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Bike lane instead of car lane: Several German cities followed this recipe at the start of the corona pandemic, which is how they responded to increased bicycle traffic. In many places, commuters preferred riding bicycles rather than buses or trains to minimize the risk of infection; at times, the bicycle even replaced the automobile as the most important means of transportation.
Munich also established several such cycle lanes, including on Rosenheimer Strasse, Zweibrückenstrasse and Gabelsbergerstrasse. However, in early November, the bike lanes must be dismantled again, the Munich city council decided.
The bike lanes were enabled as a traffic test, which ends on October 31. The ADFC bike club, but also the Greens wanted to keep the bike lanes. However, its coalition partner in the city council, the SPD, voted on Wednesday together with the CSU and the FDP to remove the temporary bike lanes.
The second mayor of Munich, Katrin Habenschaden (Greens), criticized that the decision contradicted the interests of the population. A successful referendum on bicycle policy and the local elections in March showed that the people of Munich wanted a better bicycle infrastructure.
ADAC welcomes the dismantling of bike lanes
“While other major European cities are implementing the traffic switch in a hurry, there is no political will in Munich for a few kilometers of bike lanes,” Habenschaden said. “With this discouragement we will not solve either the traffic or the weather problems in our city.” In addition, in an evaluation, not only cyclists, but also the Munich Transport Company, police and district committees rated the traffic attempt positively, according to Habenschaden.
It had been agreed from the beginning that the bike lanes would disappear again at the end of October, the SPD justified its position. Investigation is now being made of where these tracks can be permanently installed over the next year.
The ADAC Automobile Club appreciates the decision. “It is good for Munich that the bike lanes are being dismantled again,” says Alexander Kreipl, traffic policy spokesman for ADAC Südbayern.
“From the beginning it was said that you wanted to test bike lanes and then evaluate them, we think that’s good,” said Kreipl. Despite the growing number of corona infections, he doesn’t see any point in maintaining bike lanes, because the outlook in Munich is currently the same as in previous years: “The weather is getting worse and fewer people are cycling. It would be helpful, therefore questionable, “says Kreipl. Because many people also switched to cars for fear of infection, especially in bad weather. And then, according to the ADAC spokesperson, emerging bike lanes would only make congestion problems worse.
However, according to an analysis of SPIEGEL data, this is not necessarily the case. For example, on Kapuzinerstraße in Munich, which was previously a four-lane access to the center, a car lane was converted to a bicycle lane in 2013. However, this did not turn the street into a traffic jam for motorists.
Traffic flowed there 0.5 to 0.7 km / h slower than in 2012; however, based on data analysis, this effect was observed throughout Munich. Between 9 a.m.
