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City of Bonn

The Bonn mobility mix

In Bonn, significantly more people travel on foot, by bike and by bus and train than just a few years ago. Overall, 71 percent of journeys in the city are now made using environmentally friendly forms of mobility. This is the result of this year's Germany-wide study "Mobility in Germany", which was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).

Between May 2023 and June 2024, more than 218,000 households and around 420,000 people across Germany were surveyed on their mobility behavior for the study. Compared to the last survey from 2017, the share of environmentally friendly forms of mobility in Bonn has increased by 11 percentage points. The share of individual modes of transport in the distances traveled is referred to as the modal split. It is therefore a very good indicator for the development of mobility behavior.

Almost three out of four journeys in Bonn (71 percent in total) are made on foot, by bike or by bus and train.

The results of the study are good news for the quality of life in the city and the goals of Bonn's climate plan. After all, environmentally friendly mobility on foot, by bike or by bus and train makes Bonn quieter, safer - and greener: as these forms of mobility require significantly less space in the city, there is room for more green spaces or for meeting places in the city. This change can be seen particularly well on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn: Whereas there used to be a two-lane roadway for motor vehicles with parking spaces, the city of Bonn is now building a space-saving bicycle lane there as well as new green spaces with room for everyone who likes to spend time on the banks of the Rhine.

The city of Bonn's goal is for three out of four journeys, i.e. 75 percent of journeys in the city, to be sustainable by 2030. The Bonn City Council decided this back in 2019 and tasked the administration with implementing measures. The current figures show that Bonn is on the right track.

Cycling has experienced the greatest growth from 15 percent in the past to 21 percent today - an increase of six percentage points or 40 percent.

Bonn on the move: New offers from recent years

The positive development in Bonn is particularly striking, as mobility behavior has hardly changed nationwide. In Bonn, on the other hand, many people have switched to public transport or cycling or are walking more.

In recent years, the city of Bonn has implemented numerous measures to promote sustainable mobility. The aim is to provide an attractive offer that invites people to change modes. For example, Bonn has an above-average range of attractive local transport services and has implemented numerous measures to promote cycling in recent years. The city of Bonn is also looking at the sidewalks, as many sidewalks are too narrow due to parked cars to get through with a wheelchair or baby carriage, for example. Such footpaths are to be cleared and made more attractive, for example as part of the implementation of parking space concepts.

The study "Mobility in Germany" was conducted by infas on behalf of the BMDV and presented on May 14, 2025 at the joint meeting of the Committee for Mobility and Transport with the Rhein-Sieg district. The presentation of the study from this meeting can be found  herePDF-File4,01 MB. Both Bonn's modal split and other mobility indicators can be viewed at  bonn.de/klimakompass (opens in a new tab).

What is mobility behavior like in other cities?

How people get around in their city can be jointly shaped by society, politics and administration. Examples from German-speaking countries and around the world show that how a city is built and developed and what services are available also determines how people get around.

Freiburg im Breisgau has already achieved the Bonn target thanks to years of work: 76 percent of journeys here are made sustainably. The bicycle accounts for the largest share at 33 percent.
In Vienna, too, three out of four journeys are now made sustainably. The city owes this above all to its strong local transport system: 34 percent of journeys are made by bus and train.
Many major Asian cities show that buses and trains can also play an even greater role in the mobility mix. Singapore is one of the cities with the best public transport in the world: more than half of all journeys are made this way.
It's hard to imagine that just a few decades ago, the city with the world's largest underground bicycle parking garage was dominated by car traffic: Utrecht is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. Within the city, half of all journeys are made by bike.
To get from A to B in Houston, you need a car: more than 90 percent of journeys are made by car. The freeway here has up to 26 lanes - and yet car drivers lose more than 60 hours a year in traffic jams. Houston shows: The best remedy for traffic jams is attractive alternatives to the car.

What's next for Bonn?

The city of Bonn is pursuing a clear goal: to make sustainable mobility in the city even more attractive so that even more people take the opportunity to switch to buses, trains and bicycles or walk short distances. This will ultimately benefit everyone in Bonn. Because the more people travel in an environmentally friendly way, the safer and quieter the city becomes. And people who are dependent on a car will be less stuck in traffic jams.

The city will build on previous successes and, where necessary, further develop its own approach. Cyclists in Bonn can look forward to the further  expansion of the cycling network. This includes the construction of a new pedestrian and cycle bridge between Weststadt and Nordstadt and the redesign of the cycle traffic routing at Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz. In order to make  walking even more attractive, the city of Bonn will ensure the necessary sidewalk widths in other districts and make crossing the road safer and more barrier-free with the help of level crossings when new roads are built. The city also attaches great importance to improving  children's mobility: Based on school route plans, for example, the routes of children and young people are to be designed in such a way that they can move around safely and independently.

The city is currently planning a particularly large number of projects for the  expansion of local transport, including buses, trains and, in future,  cable cars. These plans are taking a particularly long time due to their size. In the coming years, the improvements will become visible bit by bit. This is because the city is significantly expanding its services and improving their quality. This includes, among other things: A completely new construction of the outdated bus station in the city center, new light rail vehicles, a doubling of the frequency between Bonn and Siegburg as well as a cable car between Beuel, the federal district and Venusberg.

Further information and an overview of key upcoming projects can be found at  bonn.de/mobilitaetswende and  bonn.de/mobilitaet.