A citizens' initiative is a municipal instrument for initiating a political decision-making process by the citizens themselves. The initiators of the petition formulate a political issue and submit it to the city administration. The city administration prepares a cost estimate, i.e. it determines the costs that will be incurred if the petition is successfully implemented. The cost estimate is part of the question and is presented to the signatories in a transparent manner.

Every citizens' initiative must reach a quorum of signatories, depending on the city's population. If a petition meets this quorum, the city council must deal with the resolution. After determining the legal admissibility of the question, it can either reject or approve the petition. If it rejects it, a referendum is held, i.e. the city's electorate is asked to vote on the issue by postal ballot.

The Bonn City Council approved the Bonn cycling referendum with a majority of 87 percent.

In order to achieve the climate targets in the transport sector, more people need to switch from cars to cycling, walking and public transport. For this to succeed, we need a mobility transition.

A mobility transition means avoiding and shifting motorized traffic.

Avoiding motorized traffic includes measures to reduce the overall volume of traffic. These can be urban planning measures to keep distances in a city short - for example between homes and workplaces - or to reduce commuter traffic by encouraging people to work from home.

Modal shift strategies, on the other hand, refer to the promotion of modes of transport that are less energy and land-intensive than car traffic, including public transport, cycling and walking. Expanding and improving walking and cycling infrastructure are therefore important building blocks for the mobility transition in Bonn.

As road space in Bonn is limited, space must be distributed more fairly between the different modes of transport - this is an enormous transformation process that will not succeed overnight, but will require transitional periods. Improvements for cycling and walking can only be implemented step by step, so the positive effects of the mobility transition will only be felt and seen by everyone step by step.

More and more people are cycling in Bonn. In addition, according to a resolution passed by the city council in 2019, the number of cyclists is set to increase to 25 percent. In order to avoid conflicts and accidents with cyclists and to protect them, it is particularly important to give this form of mobility more space in city traffic. The cycling decision sets new standards for this.

In recent years, both bicycle and car traffic have increased in Bonn. This has exacerbated conflicts over existing traffic areas. The growth in car traffic combined with the increased size and weight of individual vehicles increases the risk of accidents for cyclists and also has a negative impact on the subjective perception of safety.

A well-developed cycling infrastructure helps to improve the subjective perception of safety as well as objectively increasing safety. Only if people feel safe on a bicycle in road traffic will they dare to switch from car to bike. Cycle paths should therefore be structurally separated from car traffic in as many places as possible. This has been proven to make cyclists feel safer. The expansion of cycling infrastructure should not be at the expense of pedestrian traffic; here, too, the cycling decision proposes separate routes to protect pedestrians and increase the attractiveness of pedestrian traffic.

The most frequent causes of accidents between cyclists and motorists are

• Turning accidents at junctions due to poor visibility and lack of shoulder vision,
• collisions with carelessly opened car doors,
• accidents caused by cars passing too closely.

The objective safety of cycling can therefore be increased most effectively by creating sufficient safety distances of at least 1.5 m from moving traffic and 0.75 m from parked cars. A good and safe cycling infrastructure therefore needs more space on the road. To this end, Radentscheid Bonn proposes new minimum widths and safety requirements for the expansion of bicycle traffic, which the city of Bonn's traffic planning should be aligned with.

The car has many individual advantages - once purchased, it is always at the door ready to take us from A to B in comfort. However, these individual advantages have collective disadvantages in cities
because parking and road space is limited.

In Bonn, 31 percent of journeys between 0.5 and 5 km and 51 percent of journeys between 5 and 10 km are made by car - there is a lot of potential for shifting from car to walking and cycling in Bonn - or to public transport. The consequences for all road users are tangible: traffic jams, frustrating searches for parking spaces and stress.

Not everyone is able to ride a bike. However, this also applies the other way around: not everyone in Bonn is able to drive a car or wants to. Many cannot afford a car, some do not have the confidence to drive, while others are not in good health. An equal expansion of the infrastructure between motorized, bicycle and pedestrian traffic as well as public transport therefore increases the freedom of choice for Bonn residents as to which means of transport they would like to use.

In 2021, one in five women and one in seven men in Germany did not have a driver's license. Women are therefore more likely to suffer from the restrictions of inadequate environmental transport services.

People rate those cities as particularly liveable that are characterized by generous public spaces for encounters, greenery and little traffic congestion and noise. According to Radentscheid Bonn, improving the cycling and walking infrastructure should create more meeting spaces for Bonn residents and reduce traffic noise. Better conditions for cyclists and pedestrians should encourage people to switch to cycling or walking.

If the mobility transition is successful, Bonn residents will have more space for green areas and places to spend time in the future.

Radentscheid Bonn collected a total of 28,074 signatures between May and September 2020. On February 4, 2021, the Bonn cycling referendum was declared admissible and adopted in the main committee with the votes of the Greens, CDU, SPD, Linke, Volt, Rhein Grün and Die Partei - i.e. with a total of 87% of the votes.

