Reports from a Cycling City

Bremen Cycle Chic?

Whatever happened to Bremen's online presence in the global cycling advocacy community?

There's a better than good chance that anyone reading this post will be well aware of the great blogs that emanate from the world's most famous cycling cities. From the various -ize websites, Amsterdamize, Copenhagenize, Portlandize, to the Cycle Chic republic of blogs, to more unique sites like  A View from the Cycle Path and BikePortland, local cycling advocates routinely share their experiences in a cycling city with the outside world. They sit alongside an even more impressive range of  blogs from activists in towns and cities around the world - London, New York, Munich, Newcastle,  that are striving to achieve cycling-friendly status. The dialogue between us all has created a strong sense that we are not only looking at developments at home, but looking outward, with, in the case of cycling cities, a sense of pioneering, or in the case of striving cities the desire to learn and progress.

Strange then, that here in Bremen, a city that boasts a cycling modal share of 26%,  there is no such discernable web presence. Having scoured the web for any sign that Bremen has a pioneering cycling culture that is in tune with the best cycling initiatives being developed around the world, I could not find one. Instead, there are three web presences that might be said to represent cycling in Bremen.

First, there is the official website of ADFC Bremen, the rather large city branch of the national cycling organisation of Germany. As the mouthpiece for an official organisation, its job is to publicise their agreed aims, campaigns, and successes. Whilst the ADFC's campaigning work should be commended, its connections with deeper debates about cycling policy in the outside world is therefore limited.

Second, there is the official website of the municipality itself. Here you need to dig deep to get to the various cycling pages, but of course they are all about current or past transport policy. Right now the municipality is working on developing a new Transport Development Plan (in German Verkehrsentwicklungsplan or VEP for short). Nothing here suggests that Bremen is aware of its global standing alongside other cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen as a cycling city that needs to be pioneering the most effective strategies to further cycling as a key means of transport.

 Third, there is one cycling website that does indeed have some connection with the wider world, but in the most peculiar way. Bremen Critical Mass organises monthly cycle rides, just like Critical Mass rides around the world, on the last Friday of each month. Unlike the vast majority of these, however, BCM is not campaigning for better cycling infrastructure. Rather, in a city that already boasts over seven hundred kilometres of separated cycle paths, they are riding for the right to cycle on the road, mixing with other traffic. This reflects recent legal battles about cyclists' rights in Germany. Until the late 1990's, wherever a cycle path existed, cyclists were legally expected to use it, no matter how poor its quality. Not surprisingly, the more sprightly cyclists felt that they would be better off using the road. So ADFC launched an ultimately successful campaign to repeal this obligation. BCM is in many ways an expression of that campaign.

None of these three sites has any connection with the world wide web's community of progressive cycling policy. And living here as a cycling activist, this makes the place feel even more parochial than dear old Darlington. To find a base from which to develop genuinely pioneering cycling policies, we are instead engaged as members of two groups. The Bremen Green Party is currently in power in the city in a coalition with the Social Democrats, and has a healthy internal debating mechanism for policy development. Over the past few months, it has been developing an update of their Master Plan for Cycling, and as ordinary members we have fed our thoughts and ideas into the process. The result is pretty positive, with a short-term aim of 30% modal share, and 50% in the longer term. Interestingly, it has just got a mention in the nearest -ize website to Bremen, hamburgize.com.

Secondly, we are working with Friends of the Earth (BUND) Bremen in a similar way, to develop a cycling policy that furthers the deeper aims of environmental protection and combating climate change.

Bremen needs to realise its potential as a pioneering cycling city. The lack of this public sense of a presence on the global bicycle culture stage - Bremen is regularly involved in official initiatives such as the EU funded PRESTO project - might be more a symptom of the city's lack of collective self-confidence about its self-image, rather than a cause, but either way we sense economic as well as intellectual deficits. There is little on the Bremen tourism website to attract cycling visitors, and new ideas to increase cycling are all coming from elsewhere, yet with no discernible impact on the local debate.

The fact is, Bremen's lack of self-confidence (yes, we are the poorest State in western Germany) has caused it to grossly under-estimate its own achievements to date, and its potential standing on the world stage. This is not simply a cycling deficit - our 700-odd kilometres of cycle path is twice the Copenhagen total - but in many other areas as well. Bremen has an abundance of protected green areas, it has a thriving local cultural scene, a loveable football team with a stadium that is surrounded by solar panels, and its public transport system is comprehensive, comfortable, and headed by an inspiring team that, for example, allow the homeless to ride the trams for free during a cold snap.

Bremen's past cycling achievements - most kids cycle to school, Bremen car drivers are much more cyclist-aware, and the considerable existing infrastructure - makes it a city that is culturally prepared for another great leap forward.  There is much to do to make Bremen's cycling infrastructure fit for a 50% modal share. That is exactly what the city should now focus on.

Copenhagen

So, we've made it to Copenhagen! In some ways it's an advantage that we're staying out of town (in Gentofte). The suburbs are quite different from the city, where metropolitan rushing seems to be the order of the day. In fact mobility in Copenhagen altogether seems more frantic than the likes of Bremen. The wide cycle paths don't simply cater for large numbers. They cater for different styles - and speeds - of cycling.

Don't be fooled by the excellent Cycle Chic movement. Large numbers of Copenhagen's cyclists, chic or otherwise, seem to be in a mighty hurry to get to wherever they are going. Maybe they have taken the point that cycling is quicker than driving in a city to heart, and are desperate to prove it with every last heave of the pedal. The funny thing is, this speed cycling is not restricted to the helmet and lycra brigade. Today, for example, we were doing our usual 15 kilometres per hour pootle along the coast, on a lovely sunny day (it's my birthday, all the more reason to pootle), when we were overtaken by a frantic, bell ringing lass in her 30's, sitting more or less horizontal with head right down between her handlebars. Only they were dutch style handlebars, the grips a good foot back from her nose.

