Category Archives: Vehicular Cycling

Sorting Bremen’s Cycling Advocacy Toolbox

Bremen has a long history of developing tools that have been proven to encourage and enable more people to cycle. The first German cycle path was built here in 1897, cycle streets were invented in Bremen in the 1970s, as was contra-flow cycling on one-way streets. More recently, cycle neighbourhoods have been developed, and mandatory bike lanes built.

But there is one “tool” that has proved to be particularly unhelpful. In Bremen, it gets used yet is largely unknown. In the wider world it is recognised as a damaging idea that has set back a number of countries by decades. It is called vehicular cycling (VC). Continue reading Sorting Bremen’s Cycling Advocacy Toolbox →

Cycling In Mixed Traffic? No!

I’m profoundly disturbed by the notion that, as an experienced cyclist, I “should” ride in mixed traffic alongside cars and trucks. Doing so makes cycling more stressful and dangerous. As a non-motorized “lightweight” I’ve “lost” this “game” before I even start. What’s worse is that such “infrastructure” makes cycling more difficult and more dangerous for children, new cyclists, or people who simply do not want to play “road warrior.” When I’m cycling with my kids, I’m forced to follow them on the sidewalk; other parents simply do not even cycle, choosing the “safe” alternative of driving their kids everywhere. The stress and the imminent conflicts which mixed traffic cycling forces us to endure would not exist if adequate infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians were present everywhere. Continue reading Cycling In Mixed Traffic? No! →

Parkallee in Bremen: Missing the Target

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait?

The “new” Parkallee, half in red, Foto: Beatrix Wupperman

Parkallee in Bremen is part of a planned Premium Route for cycling that runs from the university in the north to the city centre. For too long, this 500 metre section between Am Stern and the city’s main railway lines has dominated discussions and negotiations. How can cyclists can traverse this section safely and quickly? Continue reading Parkallee in Bremen: Missing the Target →

Seeing Red

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 →

Protected Bike Lanes: Solving the safety conflict?

People who are involved with transport politics are continuously confronted with the issue of safety. Bike lanes are rejected, supposedly because of safety, while others demand them for exactly the same reasons. Cycling on the road is recommended by some as being safer, while others strongly reject such use for exactly the same reasons.

Demonstrating for cycling infrastructure: Danziger Straße, Berlin. Netzwerk Fahrradfreundliches Pankow, 5.7.2017, (Foto: Changing Cities / Norbert Michalke)

In discussions around cycle transportation, so-called „objective safety“ is pitted against a subjective sense of safety and comfort. In the Netherlands “sustainable safety” is recommended, Copenhagen prioritises „subjective safety.“ And now there’s a new version, the “Protected Bike Lane.“ This starts sounding somewhat complicated, so we need to clarify: What is being discussed? Who is saying what about safety, and why?

Continue reading Protected Bike Lanes: Solving the safety conflict? →

Women on bikes – There is a difference

„The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of middle and upper class women then all the struggles of the womens’ movement“. So wrote the Austrian authoress and feminist Rosa Mayreder (1858-1938).

Female English Racing Cyclists – Englische Radrennfahrerinnen ¹

The first female cyclists came from wealthy families, taking the opportunity to get away from their restrictive circumstances. In Bremen there were Ricarda Huch and Aline von Kapff, who fought for their freedom from the saddle of their bicycles more than 100 years ago. Continue reading Women on bikes – There is a difference →

Parking Space to Cycle Space? Not In Bremen

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 →

Wazzup On Parkallee?

Fahrradstraße Parkallee – parkende Autos, Mischverkehr, Chaos

For some time now – from near and afar – I’ve been rubbernecking the ongoing saga of Parkallee – and the council’s to-ing and fro-ing, politicians and officers alike. What to do? What’s going on? At one point there is a cycleway, then there isn’t, now you see it, now you don’t, then no-one quite knows what’s really happening. The thing for me is this: where is the decision-making clarity? Where is the solid foundation to traffic – and in particular cycle – policy? Continue reading Wazzup On Parkallee? →

Cycle Streets That Inspire?

Albrechtstraße: An old and comfy cycle street in Bremen

Bremen released a comprehensive transport plan in 2014: Verkehrsentwicklungsplan 2025. One of many aims is to improve cycling and cycling infrastructure. In Germany “Verkehrswende”, i.e. a fundamental change of the transport world, is a big issue. Accordingly you would think the Bremen transport plan, VEP 2025, takes this concept seriously. So why are cycle streets so feebly implemented? There are a number of theories. Here are 2 for starters.

Continue reading Cycle Streets That Inspire? →

Bremen Cycle Streets: Humboldtstraße – A Role Model?

Bremen’s politicians are extremely proud of the new design of Humboldtstraße as a Cycle Street. It is hailed by our representatives and their cycling advisers as a great solution for a range of problems. However, the new design didn’t arise because all the experts thought Humboldtstraße to be the ideal space for a Cycle Street. Rather, the idea was developed because Hansewasser, Bremen’s water company, planned to upgrade the sewer system under the road.
Continue reading Bremen Cycle Streets: Humboldtstraße – A Role Model? →