Bicycle Use Trends in Germany
Funded by
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Contents
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Methodology: How was the use of bicycles measured?

Comparison of bikes to other means of transport

Bicycle ownership in Germany

Who travels by bike often and who seldom

What types of journeys do people take by bike

Where do people travel by bike? Purpose of travel

In what areas are bikes used? Area types
(Printed edition of the issue: Cycling Expertise No. A-1 by Difu, Berlin 2010)
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Bicycle Use Trends in Germany
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
Between 1975 and 1980 cycling began experiencing a
renaissance.

This has continued to an even greater extent in recent years.

Since the 1970s: Systematic study of transportation use has been
ongoing in Germany.

Mobility figures for individual cities have been recorded even
longer.

What are the actual findings of transport studies regarding bicycle
use in Germany?
Methodology
How was the use of different means of transport measured?
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
Statistically substantiated conclusions regarding bike use can be
proven by using surveys of representative households.

A predefined number of residents or households are questioned
on their everyday travel habits.

This was previously done using written questionnaires alone,
today it is often done in phone interviews.

The data pools gathered are then analysed in different studies
with different focuses.
Methodology
The studies Mobilität in Deutschland (MID) and Mobilität in Städten
(SrV)
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
In 1976 the study series Kontinuierliche Erhebungen zum
Verkehrsverhalten (KONTIV) was launched in the Federal Republic
of Germany.

In the meantime it has been expanded to the study Mobility in
Germany (MID).

1972 the GDR began conducting the study System
repräsentativer Verkehrsumfragen (SrV).

It was continued as Mobility in Cities (SrV), a nationwide study
series conducted by the TU Dresden on numerous individual cities.
Methodology
When viewed together, these series of studies offer an overall picture
of mobility in Germany
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
MID provides data on the development of transport over large
areas > primarily to assist in federal and Länder planning.

SrV offers data for the examination of local transport habits within
individual cities > represents an important instrument for
municipal transport planning.
Comparison of bikes to other means of transport
Modal split shares
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
In Germany, the nationwide
modal share of cycling in
2008 was about 10%.

By comparison, in 2002
cycling had a share of about
9%.

The usage share for other
means of transport has also
remained relatively constant
since 2002.
Fig.1: Modal split shares (in percent)
of the various transportation modes
in Germany 2002 and 2008. (MID 2008)
Comparison of bikes to other means of transport
Traffic volume: The increasing importance of cycling
car
cycling
walking
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Fig.2: Traffic volume in selected German cities.
Shares of the various transportation modes 1972–2008
(1972–1987 only former GDR cities). (SrV 2008)
Comparison of bikes to other means of transport
Absolute number
of journeys:
Cycling’s decided growth
Fig.3: Developments in utilization of specific means of transport from 2002
to 2008 in Germany (total number of journeys per day). (MID 2008)
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At 17% bikes enjoyed the largest growth of any means of transport.

Public transport and walking are on the rise as well.

Car use has stagnated after decades of growth, although trip
distances are increasing.

This change can primarily attributed to the car use of younger
generations.
Bicycle ownership in Germany
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
The number of households
which own no bike is
decreasing.

The average number of
bicycles per capita has slightly
increased: from 0,9 in 2002 to
0,9 in 2008.

Bike ownership varies
between different kinds of
households:
o
Younger persons own
more bikes than older
ones.
o
Bigger Households own
more bikes than single
person households.
Fig.4: Bicycle ownership in Germany, broken down according to
number of bikes per household (% of all households). (MID 2008)
Wo travels by bike often and who seldom?
Sociological user groups
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Bikes are used by all types of
people.

They are available to more or
less everyone.

Cycling’s highest modal share
can be observed among
employed people aged 18 to 65
who do not own a car.

Another sector who strongly
uses the bike is those under 18
who neither work nor own a
car.
Fig.5: Modal shares of bike transport broken down
according to sociological user groups. (SrV 2008)
What types of journeys do people take by bike?

