Cologne is once again participating in the city cycling event. Elisabeth-von-Thüringen-Gymnasium gave Ascan EgererDeputy Mayor for Mobility of the City of Cologne, and Dr. Bruno Zerweckheadmaster of the Sülzer EvT-Gymnasium, and Peter Lemke, deputy bicycle representative of the city of Colognethe starting signal for the three-week Cologne participation campaign.
The international competition for cycling and climate protection activated from 28 August to 17 September inclusive 2024 Cologne residents who love cycling and anyone who lives, works, belongs to a club or attends a (college) school in Cologne are invited to take part in the nationwide competition. For three weeks, the aim is to pedal together professionally, privately or as part of a school association and to promote Cologne as a participating municipality to a good place in the nationwide city rankings.
City cycling brings the benefits of cycling for health and the climate into the public spotlightWith this campaign, the city of Cologne wants to encourage even more people to switch to cycling – in their free time, on the way to work and to school.
Ascan Egerer. Deputy Mayor for Mobility, City of Cologne | Source
„Every year, the City Cycling campaign calls on thousands of enthusiastic cyclists and those, who want to become one. In the competition, the participants show team spirit and a collective motivation to move. For the first time, we are organizing two bike tours through the city center for council members to show the progress of the mobility transition locally. Every kilometer cycled benefits city cycling. Because every kilometer counts for the good performance of the city of Cologne“, said Ascan Egerer, Deputy Mayor for Mobility of the City of Cologne.
Registration for city cycling is available online at City cycling | Cologne or via the City Cycling appThe special “School Cycling” competition, which this year again calls on students, parents and teachers to take part in a cycling competition, is about creating a healthy change from the mostly sedentary school routine. By switching from the parent taxi to the bicycle, students are making their own contribution to climate protection. At the same time, they are getting fit for cycling in everyday life. More information about school cycling is available at City cycling | School cycling NRW
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City Cycling is an initiative of the Climate Alliance and an international competition for cycling and cycling promotion in which the participating municipalities compete against each otherThe aim is to encourage as many people as possible to switch to cycling and thereby save climate-damaging CO2. The campaign is organized in Cologne by the Department of Mobility. City cycling is taking place in Cologne for the ninth time. The total mileage of all participants has increased every year so far. Last year, a total distance of 1.7 million bicycle kilometers was covered in Cologne – a record result.
Last year, a total of 63 schools took part in the School Cycling NRW competition, which is integrated into the City Cycling competitionThe Elisabeth-von-Thüringen-Gymnasium was the most bicycle-active school in Cologne, cycling a total of 27,050 kilometers. Female students, a male and a female teacher from the high school, together with participants from the winning teams of the University Hospital of Cologne, Caritas and the Cologne City Council, “lent” their faces to this year’s city cycling campaign.
Cycling planning in Cologne also benefits from the City Cycling app, which can be used to conveniently record the kilometers traveled by participantsThe routes recorded by app during city cycling are scientifically evaluated anonymously in the RIDE project – Cycling in Germany. The findings – for example, where, how much and how fast people cycle or where the flow of bicycle traffic is slowed down, for example by waiting times at traffic lights – are made available to the participating municipalities. This is another important building block for a needs-based and therefore optimal expansion of the cycling infrastructure in Cologne.
In order to be able to further improve the cycling infrastructure in a targeted manner, the city of Cologne also relies on constructive feedback from cyclists. Participants in the city cycling event can also use the reporting platform “Tell us”, which is available to citizens to submit all their concerns in Cologne. “Tell us” can be found at: Welcome to “Tell us“.
Against this background, the reporting platform “RADar!” will not be activated in Cologne.
