A study shows that the bicycle is playing an increasingly important role. But there are no cycle paths, there is a lack of safety – and the municipalities alone can do little.
Anyone who was cycling on the Salierring in Cologne a few years ago will hardly recognize the street today. In the past, you had to meander along a narrow cycle path here, while cars had two lanes and another lane for parking. Now it is different there – as on many other sections of the so-called Cologne Rings around the historic old town: only one strip is available to drivers, the speed there is reduced to 30 kilometers per hour. In return, the city gave the cyclists more space: on a strip two and a half meters wide, you can now glide along relatively comfortably and relaxed. The former, structurally separate cycle paths have been (or are still being) dismantled, as the city planners say. A positive side effect: This avoids conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists.