Basel: German Car Driver Tries to Park in Cycle Parking Garage

Basel: Deutscher Autofahrer versucht in Fahrradparkhaus zu parken

Cycle track to the velo parking station in Basel

 Unbelievable: This could never happen in Hamburg. A car driver tried to park his car in the underground velo parking station (map) at Basel central train station, as Basler Zeitung reported. Probably the wide Basel cycle tracks made the car driver believe he would enter a garage for cars.

Basel Citizens Decide to Reduce Car Driving by 10% - More Money for Velo

Cycling in the 21st century: Most Basel cycle routes look extremely exemplary and decades ahead compared to Hamburg

Basel in Switzerland shows the right way. The citizens decided to reduce car traffic until 2020 about 10% and to spend 10 Mio CHF (7.5 Mio €) for pedestrian and cycle traffic during the next four years. Environment Protection Act of Basel will be adapted according to the citizens vote.

Today 40% of Basel citizens use a car, 60% use tram, bus, cycle or just walk.



More Basel on hamburgize.com:

• Basel Cycle Tracks as Model for Hamburg

• "Vehicular Cycling"

• Basel - City of Cyclists and Trams

Hamburg Started Undoing Dangerous Eyesores (3) - Less Cycle Tracks

Hamburg startet Abbau von Gefahrenstellen (3) - Weniger Radwege

Steinstraße / Lange Mühren Nov. 2010 avoiding conflict with pedestrians
Steinstraße / Lange Mühren im November 2010: Konfliktvermeideung mit Fußgängerverkehr

Recently traffic management for cyclists in Steinstraße have been changed. At the KAUFHOF department store and the tax office building the very narrow cycle track has been closed. Cyclists in direction to Speersort and city hall are guided from an old cycle track onto the road lane without any alternative. Some parts of the cycle track are still visible at Jakobi church, the Hochbahn building and Speersort. The obligation to use them has been given up.

Steinstraße / Lange Mühren before renewal
Steinstraße / Lange Mühren vor Umbau: Fußgänger stauen sich auf dem Radweg

Steinstraße / Lange Mühren before renewalSteinstraße / Lange Mühren vor Umbau: Fußgänger stauen sich auf dem Radweg

Steinstraße / Lange Mühren before renewal
Steinstraße / Lange Mühren vor Umbau: Fußgänger auf dem Radweg

The bad cycle track caused heavy conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians like nearly no other cycle track in Hamburg. Giving up the cycle track is the consequence, but cycle promotion looks different than cycling with heavy car traffic on the road lanes. Doubling the cycle traffic proportion is a strong climate protection target of the city of Hamburg, but car drivers will not feel addressed to change onto a cycles without any cycle infrastructure like in Steinstraße now.

Former odd cycle track, narrow, lots of conflicts
Ehemaliger Radweg, schmal, viele Konflikte

Cool: Waste deposal exclusively for cyclists
Cool: Abfallbehälter exklusiv für Radfahrer

Conflicts on odd cycle track
Konflikte auf kümmerlichem Radweg

Conflicts on odd cycle track

Conflicts with pedestrians

Conflicts with pedestrians

Conflicts with pedestrians

Pedestrians on cycle track waiting for green light

Conflicts with pedestrians

Conflicts
Konflikte

Very uncomfortable

Contrary to the Hamburg way promoting cycling on road lanes Copenhagen tries to increase number of cyclists with new cycle tracks to the disadvantage of space for car traffic. Copenhagen wants to increase cycle proportion from 36% to 50%, therefore motorists should give up driving with cars. As example this year in Stormgade new cycle tracks were implemented on both sides, therefore one road lane was given up. Copenhagen community welcomed cyclists for cycling on the new cycle tracks after opening last September. Hamburg´s administration and politicians should declare any more that streets of Hamburg are to small for good cycle infrastructure.

Copenhagen Stormgade with four road lanes, no cycle tracks

Copenhagen Stormgade now has cycle tracks on both sides, but only three lanes for car traffic

Copenhagen Stormgade with four road lanes, no cycle tracks
Kopenhagens Stormgade vor Umbau mit vier Fahrstreifen und ohne Radwege

Copenhagen Stormgade now has cycle tracks on both sides, but only three lanes for car traffic
Radverkehrsförderung: Kopenhagens Stormgade hat nun Radwege auf beiden Seiten und nur noch 3 statt vier Fahrspuren

Cargo Bikes Capture Hamburg - The Ultimate SUVs

Lastenfahrräder erobern Hamburg - Die besten SUVs

Nihola tested in Hamburg

 In the last few years cargo-bikes became visible in the streets of Hamburg. Nowadays in certain quarters cargo bikers carry children, cycle for shopping, transport a christmas tree home or can be seen for any other transport purpose. Nienstedten, Othmarschen, Ottensen, Altona, Schanze, St. Pauli, Neustadt, Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft, Eppendorf and Winterhude are the favorite districts of cargo bikes in Hamburg. Cargo bikes are very common in Danmark and the Netherlands, bad German cycle tracks and the bad cycle climate stopped using cargo bikes in Hamburg until now. In the last few years Hamburg cycle tracks became a little wider and meantime a few of them can even be used with cargo bikes. According to the German legislation (StVO) cargo bikers are allowed to use the normal lanes of the streets, if the cycle tracks are too small for them. For some cyclists this might be an additional option to ride a cargo bike - cycling in Hamburg is much easier and less dangerous if not using the odd cycle tracks.

