20.12.2021
Bikes are getting more and more popular in Germany and the Pandemic is clearly not the only reinforcing factor.
Where are we right now?
Before we take a look at possible future outcomes, we have to discuss the current situation. With more than 79. Million bikes, almost every citizen in Germany owns one. Out of these 79. Million a not so small fraction of 7. Million are categorized as bikes with electrical assistance. This number is expected to grow significantly in the next couple of years. Alone in 2017 28. Million trips were made by bike, with an average distance of 3.7 kilometers. Overall people used their bike for 11 percent of their mobility needs in that particular year. This number decreases to 7 percent when we look at rural areas and increases to 15 percent in urban spaces. These numbers already show, how important bikes are in todays world.
Potential factors
1. Biking is healthy, cheap, and quick
- People who regularly ride their bike, have less risk of cardiovascular related diseases. It is also 70 percent cheaper than driving. For short trips the bike is often the fastest way to get to your destination.
2. Higher quality of life
- The level of quality of life in cities has many factors. One of them being the size and number of parks. Cycle paths take up 67 percent less space compared to a regular road. This means more space for parks.
3. Bike economy is growing
- The yearly revenues in bike sales increased by 6 billion euro between 2013 and 2018 and rose from 11 billion to 17 billion euro.
4. Eco-friendly and sustainable
- Biking is emission free and safes a lot of parking space. Cities could save up to 14 percent in greenhouse gas if 10 percent of drivers would use a bike instead of their car.
VanMoof
VanMoof was founded in Amsterdam in 2009 by the two Carlier Brothers. They were focused on creating the perfect city e-bike. They recently announced a completely new form of bike mobility. They call it VanMoof V and it is a serious competitor to regular cars. It reaches high speed at 50 km/h which makes it perfectly suitable for standard city roads. It also has thick tires and is fully spring loaded that assure a smooth ride, even if you have to travel a certain distance. It also features a lot of smart gadgets which are built into the frame. This includes an automatic gear shift, theft protection via GPS, and a kick lock.
All in all, the VanMoof V is able to keep up with most cars in the city. Bikes like this will most certainly become more and more popular in the near future.
The future of urban mobility will include high tech forms of e-bikes which opens up a whole new world for the mobility sector.
Written by: Antonius Eich
Data source: https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Anlage/StV/nationaler-radverkehrsplan-3-0.pdf?__blob=publicationFile