Cycling as a sustainable mobility solution for the future.
Last week, we held our 10th MCube Speaker Series, focusing on the „Future of Mobility,“ on the rooftop terrace of Vorhoelzer Forum, of the Technical University Munich. The event took place on June 22, 2023. This time the session revolved around the question “Where can bicycles bring improvements and what are their limits?” It is widely known that cycling has the potential to revolutionize urban mobility, but concerns regarding personal safety must be addressed next to providing secure cycling infrastructure. Three experts in the areas of cycling advocacy, urban logistics and traffic safety came together to discuss the potential of cycling as a sustainable urban mobility solution (thus promoting greener and more efficient transportation systems), and to display the key factors that need to interplay more strongly in the future to create safe, accessible, inclusive and enjoyable cycling experiences for everyone.
Introduced by @ Oliver May-Beckmann (Managing Director @ MCube), the event started off with 3 pitches by each of the invited mobility experts in their respective area of expertise.
"It shrinks down to a competition of space." - Prof. Marco Dozza
Professor @ Marco Dozza (Professor of Active Safety and Road User Behavior at the Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences @ Chalmers University of Technology) spent the last weeks cycling through Europe from Sweden to Italy to collect data on traffic safety. The objective of this data collection is to make vehicles more intelligent to prevent further accidents between cyclists and cars in the future. When asked about the main hindrance of the mobility transition (that is to say: encouraging more people to shift to bicycle usage as opposed to private car usage), @ Marco Dozza answered with it being a behavioral problem. Routine human behavior frequently stands in the way of choosing more sustainable forms of transportation.
Maria Deingruber (Deputy Chair of the German Cyclist Association (@ ADFC) Bavaria) shed light on the various potentials of bicycles and micro mobility, especially to improve mobility in urban areas.
"The progress has begun. The thinking is changing but we still have a lot to overcome to get to more bike traffic." - Maria Deingruber
Most especially, the cycling infrastructure in urban areas needs to be improved. Whether it is to protect (and prepare) for rain or snow, provide wider cycling paths to increase feelings of safety, or establish smarter traffic flow systems (through advanced signal systems for example), cycling needs to become more attractive and accessible to all (both in urban as well as rural regions).
"It is happening but we need to go faster." - Maria Deingruber
Lastly, @ Peter Blösl described the possibilities of urban freight through cargo bikes as "a new form of logistics". To put it bluntly, cargo bikes contain "the good: a bike; the bath: a big bike; and the ugly: a big bike with a trailer."
"In the future we won't have 4 lanes for cars." - Peter Blösl
However, B4B (Business 4 Bikes) is already implementing and therefore actively testing the benefits of cargo bikes in urban freight transport. Taking space away from cars by cycling on the road as opposed to bike lanes (due to the sheer size of the B4B bikes) and by being faster than regular urban freight transport, cargo bikes have great potential to reduce CO2 emissions, particulate matter and congestion in cities.
A number of interested people complemented our expert panel discussion with important questions about the role cycling will play in urban mobility in the future. Moderated by @ Nicolas Nießen (@ Technical University Munich), we discussed the extent to which politics (on a national as well as municipal level) and societal factors play a role in the mobility transition and how the transition can be sped up.
As @ Maria Deingruber pointed out: the popularity of the bicycle is growing in Bavaria (65% use their bicycle as a means of transportation) but the ratio of bicycle ownership and actual bicycle usage can be hugely improved. This introduced the discussion about last mile transport and micro mobility opportunities.
Overall, it became clear that personal safety, accident likelihood and practicality are deciding factors for individuals choosing their transportation means. For both personal and freight transportation, the bicycle represents a great alternative to the car in urban mobility and will play a vital role in the sustainable mobility transition in the near future.
About our speakers:
A big thanks to our speakers for the insightful discussion and the @ TUM for providing the splendid location above Munich's rooftops.
"The future of mobility" is a series of presentations by MCube - Munich Cluster for the future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions, Technical University of Munich and openLAB Urban Mobility.
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