Cyclists in Copenhagen will soon have to make passage for funeral processions on the bike lanes.

Denmark’s first bicycle hearse is now ready to transport coffins from the funeral to the crematorium just like the traditional black cars on the roads.

Sille Kongstad, an undertaker at Bededamerne in Østerbro, designed the bike hearse to give her customers a different funeral to what they are used to.

"It's a desire to make something different and special," she told BT.

It took four months for the Jernhesten bike shop in Vesterbro to build the bike, which is inspired by the old-fashioned horse carriages that were used before cars.

Already getting orders
Her first order is in two weeks, when an old man's coffin will be transported from Holmens Kapel.

"Everybody laughed at me and told me that it was a waste of money. But there are already two people who have told me they want to leave this world in my bike," she said.

"There have been a lot of reactions and most of them are positive, while a few have protested against the bike using cycle paths. But it has to. A lot will probably be offended, but the only difference between my bike and a ordinary hearse is that my bike doesn't pollute."

Priest pro bike
No priests so far have protested against the invention.

Christian Langballe, a MP for Danske Folkeparti who is a priest in Tjele near Viborg, didn't see any problems with transporting the dead on the cycle lanes, but he was sceptical that anyone from his parish would make use of the bicycle.

"I think it sounds amusing. If any relatives think a bicycle hearse is a great idea, let it be," he told BT.

Coffins are traditionally transported in official black hearses, but relatives are allowed to arrange the transport as they wish, as long as the method doesn't abuse the corpse or disturb public order.