“Real, own bike lanes”
FDP Vice for separation of bike and car traffic
12/12/2022 3:32 am
The FDP has not yet had the reputation of being particularly progressive in terms of transport policy. The statements made by the Vice-Chairman made Vogel sit up and take notice. He is now calling for a bicycle infrastructure for German cities based on the model of Copenhagen.
The deputy FDP chairman Johannes Vogel has called for a better bicycle infrastructure in cities with a clear separation of car and bicycle traffic so that more people will leave their cars at home in the future. A “structural separation” is needed, he demanded in the Tagesspiegel. “For far too long, cycle paths have been pressed against the street or led directly over sidewalks,” Vogel explained. One consequence of this is accidents.
“Instead, we need real, dedicated bike lanes through the city so that people can ride safely.” Cities like Copenhagen showed this. Vogel would also like to see more alternatives to cars in big cities. For “fewer cars in the big cities, we have to make the alternatives more attractive,” he explained. “The better the S-Bahn and U-Bahn network, the (car) sharing offers or cycle paths, the more often the car is left behind.”
The FDP politician calls for more understanding among the population for the individual life situation of people. Residents in rural areas could not cycle to work. Conversely, “it must be understood that a better cycling infrastructure until three o’clock in the night is not a luxury, but a reality of urban life,” he explained.
Vogel goes far beyond the election program of the FDP. It only said that the bicycle is an “environmentally friendly mode of transport for individual locomotion”. The goal should be “more safe cycle paths and cycle lanes”. So far, the FDP has been considered conservative in terms of transport policy. For example, the party does not want to commit itself to the electric car as the car of the future. Vogel explained: “I personally believe that the future of the car is battery-electric”. He switched to an electric car three years ago.