CHAPTER 22: TOWARDS THE BICYCLE-FRIENDLY TOWN IN GERMANY. FROM THE GREENING OF URBAN TRANSPORT, EDITION 2.

Bicycle transport is gaining particular significance among German local authorities as an increasing number of towns and cities recognize its benefits. The aim of promoting bicycle transport is to remove it from the peripheral status it has occupied to date in urban and transport planning and give it its appropriate status as an environmentally benign alternative in local transport. If towns want to ensure equal opportunities for every citizen, those who cannot drive -- and those who are not allowed to or simply do not want to drive -- should have the possibility of using the bicycle to be mobile in a manner which does not harm the environment. This does not mean a desire to replace the motor car by the bicycle. It is simply a question of co-ordinating the different kinds of transport to the best possible degree and promoting certain means of transport in places where their advantages can be best developed.