Cycling’s modal share depends
greatly upon the distance of
the journey.

Cycling can be an alternative to
cars on short and medium
length routes.

Distances of one to two
kilometres make up the largest
share of bike trips (19%).

For journeys of between two
and five kilometres, the share
of cycling is 14%.
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Bicycle traffic had it’s strongest
increase on distances between
five and ten kilometres.
Fig.6: Share of pedestrian and cycling traffic
broken down into travel distances. (MID 2008)
Where do people travel by bike?
Findings of the SrV 2008 study
show:
The share of use of specific
transport means differs
considerably depending on the
reason for travel.
Fig.7: Choice of means transport in terms of the purpose
of travel in inner city traffic for the cities studied. (SrV 2008)
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Where do people travel by bike?
Trips for work
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Trips to and from work
account for a somewhat
higher proportion of bike
travel (18%) than trips for
other purposes.
This can be attributed to the
very low share of people who
walk to workplaces.
Trips to work represent a
great opportunity to increase
the share of bike traffic, e.g.
through business mobility
management schemes.
Trips for shopping
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The lowest share of bicycle
travel (11%) was recorded for
shopping trips.

This can be attributed to the
fact that distances travelled
become much longer.

The main reason for that is
the concentration of retailers
in commercial centres on the
outskirts of cities.
In what areas are bikes used?
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
People’s mobility requirements basically remain the same
regardless the type of area they live in.

There are, however, varying conditions for mobility in different
areas.

People who live in big cities travel different routes in their
everyday lives than people in rural areas.

Several traditionally bicycle-friendly cities (Freiburg, Münster,
Dessau, Göttingen, Bremen, and lesser-known race leaders like
Greifswald and Oldenburg) perfectly illustrate what role bikes can
assume as a mean of transport.

The increase in the bike share in transport in major cities in
recent years is particularly noteworthy (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt
am Main).
In what areas are bikes used? Area types
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The share of bike transport varies strongly within cities: The bike
share in the cities and municipalities studied by SrV 2008 ranges
from 2% to 28%.

The findings of the SrV 2008 study for Berlin illustrate this:
Modal split shares in various large and multifaceted districts of
the German capital lies between 6% and 21% (c.f. next slide):
o 6% in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, on the edge of the city.
o 21% in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, an urban inner-city district
with older building stock.
In what areas are bikes used? Area types
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Conclusion
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MID 2008 and SrV 2008 studies verify that bike use in Germany
has grown noticeably.

This process has taken place over an extended period of time,
and most particularly in recent years.

It is obvious that societal trends have been the primary motive
for this development.

Such tendencies have been supported to varying degrees by
active cycling policies in cities and regions.
Conclusion
Other determining factors include:
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Settlement pattern development (distances between residential
areas, workplaces, shopping centres)
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The shrinking importance of topography (is the landscape flat or
hilly?) due to better bike technology
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The quality of cycling infrastructure
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The local attitude towards bikes, i.e. acceptance of cycling by the
general public
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Local transport policy
Links and sources
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Hompage of the research project Mobilität in Städten (SrV):
www.tu-dresden.de/srv/SrV_Web/
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Homepage of the research project Mobilität in Deutschland (MID),
english version: www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/engl 2008/
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BMBVS – Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und
Stadtentwicklung / infas – Institut für angewandte
Sozialforschung / DLR – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und
Raumfahrt e.V. (2010): MID 2008. Mobility in Germany. Project
presentation at the user workshop in September 2009, March
2010 version; www.mobilitaet-in-Germany.de/pdf/
MiD2008_Projektpraesentation_Nutzerworkshop_Sept09.pdf
Imprint Publisher: German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) gGmbH, Zimmerstraße 13–15, 10969 Berlin, Department Mobility and
Infrastructure. Editors: Tobias Mettenberger, Jörg Thiemann-Linden cycling-expertise@difu.de, forschung-radverkehr@difu.de