Gentle mobility

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Soft mobility - possible scenario

Soft Mobility is a political concept that as a sustainable , environmentally friendly, socially as compatible and unfallarm designated transport modes walking , cycling and use of public transport (except aviation ;. Cf. environmental network ) in particular in the context of a change in transport policy promoting wants.

Advocates of soft mobility see the main cause of the development of traffic volume and infrastructure (spatial distribution of mobility destinations such as work place, apartment, shopping, leisure facilities, recreation areas ...) mainly in traffic policy and traffic planning . Consequently, they demand from transport policy and planning to intervene in the development of the traffic volume and the infrastructure and to control these in such a way that unnecessary traffic volume is avoided and the necessary traffic volume can be handled to the greatest possible extent using gentle forms of mobility.

In contrast to this, advocates of “conventional” transport policy and planning see the development of the traffic volume as largely uninfluenceable: for them, the task of transport policy and planning is to meet the existing or forecast traffic volume ( e.g. public transport that is described as unprofitable through road construction and closure ).

Development of mobility

In the second half of the 20th century, individual motorized traffic (MIT) and goods traffic on the road increased sharply compared to the gentle types of mobility. The following table shows the development of transport performance in billions of passenger kilometers or billions of ton kilometers per year for the various types of transport:

country Type of traffic 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Germany Car 25th 162 351 470 602 850
truck 8th 24 42 80 120 317
Public transport people 85 78 83 90 85 127 136
Goods train 44 56 74 67 62 78
People air travel 11 18th 43
Austria Car 0.9 10 33 48 62 69 75
truck 1.2 4.0 9.3 13.6 15.5 29.1
People train 4.5 6.8 6.4 7.6 9.0 8.2 10.7
Goods train 5.8 8.3 10.3 11.4 12.7 17.8
People air travel 0.016 0.11 0.47 1.1 3.5 5.6

For example, between 1960 and 1990 car traffic in the Federal Republic of Germany increased 3.7 times (+ 270%); In the same period, the volume of public transport increased by only 9%; the transport of goods by truck increased fivefold (+ 400%), while the transport of goods by rail only increased by 11%.

The length of the road network in Austria increased by 25% from 1960 to 1990, while the length of the rail network decreased by 5%; In the Federal Republic of Germany, the road network increased by 33% overall (motorway network by 242%) between 1950 and 1980, while the rail network decreased by 22%.

The cost of mobility also developed in favor of motor vehicle traffic: while in Germany from 1980 to 1994 fuel prices rose less than the cost of living, rail tariffs for people and goods rose more than the cost of living. The real price (adjusted for inflation based on the cost of living index , based on 2001) of one liter of regular gasoline in Austria dropped in the period 1955 to 2001 of 1.38 to 0.90 Euro (- 35%); In 1973 it reached a low of 0.78 euros, while in 1981 it reached a peak of 1.20 euros.

Bicycle and rail transport , two exponents of soft mobility, here as a tourist concept in the Upper Danube Valley . There are so-called bicycle wagons in rail traffic is highly used, so that on more vehicles in the nature park along the Danube may well be waived

The strong increase in motor vehicle traffic is affecting the quality of life for many people through exhaust fumes , noise and restrictions in non-motorized freedom of movement.

In Austria in 1998 almost two thirds of the people felt badly or very badly affected by the traffic noise of the MIT, but only 9% by the traffic noise of trains or trams. Fear of traffic means a serious interference with everyday life. In 1998, almost eight times as many people were killed in road traffic in Germany as in crime.

In settlement areas , the majority of the public space consists of lanes and parking spaces for cars , while only a small part is available for gentle mobility in the form of sidewalks , car-free streets ( pedestrian zones ) and squares , parks , cycle paths , public bicycles , bus lanes and tram routes .

In Austria, for example, 94% of the total area used by traffic is taken up by road traffic, including not only motorized individual traffic but also non-motorized individual traffic.

In the meantime, studies show the growing need to reduce car traffic, including in city centers.

Causes and Mechanisms of Action

Some scientists such as Winfried Wolf , Hermann Knoflacher , Heiner Monheim or Frederic Vester have analyzed the mechanisms for these developments and a. put forward the following theses:

One-sided lobbying

Unilateral lobbying for motorized private transport in transport policy and planning was, from the start, largely responsible for promoting motorized private transport at the expense of other modes of transport.

