*A big thanks to the wonderful musician Fred Frith for permission to use Sparrow Song in this short film.
Over the three years or so since we’ve been posting, a background debate has been continuously rearing its head. How, and why, did Bremen become a city with 25% modal share for cycling? Key to trying to answer this question is a good, reliable source of data that can show historical changes over a long enough period of time. Continue reading Cycling City, Car City Bremen
Election day is approaching, we all have to decide how to vote. And it will be difficult, because coalition talks will follow. How do we achieve a coalition that promotes a sustainable, green transport policy and takes the climate crisis seriously? Continue reading Think Green? Vote Red?
After this week’s Buten un Binnen Wahl Lokal broadcast failed to address the self-proclaimed second most important issue in the forthcoming election (transport), we thought we would be helpful and provide a summary of the main parties’ positions.
Seven parties featured in the transmission. Continue reading A Vote For Cycling?
Bremen’s tortuous route to something resembling a Cycling City took another step forward this month with the re-surfacing of the oft-plagued cycle street Parkallee.
Regular readers of our blog will know that this semi-main artery for through traffic – it is one of the less-busy branches off the 30,000-vehicles-per-day Stern roundabout – has already been the subject of various traffic management experiments. In every case, proposals have involved the removal of existing cycleways on either side of the road, and their replacement with some form of on-road cycling. Each proposal has been dogged by conflicting demands. In an area with relatively high car ownership, local residents have been routinely double parking their vehicles on this dual carriageway street. Cyclists have been looking for more space than the ageing cycleways offer, not least as the street will be a key stretch of Bremen’s first Premium Cycle Route. Continue reading Seeing Red
Our contributor Katja Leyendecker presented an outline of her dissertation during a visit to Bremen and the Geographische Gesellschaft, Bremen on 16th Januar 2019. Here is her presentation in full. You can also download her slideshow here. The presentation is largely in German, with snippets of English! Continue reading Mobility, Politics and Activism
11th January 2019, Findorff, Bremen.
With Bremen’s state election looming next year, and the Greens riding high in the polls, there is a very real chance that they will form a strengthened half of any new coalition. With the two old parties declining in popularity, there is even the prospect of a Green-led government. With this in mind, we recently interviewed Ralph Saxe, transport spokesperson for the Bremen Greens, to see what they have in mind for the coming legislature. Continue reading Ralph Saxe – Transport Revolution In 2019?
Where now for the Bremen Bündnis für die Verkehrswende?
Last month’s packed Car Parking conference certainly generated significant media interest, with speaker Uta Bauer interviewed by the Weser Kurier, and Radio Bremen’s Buten un Binnen doing a major feature on the issue. (from 9min 34sec). You can read a full report of the conference here (google translated from German).
Continue reading Three Steps Forward
The hilarious everyday experience of transport campaigns in Bremen (an extract)
– Temporary play street: Turned down
– Application for cycle stands and bollards on pavements to keep the street entrance clear for emergency vehicles: Turned down
– Illegal parking on the pavement: Silently tolerated by the authorities
– Application for residents’ parking: Under discussion
– Special slow zone (Begegnungszone) in front of the elementary school: Application coming up, because existing bans on parking are ignored
Continue reading Kids or Cars?
With the recent publication of proposals for comprehensive parking management by Bremen’s Transport Transition coalition, there’s been considerable discussion in the city’s media about the problem of illegal parking. Little has been said about its direct impact on cycling in Bremen, despite the publication’s central point that proper management of car parking is a means to releasing road space for walking and cycling. Continue reading Parking Space to Cycle Space? Not In Bremen