Cycling is not always pleasant in Munich. And even if many cycling activists are not moving quickly enough with better and, above all, safer cycle paths, cycling is enjoying increasing popularity. At least that is the result of the “Bike Monitor 2021”, which was created last year and has now been published. It is published every two years and is the result of a survey that the Federal Ministry of Transport classifies as representative. 577 Munich residents between the ages of 14 and 69 were interviewed on the phone or online. It was not just about cycling, but about mobility behavior in general.
This shows once again what effects the corona pandemic is having on people’s mobility. 46 percent stated that they walked more often than before Corona. 37 percent cycle more often. Cars have also increased: 27 percent use them more often than before. On the other hand, the use of local public transport has suffered enormously – also due to the lockdowns and working from home: 45 percent used it less often. That may have changed by now.
Nevertheless, public transport is still the mainstay of mobility. 55 percent use it daily or several times a week, only three percent of those surveyed never. 53 percent stated that they cycled daily or several times a week, while 16 percent never did so. This is roughly the same as for car drivers: the proportion of frequent users is 52 percent, 14 percent never get behind the wheel.
Munich wants to increase the share of cycling and public transport in total traffic. For Mayor Katrin Habenschaden (Greens), strong public transport together with a well-developed network of cycle paths is “the formula for success for the traffic of the future”. Mobility officer Georg Dunkel thinks the city is on the right track. A good half state that they want to cycle more often in the future, which is significantly more than in other cities (42 percent). “The more safe and comfortable cycle paths there are, the more Munich residents will cycle,” says Dunkel.
Twelve percent admit that they disregard traffic rules
The participants cited the environment (54 percent), health (48 percent) and costs (41 percent) as reasons for using a bicycle. The mood among cyclists in Munich is apparently good: 62 percent enjoy cycling, and over two-thirds feel safe on the road. 30 percent feel insecure, including significantly more women (35 percent) than men (25 percent). The main reasons for this are other reckless cyclists, followed by car drivers, too much traffic, the different speeds of the cyclists, cars that are too fast or car doors that suddenly open.
But Munich’s cyclists are still a long way from being 100% satisfied. They would like more bike lanes (52 percent) or protective and cycle lanes (43 percent) and a separation of cars (51 percent) and pedestrians (46 percent). 81 percent would use their bikes more often to get to school or work if there were high-speed bike connections.
Further details on the mobility behavior of Munich residents can be found at muenchenunterwegs.de/information/ Fahrradmonitor-2021. Here the preferences are broken down by age, gender and milieu, among other things. The own assessment of road users was also asked: 84 percent of cyclists said they obeyed the traffic rules. Only 12 percent admit that they tend not to do this. Four percent say, “Don’t know.”