Although there were separate sidewalks in various cities as early as ancient times and, for example, in Berlin, sidewalks had been laid out on a large scale since the first half of the 19th century, it was common and legitimate in many places until the 1920s for all road users to use the whole Divided street space. Pedestrians not only walked the street, they also lingered and used the street as a living space. With the advent of car traffic, more and more separate areas were created for the various types of traffic, which sometimes led to violent protests among pedestrians: " Where does the motorist get the right to rule the road, as he prides himself on, which is by no means him, but it?" the entire population should be hindered every step of the way and dictate behavior that they should only demand in their own private ways? "

Although motorists were a small minority of road users at the time, pedestrians now had to walk on the side of the road and were only allowed to enter the lane to cross, and only in a reasonable hurry and only if they did not obstruct any motorist. Markus Schmidt describes this "built-in right of way" as the key to the massive increase in motorized traffic that followed.

In the 1930s, cities in Germany began to be redesigned to make them suitable for cars through road openings and demolition of houses for parking spaces as well as increased regulation of overall traffic in favor of cars. For example, it is believed that since the introduction of more and more traffic lights in the 1960s, travel times for pedestrians have doubled.

The following example from Linz shows how, despite promises by politicians to do something against the increase in private motorized transport, private motorized transport is preferred in the allocation of resources: although transport policy had planned to reduce the motorized vehicle share to 43% by 2010 (As of 2001: 61%) and increasing the share of cycling from 6% to 14%, between 1995 and 2010 around 62% of total transport expenditure was spent on promoting motor vehicle traffic, but less than 1% on cycling.

A study carried out on behalf of the US Senate in 1974 testifies to a conspiracy against rail-bound transport : for more than three decades, well-functioning rail-bound electrical means of transport in countless large US cities were bought up by an amalgamation of corporations in the oil and automotive industries, shut down and replaced by bus companies. A devastating deterioration in air quality and quality of life was among other things. a. the consequence.

Law of constancy of time

The faster it is possible to move, the longer the distances covered: whether a path is covered is only determined by the duration, not the distance. As a result, increases in speed do not result in any time gain, but only an expansion of space.

The noticeable expansion of the road network, but also the construction of high-speed railway lines, are major causes of the thinning of the infrastructure and the associated increase in the distances covered.

Supply creates demand

The expansion of the road system causes an increase in traffic.

Closing gaps in autobahns, for example, repeatedly resulted in enormous growth rates in road transit traffic , as did the expansion of existing roads. In a UPI study, bypasses are described as " in most cases counterproductive pseudo-solutions ", in which " taking into account the new pollution from the bypass, the overall balance is often not positive ": Noise pollution, pollutant emissions and the number and severity of accidents are increasing due to the increase in the Car traffic and travel speeds.

The Vienna Southeast Tangent , designed as a relief highway

For example, Vienna's south-east tangent was built as a relief motorway for an inner-city street with 20,000 vehicles per day; In the first year after the opening, traffic there was reduced to 7,000 vehicles per day, while ten years later it had risen again to 24,000, and 100,000 vehicles per day were counted on the relief highway.

According to a UPI study, “ the number of cars is expanding around nine times faster than the road network. Even if new roads were built nine times as many and nine times as fast as before, the traffic jams and congestion of the road network that have arisen in the meantime could be kept at today's level! "

Conversely, a reduction in the road network usually leads to a decrease in the volume of traffic. When, for example, the Donnersbergerbrücke in Munich was renovated in March 1993, there were fears that there would be “permanent traffic jams” because the bridge, with 150,000 cars every day, is one of the busiest flyovers in Europe. But the opposite was the case: although the bridge could only be used in two lanes for several months, the drivers usually made fast progress. Counts showed that 32,000 fewer cars were on the road every day than usual. Only 25,000 more cars were counted on the parallel routes, so the total traffic volume decreased by 7,000 vehicles.

A similar case in Frankfurt am Main shows how strongly the choice of means of transport can be influenced by the framework conditions: “ When a centrally located Main Bridge, the Untermainbrücke , had to be renewed and was not available for motor vehicle traffic for a year, the number of passengers on the increased as expected parallel to the river crossing underground line strongly…. After the reopening of the Untermainbrücke, the volume of motor vehicles did not increase to the previous level. "

A closure of the Inntal motorway in July 1990 because of a sagging bridge near Kufstein , contrary to all expectations, did not cause the economy to collapse. " The motorists suddenly found it no longer so necessary to stand together in the hundreds of thousands at the same hour in a traffic jam in front of the Brenner ".

