Revolution on Two Wheels

More and more Germans are saddling up and getting on their bikes – both in their free time and to travel to work. Cycling is definitely in. Trend researchers are already talking of a bike boom.

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In Münster, the “bicycle capital of Germany,” 35% of the people in the center of the city travel by bicycle.

(© picture-alliance / dpa/dpaweb)

High petrol prices, maddening traffic jams, the never-ending search for a parking space. No problem for Philipp Kuss: “I never lose my cool about such things.” The 26-year-old banker from Frankfurt-am-Main doesn’t have a car. He swears by his bicycle. Every morning he gets on his mountain bike and cycles to the office – in his suit and tie. It’s so practical: a bike lane runs straight from his doorstep to the Bundesbank, where he works. As thousands of cars crawl through Frankfurt’s rush hour, Kuss has a relaxing cycle ride to work. It takes him a good 20 minutes to cover the approximately five kilometers. “Cycling is the quickest and healthiest way for me to get to the office. And the cheapest, of course,” says Kuss.

More and more people in Germany are following Philipp Kuss’s example and switching from four to two wheels. About 80 percent of German households already have a bicycle. And these days they don’t only use it in their free time; more and more people are rediscovering the bike as a routine mobile alternative to the car. When you ride a bike, you save money, keep fit and spare the environment. There’s also been a change of image, of course. The times are over when cyclists used to be laughed at as bores, and bikes were regarded as old-fashioned. Cycling is cool today. The bike personifies a modern lifestyle. Cycling is in. This is also confirmed by the German trend researcher Matthias Horx. In his 2008 Trend Report he predicts that the future belongs to the bicycle. He calls the bike the “first evolutionary winner of climate change” and goes on to claim that the bicycle boom will generate a diverse, pedal-based service and lifestyle culture.

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This letter carrier can also bike during work. Mail is delivered by bicycle in 18,600 of the 54,000 delivery areas in Germany.

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

Two sectors of the economy are already noticing what analysts like Horx predict. In tourism Germany is developing into a popular destination for cycle tours. More than 20 million Germans used their bikes on holiday in 2007. The German Tourist Board (DZT) has also recognized the great demand for cycling holidays, so together with the German Cyclists’ Federation (ADFC) it now publishes a guide called “Discovering Germany by Bike” in German and English. The second winner is the bicycle industry itself, of course. Sales at Germany’s 5,700 bicycle shops were up again this year compared to 2007. The Bicycle Wholesale and International Trade Association (ZGA) expects bicycle revenue in Germany to rise slightly to 1.7 billion euros in 2008. “The bike is popular, it doesn’t have any natural enemies,” is the optimistic viewpoint of the Central Association of the Bicycle Industry (ZIV). Every year in Germany more than 4.5 million new bicycles are added to the 68 million that are already there. Customers in Germany pay an average of 368 euros for a bike, although the price jumps significantly when people want sophisticated technologies and an attractive design. Modern electric bicycles and flexible folding bikes promise a completely new cycling experience and are very much part of the current trend. Some of the 35 German manufacturers specialize in them.

The bicycle business is going particularly well in German cities. This is where the new individual mobility and the switch from the car or public transport to bikes is most visible. It’s also where a bicycle can show its greatest strengths: on average a bike is faster than a car over distances of up to six kilometers in cities. Münster is no exception here. This university town is regarded as Germany’s pedallers’ paradise. The 250,000 inhabitants here own more than twice that number of bicycles. But in the major cities, too, the rolling revolution on two wheels is making progress, raising the bicycle’s still modest share of ten percent of total traffic in Germany. The cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne all have their own bicycle officers. And bicycles are also an issue in politics: the Federal Government has passed a “National Bicycle Traffic Plan,” and cities are pursing ambitious bicycle targets. Munich’s Mayor wants to make his city the most bicycle-friendly in Germany and increase the bike’s share of traffic from ten to 15 percent. But competition threatens from the north: Hamburg is planning to double its cycle traffic to 18 percent by 2015.

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Bikes can be transported with the regional and local train systems, but an additional bike ticket is sometimes required.

(© picture-alliance/ dpa)

In Frankfurt, home of our cycling banker Philipp Kuss, there is another initiative to get more people onto their bikes. The regional Hesse branch of the ADFC and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Planning Association have launched a pilot project called “Bike & Business.” The aim is to persuade people to leave their cars at home and to bike to work in Frankfurt and the surrounding region. “The aim of the project is to show people that it’s fun to ride your bike; we also want to create a bicycle-friendly climate in companies, who can then present themselves as modern and environment-friendly,” says Norbert Sanden of ADFC Hesse, who runs the project office. Sanden has been delighted with the response: up to now 45,000 employees of nine municipalities and 14 major companies have signed up to “Bike & Business.”

One of these companies is Philipp Kuss’ employer, Deutsche Bundesbank. It was one of the first employers to join the project in 2004. Since then it has invested in an improved bicycle infrastructure and promoted cycling with events such as Mobility Days. And it has been successful: the percentage of employees cycling to work has risen – from six to currently ten percent. The Bundesbank has only been topped by Google Germany in Hamburg, who have actually provided their employees with bikes. In 2007 the Internet company gave its employees brand new bicycles. The marketing manager’s idea won Google the German Bicycle Award. The Bundesbank isn’t planning to buy bicycles in Frankfurt as well, nor is Philipp Kuss expecting it to do so. He is already benefiting from the bank’s bicycle-friendly surroundings. So he intends to continue cycling to the office – and won’t be buying a car for the time being.

Article provided courtesy of © Deutschland Magazine www.magazine-deutschland.de