Cycling the campus

Long time since I wrote last, I must apologize. I was off on holiday in India, and then got pretty sick for a while. But now me and Paula are back!

A stroll through Schönbrunn

There are so many nice places in Vienna that I never bother mentioning them -- simply because I hardly ever go there, but also because I am so used to them, that I do not consider them so special. However, it's always nice, to take a walk around the center (it's a pedestrian zone) or other parks. Filigree has once mentioned the Augarten as her favorite park in Vienna. Now here's one rather touristy place that is also very enjoyable:

Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn

The Schönbrunn palace (with an umlaut written as "Schoenbrunn") is the former residence of the Habsburg monarchs and the whole area very very pompous, both the palace and the surrounding gardens. If you're interested in the historical background I recommend to visit the offical website of the Schönbrunn palace or Wikipedia (and Vienna :)).

Soon after the end of the monarchy the population of Vienna discovered the park as an attractive recreational area, which it is still. In December 1996 the Schönbrunn Palace was put on the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites.

Map of the palace (the yellow thing in the South) and parks at Schönbrunn

COP15 and cycling

COP15, the Copenhagen climate change conference, is trying to find appropriate mitigation and adaptation goals and strategies against climate change. Cycling is a carbon-efficient means of transport that in many cases presents a true alternative to driving a car. Let's take a look at how cycling has been showing in the first week of Copenhagen climate negotiations.

Denmark is a country of utility cycling, which can be an inspiration to both the conference participants and internationally. In Copenhagen, 1/3 of commuters cycle to work or school, but the city goal is even higher. Copenhagen is aiming at becoming the cycling capital of the world and hopes to achieve the cycling commuter rate of 1/2 by 2015. That city knows how to set a positive example!

Oops!... I did it again

Yes, again. Or better: not. Again I didn't buy a new bicycle although I claimed in spring that I will (and this summer for sure).

Should I? I already have one bicycle. My dear old friend, my red Kästle mountain bike (read more if you like). It has accompanied me for many many years now, and guess what -- it still works perfectly fine for me. No, it wasn't particularly expensive. But I looked after it.

Speaking of maintenance: That's why I'm bike-free this week. My bike is, as every beginning of the winter, with a real bike mechanic that checks all the bits and pieces. As for now, we have already agreed to replace the chain and the tires as both are almost worn-out. Of course, small repairs I do myself but I treat my bike with a proper service every year (for all-year cyclists it is recommended to get that at the beginning of the winter). So far that has paid off and I can highly recommend checking the bike or getting it checked, even when nothing is broken or causes trouble. Scroll down on this page to read about the "art of cycle maintenance" daily/weekly/monthly/yearly.

Me and my beloved bike

Of course, I would love to have many bikes starting with a retro kind of girlie bike, a folding bike, a tandem, a fixie, a cargo bike, a road bike and so on. I'm sure I could even find use for all of them. But actually it doesn't matter so much. It doesn't matter what kind of bike I ride as long as I ride -- any bike will do just fine :).

By using just one bike I can at least claim that I safe natural resources. Having learned much about mining lately, I can tell you that already iron is an important resource (probably even the most important one) and that it's by no means easy to get all that stuff out of the earth's crust. You shouldn't believe that it's all about oil -- rising prices and shortage on iron (and hence coal etc.) can mess us up even more! If you're interested in the topic you may read the recent world mining report. For example, did you know each year we produce about 1 billion tons of iron worldwide, and that more than 70% of the ore come from politically instable countries? Do you know how difficult and energy/time consuming it is to detect, mine, smelt and process raw materials to finally obtain something that we just take for granted and buy in a supermarket? Well, I don't want to be preachy, but I think everybody should be aware of such simple facts. It's already too hard to imagine what stuff went into my notebook and how it got there. Such things always leave me astonished and wondering...

Well, after that short side note, back to bikes. I will eventually buy a new bike (or a nice second-hand bike?) cause I want to be fancy and have a bike with better lighting, more transport capacity, proper rain and clothes protection and so on. Maybe not this year, maybe not even next year. But one day for sure :).

How many bikes do you have? What kinds? Got one all-time favorite?

Somehow I have the impression that Americans tend to have more bikes (if they have any) whereas Europeans mostly only own one (but there are more bike owners). Would be interesting to see whether this assertion holds in general :).

Picturized ideas for sustainable transport in major cities

I hope you're not getting bored with me talking about Budapest so much, 'cause I still have something interesting to share with you concerning the workshop about urban mobility Sonja and I attended (winner of an EU youth exchange project).

This time, however, it's not about infrastructure or activities. This time it's about the results, most of which are available as videos. I think this is also interesting for people outside of Budapest and Europe as most problems in urban planning (due to car-centric planning) are quite similar worldwide. Note that all this work was done within ten days only, and even less working days!