Although a “traffic blackout” has been forecast over and over for decades, the total collapse of road traffic never occurred because road users had to adapt to the limited capacity of the road network.

Missing cost truth

The wear and tear of asphalt roads is accelerated by the use of heavy traffic . Deep ruts as in the picture arise and make driving on roads difficult. Parts of the road surface will then become brittle and the road will be dangerous if it is not renovated. Travel costs arise that have to be passed on to the economy

When the macroeconomic and ecological follow-up costs are taken into account, motorized vehicle and truck traffic only covers a fraction of the costs it causes; From this point of view, the deficit of public transport turns out to be significantly lower than that of motorized vehicle and truck traffic. This inadequate cost accuracy leads to a disproportionate development of motorized vehicle and truck traffic in accordance with market economy laws.

The construction and maintenance of traffic routes result in so-called route costs (including internal costs or infrastructure costs ); In addition, environmental pollution, surface pollution and accidents give rise to economic costs, which are referred to as external costs , and which, in contrast to internal costs, are generally not borne by the polluter but by the general public.

A comparison of the road costs for motor vehicle traffic with the income from motor vehicle and mineral oil tax in the Federal Republic of Germany in the period 1960 to 1989 shows a deficit of 106 billion DM according to a UPI study, while DB had a deficit of around DM in the same period Generated DM 30 billion (both without interest and redemption payments for old debts).

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) assumes in a study from 1985 that " the maintenance costs for municipal and state roads amounting to 231 billion DM (151 West, 80 East) by 2010 will be completely uncovered ".

A calculation of the external costs for motor vehicle traffic in the Federal Republic of Germany shows for the year 1989 that the external costs are about ten times as high as the internal costs (in 1996, due to the increased infrastructure costs 6.5 times as high;) if the external If costs were also covered by the mineral oil tax according to the polluter pays principle, a liter of fuel would cost around 3.50 euros (as of 1994, according to the CPI development 2006 around 4 euros). The following table shows the annual and average external transport costs in the EU-17 countries in 2000 (excluding congestion costs):

Type Means of transport External transport costs in billions of euros per year External transport costs in euros per 1000 passenger or tonne kilometers
Passenger transportation Car 281 76
bus 15th 38
Rail transport 8th 23
Air traffic 85 53
Freight transport Vans 59 250
Heavy truck 164 71
Rail transport 4th 18th
Air traffic 6th 270

The external costs per person-kilometer (pkm) are around a third for rail transport and around half of the external costs for car transport for buses; At 226 euros per 1000 pkm, motorcycle traffic has by far the highest external costs due to its high accident costs. For freight transport, the external costs (per tonne-kilometer) of road transport are around 4 to 14 times greater than for rail. Overall, the annual external costs of private motor vehicle and truck traffic are almost 20 times the external costs of public transport and rail freight transport.

In aviation , the high external costs are due to the strong impact of high-altitude carbon dioxide emissions on climate change. For the aircraft turbine fuel kerosene and for diesel fuels for inland navigation , neither mineral oil nor value added tax has to be paid (see, for example, kerosene tax ).

Increasing inefficiency of traffic

Despite the high increase in traffic volume, human mobility needs are no longer met .

The combination of the causes listed in the previous theses not only increases the volume of traffic, but also increases the transport routes at the same time, so that overall efficiency decreases significantly while the benefit remains roughly the same .

In the Federal Republic of Germany, for example, the number of journeys per capita and year increased only slightly from 920 to 960 between 1960 and 1982, while the average journey length increased from 6.2 to 11.0 km. The traffic performance achieved in 1963 is considered sufficient to meet human mobility needs. The consequences of the increasing transport routes in passenger traffic are centralization, urban sprawl , a widespread disintegration of the village structure and culture and the loss of local supplies and jobs in rural areas.

With just-in-time production, storage space is moved from the factory to the street. This concept then leads, among other things, to traffic congestion and congestion in public space , especially with a simultaneous, steady increase in freight traffic

The increase in freight transport is " to a large extent the result of an excessive social division of labor, which was only made possible by artificially kept transport costs ", so that in 1990 4/5 of long-distance freight transport was assessed as unnecessary. Semi-finished products are sometimes transported over long distances instead of achieving a high level of vertical integration by choosing a suitable location. For example, “ Ham is transported from Belgium and the Netherlands to South Tyrol, where it is stamped“ smoked in South Tyrol ”, in order to be transported back to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium etc. as“ South Tyrolean Speck ”. "

Thanks to the just-in-time concept, the storage space is moved from companies to the street. Export support generates a not inconsiderable part of traffic movements that otherwise would hardly have an economic background.