Cargo bike at "Budni" St. Pauli

Cargo bike personalized of St Pauli fan

Shopping at Schulterblatt market with christianiabike

Christianiabike in a store in Ottensen - it is not a drive in. The cyclist feared to leave the little boy outside the store.

Nihola at Großneumarkt

Nihola in Ottensen

Testing nihola on Hamburg cycle tracks
Testfahrt mit Nihola auf "Radweg" in der Weidenallee

In the face of the Bicycle Strategy Paper for Hamburg conditions for cyclists might be improved in the next years and Hamburg is going to expect lots of cool bikes on the streets. Copenhagen and Amsterdam citizens have given up driving cars for riding very popular bakfiets or niholas or christianiabikes. Other cool quality cargo bikes are bullitt, jernhest, smarttrike, triobike or winther kangaroo. 25% of all families with two kids in Copenhagen own a cargo bike or a bicycle trailer. Hamburg has a big potential for green urban and sustainable mobility, if the city promotes using cargo bikes to transport children to kindergarten or playgrounds.

It is a great difference for a child´s perspective out of a bike or a car window. This child might also ride a bike as a grown-up.

SUV-traffic in Frederiksberg

Triobike on Copenhagen cycle track

Jernhest waiting for maintenence

Transport with bullitt in Vesterbro

Kangaroo at Frederiksberg shopping center

Bakfiets at Amsterdam central station

Smarttrike in Amsterdam

Cult bike

Meanwhile cyclists do not have to travel to Copenhagen or Amsterdam to get a good cargo bike. In Munich VELOCOMPANY cycle store at Schwabing is specialized only for cargo bikes, in Berlin several cycle stores have cargo bikes in their repertoire. In Hamburg niholas are offered at Liegeradstudio and christianiabikes can be bought at Flottbike. Hopefully the famous cargo bike manufacturers are going to show their bikes at one of the Hamburg cycling fairs. Fifty christianiabikes are sold per year at Flottbike, but the number is increasing. Hamburg needs more cargo bikes.

Munich is ahead with the offer of cargo bike types. VELOCOMPANY offers the cool bullitts and is specialized for cargo bikes.

Flottbike offers christianiabike

Christianiabike at Flottbike show room in elegant steel frame

Nihola is waiting at Liegeradstudio

Jewel of Cycle Culture back again - the Postwoman at Hoheluft in Hamburg

Hamburger Fahrradkultur: Die Postradlerin ist wieder da

Jewel of cycle culture in Hamburg

Hamburg´s cyclist also have a symbol in town, the postwoman at Hoheluftchaussee close to the post-office. 2005 she disappeared from the street in front of the post-office, that had been moved to the new buildings at the former tram workshops. This summer the postwoman is back to her former place at Hoheluftchaussee, where the post office had been before the new shopping center was built.

Postwoman back in 2010
Postradlerin 2010

For many years the unsmiling postwoman looked onto Hoheluftchaussee. Maybe she looked sorrowful because of the very bad condition of the cycle track at Hoheluftchaussee directly in front of her. Hoheluftchaussee had one of the worst cycle tracks in Hamburg just at the former post-office and still cycle infrastructure at whole Hoheluftchaussee do not fulfill the regulations. The post girl seemed to show solidarity to all cyclists passing her as an advocacy, the only visible advocacy for cyclists in town. In times of Hamburg cycle traffic strategy and European Green Capital the post lady can smile someday in future hopefully. This jewel of cycle culture belongs to Hamburg and must become more popular.

Postwoman before she disappeared in 2005
Postradlerin 2005

Unsmiling postwoman before removal

A sister of the postwoman is working at a weatherstation in Copenhagen

Another relative racing with green wave on Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen

Cycle track near the postwoman some years ago

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Hamburg Started Undoing Dangerous Eyesores (2)

Typical crossing situation for cyclists in Hamburg. Cyclists take a shortcut via the sidewalk. Stresemannstraße at Ruhstraße some years ago.

Hamburg has a huge lack in building good bicycle infrastructure. Most of the cycle tracks are too narrow, at intersections cyclists need to do detours, pedestrians walk on the cycle tracks and car drivers don´t watch out for cyclists often enough.

At Stresemannstraße a very bad crossing had been moderated as renewal of the cycle tracks are still going on along that street up to Bahrenfelder Chaussee.

Due to the bad running of the cycle tracks at intersections cyclists do not follow the cycle track, but shorten the way via sidewalks. The new crossing for cyclists calm down conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians and don´t make car drivers uncertain about behavior of cyclists.

Stresemannstraße at Ruhrstraße before renewal.

Stresemannstraße: The normal cycle track in Hamburg is not made for trailers or cargo bikes.

Same intersection: Stresemannstraße at Ruhstraße after renewal 2010