New bicycle districts for Berlin
Berlin is trying to push back the car and give more space to the bicycle. Not every attempt is crowned with success: in Friedrichstrasse, bicycles are now to be banned just like cars. In addition, the streets around Graefestrasse in Kreuzberg are to be closed to cars.
After not quite two years, they want to stop allowing bicycles on Friedrichstrasse and turn it into a pedestrian zone. The attempt to replace cars with bicycles has failed for the time being. On the car-free section between Leipziger Strasse and Französischer Strasse, the four-metre-wide bicycle lane in the middle disappears, running like a swathe between the pavements on the right and left. This is certainly an advantage for fast-moving cyclists, but for pedestrians it is sometimes more dangerous than when cars still drove along here.
The traders in Friedrichstrasse and the surrounding streets were not enthusiastic either, fearing that the closure to cars would have a negative impact on their sales. In fact, there are said to have already been 15 shop closures. A study with GPS data also shows that the number of visitors in the closed section has decreased, while in other shopping streets in the city, foot traffic to Corona has increased again.
As an alternative route for the bikes, the parallel Charlottenstrasse is being discussed, which currently still serves to absorb the car traffic of Friedrichstrasse. Of course, it would no longer be able to fulfil this task. The bicycle lane would then run right next to Gendarmenmarkt, which could make pedestrian traffic between Gendarmenmarkt and Friedrichstrasse difficult, especially during the tourist season.
In Kreuzberg, there are even more far-reaching plans. The whole neighbourhood around Graefestrasse between Kottbusser Damm and Hasenheide is not to be closed to car traffic, but to parking traffic. Only disabled vehicles and car-sharing vehicles will then be allowed to park at all. Since the SPD and the Greens have the majority in the district, the project is considered safe. The 20,000 residents, if they own a car, will have to look for another parking space. The parking garage at Hermannplatz is proposed, where there are 600 parking spaces and parking costs only 30 euros per month. However, parkers repeatedly report unsafe situations in the multi-storey car park, especially in the evening. No start date has been set yet, but it will be interesting to see how the new policy affects the neighbourhood and its residents. The trial is to be limited to twelve months for the time being. Then it will become clear whether the plans to reduce car traffic will stand or whether it will only cause a shift of traffic to the surrounding neighbourhoods.