Strategies for smooth mobility

The German Alpine Association is promoting gentle mobility with a view to Alpine tourism by painting a locomotive accordingly

From this, strategies were developed how the development of transport can be changed in favor of soft mobility and a higher quality of life: a transport policy that promotes soft mobility tries to attract the means of transport of soft mobility through measures and investments, whereby the others are also necessary No further promotion of means of transport ( MIV , HGV, air traffic ) and through taxation (e.g. increase in the mineral oil tax to internalize external costs ( eco-tax ), eco-bonus system, parking space management , inner city toll ) and restrictions ( e.g. no truck driving at night, speed limits , gate lights ) to reduce. At the same time, it must also change the distribution of the areas in public space in favor of gentle mobility, for example by calming down traffic and removing roads . Last but not least, such a transport policy must actively intervene in settlement policy, spatial and urban planning in order to achieve high quality of life in settlement areas with short distances at the same time, and thus to prevent urban sprawl in the surrounding area (see also traffic turnaround ).

Organizations promoting soft mobility in German-speaking countries

Germany

Austria

Switzerland

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Winfried Wolf: Eisenbahn und Autowahn: Passenger and goods transport by rail and road; History, balance sheet, perspectives . Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-89136-105-X , p. 151, data up to 1980.
  2. ↑ Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Housing (Ed.): Verkehr in Figures 2005/2006 . Deutscher Verkehrsverlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-87154-334-9 , pp. 228, 252; Data from 1990, from 1991 including new federal states.
  3. ↑ without local freight transport (<50 km)
  4. ^ Railway and regular road traffic
  5. ↑ http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Presse/pm/2011/01/PD11__041__461,templateId=renderPrint.psml
  6. ↑ Federal Ministry for the Environment, Youth and Family (ed.): Environmental balance sheet traffic in Austria 1950 - 1996 . Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-901305-75-0 , pp. 20-23
  7. ↑ a b Austrian Chamber of Commerce (Ed.): Austria's Transport Industry in Figures . Vienna 2004
  8. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vcoe.at
  9. ↑ http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/verkehr/strasse/gueterverkehr/index.html , data for 2009.
  10. ↑ http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/verkehr/schiene/habenverkehr/index.html , data for 2009.
  11. ↑ http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/verkehr/schiene/gueterverkehr/index.html , data for 2009
  12. ↑ http://www.kleinezeitung.at/allgemein/automotor/2557595/oesterreicher-sind-liebsten-auto.story .
  13. ^ Roman Riedel: Austrian Transport Balance . Diploma thesis at the Institute for Road Construction and Transport at the Vienna University of Technology , Vienna 1989.
  14. ^ Winfried Wolf: Eisenbahn und Autowahn: Passenger and goods transport by rail and road; History, balance sheet, perspectives . Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-89136-105-X , p. 143.
  15. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Environmental Effects of Financial Instruments in the Transport Sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 47.
  16. ↑ Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (Ed.): Transport in numbers . Vienna, edition 2002, p. 191
  17. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Environmental Effects of Financial Instruments in the Transport Sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 40
  18. ^ Hermann Knoflacher: On the harmony of city and traffic . 2nd Edition. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-205-98586-9 , pp. 40, 46, 64.
  19. ↑ Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (Ed.): Transport in numbers . Vienna, edition 2002, p. 170.
  20. ^ Heiner Monheim, Rita Monheim-Dandorfer: Streets for everyone - analyzes and concepts for urban traffic of the future . Rasch and Röhrig Verlag, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-368-0 , p. 25.
  21. ↑ Markus Schmidt: Built-in right of way , M. Mainhatten Verlag, Frankfurt, 2nd edition 2002, ISBN 3-9803508-8-6 , p. 53.
  22. ^ Verkehrsclub Österreich (Ed.): Land consumption of the transport infrastructure in Austria .
  23. ↑ Germans want to get away from the car cities ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ZDF report on Federal Environment Agency study; accessed on March 30, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heute.de
  24. ↑ Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Renia Ehrenfeucht: Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation Over Public Space , MIT Press, 2009
