Local news Bremen

30/09/2011
Bremen inaugurates first bicycle barometer

A 25% cycling mode share makes Bremen a “champion” cycling city and the cycling capital in Germany for cities of over 500,000. The newly installed bicycle barometer is another step the city is taking to raise further awareness to cycling and to highlight the importance of cycling as a daily transport mode.

Following the official opening of the bicycle street “Wachmannstrasse” in early September, on 21 September 2011 the first bicycle barometer in Bremen was inaugurated by Dr Joachim Lohse, Senator for Environment. It marks a further step Bremen is taking to improve the infrastructure for non-motorised traffic and to further increase the cycling share in the city. The bicycle barometer, located on the Wilhelm Kaisen Bridge, is the first of eight bicycle counters the city is planning to install in the next months (the Wilhelm Kaisen counter will be the only one with a digital display).

The counter collects data for differenttime frames (hour, day, month, year) through loops under the pavement. The data are automatically displayed and later analysed to determine the development of cycling in the city. The information is also transmitted to the traffic management centre.

But there is more to the bicycle barometer than just counting cyclists: it raises awareness of the number of cyclists in Bremen and motivates those who do not cycle yet to try it out. The city is eager to demonstrate to cyclists the importance of their means of transport, combined with a thank you for their contribution to the environmental protection.

Bremen installed this bicycle barometer within the framework of the IEE STEER project PRESTO; it is the first city in Germany to do so, following other European cycling cities such as Odense, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Örebro and Apeldoorn, who already have such counters in place.

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Source: Press release city of Bremen http://www.senatspressestelle.bremen.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=44657

1/07/2010
Bremen Bicycle Festival in June
The Bremen bike festival of ADFC (General German Bicycle Club) took place on Sunday 20th June, being hosted for the first time by the green area of the city walls. The event was opened by bicycle tours and a bike rally for families. The bicycle was also the focus of the festival programme “AOK-RadSonntag“ (CycleSunday) which is celebrated and promoted by AOK health insurance nationwide. All day long live music, magic and the "Bremen Tri-Rad-Lon" contest entertained the visitors. Info pavilions and delicious food accompanied a fun and relaxing afternoon. The ADFC advised visitors on bicycle maps, bicycle tours and cycling routes; for bargain hunters there was a convenient bookseller booth. Retailers organised a show including the latest electrically assisted bicycles (pedelecs) and invited the public to try them out. The police offered advice on theft prevention and ADFC coded bikes. AOK‘s health experts gave advice on daily physical activity and leading an active lifestyle. Regional Tourism offices provided information and advice on bike tours and destinations. The Bremen bicycle festival is supported every year by the Senator for the Environment, Construction, Transport and Europe. Moreover, the fastival promoted a good example of cycle-friendly events in the context of the European project PRESTO.

25/02/2010
"Beauty and the Bike"

Bremen took part in a campaign to promote cycling among girls in 2008. The project is called "Beauty and the Bike" and involved two groups of teenage girls in the city of Darlington (UK) and Bremen. It aimed to explore more deeply the reasons why girls stop cycling in the UK. More information on the campaign is available at www.bikebeauty.org

31/10/2009

Bremen seeks to improve accessibility by bicycle to large scale events in town.
From May 20th-24th 2009, about 100.000 visitors came to Bremen to join the biannual event of the Protestant Church Days. Due to the size of the event it was organized in three main locations and many smaller ones all around Bremen. Tackling the question of how all these visitors could move around (apart from the usual maximum public transport service) the event planners of the church, the city of Bremen and the local bicycle advocates (ADFC) decided for a wide spread support for bicycles at the event:

• launch of a 600 piece free bicycle “rental”;
• Church Day Bicycle - special edition, very nice bike for sale before and during the event (around 800 were sold);
• additional bike parking with 1.000 mobile bike racks for 2.000 bicycles mounted at the locations;
• the local bicycle advocacy “ADFC” coordinated more than 50 voluntary helpers.

Project-evaluation was perceived as a great success and it shall be published in a handbook and discussed at a conference in Bremen on November 2nd. Even before it started, the project won the 2009 “best for bike award”.