commuting to work or to their studies. The remaining 40 percent are mostly leisure travellers, while a small percentage are travelling on business or holiday.
Passenger rail traffic is mainly run by DSBFirst, which took over operations of the Öresund train in January 2009. Freight traffic by rail on the Öresund Bridge is divided into several different companies. On the Danish side, the train network goes past Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport, via Copenhagen’s central station and Nørreport to Helsingør. On the Swedish side, the network branches out from Malmö to Gothenburg, Kalmar and Karlskrona. The city tunnel through the central parts of Malmö, that opens at the end of 2010, will shorten travel time between Copenhagen’s central station and Malmö central station by five minutes.
Car traffic
Expectations were high for car traffic when the Öresund Bridge opened. Perhaps even a little too high for reality to live up to them. After a warm summer month when many people crossed the bridge just to do so, traffic during all of the autumn 2000 dropped and a bottom level was set on 1 January 2001 when an average of 4 700 vehicles crossed the bridge per day.
The picture today looks entirely different. The amount of traffic crossing the link a cold day in January 2001 is the same as the morning rush hour today between 6 and 9 am. In 2009, an average of 19 500 vehicles used the bridge per day. This is 141 percent more than in 2001, the first full year that the Öresund Bridge was in operation. During the period 2001 to 2007, traffic rose between 10 and 17 percent per year. In 2008 this trend was broken when the increase in traffic slowed down during the second half of the year, as a result of the economic slump that hit both Denmark and Sweden in the wake of the financial crisis.
All kinds of traffic has increased during the first ten years of the Öresund Bridge, but commuting has been particularly remarkable. Today, commuting accounts for 42 percent of all passenger car traffic, compared to 5 percent in 2001. Two factors can explain this development. First, the significant price differences in housing on the Danish and Swedish sides of the sound have led many Danes to move to Öresund SE. Second, the economic boom in the Danish economy up until 2007, which led to a labour shortage in Denmark, was partly solved by many Swedes getting jobs in the Copenhagen area, thus becoming commuters. These Swedes have largely remained on the Danish labour market and are today a natural part of by and large every workplace in the capital city area.
The regional business traffic comprises 18 percent of passenger car traffic on the Öresund Bridge. The business sector has begun to take advantage of the potential of the Öresund Bridge by setting up offices and departments on both sides of the sound. Sales across Öresund have also increased.
Holiday and leisure traffic accounts for the remaining 40 percent of passenger car traffic on the Öresund Bridge. Along with the financial crisis, another phenomenon marked the traffic across the Öresund Bridge. The Danish crown is fixed to the euro, while the Swedish crown floats. Because small currencies are subject to pressure in a financial crisis, the Swedish currency depreciated in value. This has affected Öresund traffic in that many Danes crossed to the other side of Öresund for shopping, and retail trade in Malmö has benefited greatly from the many Danish customers.
- Purpose of travel with passenger car over the Öresund Bridge
Source: Öresund Bridge