  25. ↑ Jörg Niendorf: Sidewalks have a bulge, underneath , Die Welt , November 8, 2006
  26. ↑ Jens Sethmann: Berlin Pavement: Stepped Millions of Times , in: MieterMagazin 5/2013 (Berliner Mieterverein)
  27. ↑ Michael Freiherr von Pidoll: Today's automobileism - a protest and wake-up call, Vienna 1912, p. 37f
  28. ↑ Markus Schmidt: Built-in right of way, M. Mainhatten Verlag, Frankfurt, 2nd edition 2002, ISBN 3-9803508-8-6 , p. 116ff.
  29. ^ Heiner Monheim, Rita Monheim-Dandorfer: Streets for everyone - analyzes and concepts for urban traffic of the future. Rasch and Röhrig Verlag, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-368-0 , pp. 55, 111, 193.
  30. ↑ Lukas Beurle, Gerhard Prieler: Study on the Proportionality of Transport Expenditures in Greater Linz from the Perspective of Bicycle Traffic, 2004, short version ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 436 kB). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ifahrrad.at
  31. ^ Bradford C. Snell, The American Ground Transport. A Proposal for Restructuring the Automobile, Truck, Bus and Rail Industries, 1974; Excerpts translated and cited in: Winfried Wolf, Verkehr.Umwelt.Klima - the globalization of speed madness. Promedia Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-85371-271-9 , p. 126 ff.
  32. ^ A b Hermann Knoflacher: Landscape without motorways, For a future-oriented traffic planning . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-205-98436-6 , p. 55.
  33. ↑ a b Environment and Forecast Institute Heidelberg (Hrsg.): Sham solutions in the transport sector - counterproductive and inefficient concepts of transport planning and transport policy . UPI Report No. 23, 4th ext. Edition 1993.
  34. ↑ Hermann Knoflacher: Stehzeuge - The traffic jam is not a traffic problem . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-205-98988-0 , p. 95
  35. ↑ a b evening newspaper of October 14, 1995.
  36. ↑ M. Wentz (Ed.): Urban planning in Frankfurt, 1991, Frankfurt am Main, p. 138.
  37. ↑ Der Spiegel, 37/1990, p. 134.
  38. ^ Markus Schmidt: Built-in right of way, M. Mainhatten Verlag, Frankfurt, 2nd edition 2002, ISBN 3-9803508-8-6 , p. 202ff.
  39. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Environmental Effects of Financial Instruments in the Transport Sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 15; [1] .
  40. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Environmental Effects of Financial Instruments in the Transport Sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 21.
  41. ↑ Winfried Wolf: Dead end car company: Highest railway for an alternative . 3. Edition. ISP, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-929008-52-1 , pp. 137, 171.
  42. ↑ a b Environment and Forecasting Institute Heidelberg (ed.): Environmental effects of financial instruments in the transport sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 44.
  43. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Updated data on the UPI website .
  44. ↑ a b INFRAS and IWW (ed.): External costs of traffic . Summary of the update study, Zurich / Karlsruhe, October 2004.
  45. ↑ Winfried Wolf: Dead end car company: Highest railway for an alternative . 3. Edition. ISP, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-929008-52-1 , p. 93.
  46. ^ Winfried Wolf: Eisenbahn und Autowahn: Passenger and goods transport by rail and road; History, balance sheet, perspectives . Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-89136-105-X , pp. 433, 416.
  47. ^ Winfried Wolf: Eisenbahn und Autowahn: Passenger and goods transport by rail and road; History, balance sheet, perspectives . Rasch and Röhrig, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-89136-105-X , p. 416.
  48. ↑ Winfried Wolf: Dead end car company: Highest railway for an alternative . 3. Edition. ISP, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-929008-52-1 , p. 99.
  49. ^ A b Hermann Knoflacher: Landscape without motorways, For a future-oriented traffic planning . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-205-98436-6 , p. 217.
  50. ↑ Winfried Wolf: Dead end car company: Highest railway for an alternative . 3. Edition. ISP, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-929008-52-1 , p. 92.
  51. ^ Hermann Knoflacher: Landscape without motorways, For a future-oriented traffic planning . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-205-98436-6 , p. 220.
  52. ↑ Umwelt- und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Ed.): Environmental Effects of Financial Instruments in the Transport Sector . UPI report No. 21 on behalf of the Ministry for Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 4th edition. 1994, p. 118.
  53. ^ Hermann Knoflacher: On the harmony of city and traffic . 2nd Edition. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-205-98586-9 , pp. 54, 144.