City cycling campaign enters second round
Chemnitz residents are called upon to collect kilometres on their bikes
The Climate Alliance's international city cycling campaign starts again on Monday, 5 September. The city of Chemnitz is taking part for the second time. The aim is to collect as many kilometres by bike as possible. Registration and further information can be found here.
Anyone who lives, studies or works in Chemnitz can take part and collect kilometres from 5 to 25 September using the City Cycling app or the online portal. Local politicians are explicitly invited to take part. The aim is to promote cycling, personal health and climate protection locally.
This year's city cycling star is Ralph Burghart, Mayor for Personnel, Finance and Organisation. "Walking and cycling are at the heart of sustainable mobility and characterise the urbanity and vibrancy of the city while also promoting health." During the campaign period, he will be cycling all his journeys in accordance with the campaign rules. He is looking forward to seeing as many like-minded people as possible on their bikes: "Show that Chemnitz is a modern, dynamic and climate-friendly city."
Whether on the way to work or on a short bike ride on an e-bike - every kilometre counts, both professionally and privately. The kilometres travelled by the children can be added to the parents' user account. Pupils can pedal for their school and see which class in their school or which Chemnitz school ends up cycling the most kilometres.
But how do you get people excited about cycling? Olympic track cycling champion Stefan Bötticher from Chemnitz has the right recipe: "The first step is to get the bike working. That makes cycling a lot more fun. I believe that you should start bit by bit. When the weather is nice, just take the bike to the ice cream parlour, even if it's only one kilometre. You have to start with small things, take small steps." Almost 60 per cent of all journeys made in Saxony's cities are shorter than five kilometres and therefore within a distance range in which the bicycle is even the fastest means of transport (source: System repräsentativer Verkehrsbefragung (SrV) 2013, Federal Environment Agency).
During the campaign period, the City of Chemnitz is also offering all citizens free use of the RADar! reporting platform. Via the internet(www.radar-online.net) and the City Cycling app, cyclists have the opportunity to draw the city's attention to annoying and dangerous spots on cycle paths. They simply place a pin on the digital road map and describe the danger spot. The responsible department in the administration is then automatically informed.
Last year, during the city cycling campaign, 1660 Chemnitz residents collected more than 326,000 kilometres by bike and thus avoided 48 tonnes of CO2 compared to driving a car.