In Prague cycling is no pleasure
In Prague cycling is no pleasure. But conditions are slowly improving – mainly thanks to the Cyclist himself
Slippery cobblestones, parked cars in bicycle lanes and markings, that lead to nowhere: Prague cyclists don't just have to deal with the many hills in the city. For a long time, transport politicians ignored the few active and the many potential cyclists. Only now are city planners and politicians beginning, to include them in their considerations.
Two-wheelers are only being taken into account slowly and so far with little consistency, findet der Activist Jiří Motýl. “We will certainly never reach the level of Copenhagen or Amsterdam. But the biggest problem is the lack of interest from politicians.” Motýl is honorary editor-in-chief of the internet portal “Prague by bike“ (Through Prague by bike) and reports on a long tradition of traffic policy focused solely on cars. That goes back to the seventies. And also after 1989 became “the fundamental philosophy, that roads are only for cars, not covered", with Butterfly.
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Everyone has to deal with the consequences, who gets on a bike in Prague: dangerous intersections, missing bicycle lights, aggressive drivers, who are not used to it, Be considerate of two-wheelers without engines. There are so few bike racks, that they are individually marked in the online city map of “Prahou na kole”.. Anyway, New roadways are being provided with red shoulders and markings are increasing in the existing road network. Most one-way streets are open to cyclists in both directions, They are allowed to drive through pedestrian zones and there are popular excursion routes along them Moldau.
“It’s quite good here”, findet der Wahlprager Zdeněk Přidal. Aufgewachsen in Hradec Králové, where there is good infrastructure for cyclists, The passionate cyclist feels his creativity is being challenged in the capital: “You just have to use it, what already exists. This works, if you stop planning the route, to think as a driver.” However, he cannot limit himself to the existing cycle paths alone: “They result in a completely illogical route and are interrupted by the city motorway.” This scares off many potential cyclists, meint Posted by. He dreams about it, to relocate it completely to the outskirts of the city and to convert the main road into a large pedestrian zone.
Ignorant police officers
Cyclists are even allowed on some sections of the city highway, sagt dagegen Petr Novotný. But there were often no signs, where these sections begin and end. Seit 16 Novotný has worked as a bicycle courier for years. He knows exactly, where he can drive. And he does it better than some police officers: “They wanted to give me a fine on a one-way street, because I was driving in the opposite direction. Sometimes you have no idea yourself, which applies to cyclists.” In addition, Novotný often experiences this, that cars - including those of law enforcement - block the cycle paths at traffic lights.
So that something like this doesn't happen again in the future, the city government has set itself the goal, to create more awareness and consideration for cyclists. In January she decided, among other things, to further develop the infrastructure. She also acknowledged, that “the potential of bicycle traffic in the Prague city area has not yet been sufficiently exploited”. That's why paths should be better marked and new ones, connecting bicycle routes are created. The proportion of cyclists in Prague's traffic is expected to increase from around two percent today to five to seven percent in the summer 2020 climb.
Stanislav Kozubek has made it his mission, to implement these projects. The former cyclist has been chairman of the so-called bicycle commission at the municipality since January last year and is white, that nothing progresses without political will: “It always depends, who the responsible city council is. If he doesn't support cyclists, “It just goes down.”
Together with the head of transport policy, Petr Dolínek (CSSD) Kozubek sees himself on the right track, those about 45 million crowns (1,7 million euros), that the budget provides for bicycle infrastructure, to be used sensibly – even if it has to break up encrusted systems: “We are encountering many hurdles with city facilities and offices.”
At the road administration (Technical management of communications) The priority of car traffic is still firmly internalized, with Kozubek. “But slowly people are beginning to understand there too, that cycling in Prague is getting more and more political support and that we really want to make a difference.” The bicycle commission has at least already enforced it, that a cycling department has been set up at the road administration.
The greatest progress in traffic planning is primarily due to the cyclists themselves, meint der Activist Butterfly. “The bike sections, that exist today, created by pressure from below, from the citizens.” He himself hasn't used his bike for years and was waiting for better conditions. Until he met the then mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS) heard say, that the city does a lot for cyclists, but there are so few cyclists, that no further investments are planned. “That made me incredibly excited. Since then, I've been cycling every day, even in bad conditions - just because, to make myself visible.”
It would be nice, seufzt Butterfly, “If cycling in Prague were just a normal thing, If, as a cyclist, I didn’t always have to become an activist.”. That will probably only be possible, if his example sets a precedent and everyone, who would like to cycle, venture onto the streets, to conquer the city on two wheels.
http://www.pragerzeitung.cz/index.php/prag-er-leben/20683-aufsteigen
Text: Daniela Honigmann, Photos: Charlotte Tai/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0/Prague by bike
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