Cycling across municipal boundaries Politicians want regional bike rental system for Bonn and Rhein-Sieg

Bonn/Rhein-Sieg-Kreis · In Mehlem or near Hangelar, the rental bikes are parked en masse at the city borders. The reason: users cannot simply ride from Bonn to Wachtberg or Sankt Augustin because use ends at the city limits. This is to change.

 Nextbikes offers rental bikes in both Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district. Photo: DPA

Nextbikes offers rental bikes in both Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district. Photo: DPA

Foto: DPA

The administrations of the city of Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district are to introduce a regional bicycle rental system "in the medium term". This is to enable users to ride rental bicycles across municipal boundaries. This was unanimously decided by the planning and transport committees of Bonn and the district in a joint meeting.

"Surely we must be able to find a joint solution in the region. We cannot have masses of rental bicycles standing around at the municipal city limits because the users are not allowed to ride further to their destinations," said Ingo Steiner, parliamentary group leader of the district Greens and chairman of the district planning committee. The fact that the problem concerns all parliamentary groups in Bonn as well as in the district became clear in the debate. Arno Hospes from the CDU faction in Bonn spoke out in favour of a "practicable and convenient system for users", as did Bernhard Meier, who represents the ADFC in the committee as an expert citizen. He described how awkwardly the bikes had to be changed if one wanted to ride from Bonn to the Heisterbach monastery, for example, on a rental bike.

Oliver Krauß (CDU Rhein-Sieg) pointed out that the district council had insisted very early on taking the same provider Nextbike as the Bonners precisely for the reason of synchronising the systems: "The border must be lifted." Horst Becker (Grüne Rhein-Sieg) said with a wink that Bonn was something like the "central city of the Rhein-Sieg district". In any case, this was "not a progressive transport policy" if users of the bicycle rental system could not move easily across municipal borders.

His Green Party colleague from Bonn, Rolf Beu, agreed with this. "In the end, there has to be a bicycle rental system for Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district," said Beu, but at the same time warned against handing this over to the Rhine Regional Transport (NVR): "For them, we are the Siberia of the NVR. If they are supposed to work it out, it will never happen." His suggestion to let the district and city administration work it out and negotiate it was followed by all committee members.

Original text: Dylan Cem Akalin

Translation: Mareike Graepel

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