Research Study Conducted on [Subject] - Most residents in Hesse advocate for more bicycle paths.
The findings from a recent survey show that a significant proportion of individuals in Hesse support the idea of adding more bike paths. This information comes from the 'Bicycle Monitor 2023', which was published recently. When asked about their top priorities for government action, 54% of participants responded, "Construct more bike lanes." Additionally, 49% showed their support for separating bike and car traffic. Furthermore, 58% of respondents indicated that the government should allocate more funds to constructing bike lanes than they previously had. However, there appeared to be no consensus in Hesse about converting car lanes and parking areas into bike paths, with only 28% in favor of this idea.
The Bicycle Monitor is a study that examines the subjective opinions of cyclists in Germany every two years. For Hesse, it has been producing regionally representative results since 2019. In June and July of the previous year, 1001 participants from Hesse aged between 14 and 69 were interviewed.
The survey revealed that about 1/3 of individuals in this age group in Hesse regularly use a bicycle or e-bike - that is, they ride daily or several times a week. This is less than the national average of 39% of individuals who regularly use bicycles or e-bikes. The user share in Hessen was recorded to be slightly lower than in previous years (2021: 38%; 2019: 39%).
The Hessian branch of the German Cycling Club cautioned against potentially suboptimal decisions resulting from the state's financial constraints. Ansgar Hegerfeld, the president of the association, emphasized that "any cuts in this area would be the completely wrong approach," and called for the expansion of bike lanes on state roads and increased state support for municipalities to improve their cycling infrastructure.
A spokesperson for the Hessian Ministry of Economics confirmed that there are no impending budget cuts in the works for funding bike traffic infrastructure on state roads (approximately 17 million euros) and support for municipalities via the Mobility Guidelines or the Mobility Promotion Act (approximately 23.5 million euros in funding) for the 2024 supplemental budget.