In accordance with the cycling decision specifications and the current state of the art, a standard for the establishment and marking of cycle lanes has been agreed and made binding in the Bonn city administration: From 2023, all new cycle lanes will have a new marking design. They will have a minimum width of 4.5 m - at narrow points, however, the lane can be narrowed to 4 m for a short time, taking local conditions into account. Bicycle lanes should be kept free of through traffic as far as possible.

The new marking standard includes the traffic sign 244 "cycle lane" at junctions, which is also applied to the ground as a marking. The white bicycle pictograms already used on the roadway and the number "30" to indicate the speed limit will continue to be used as markings.

In addition, the cycle lanes will be marked with a continuous red line at the edge. This line has no regulatory content according to road traffic regulations, but ensures a particularly high level of attention. It makes all road users aware at all times that they are not on a "normal" road - no matter what level of the road they are on. The red edge markings also visually highlight the interconnectedness of all cycle lanes, which usually run parallel to the main roads on roads with fewer cars.

As there are no uniform specifications for the design of cycle lanes in the current German regulations, the need for coordination was particularly high here - both internally and externally. The new marking design had to be coordinated with stakeholders from the city, the road traffic authority, the police and the district government.

In cycle lanes, cycle traffic sets the pace, i.e. cyclists are allowed to ride alongside each other at all times. Bicycle lanes are also an important instrument for enabling cyclists to travel at a comfortable speed in a connected network. For this reason, the newly marked cycle lanes in Bonn will largely have right of way. Thanks to the right of way, bicycle traffic should become the predominant mode of transport in cycle streets. Motor vehicles, on the other hand, are "guests" in a cycle lane - provided the cycle lane is open to motor traffic. Motor vehicles are allowed to overtake, but only if the applicable safety distance of 1.5 m from cyclists can be maintained - in many Bonn cycle lanes this is usually not possible, so motor vehicles must stay behind cyclists, as safe overtaking is not possible.

The city of Bonn has developed standards for the installation of bicycle racks and produced system sketches based on these standards. System sketches are standardized planning templates for different applications that can be used to speed up current and future planning. In addition, the coordination process within the administration was adapted for the installation of the hangers. The aim of these measures is to increase the rate at which bike racks are installed and to significantly speed up the process of assessing locations within the administration.

In future, the Kreuzberg rack model in anthracite will be installed as standard - many Bonn residents should already be familiar with this type of rack from the cityscape, as it has proven its worth in recent years and is already used in many places in the city.

A perimeter barrier is an arrangement of gates that are set up at the end of a path. They create a barrier that must be circumnavigated or driven around in the form of a serpentine or Z-line. Circulation barriers are often placed at crossing points on cycle paths and roads where poor visibility or particularly high traffic volumes pose a danger to cyclists and pedestrians. The barriers slow down cycle and pedestrian traffic in front of the crossing point in order to increase awareness.

However, it is often difficult for people with bicycle trailers, cargo bikes, recumbent bikes or tricycles to pass through these barriers. Even passing through with a normal bicycle and panniers can be difficult. Wheelchair users or people with baby carriages or walking aids can also be hindered by the installation of barriers. In order to take account of Cycling Decision Goal 1 (continuous cycle and footpath network), the administration has therefore drawn up guidelines to show alternatives to the use of cycle barriers. According to these guidelines, cycle barriers should generally be avoided in Bonn in future and other planning measures should be examined as a matter of priority in order to make potentially conflicting crossing points safe for traffic.

These include, for example, clear marking solutions to indicate the traffic law situation or slowing markings that draw cyclists' attention to the point of conflict at an early stage. If a marking solution is not sufficient, other structural elements that slow down traffic can be used instead of road closures. These must be examined on a case-by-case basis depending on the application. The road traffic authority is responsible for ordering and thus deciding on the installation or removal of traffic barriers.

If road barriers are required, they should always be dimensioned in such a way that they allow for comfortable and safe passage while retaining their braking effect. The aim is not to hinder people from passing through and continuing their journey, so they should be installed in such a way that wheelchair and cargo bike riders can pass through the barrier without difficulty.

To this end, the distance between the barriers should be at least 1.5 m for all path widths. The barriers should not overlap. Where possible and depending on the width of the path, the barriers should be positioned diagonally at a 45-degree angle to allow cargo bikes and bikes with child trailers to pass through without any particular difficulty.

Between 2021 and 2023, the following funds were spent on the expansion and maintenance of cycling infrastructure, primarily including the measures to implement the cycling decision.

Funds from the European Regional Development Fund were used for the construction of the mobile stations, the expansion of the Rheinaue cycle path on the right bank of the Rhine and the construction of the Bornheim-Alfter-Bonn commuter cycle route, which contribute to achieving the objectives of the Bonn Cycling Decision.

To ensure that everyone in Bonn can get around the city safely by bike or on foot, a network of footpaths and cycle paths is needed that connects all parts of the city safely and conveniently. The planning basis for the expansion of the cycling infrastructure is a city-wide network plan. A first step towards realizing the cycling referendum demand is therefore the adaptation and revision of the cycling network plan, on which further expansion planning should be based.

