Corona bike boom shows: "Bike paths are often crap"

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Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - From the perspective of the ADFC NRW, the bicycle boom in the Corona year 2020 has exposed the existing weaknesses of the bicycle infrastructure in the state.

"The more people have been cycling since the lockdown in the spring, the more have found that the cycle paths are often crap: too narrow, too dangerous, they lead to nirvana or there are no developed routes to work at all", said the state chairman of the General German Bicycle Club, Thomas Semmelmann, of the German Press Agency.

In order to carry the enthusiasm for bicycles into 2021, it is now high time for the state and municipalities to do a lot more to ensure safe and comfortable cycle paths, said Semmelmann.

The bicycle law, which will be introduced to the state parliament in the middle of the year and is intended to promote the removal of bicycles, is reason for optimism that something is moving.

In fact, the first lockdown and then the corona-related loss of many leisure activities caused more people than usual to get on their bikes.

"All hell was going on on the tourist routes," says Semmelmann.

The bicycle dealers saw a rush.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the increased interest in cycling can also be seen in the use of the NRW cycle route planner: If the navigation tool was already in high demand in 2019 with a total of 100 million hits, “the Corona year 2020 will break all records”, as the ministry said .

By late autumn, more than 150 million page views had been registered.

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However, Semmelmann does not want the pandemic to be seen as a trigger, at best as a further drive for cycling pleasure in North Rhine-Westphalia: The lockdown has widened the relevance of the bicycle as part of climate-friendly mobility.

The desire for better bicycle infrastructure had been articulated long before that: In 2019, the nationwide people's initiative “Aufbruch Fahrrad” had collected well over 200,000 signatures and thus got the state government to initiate the bicycle law.

The state decision resulted in a number of municipal initiatives.

According to the ADFC, there are now more than 120,000 additional signatures for strengthening cycling in individual NRW cities, including Aachen, Bielefeld, Essen and Marl as well as Bonn.

Collecting is still going on in Detmold.

Bochum, Mönchengladbach, Paderborn and Rheinbach want to join.

The past local elections have shown once again that a pro-bicycle policy is capable of winning a majority, as the electoral successes of the Greens showed, among other things.

And yet: There is still a large gap in NRW between bicycle-friendly rhetoric and real progress for the traffic turnaround, criticized the ADFC.

"If something needs to be implemented and parking spaces have to be replaced for a cycle path, for example, it suddenly becomes not that easy," said Semmelmann.

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Another problem arises with the cross-city cycle expressway Ruhr: the plans for the completion of the showcase project across the Ruhr area "are currently falling into different areas of responsibility" of the municipalities.

"So the great project will remain piecemeal for a long time," said the ADFC state chairman.

Something like that nips any initial euphoria in the bud.

With the new wheel law, he therefore combines the hope that planning processes will be accelerated and more investments will be made in the right projects, says Semmelmann.

"A new spirit" must also move into the state's planning authorities: "The State Office for Roads in North Rhine-Westphalia also needs planners who see bicycle traffic at least as equivalent to car traffic."

Signals in this direction are coming from the Ministry of Transport: In 2021, the state plans to provide an additional 15 million euros to promote cycling - an increase of almost a third.

In 2020, 47.25 million euros flowed from the state budget into wheel removal.

The human resources for bicycle traffic planning will also be increased again.

Ten new positions have already been created at the regional office for bicycle traffic planning.

An eight-person cycle traffic unit has been promoting the issue in the ministry since 2020.

In 2021, five more planners are expected to start their service with the district governments.

"All of this should help to advance the planning, approval and construction ramp-up for the cycle path infrastructure," said the ministry.