Freiburg (dpa / lsw) – In Freiburg, during the corona pandemic, more and more people have their new passport brought by a bicycle courier. Of the more than 22,000 documents issued between January and September, 5670 documents were delivered by bike courier, a city spokesman said. That was 26 percent of all passport and ID documents issued. In the two years 2018 and 2019, a total of 2362 citizens received their passport and ID documents in this way – that was seven percent of all passports and IDs applied for.
The city’s citizen service has been delivering such papers by bike courier since 2011. The original intention was to use it to promote climate protection. There is a similar service in Karlsruhe and Mannheim.
Normally the delivery fee in Freiburg is 3.50 euros. In order to reduce personal contacts during the corona pandemic, the service in Freiburg was free between April and September. The city paid for the delivery. Since October, applicants have had to pay the fee themselves again. “Because of the renewed increase in the number of corona cases, the city administration is thinking about sending the papers back to citizens free of charge,” said the spokesman.
According to a city spokeswoman in Karlsruhe, the couriers delivered around half of the approximately 20,400 papers requested to the citizens here before the corona pandemic. This year, the number of ID cards and passports delivered has so far been almost 12,000. That is 80 percent of all papers requested. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, this tried and tested delivery option has helped us, among other things, to reduce customer traffic to a minimum,” said the spokeswoman. “We assume that the second wave will cause a huge increase.”
So is the delivery of identification documents by bike possibly a model for other municipalities in the southwest? Already with a view to the original goal, the Baden-Württemberg Municipal Day considers delivering identification documents by bike to be a good idea. A spokeswoman said it served climate protection and could, under certain circumstances, also lead to less traffic in the inner cities. “In very small communities, however, one will probably weigh up whether the offer is worthwhile.” If town halls or citizens’ offices can be reached on foot in a short time, experience has shown that citizens would rather pick up their documents themselves.
The city of Mannheim has recently also had passport and identity documents delivered by bicycle courier. A spokesman said there is still no experience there as in the other two Baden cities. But the Mannheimers would contact more and more and apply for the climate-friendly and low-contact delivery for a fee of 4.40 euros. “We are now thinking about expanding the service,” said the spokesman.
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