Anyone who is out and about in Freiburg on foot, by public transport or by bike will find particularly good conditions. This is the result of the ADAC Monitor “Mobil in der Stadt”. In the representative online survey, more than 10,000 residents, commuters and visitors from 29 medium-sized cities – including Freiburg – rated their personal mobility. Motorists, users of local public transport, cyclists and pedestrians were asked about their satisfaction with the respective traffic conditions.
The result is a satisfaction index which, as the ADAC monitor “Mobile in the City”, sets a benchmark from the users’ point of view. The present results provide cities with the basis for optimizing their mobility planning and adapting it to the needs of the users.
Freiburg ranks fourth in a nationwide comparison:
In the overall ranking of all four modes of transport, Freiburg ranks fourth after Münster, followed by Rostock and Oldenburg. Pedestrians, public transport customers and cyclists are very satisfied with their personal mobility situation in Freiburg, while dissatisfaction predominates among drivers.
Clemens Bieniger, Chairman of the ADAC Südbaden, is not surprised by Freiburg’s good ranking: “The city of Freiburg is doing good traffic planning. However, many measures are at the expense of the motorist, especially against the background of the limited space in the street, ”he says. Alfred Haas, board member for traffic and technology at ADAC Südbaden, adds: “For a safe coexistence of cars, public transport, bicycles and pedestrians, all means of transport should be coordinated as best as possible without putting certain road users at a significant disadvantage.”
Good grades from pedestrians, public transport users and cyclists:
The city dwellers surveyed were most satisfied with getting around on foot. In the pedestrian survey, Freiburg achieved second place with the sub-index 49. At least half of the respondents are happy with the pedestrian situation. They rate the direct routes from A to B positively, the range of secure crossing options and the width and lighting of the sidewalks. This is where the consistent priority given to pedestrians in the Freiburg city center comes into play: only the tram runs through the city center and brings passengers directly into the pedestrian zone. However, pedestrians have two wishes: more considerate cyclists and more benches along the sidewalks.
The users of public transport are also largely satisfied. With the sub-index 40, the city secured third place among the public transport users surveyed. Above all, the short distances when changing trains, the density of stops and the good price-performance ratio are honored. Public transport users see a need for improvement in the parking spaces at stations and train stations. At the same time, local public transport is suffering from the effects of the corona pandemic: At least a third of the public transport customers surveyed in Freiburg use public transport and the train less or no longer and cover the necessary distances on foot, by car or by bike .
There is a lot of encouragement from the cyclists surveyed:
Freiburg ranks 4th in the survey area bicycles. The reliability of target achievement, the well-developed cycle path network and the condition and width of the cycle paths are particularly valued. In Freiburg, the bicycle is the most popular means of transport, over a third of the routes within the city are covered by bike. The targeted promotion of bicycle traffic is paying off: For example, as part of the “Cycle Traffic Concept 2020”, the city has expanded priority routes for bicycles and designated additional bicycle roads. Cyclists most strongly complain about the inability to take bicycles with them in public transport.
Great dissatisfaction among motorists:
Most of the dissatisfaction in Freiburg is with drivers. It manifests itself in the negative balance with 18th place. The biggest annoyances are cyclists who do not adhere to the traffic rules, lack of parking spaces and the amount of parking fees. These were increased in the city center on February 1, 2020 from 2.50 euros to 3.20 euros per hour and should continue to increase every two years. The city hopes that this will encourage more drivers to switch to local public transport.
Drivers are also dissatisfied with the construction site management: 35 percent of the motorists surveyed gave this point a rating of 5 to 6. During the survey period, several large construction sites in the city caused disruptions and long traffic jams. There is praise for the good condition of the road and the signposting on the streets.
“For drivers, the situation has deteriorated overall. In view of the mobility needs, the development of traffic in the city is hardly geared towards individual motorized traffic, ”summarizes Clemens Bieniger. From the point of view of the ADAC, the expansion of Park + Ride facilities on the outskirts of the city makes sense in order to make public transport more attractive for drivers and commuters. It would also be worth considering investing the income from parking fees in multi-storey car parks or underground garages for a specific purpose and thus creating new parking facilities.
Criticism of the behavior of cyclists:
The negative assessment of the behavior of cyclists by pedestrians and motorists is particularly striking. Almost half of the motorists surveyed criticized the behavior of cyclists, while 34 percent of pedestrians are dissatisfied with the behavior of cyclists. Even among themselves, 28 percent of cyclists complain about “non-compliant behavior”. The ADAC advocates fair cooperation in road traffic. “Respect and mutual consideration should be a matter of course for all road users,” explains Clemens Bieniger. To promote the traffic climate, infrastructural measures can be supplemented by campaigns and public relations. The ADAC Südbaden offers itself as a cooperation partner for this.
Overall, the study results show that Freiburg meets the challenges of mobility with sustainable approaches. In the long term, the ADAC recommends integrated mobility planning for all types of transport. “All relevant administrative authorities, fields of action, actors and affected parties as well as neighboring municipalities should be included in the planning process so that the interests of all road users are taken into account equally,” emphasizes Clemens Bieniger.
Methodology and individual results:
The survey on the “Mobil in der Stadt” monitor was carried out in autumn 2020 by the ADAC in cooperation with the Nuremberg market research institute “infas quo GmbH”. Satisfaction indices were created for all four modes of transport (public transport, car traffic, bike and footpaths) and then merged into an overall index. On average, 400 interviews were conducted in each city. The exact methodology and the individual results for the 29 cities examined are available at www.adac.de/monitor.
(Press information: ADAC Südbaden eV, 02.02.2021)
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