First, students (mostly in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, geography and spatial planning) as well as filmmakers worked together to analyze the transport problems in a given project area in the center of Budapest. View all observations from different groups, or in particular ...

... a video about the accessibility of public transport ...


... the noise problem ...


... the lack of bike racks in important places ...


... the power of (parked) cars and white lines.


Do you agree? Can you find similar problems in your town? Do you think some of them are solvable? If yes, how? Brainwashing our society does not count, by the way ;-). Difficult, isn't it?

Well, we tried to solve some of these problems anyhow. Possible solutions or let's say suggestions are collected as final results. Among others you can for example ...

... follow a curious man on a walk through Budapest ...


... see how you can become an everyday life star ...


... or simply try to love Budapest.



Still not bored? For further reading see

• all previous posts about the workshop in our blog
  
• the official website of the workshop
• a German summary on velosophie.at

How to go shopping by bike and what would make it more convenient

While most people agree that some kind of shopping is possible by bike, not everybody wants to do all shopping by bike. I also don't, to be honest. I transport my groceries (including party supply) by bike. I do my clothes and shoe shopping by bike, and I even transport electrical equipment by bike (e.g., computers, printers, espresso machines, dishes).

But what about refrigerators and closets, someone might ask. Well, small furniture I transport by bike, medium pieces by public transport (taxi or renting a car is also an option if the latter isn't available) and for big stuff I hire a professional transport company anyhow as this is the most convenient and cheapest way to do. Well, there are not many people who move house by car and I rather avoid such experiences after having it done myself.

Not enough transport capacities on a bike?

Reviewing car-free estates

In Vienna Floridsdorf there exists a car-free estate since almost 10 years. Due to the absurd parking regulations here, they had to get a special permit to be able to build less car parks and safe that money for something more useful. Earlier I've posted a video by the Greens about this particular project (German with English subtitles) which explains very well how it works and what it looks like.

Car-free estate in Floridsdorf, Vienna, Austria

Recently I stumbled again across Christoph Chorherr's blog and read that they did an evaluation among the residents to find out what they think about their estate and community. The main results are summerized in these three files (in German): short version (2 pages), medium version (5 pages) and full version (96 pages).

So far I haven't read all of the full version myself, but here are the parameters and main things they found out:

• 244 flats (11.400 m²) but instead of 244 car parks only 25 [according to the Viennese building law the rate "car park:flat" of 1:1 can only be reduced to 1:10 with a special permit]
  
• build between 1997 and 1999
• concept: people that move in have to resign from owning a car (that's even stated in the rental agreement), ecological measures and green areas, no decrease of building costs (which would have been possible because of the fewer car parks) but rededication of the capital
• right before moving in about 24% did own a car
  
• for 53% it was very important and for 21% important to live in a car-free estate when moving in
  
• car-sharing is available but only used by 28% for shopping, about 1/3 of the residents don't use this service at all
• 88% already owned a bicycle before moving in, 7% bought one later
  
• the bicycle is used up to 10 times more than in an average car-free (!) household in Vienna [about 1/3 of Viennese households are car-free]
  
• 56% of the people living there use a bicycle to get to work or school
  
• per household they calculated bike storage for 2.5 bicycles which turned out to be far-off (they actually need storage for 1.5 bicycles per person!)
• the residents are very happy with their estate, which mostly results from joint projects that were carried out from the money that wasn't spend on parking lots: public areas, saunas, gardens, kindergarten, gym, garage etc.
• the communication among neighbors and other residents works well (something which elsewhere is basically nonexistent)
  

Actually I've applied for a flat in that estate one year back, but it's basically impossible to get hold of such sought-after living space. In view of that overwhelming demand the Greens are planning a similar project called Bikecity at an old train station in the north-west of the city. Hope that will work out.

For more reading you can find some information on car-free living on the "Wohnen plus Mobilität" website in German and English (it contains general information and various prototypes in Germany and Austria). Moreover there is a German website on autofrei wohnen and here's an English pendant on carfree cities (with an excellent link list). More on car-free housing estates in Europe e.g. in "Car-free housing in European cities" by Jan Scheurer. Well, the internet is full of information about car-free habitation :-).

Conclusion: car-free is carefree, so enjoy a car(e)free life if somehow possible!

Kids on bikes

While for the average kid in Vienna it is normal to go to school by public transport, the "wealthy" families chauffeur their kids around in huge cars. I really don't understand this concept of bringing the kids after a certain age, especially in a city with such great public transport and short ways. This way they don't get to learn how to use public transport independently, loose touch to their schoolmates, put on weight because they don't get enough exercise and so on. Obesity becomes a bigger and bigger issue anyhow, so why make it worse?

And it can't be because the parents are worried about their kids' safety as most of them don't mind to block bike lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks directly in front of schools -- making it impossible for pupils to feel safe.

