The cycling boom in German cities. The role of grassroots movements in institutionalizing cycling

Figures & data

Figure 1. A three-stage model of the interaction between the cycling boom and institutionalization in large German cities.

Table 1. Bicycle use change in large German cities between 2002 and 2017^a.

	Average number of trips per day/person (all modes)				Average number of cycling trips per day/person				Modal share of cycling (%)				Number of respondents (N)
	2002	2008	2017	Change (%)	2002	2008	2017	Change (%)	2002	2008	2017	Change (%)	2002	2008	2017
Berlin	3.08	3.15	2.92	−5.2	0.21	0.29	0.44	109.5	7.0	9.4	14.9	112.9	2,106^b	2,119^d	2,485^f
Hamburg	3.16	3.12	3.03	−4.1	0.35	0.36	0.48	37.1	11.2	11.6	15.9	42.0	2,355^c	2,567^e	11,449^f
Munich	3.11	3.30	3.09	−0.6	0.34	0.45	0.59	73.5	11.1	14.0	19.2	73.0	5,360^c	5,781^e	12,260^f
Frankfurt	2.92	3.35	3.08	5.5	0.26	0.35	0.47	80.8	8.8	10.4	15.4	75.0	994^c	1,889^e	1,940^f
Large cities (500,000+)	3.10	3.24	3.06	−1.3	0.30	0.40	0.51	70.0	9.8	12.2	16.6	69.4	6,264^b	6,979^d	43,658^f
Germany	3.15	3.28	3.02	−4.1	0.27	0.32	0.33	22.2	8.7	9.6	11.0	26.4	43,175^b	46,577^d	244,821^f

^aIncluding only persons aged 18 or older with a completed MiD trip diary, excluding trips with a “commercial” purpose.

All trips with bicycle usage (e.g. intermodal trips) are counted as cycling trips.

Dataset source: ^bMiD 2002: nationwide; ^cMiD 2002: regionally enriched; ^dMiD 2008: nationwide; ^eMiD 2008: regionally enriched; ^fMiD 2017: nationwide.

Table 2. Assessment of local cycling conditions between 2012 and 2022.

	Overall assessment^a						Bicycle promotion in recent times^b						Number of respondents included (N)
	2012	2014	2016	2018	2020	2022	2012	2014	2016	2018	2020	2022	2012	2014	2016	2018	2020	2022
Berlin	4.01	4.07	4.34	4.27	4.14	4.13	4.0	4.1	4.5	4.2	3.4	3.5	2,375	3,814	2,938	4,546	5,628	6,656
Hamburg	4.40	4.28	4.19	4.21	4.10	3.98	4.8	4.1	3.5	3.8	3.6	3.2	3,549	2,135	2,344	4,213	4,257	4,093
Munich	3.73	3.70	3.78	3.99	3.84	3.89	3.6	3.5	3.8	4.2	3.3	3.7	1,450	1,207	2,147	2,833	3,155	3,914
Frankfurt	3.65	3.61	3.77	3.94	3.72	3.61	3.4	3.3	3.5	3.8	2.9	2.6	764	1,052	785	1,766	2,097	1,727

^aAverage agreement with 27 pairs of opposing statements on a six-point Likert scale: low values indicate a positive assessment

Dataset source: ADFC 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 (ADFC, 2023)

^bAverage agreement with the following opposing statements on a six-point Likert scale:

“In this city, a lot has been done for cycling in recent times;” and “In this city, hardly anything has been done for cycling in recent times.”

Table 3. Index of bicycle use between 2017 and 2021 by permanent bicycle counting stations.

	Berlin	Frankfurt^b	Munich	Hamburg
2017	100	100^c	100	100
2018	113	103	112	123
2019	113	–	112	111
2020^a	127	104	133	149
2021^a	113	–	130	136

To compare different cities, the date is based on the reference year 2017 = 100

^aPotential influence of the COVID-19 pandemic

^bOnly manual counts on two weekdays in autumn

^cBased on data from 2016

Sources: Berlin: 19 measuring points; Stadt Berlin (2022b); Frankfurt: manual counts in even years; Stadt Frankfurt am Main (2022); Munich: 6 measuring points; own calculations with open-source data; Landeshauptstadt München (n.d.); Hamburg: manual counts; Stadt Hamburg (2022).

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