Major German cities hardly designate any new bus lanes

Mobility - Major German cities hardly designate any new bus lanes

Hardly any new bus lanes have been designated in major German cities this year. This is the result of a survey of selected cities conducted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Bus lanes are seen as an inexpensive way to improve local public transport services and shorten journey times, as they do not require major construction work.

No new bus lanes were built in Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart and Bremen in 2023. In Munich, 1.5 kilometers were added, and in Düsseldorf, a temporary lane 170 meters long was created. The cities of Hamburg and Hanover do not carry out an annual evaluation.

Several packages of measures ensure expansion in Munich

Most cities did not mention specific plans for new bus lanes. "The plans for the future are the realization of further environmental lanes (bus and bike free) in the course of bicycle traffic planning," says the city of Stuttgart, for example, in rather vague terms. According to its own information, the city of Düsseldorf will in future rely on "intelligent mixed solutions" with special lanes or separate traffic light circuits.

According to Stadtwerke, the city of Munich has adopted three packages of measures for bus transport since 2018, with another to follow in 2024. Since 2018, new bus lanes have been created over a length of 5.9 kilometers. Although no new bus lanes were added in Berlin this year, more than 18 kilometers were added in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 it was 2.8 kilometers.

Expert: the importance of bus traffic is underestimated

For transport experts, bus lanes are one of the measures that can be used to advance the traffic turnaround. "Bus transport has so far been unjustly overshadowed by rail transport. Almost half of the 5.2 billion passengers in local public transport in the first half of 2023 were on buses," says Philipp Kosok from the think tank Agora Verkehrswende.

"Bus lanes make more efficient use of existing roads. Passengers reach their destinations faster and more reliably. With their own lane, buses are almost as efficient as a modern streetcar line," says Kosok. Overall, however, buses are given very little space on the road.

This also becomes clear time and again in the feedback from major cities: new bus lanes can only be set up in a few places because space is limited. Lanes for cars or parking spaces would have to be removed.

Reform of the Road Traffic Act is stuck

Legal issues also stand in the way of the designation of new special bus lanes. "The biggest hurdle at the moment is the current legal situation," said the transport administration of the state of Berlin. The Road Traffic Act and subsequently the Road Traffic Regulations were actually supposed to be amended to allow more leeway for the creation of bus lanes or 30 km/h zones, for example. However, the reform failed in the Bundesrat at the end of November.

In addition to ease and safety in traffic, climate and environmental protection were also to be included in the law. It remains to be seen how the reform will now proceed.

Bus lanes to combat the shortage of skilled workers?

Rolf Erfurt is convinced that more bus lanes and other measures for bus transport can also help with regard to the shortage of skilled workers. Bus drivers are desperately needed. "If we can get through this city more smoothly, we simply need fewer staff," says Erfurt, Director of Operations at Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe. As the largest local transport company in Germany, BVG is currently short of around 350 bus drivers.

Berlin is by no means alone in its staffing concerns: according to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), more than half of all bus drivers in Germany are over 50 years old. According to the association, up to 6,000 of them will retire every year by 2030 - but there will not be that many new drivers in the foreseeable future. Public transport also needs to be expanded for the transport transition - so even more drivers are needed.

"Reducing the planned travel speed by one kilometer per hour will result in an additional requirement of around 100 drivers," BVG recently calculated. According to the company, the regular timetable was based on an average speed of 18.9 kilometers per hour. However, this cannot be achieved on the busy roads - BVG buses reportedly travel at an average of 17.8 kilometers per hour. Due to the lack of staff, BVG has now thinned out its timetables and currently offers 6 percent less bus services than originally planned and ordered by the state of Berlin.

Scientists: trains have a clear advantage over buses

However, Thomas Richter from the Technical University of Berlin does not want to overstate the importance of bus lanes. "They are right and important, but you have to check exactly where they are used," says Richter, who heads the Department of Road Planning and Road Operation at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport at the TU. Suburban trains and subway trains are faster and usually more reliable and can also transport significantly more people.

The railroads also have the advantage that they take motorized traffic away from the limited road space wherever possible. To achieve this, however, the lines have to be built at great expense - which, together with the necessary procedures in advance, can quickly take a decade. "You can certainly introduce a few more bus lanes, but where they are important, they already exist in many places," says Richter.