Bakfiets making friends at the local supermarket.
Germany has a lot of ‘utility’ or transport cyclists, although the majority seem to hibernate for winter.
I can’t help thinking that if Ostfildern actually made some slightly better infrastructure and kept the cycle lanes clear we would get a lot more, but then my cynical side wonders if more cyclists is exactly what the local government is trying to avoid.
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March 7, 2012 at 11:55 am
Iain Robinson
“Utility, or transport cyclists” i.e. proper cyclists 😉 I’m quite happy to race in the pouring rain, wind, hail, whatever. But go to the shops on my mountain bike, or be seen riding a “normal” bike? No. So it’s not just the attitudes of the motorists that have to change! I do agree with your point about infrastructure though. My excuse is that it’s too darn dangerous to ride near my house (which it is). Remove that and I’d have to actually do something instead of loading the bike on my car for training rides.
March 9, 2012 at 9:46 am
Andy in Germany
Hello Ian. Sorry if that came across: I tried very hard not to use a word that implied ‘proper’ cyclists. I can’t remember when I last used a normal (short) bike. I hear you on the danger of cycling though: statistically it’s safer than people think, but when you’re on a bike in traffic it feels awfully easy to become a statistic…
March 7, 2012 at 1:08 pm
jet
If you build it they will come – this is as true for cyclists as it is for motor vehicles…. it just takes a bit longer for the cyclists to repopulate…. all the new bike racks in the city started off being empty, and now they are all being used…. the lack of infrastructure at the local supermarket was the last straw to stop me shopping there, I am sick of my bike being bumped up against by cagers who want to edge their front tyres into the curbing while my bike is chained to a parking sign….
March 7, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Kim
Build it and market it, and they will come seems to be the way it works in many places. Just point out München is doing… 😉
March 9, 2012 at 9:51 am
Andy in Germany
Hello Jet: I think you’re right: the bike racks above are a great example: they’re always full and on this day there were bikes elsewhere as well. Compare this with other shops that don’t have facilities: no bikes there.
Hi Kim: Quite true: last time I had one of these meetings I used Freiburg as an example, and the Councillor said: “Oh well, it’s flat there”
I asked about Tübingen (Very hilly, lots of infrastructure and bikes)
“Come off it, they have a completely different philosophy…”
Er…