Could this strange (in our eyes) cultural phenomenon be simply a result of our having spent too many years in small, provincial Darlington, the "quiet town" of 1970s fame? Or is said birthday (shit, 59!!!!!) a watershed in the ageing process, when suddenly everything and everyone around you seems so young, fit and fast (ok, drop that last remark when applied to the young of Darlo)?

Maybe the Copenhagen Cycle Quick movement is related to the thousands of joggers we've also spotted around the city. There seems to be a positive plague of jogging going on here, and not just in the obvious places like parks and waterfronts. We sat outside our hotel last night here in quiet suburban Gentofte until just before midnight, and the two wildly exciting events were either a bus passing or a jogger jogging on the main street. But then I suppose hectic metropolitan life doesn't stop for silly things like sleep, so maybe we should expect such sights, even in Gentofte at midnight.

As for the serious stuff, cycling infrastructure, well we've done the videos, both in the city and out here in the suburbs, and we'll be editing them together over the next few weeks. Having cycled in to Copenhagen from the countryside, and before that from Germany, there are interesting comparisons to be made between the German rural/urban and Danish rural/urban approaches, and we'll be aiming to do that with the video material. Suffice to say right now, Copenhagen still has its car-centric legacy (motorways going right into the city, traffic jams, appalling noise) in many areas. But this simply illustrates the historical urgency of the pro-cycling policy. Much had to be done, much has been done, and much more is and will be done. And at its core, this involves taking space from motorised transport and using this to create substantial cycling infrastructure to a high standard. A standard, in fact, that needs to accomodate we pootlers, the cycle chic of the city, and the permanent rush-hourers.

Video report to come!

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A Brief Pause on the Cycle Path

Today started wet, developed into cloudy, ended sunny. More solid cycle paths along country roads, with variable provision in the villages.

After 3 days of such wide open spaces, it then came as a bit of a shock to arrive in Kühlungsborn.

Ah well. It got us out of the hotel and away from this iPad!

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Schwerin to Wismar

The 35 kilometres from Schwerin to Wismar follows the Hamburg - Rügen cycle route, with regular glimpses of the Schwerin Lake for the first 20, and a wonderful stretch of traffic-free cycle path for much of the rest.

As I blogged yesterday, the cycle infrastructure development strategy relies heavily on the concept of sharing with pedestrians in villages. Our first stretch along the lake took us along a separated cycle path like this one between each village. As we approached a village, in this case Wickendorf, the path merged into a shared pedestrian/cycle path. As we left the village, the cycle path began again. There were odd pedestrians using the cycle path between villages, but this was expected and didn't cause either party any problems.
There were odd exceptions. The village of Dorf Mecklenburg had no pavement to share at the edge of the village, so both pedestrians and cyclists were on the road until the village centre, at which point it was assumed that cyclists used the road. This also happened to be the one stretch where were overtaken by two speeding cars, complete with loud disco glop blaring out the windows.
The stretch before and after said village was glorious. A long cycling-only country lane took us through wooded stretches and open fields, as we descended gently towards the sea. Then we caught our first glimpse of Wismar's shipyards in the distance.


The sun was out for much of the day, but as with most of this summer in Germany, it was interrupted twice by thunderstorms, once in the early afternoon, so a perfect time for a lunch stop..

..and later again after we had arrived at our hotel, and were parking our bicycles in the hotel garage.

All in all, a wonderful easy day of cycling. Today we'll be pootling along the coast to Kühlungsborn, an old seaside resort, on the Baltic Sea route.
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Location:Wismar

Schwerin

So as planned we take the train to Schwerin, along with 14 other bicycles. Here we are in the cycle wagon, somewhat full and, contrary to German stereotypes, most bikes have been placed in the wrong space. You book a space for your bike on inter-city trains in Germany, but we found ours were already occupied when we got on the train, so had to take someone else's.
Once in Schwerin we decided on an afternoon ride around the large lake; very pretty, and a rather famous grand castle at the start. After 30 kms the rain closed in, so we had a fast peddle back to the hotel.
As for cycling infrastructure, cyclists are fairly well catered for on the tourist circuit. Once in Schwerin, things are a bit less so. But in both cases an obvious strategy has been developed. Bearing in mind that the town was until 25 years ago part of the GDR, in that short time a fair amount has been done for cyclists, but based on this expedient of simply converting pavements to shared use cycle/pedestrian routes. The main road into Schwerin has this all the way down into town. As does much of the lake circuit, for example when passing through villages.
But the expedient works for two reasons. First, pedestrians expect cyclists. And second, motorists are trained to give way to both pedestrians and cyclists at junctions. It's not perfect. There was a strategy in place for developing cycling in Schwerin, but it seems the town council have ditched it in May. The German link suggests a familiar experience - politicians apparently listening to local cycling representatives, then suddenly ditching the whole discussion.
Be that as it may, Schwerin has its positive points. There is certainly a strong cycling culture here, there are still trams running as I write this after midnight, and the town centre's pedestrian heart is more fully pedestrian than Darlington. Yes, there are cyclists (though not during peak hours, sadly), but perhaps more interesting is the way in which buses travel through the pedestrian area.

Buses travelling at this kind of speed reinforce the idea that this part of the town belongs to the pedestrian, and others are invited. Intriguingly, we watched taxi drivers and a security car driver ignore this concept, suggesting that there is a clear political attempt, via the local bus company, to develop a culture of slow traffic in the town centre.

These phenomena - motorists giving way and slow buses- are no god-given behaviours. They are deliberately fostered by political will. The other side of the coin? I leave that to you, the reader, to describe.

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