Københavns Metro

The automated ticket kiosks are confusing, even for Danes. People lined up trying to figure out how to work the machine. Whoever designed these things should return their fee.

Die Metro in Kopenhagen ist sehr gut ausgebaut und es gibt mehrere Linien sowie auch die S Bahn. Diese Stadt ist eine absolute Radfahrercity, Radler soweit das Auge reicht. Aus diesem Grund sind auch die Metro Garnituren sehr auf die Beförderung von Rädern eingestellt. Es gibt eigene Waggone die nur für Fahrräder bestimmt sind, sogar mit eigenen Fahradständer.
Die Stadt wird von sehr wenigen Autos und Motorräder frequentiert, da in Dänemark die Autosteuer so hoch ist, das sich nicht viele ein Auto leisten können.

Wow! Organized, efficient, on-​time, immaculately clean, safe, and staffed by friendly, helpful folks. I absolutely love Copenhagen — the people are friendly and polite, the city is clean, and Danish design is sophisticated; the metro from the airport is my warm welcome. You can’t complain about the high ticket price because you get a lot more than what you pay, namely peace of mind. The Copenhagen Metro serves Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Tårnby with 2 lines, M1 and M2. You can easily connect to the S-​train rapid transit system. The metro has 22 stations — 9 are underground and 6 are deep underground. Stations have up-​to-​date information screens and are fully accessible for the disabled. The elevators and escalators are great if you have luggage. You can see glass pyramids on the stations’ roof; these allow for illumination from daylight. Because the pyramids have prisms, you may see rainbows, which are just lovey on a sunny but misty, moist days. Platforms are equipped with sensors that stop trains if there’s anything on the track. The system has driverless electric multiple units. Each train consists of three articulated cars and six automated doors. The entire metro system and the trains are run by a fully automated computer system. An expansion of the metro is under construction and scheduled to open in 2018. It will circle the city center. Absolutely exemplary.

Convenient and clean. It was great if you had Danish money, but it was difficult to buy tickets with a «swiping» credit card. You need to use a debit card because of the need to enter a PIN number.
Great commitment to future public transportation!

This was my third trip to Europe and it always makes me sad when I use mass transit… why? Because it’s so fabulous over here and a good value and very few places in the Midwest come even close to what they have in Europe. We took the train from Copenhagen to Roskilde. First, we were conveniently located near the Main Station. We bought the 1-​day ticket which was good for Copenhagen and Roskilde, because we wanted to go to Roskilde before going on our Baltic Sea cruise on NCL. The ticket costs 130DKK or about $ 18.50. You can use this ticket for 25 hours all over Copenhagen and Roskilde, Elsinore or other parts of North Sealand. The Central Train Station is well maintained and efficient. The signage is good and there is a Tourist Information Booth that we used and the personnel communicated well in English and were most professional and helpful. It was no problem getting our tickets and some information from a helpful local and we were on our way on the 30-​minute ride to Roskilde for some touristing at the Cathedral and the Viking Museum. When we came back, we missed our stop to transfer to get to the Beer Festival at the Carlsberg Brewery. The Tourist Information Booth gave us helpful guidance and we were at our destination in 10 minutes and able to enjoy myriad beers from all over Denmark and the region. I highly recommend Copenhagen’s efficient transportation system.

Strange that I’ve been to town several times now and never decided to take the metro here. Recently I stayed on the outskirts of town and took the M1/​M2 lines regularly. Not only was it always on time, it was clean and efficient. Not sure what more that you could ask for but more stops. I guess the only qualms are the touches but what it does, it does well. 4.5 stars

For American travelers flying into Copenhagen you will usually arrive between 1030 and 1230. You’ll not have slept well and you will be feeling a bit out of sorts. You land, get your bags and now it’s after one and you just want to get to your hotel and crash. Pretty tempting to take a sharp right out of baggage claim and climb into one of those fancy Mercedes taxi cabs ins’t it? But beware. No one rides for free. You will pay something around 45 – 60 USD to get into town. At least. You can watch the meter tick off one kroner every four seconds as I’ve done many times. But that’s bad for your constitution and anyway you have a much better option just straight ahead. Don’t take a taxi and don’t take the commuter rail. Walk straight across the terminal and before you go up the escalator at the other end stop at the ticket booth. There’s hardly ever a line and tell them where you are going. If it’s toward the city center you want to take the Metro. Take a taxi from Nørreport or Kongens Nytorv if you need to but let the Metro get you into town. You will probably need a 3 zone ticket which is around 34 dkk which beats a 400 dkk taxi bill and you won’t get into town much faster in a car. In fact, the Metro often gets there faster. I lived about 200m from the Førum station which is the stop after the central station at Nørreport. I once made it from the airport to my front door in 23 minutes. Nice.
Here is what is great about the Metro. First, they run all the time. 24 hours a day. But better than that, the longest I’ve ever had to wait for a train is about 10 minutes. Since they have no one driving them they don’d need to pay all those drivers salaries. In town you can have one every four or five minutes. So put your ticket in your pocket and climb aboard. The trains are clean. If they are empty, kids can sit up front and look out the windscreen like they are driving. There are places you can set your bags and stand next to them or fold down a seat and sit. There are elevators to take you to the street or if you aren’t too bagged down, you can take escalators though some stops make you climb real stairs before you get all the way up.
Keep your ticket with you. There is no regular check for a ticket but if a Metro officer boards the train they may start going down the car asking for you to show your ticket. Show it or face the embarrassment of being cited with a 700 dkk on the spot fine. Not a good way to end a long nights travel. Otherwise, enjoy. The Metro is what all city trains should be like.

It would be downright criminal of me not to comment on the Copenhagen Metro. Why? Because I think it may be the most efficient metro system I’ve ever used. Quite a statement from a self-​proclaimed subway connoisseur like myself, I know, and I realize other cities have far more complicated networks of trains that need constant coordination. After all, there are only two lines in Copenhagen that meet at the Christianhavn station. It’s just that I need to let the world know that this is how the Danes run a metro system — or more personally, I just need to let the bureaucracy who runs San Francisco’s BART and MUNI train systems know that this is how it should be operated. The contrast in passenger experience is startling.
I have to admit I am embarrassed by any tourist who visits my fair city and encounters the dependably delayed arrivals, the passive-​aggressive operators, and the seats encrusted with all sorts of bodily fluids — all hallmarks of San Francisco public transportation. But not in Copenhagen. Beautifully maintained trains. ²⁴⁄₇ service. On time. No human operators, completely computer-​operated. No unresponsive fare gates, no temperamental ticket machines. A Copenhagen card takes care of all your transit needs when you’re there. I was honestly tempted to stay on the train and go up and down the M1 line because it was such a comfortable ride. So in closing, Barcelona has a nice metro, and so does Lisbon, but I think I’ll take Copenhagen.