At DIS, there are no scheduled classes on Wednesdays. Instead Wednesdays are reserved for Field Studies where your class will head out to learn about your subject hands on. This could be visiting a non-profit, a Danish open prison or meeting with a local business. Last week for my course, Transportation in Urban Europe, my class and I traveled to a construction site for the new metro line the M4.

One of the things I was most excited for when I moved to Copenhagen was their amazingly efficient transit system. Coming from the New York City area where delays and cancellations are becoming exceedingly common.. I couldn’t wait to be using a system that was faster, cleaner, and more efficient. And I have to say my commute this semester has been pretty great – I’ve only experienced one rough day where the metros were delayed by over 15 minutes – other than that it’s been smooth sailing.

And it’s not just me who is slightly obsessed with our city’s metro. If you head to the brand new Rådhuspladsen M3 Metro stop around the corner from DIS I promise you, you will hear at least one strap-hanger mention how “this is a whole line! It just opened up in September with 16  other new stops isn’t it great!”. I swear I hear this every time I hop on the Metro there. 

So I was pretty excited when my class got to meet with the head architect of Copenhagen’s next new Metro line the M4. Located in Nordhavn, a harbour area in northern Copenhagen, the line is starting to take shape. Two of the most surprising things I learned on our visit were

1. That the M4 stops which each have a different interior color in order to help Metro riders more easily know what stop they are at.
2. They are getting rid of bicycle storage rooms on the M4 line b/c not enough people use them.

Both of these things make absolute sense to me. I’ve never seen more than 15 bikes in any storage room since I’ve been here and I think the new colors of the M4 will make it easier for passengers to recognize where there are while also making each station a bit more unique.

Overall, I really enjoyed this field study! I liked getting to see first hand how complicated the process of building a new metro line is. The visit reminded me that know matter how much I can read and learn in class nothing beats hands on experience and getting to talk to the experts. And I’m so thankful DIS gives me the opportunity to do that. This visit also taught me that l look absolutely ridiculous I looked in a hard hat. I mean c’mon.