ADFC Cycling Climate Test Bonn pedals forward
Bonn · 1965 cyclists took part in a survey conducted by the ADFC for Bonn. According to the survey, the city has improved more than other large cities in terms of cycling over the past two years.
The city of Bonn scored significantly better in the 2022 Bicycle Climate Test of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC) than it did two years ago. In 2020, the respondents had given the city a school grade of 4.2. According to the survey now published, which took place from 1 September to 30 November last year, the city has a rating of 3.8, moving Bonn up from 14th place to sixth place among large cities with a population of between 200,000 and 500,000 in a nationwide comparison. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Bonn is in second place behind Münster (rating: 3.0) and ahead of Bielefeld (3.9) and Aachen (4.0), according to the ADFC.
Light and shade
It is not a representative survey, but at least 1965 cyclists for Bonn took part in the study, which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport. According to the ADFC, 27 percent of the participants were members of the ADFC, the remaining 73 percent have no such background.
The results show light and shade: the respondents gave the city fairly good marks for the opening of one-way streets (grade 2.2), for the accessibility of the city centre and the promotion of cycling in recent years (2.7). The municipal bicycle rental system is also considered good with a score of 2.6. One of the providers, Nextbike, works together with the Bonn public utility company. Subscribers to local public transport season tickets can use the bikes for half an hour per day free of charge. In the satisfactory range were, for example, questions about whether it is possible to cycle quickly in the city (3.0) or whether cycling is more fun or stressful (3.5).
The results are less pleasing, for example, when it comes to combating bicycle theft (4.9) or the possibilities of taking bicycles on public transport (4.8). As a rule, bus and train customers have to pay extra if they want to take their bicycles with them, according to most tariffs for the Rhine-Sieg Transport Association (VRS). There are exceptions for regular customers in the evenings or at weekends. Poor marks were also given for a lack of control of illegal parking on cycle paths, cycle paths that are too narrow and presumably badly timed traffic light phases on routes. For the feeling of safety as a cyclist, the participants gave a 4.1.
Mayor sees "incentive to continue on the same path"
The ADFC interprets the improved results to mean that "the courage of the council majority to do more for cycling and the traffic turnaround is worthwhile and will also be rewarded by cyclists", according to its transport policy spokesman Gerd Billen. With cycle lanes on Oxfordstraße, Römerstraße, Viktoriabrücke and environmental lanes on Belderberg and Hermann-Wanderleb-Ring (the latter on a test basis), the city had created "a new climate". He criticised the fact that the cycle commuter route between Bornheim and Bonn, which was decided nine years ago, is still not finished and called for more speed in such projects to create a cycling network for the region.
As Bonn has improved the most in comparison with other major German cities since 2020 according to the survey, Lord Mayor Katja Dörner travelled to Berlin on Monday to receive the honour in the category "Best Development" from ADFC Federal Chair Rebecca Peters and Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing. Dörner said afterwards: "Such a clear improvement and thus the first place is a nice confirmation of our work in the past two years, even if we are only at the beginning of catching up."
(Original text: Philipp Königs; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
