Cycling and its impact in the city

Urban life occurs when people meet directly in the urban space and are not separated from each other by windshields or tons of sheet metal. This happens when they walk or cycle. No advertising agency commissioned by a city today – as in the 1970s – would think of depicting busy freeway intersections in daily rush-hour traffic jams in image brochures. On the contrary: parks and squares – not parking lots – make an attractive city.

Housing trends have also changed: According to a study by the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu), it is becoming apparent that the single-family home will lose its role as a model for living. The city centers and districts close to the city centers are clearly in demand. Above all, most people want a city of short distances. They want to live centrally, work close to home, shop around the corner and have the city park on their doorstep. City parks (91%) and local recreation areas (87%), restaurants (87%) and cafés (84%), pedestrian zones (86%) and shopping arcades (83%) are at the top of city dwellers’ favorites. In the midst of urban greenery, people are looking for communication and culinary delights.

Against this backdrop, a renaissance of urban living seems long overdue, even if there is a significant risk of poorer population groups being displaced in some Metropolis (gentrification). In addition to upgrading city centers and building new shopping and entertainment facilities, the quality of movement and recreation and the promotion of local mobility are of central importance in making cities more liveable.

Cycling should be seen in the context of the concept of local mobility and remains the most important asset when it comes to changing the modal split. The bicycle has the largest radius of action and enormous substitution potential when it comes to shifting motor vehicle traffic. Another strength of the bicycle lies in its flexible use in short-distance traffic, where it scores with a clear time advantage over motorized private transport (MIT) and public transport (PT).
Nowadays, cities advertise precisely those attractive districts for positive urbanity where there is already a lot of cycling. So much so that the trend of young families moving out to “suburbia” has stopped there: nowhere are there as many baby carriages to be seen as in Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, in Frankfurt’s Nordend district or in Köln’s Südstadt district. One of the reasons for this is that, unlike in the 1980s, young people no longer consider the traffic situation there to be life-threatening for children. The increasing cycling mode share, to which these parents themselves often contribute, plays a significant role in this. Lots of cycle traffic on the road leads to better coexistence and also to speed limits being respected more readily.

Bicycle friendliness can also help the economy in its search for urgently needed skilled workers. This is because districts with good local mobility represent a locational advantage for highly qualified, sought-after and well-paid top performers who have to decide on a new place to work and live. For them, the value of the home plays an important role in ensuring that they and their families feel comfortable. Parents who cycle with their children in the neighborhood or transport them on cargo bikes are a sign of a pleasant urban living environment.

The guiding principle of the “city as a living space” requires a paradigm shift in street planning. In addition to architecture, streets are an important and formative part of the city and are more than just traffic areas: they are places to stay, meeting points, communication and play spaces. Streets characterize the quality of a residential area through their liveliness and thus its appearance. Busy streets and squares with lively bicycle and pedestrian traffic, even after dark, are socially controlled and therefore safer than car-only roads. Streets and squares represent the identity of cities and are their “calling cards”.

Large cities need attractive city centers to compete with greenfield shopping centers. The latter are mostly geared towards accessibility by car. The city, on the other hand, cannot keep up in this respect, as it is far too densely built-up and multifunctional. The strengths of city centers lie in their density and diversity. They are meeting places with a wide range of gastronomic and entertainment options. A city must make the most of these qualities. This means that it is easy to reach by bike and offers sufficient parking facilities. Cyclists like to use urban retail outlets and are good customers. This is because most shopping distances in cities are short anyway and for the majority of city dwellers, the city center is closer than a suburban shopping center. And nobody has to buy bulky, heavy goods all the time. The opportunity for city center retail therefore lies less in additional parking garages than in good conditions for public transport users and cyclists.

Cycle tourism is also booming and therefore represents a significant economic factor in Germany. This also applies to the categories “City tourism by bike” and “Cycling excursion without overnight stay”. As annual vacations are becoming less and less important and the trend is towards more short breaks or spontaneous leisure activities, tourism and local recreation by bike are also of growing economic importance for the city.

Suburbia” also benefits from increasing bicycle traffic

Many people live in the suburban zones or “bacon belts” of cities for whom it is too expensive and too hectic in the center or who need a lot of space for various reasons. They usually can’t find them in the city center, at least not at realistic prices. In addition, the suburbs are often home to companies in mostly modern commercial centers that also find the city center too cramped and expensive.
Many people prefer to live in the suburbs or in the city rather than in the countryside. Even if the suburban lifestyle reflects neither the pulse of the big city nor the rural idyll.

