METTMANN. In view of climate change, many cities in NRW are thinking about how they can reduce car traffic and thus improve air quality. For the first time, a car-free Sunday will be tested in Mettmann on 12 May. Düsseldorf will also have a car-free Sunday on 15 September, which will only affect a small inner-city area around the Old Town and Königsallee. In Cologne, roads in selected districts have been closed to cars once a year since 2013.

The Neuss Town Hall is also open to the idea. “It's time to rethink mobility. Such an action can contribute to raising citizens’ awareness”, said a city spokesman. Especially in the inner city, distances are generally short and there are plenty of alternatives to the car. Whether and how such a car-free Sunday could be realised in Duisburg, however, still has to be examined by the city. Other cities such as Bocholt and Bonn, have rejected the idea of car-free Sundays. The Bonn city administration announced that attempts are being made to advertise the bicycle as an alternative means of transport and to make local transport more attractive. (Orig. text: Christian Schwerdtfeger, Anna Steinhaus)

BONN/COLOGNE. The Rhein-Sieg transport association (VRS) is looking for people to join a pilot eTicket scheme until the beginning of September. The special feature is that the ticket price is determined electronically according to the distance travelled. Passengers only pay for the shortest distance between the start and destination stops. In addition to a basic price of 1.50 euros per trip, 15 cents per kilometre or part thereof will be charged, up to a maximum daily price of 15 euros. The distance travelled and the corresponding ticket price will be determined with the help of a free app “FTQ-Lab”. The customer checks in to the pre-installed app before boarding the bus, tram or local train or and checks out again at the end of the journey.

According to the VRS press office, the pilot test of the electronic fare, which has been running since April, has met with great interest among passengers. About 3,000 customers have now registered for the pilot, and 1,000 more can still take part. To test the eTariff, customers must be at least 18 years old and need a Visa or MasterCard credit card and a smartphone that meets the technical requirements. Each participant should make at least one trip in the course of the test phase by 6 September. Further information and registration can be found at www.vrs.de/etarif. (Orig. text: Elena Sebening)

BONN. this weekend, about 50 participants defied the bad weather to take part in the Unicef event “Theatre of 10,000”, which simultaneously took place in about 80 German cities. The hobby actors became avatars of previously unborn children who want to create a better future with the help of time travel in a world without wars, natural disasters, hunger and fear. The event was not aimed at an audience, but exclusively at the players. Hildegard Niehus, one of the participants said “I heard about it from the newspaper and was immediately fascinated by the idea”.

The participants were controlled remotely via smartphone and for about 20 minutes became fictitious time travellers, who first had to synchronise themselves with their unfamiliar bodies and only then could they delve deeper into the story. Mayor Reinhard Limbach also took part: "I really like this event and am proud of all the people from Bonn who took part despite the bad weather" he said. "Somehow we were all connected, we were part of a larger whole", explains Muna Zubedi, who would like to repeat this experience. "It was unbelievable: We completely faded out reality and were in another world for a short time. From the outside it must have looked pretty weird, but for us every movement made sense. It is unknown whether the "Theatre of 10,000" will be repeated. First, the Unicef organisers want to analyse how great the response has been throughout Germany. (Orig. text: Thomas Kölsch)

BONN. A 25-year-old man has been sentenced in two criminal proceedings by regional and local courts to more than four years imprisonment for drug trafficking, including around the Stadthouse. He claims to have worked as a security chief in the administration building. The court showed a video recorded by mobile phone of the 25-year-old, showing him as a security guard with uniforms and ID in front of the municipal office. Whether the man was actually in the service of the city administration, however, could not be clarified last Friday. The city is ensuring that the strict tender criteria are adhered to so that no such similar cases occur.

Rainer Friedrich, a representative of the city council personnel explained that the staff council has no influence on which security company is selected. "Every employee of a security company must undergo a reliability check carried out by the regulatory authorities", explained Silke Wollmann, press spokesperson for the Federal Association of the Security Industry.

Due to the wave of refugees, many security companies sprang up because of the sudden enormous need for security forces, so that the authorities had not complied with thechecks. Since the Bonner Loch has been built over, the Bonn police have noticed a shift in both the drug and drinking scenes. "The Stadthaus is one of several meeting places next to Kaiserplatz, Hofgarten and Windeckbunker", said their spokesman Frank Piontek. Especially in good weather, the areas towards Weiherstrasse and Franzstrasse are a popular meeting place at the Stadthaus. (Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen, Philipp Königs)

(Translations: John Chandler)