In Frankfurt there are no cycle highways, only a few cargo bikes, so far only a handful of cycle streets.

Frankfurt is not Copenhagen, not even Münster, and Hessen is not Holland either.

So far, only every tenth trip in the country is made by bike.

Town and country have long been below average when it comes to cycling.

Timo Steppat

Correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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Both are ruled green, both want it to be more.

Traffic researchers suggest that cyclists should become the number one road user after pedestrians, at least in the city.

A huge change, for which role models such as Copenhagen or Amsterdam took decades, should succeed here in just a few years.

Almost an impossibility.

Stefan Lüdecke, Frankfurt's top cycle path planner, is not out to argue with drivers.

But he knows it can easily happen.

Lüdecke is leaning against his service bike at the Eschenheimer Tor, a large intersection on the edge of the city center.

"This is a car-friendly city par excellence," he says, looking at the traffic junction.

“The cross-section of the road is completely dominated by cars, all other road users are pushed to the side.” The narrow cycle lane has already been significantly widened and separated from the carriageway.

The cycle path will soon be even wider and go in both directions, Lüdecke is convinced that there is no other way to deal with the growing number of cyclists.

Soon there will only be one lane left for the car, as in many places in the city.

"Traffic area redistribution" is what Lüdecke calls it. He doesn't want to talk about losses, preferring to talk about a fairer distribution.

"Until now, cars have taken up a lot of space, and space is limited in cities."

Right of way for bicycles

Directly opposite is a trophy of the still young struggle for distribution.

At the entrance to the Oeder Weg, a side street that leads to the north end, there is a white sign with a blue bicycle symbol and the inscription "Fahrradstraße" underneath.

It was installed just a few weeks ago.

Cars are still allowed to enter, but cyclists have the right of way, always.

At least one driveway has been closed to limit through traffic.

Where parking spaces used to be lined up, there are now modules with seating and large metal tubs in which bushes and trees are supposed to grow in the spring.

There are more bicycle parking spaces anyway.

Lüdecke and his people want people to enjoy staying there.

The new Oeder Weg is the result of a negotiation.

In 2018, a bicycle movement was formed in Frankfurt, which organized demonstrations and collected 40,000 signatures for better and safer bike paths as part of a citizens' initiative.

A cheerful protest that initially met with little resistance.

Only now, years later, when the street redistribution has long since started, does the anger grow.

Local advisory councils of the CDU complain that cyclists and motorists are being played off against each other, that traffic policy is being carried out headlessly - the "trial and error" principle.

A Hessian CDU politician assumes that resistance to this is only just beginning.

People would only protest against the changes if they couldn't find a parking space at all.

But then it was too late and the car was locked out of the city.

The bicycle lobbyists are still not moving fast enough

In the traffic department, the citizens' initiative four years ago caused a fundamental rethink.

Until then, attempts had been made to reconcile all interests, remembers Lüdecke, who was already involved in transport planning at the time.

Because space was tight, the car was usually preferred.

After the town hall election in 2021, the Greens took over the traffic department and wanted to realize many of the things that have been possible since the 2020 reform of the road traffic regulations.

This includes the “experimentation clause”, which gives cities more freedom.

A lot has changed since then, even if the bicycle lobbyists are still not moving fast enough.