With this campaign, the city of Bonn wants to promote awareness of the cycle lanes, educate people about the rules and rights that apply there and invite people in Bonn to explore the new cycle lanes by bike or on foot. "Cycle streets are safe and comfortable routes for all generations: Be it the way to school or university, the daily commute to work or the outing with the grandchildren," said Mayor of Bonn Dörner. "Cycle lanes are something new for many people. We are therefore running a city-wide campaign to inform people about their rights and obligations on cycle streets. So that everyone - whether behind the handlebars or the steering wheel - knows how to behave in cycle lanes."
Bonn already has a high number of cycle streets by national standards. Until a few years ago, bicycle lanes in Bonn were marked with a dashed white border marking and recurring bicycle pictograms. Since 2022, the city of Bonn has been implementing cycle lanes according to a new standard: in addition to sufficient lane and sidewalk widths, these are equipped with characteristic red edge markings and - if the cycle lane has right of way - fully marked red junction areas.
"On Bonn's cycle paths"
Since June 18, the motifs of the "On Bonn's bicycle streets" campaign have been on display in the city. The digital outdoor advertising consists on the one hand of the large-format screens in landscape format on the streets and the monitors at the streetcar stations "Bonn Hauptbahnhof" and "Bad Godesberg Stadthallte". On the other hand, the digital advertising is supplemented by large-format screens in portrait format, which can be found in Bonn's pedestrian zone, among other places. Posters are also displayed on advertising pillars, on the large printed billboards and in cycle lanes. The city of Bonn is also drawing attention to the campaign on its social media channels.
The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of cycle lane markings and highlight the benefits of cycle lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. At the same time, the motifs are intended to whet the appetite for cycling and walking in the cycle lanes. Posters are to be successively hung up in the completed streets, providing information about the rules and rights that apply there and addressing users directly.
The following rules apply in cycle lanes
- Cyclists have priority in cycle lanes. This means that cyclists may ride alongside each other at any time and at their desired speed.
Cars are guests in cycle lanes. - A maximum speed of 30 km/h applies to all road users.
- As in other inner-city streets, cyclists may only be overtaken at a distance of at least 1.5 meters.
"Our previous cycle lanes were often not recognized as such due to their discreet design. For this reason, we have adapted the marking standard for cycle lanes so that it follows the principle of self-explanatory road space: All users should intuitively recognize that they are in a cycle lane. With the communication campaign, we want to take the opportunity to once again draw attention to the special rules and rights in cycle streets. In the coming weeks and months, we also want to provide more information about the interconnected routes that are gradually being implemented in the city," emphasizes Helmut Wiesner.
A good example of this is the establishment of cycle routes in the Bundesviertel district and in Pützchen and Küdinghoven. In future, these two routes will connect to the Südbrücke bridge and its feeder roads, thus providing a fast cycle connection between the residential areas in the east of Beuel and the main workplaces in the Bundesviertel district.
"Further routes will be set up along Kessenich and Burbacher Straße, on the Ückesdorf school route between Brüser Berg and Röttgen, the Berg-Tal-Rand route between Friesdorf and Bad Godesberg and on central cycle routes in Endenich. In addition, the city of Bonn is also closing important gaps on existing routes by setting up a number of cycle routes, for example on Karl-Legien-Straße, which closes an important gap on the Rhine Cycle Route," adds the city planning officer.
All information on the subject of cycle routes can be found on the Internet: www.bonn.de/fahrradstraßen