ABSTRACT
Today it is rather accepted that the bicycle is an everyday mode of transport – albeit still marginal in comparison to the private car. Increasing acceptance of cycling is, in part, due to the awareness of the negative impacts motorized transport has on the environment, the positive health benefits a bicycle offers, and the bicycle’s speed and flexibility in urbanized and congested cities. In many European cities, bicycle use is on the rise – a trend which is in sharp contrast to its decrease after the Second World War. Although many cities promote the bicycle as a key facet of sustainable mobility or a tool with which greenhouse gas emissions can be kept in check, it is much less often given priority in the planning of transport infrastructure and services. This chapter considers the fine line between developing more sustainable policies for the promotion of cycling and actually integrating the bicycle, as a mode of transport, in the given traffic system. It looks specifically at the case of Munich in Germany, a state capital with 1.4 million citizens (and 2.6 million including the surrounding urban region).