In Suburbia, it is generally easy to get around by car, and parking problems and traffic jams in urban areas are kept to a minimum. The infrastructure is mostly car-friendly – residential and commercial areas are connected by efficient (express) roads, and in addition to the town centers there are usually large shopping centers, consumer markets or retail clusters with plenty of parking space. Parking in commercial areas is also generally not a problem. In the catchment areas of Metropolis, there is often an efficient network of suburban or regional trains for commuters. So is the bicycle even a suitable means of transportation here? Yes. Because not every suburban family can or wants to afford a second or third car. In addition, many everyday journeys are shorter than five kilometers, even in the “bacon belt”.

Not everyone commutes to work in the respective metropolis every day. In fact, there is a lot of commuter traffic within the suburban zones, which usually have lively commercial zones. Transport to shopping and educational destinations – a relatively large number of families with school-age children live in the suburbs – is often a distance that can easily be covered by bike.

For commuters to the metropolis, bike+ride instead of park+ride is a possible option. One example: In the Munich public transport network MVV, bike+ride is already practiced twice as often as park+ride. For the suburbs, park+ride is more of an obstacle to development: the areas around the regional and suburban train stations could actually be developed to a high standard due to their good public transport connections, instead of being filled with cars on a large scale and becoming noisy as a result. Speaking of public transport connections: These are often very good radially into the metropolis, but there are weaknesses tangentially. The connection within the respective suburb or to the neighboring municipality does not work so well. The same applies to the late evening and night-time offerings. This is where the flexible individual means of transport, the bicycle, comes into its own.

In addition to shopping centers, which in suburbia generally rely exclusively on motorized customers, the suburbs can also boast interesting city and town centers. But their tradespeople and retailers need to come up with intelligent concepts in order to hold their own against shopping centers and online retail: they need to be more experience-oriented, with local color and more social interaction. To do this, they need a good infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. This is more important than a parking space in front of the store door for every customer. Creative solutions for the coexistence of cars, public transport, cyclists and pedestrians are therefore required in local thoroughfares and shopping streets.

The positive effect of more cycling in suburban areas is reinforced by the triumph of e-bikes and pedelecs. The e-bike / pedelec sells particularly well in the suburbs because most people can park it safely and barrier-free at home. Local politicians should take advantage of and promote this trend, as the pedelec can replace the second car because it noticeably extends the practical everyday radius. Pedelec users don’t want special solutions for themselves, they need a convenient cycling infrastructure.

All of this speaks in favor of promoting cycling in suburban areas as well. The conditions for this are good. Many municipalities already have an everyday cycle network, as well as everyday and regional cycle tourism routes that can also be used by residents in suburban areas. Cycle highways could extend the commuting radius by bike to over ten kilometers. Individual public transport hubs (rail-bus junctions) are so busy that it can make sense to operate bike stations there.
Cycling – also important in rural areas

People also cycle “in the countryside”, although cars are undoubtedly the main means of transportation there. But especially in rural communities, many distances are less than five kilometers and could easily be covered by bike. In some regions, the number of cycle paths alongside rural roads is quite remarkable. In addition, the low-traffic side road network often offers good cycling facilities without the need to build extra cycle paths.
Even if there is a car in the household, the other family members are dependent on alternatives, as are people without a driving license.

For many people, reasonable cycling conditions are the only option for mobility and social participation given the generally weak public transport services in rural areas.

It must also be realistically assumed that the demographic development of many rural areas will no longer allow the expansion of cycling infrastructure there. On the contrary, in many places today it is important to ensure the quality of the most important cycling connections and good intermodal links. This is particularly true in view of the feared thinning out of public transport services in the area. In view of the longer distances to the bus stop, bicycles are becoming increasingly important as a means of transportation.

Overall, the development of intermodal services in rural areas is particularly important: classic bike+ride, bicycle transport on local rail services, but also the use of buses and cabs as well as the installation of secure bicycle parking facilities at commuter parking lots for the purpose of mutual transport (carpool) ensure mobility in rural areas.

The spread of pedelecs and e-bikes enables a greater radius of action across several towns and villages, even in hilly or mountainous terrain. There should be intelligent solutions for everyday cycle routes on roads and paths that are normally unlit (motion detectors on lamp posts, reflectors, noctilucent markings).

Cycle tourism plays an important role for many rural districts. Areas along popular river valley cycle paths benefit greatly from this. The aim here is to ensure quality. This also includes ensuring that the tourist cycle paths are safe and comfortable to ride on. In turn, everyday cycling should benefit from this.