I think a city should be safe enough for kids to ride bikes. And I think parents can achieve that by simply not creating unnecessary car traffic in front of schools. So in fact I think the city already is safe enough, but it's the people that aren't ready for a change. Well, car addiction is certainly not easy to overcome, but they could try to get bike addicted instead. And if they still want to make namby-pambies out of their children, they can bring them by bike too :-).

By the way, kids are allowed to cycle on the sidewalks in Austria till the age of 12. But already at the age of 10 they can do a "bicycle license" which allows them to cycle on the road earlier. That's a great thing because this way the children are taught the traffic rules, hand signals etc. and they also have to pass a practical test. Then they can take responsibility for themselves.

I think mobile autonomy is far too underrated. To make a long story short: relying on someone (or something) else to get to and from places is just no fun. But cycling is :-).

Is cycling addictive?

I'd say cycling is addictive. Even though I've been cycling all my life the bicycle really only became my favorite mode of transport in the past few years. Before I lived on the countryside and although cycling was quite practical to get around and to the next town, most distances were too far to cycle. I mainly used public transport and it worked fine for me.

In Vienna I realized that the bicycle is really the fastest way to get around in a city. But not only that. It's also the healthiest and most enjoyable one. During the day I just sit around but my bike rides provide me with both, a good start in the day and distance from work in the evening. Plus, it's recommended to do at least 30min of exercise (not to be mixed up with sport!) each day in order to keep well and fit. It's great to feel my body and to feel good in it.

But cycling is more. It's fun. Apparently, although I don't know if that is true, cycling produces endorphins (and exercise in general). And endorphins make us happy and are a boost for our self-confidence. Although I also have my lows, I'm in a much better mood after cycling. Yes, one could say that I'm an endorphin junkie. It might be a myth though, but in that case cycling is a wonderful placebo.

I don't mind cycling in the winter or in thunderstorms, in fact I even love it. It's class to know and feel the weather and to learn how easy it is to cope with basically anything. It happens a lot that I don't dress appropriate if I walk or take public transport, as cycling generally requires less clothes in the winter and more in the summer. By the way, I love to feel the wind in my hair. Nothing compares to that.

Morover, it happens that whenever I do walk I usually walk along my bike routes. Seemingly this also occurs to my cycling colleagues and we laughed a lot about our recent discovery. Somehow I have the feeling that the city is all mine when I'm on my bike. I can get anywhere anytime I want to. In that respect cycling means freedom to me: freedom of mobility (particularly important for children), freedom of space (no search and waste of space for parking) and independence from others (no dependence on fossil fuels from unstable governments or brutal dictatorships). Yes, I also like the environmental aspect, but in fact it's only really a positive by-product.

So if you still ask yourself why cycling is good for you, then you probably haven't tried it yet. Just do it, it's easy. My personal conclusion is that everyday cycling is addictive and that it makes me a happier and balanced person. What about you?

What the Greens in Europe do for cycling

At the beginning of June we will have the elections for the European parliament in the EU. This is a very important opportunity to take part in decision-making. Concerning cycling, and a positive promotion of it, I found some cool videos of the European Greens where they explain what kind of measures have been implemented throughout our cities. Here are just a few examples (all in English resp. with English subtitles):

Vienna
Christoph Chorherr talks about a car-free estate in Vienna (I tried to get a flat there but it's impossible because the demand is so high -- but they want to build a second one :-)). He also writes a very interesting blog (in German). The Greens in the 2nd district do that too.


London
Jenny Jones tells us how biking can help against the traffic chaos. By the way, Trisha and Dottie have recently visited London and wrote something about it in their blog.


Freiburg
The Green mayor Dieter Salomon talks about the nearly car-free district Vauban. Although it is a well-known fact that Freiburg has a very high number of cyclists I didn't know about Vauban until I read it in spiderleggreen's blog.


For more videos explore the YouTube channel of the European Greens yourself. There you may also find the videos with subtitles in other languages (I didn't check that, but it would make sense). And there are of course also videos about other green topics, e.g. how the sun is used in Barcelona, squatters in Helsinki, about how geothermal energy is used in Paris and so on. A lot of exciting, sustainable and future-oriented projects in Europe.

European Green Bikes for Peace - Tour calls for participants

The European Green Bikes for Peace - Tour is a European Union funded cycling tour under the sign of climate protection and sustainability.

It will take place in Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. It starts in Koper (ITA) on June, 19th and will end in Pecs (HUN) on July, 19th. Among participants from five European countries at least five young Austrian cyclists (less than 30 years old) have the possibility to join the tour for free (including boarding and lodging, and railway transfers). There will be cultural and environmental workshops as well as live stream broadcasting, and a good time on the road. All you need are a touring bike, a sleeping bag, some pocket money, love of adventure, and the willingness to take active part in the events.

More information about the tour and how to apply for it can be found on the official website and on ig fahrrad. The closing date for applications is May, 25th.

Have fun and see you in Linz for the International Danube Day on June, 29th!