Expanded cycling network presented to politicians

The expansion of Bonn's cycling infrastructure has been based on the 2020 Transport Development Plan (VEP) since 2012. This also includes a network plan for cycling. The VEP is a transport planning instrument that defines transport development goals and measures at municipal and regional level.

The cycling-related network plan of the VEP was supplemented with the involvement of the expertise of the Radentscheid Bonn initiative and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrradclub (ADFC) Bonn. The proposals for expansion have been submitted to politicians for consultation and approval. The current status of work can be seen in Figure 7. The white solid lines represent the VEP cycle network, the dashed lines the extension proposals.

Extension proposals for the main route network are also under political discussion. In future, this is to play a particularly important role in cycle traffic planning and create central, safe connecting axes between the city districts. The aim is for the main route network to meet the requirements of the cycling decision as far as possible - i.e. that the minimum widths for cycle paths and footpaths defined in the cycling decision are applied. At the same time, the Rhine-Sieg district and the city of Bonn worked with an external engineering firm to coordinate potential cross-area commuter cycle routes.

With the decision to implement Radentscheid Bonn, the city administration was commissioned to upgrade 15 km of roads each year to Radentscheid standards. The Radentscheid Bonn standards are in line with the requirements of the applicable
the applicable regulations for urban road construction, the "Guidelines for the Construction of Urban Roads" (RASt 06), the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) and the "Recommendations for Cycling Facilities" (ERA 2010), but go beyond the minimum widths defined therein.
minimum widths defined therein.

Based on the current and future expanded cycling network plan, the cycling infrastructure in Bonn is to be expanded and improved step by step. The aim is to divide up traffic spaces intuitively and comprehensibly, increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians and enable conflict-free and stress-free coexistence in road traffic for everyone.

Compared to 2019 and 2020, the expansion rate of cycling infrastructure compliant with the cycling decision was increased from 1.8 km to 6.6 km between 2021 and 2022. This means that the expansion rate has almost quadrupled. With a view to the measures planned for the coming years, the pace is set to increase further.

Protected cycle paths: 2.1 km of 25 km implemented

The Radentscheid calls for the creation of cycle paths with a minimum width of 2 m in each direction, which are asphalted, clearly marked and structurally protected from motor traffic. 25 of the 75 km of Radentscheid roads are to be set up to this standard. This corresponds to 5 km per year, with an implementation period of five years.

• A total of 0.3 km of protected bike lanes were implemented in accordance with the Radentscheid standard between 2021 and 2022 at Alter Friedhof and Brassertufer.
• In addition, the two-way cycle path in the Rheinaue floodplain on the right bank of the Rhine was widened to a width of 3 m over a length of 1.8 km.

East-west axis: 2.28 km in planning

• An underpass is being built between the Old Cemetery and the Viktoria Bridge, which will be a shared footpath and cycle path. Although it does not meet the planning standards of the Radentscheid, it represents an important link for the east-west axis. It will therefore also contribute to the implementation of Cycling Decision Objective 1.
• The city administration has commissioned a feasibility study and preliminary planning for the continuation of the east-west axis via Bertha-von-Suttner Platz, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz to Combahnstraße.
• A feasibility study is currently underway for the installation of environmental lanes on Endenich Straße. If the results are positive, environmental lanes could be installed as early as 2024.

North-south axis: 2.2 km in planning

Between Koblenzer Tor and Rheinweg/Wecklerstraße, a cycling facility is to be installed along Konrad-Adenauer- and Willy-Brandt-Allee. Synergies with other measures are to be used for this, including the renovation of the road surface and renewal of the gullies.

Redesigning the banks of the Rhine

The banks of the Rhine in Bonn are to be redesigned and upgraded in the coming years. The measures to reduce the number of cars on the riverbank are to be made permanent, with a particular focus on promoting pedestrian and cycle traffic.

Bönnsche Viertel, restoration of sufficient sidewalk widths along 1.9 km of road

As part of the " Bönnsche Viertel - living spaces for people" participatory process, the Innere Nordstadt and the Combahnviertel in Beuel will become model districts in 2023 - the so-called "Bönnsche Viertel". The aim is to gradually relieve people in the districts of through traffic and parking pressure, to strengthen climate-friendly alternative forms of mobility and to create new opportunities for encounters and social participation with the space gained. The participatory process started on April 1, 2023 with a kick-off event at the Bonn Opera House. Over the summer of 2023, approaches that promote active, safe and barrier-free mobility for people in the residential areas will be developed and in some cases tested together with local residents. Parking space concepts are also being and have been developed for both districts, on which the new mobility concepts will be based. The parking space concept
for Nordstadt is to be implemented from the second half of 2023. Car parking will be reorganized so that all sidewalks will have a sufficient minimum width of 1.5 m. This will restore at least 1.9 km of sufficiently wide sidewalks. The model character of the "Bönnsche Viertel - Vibrant spaces for people" project means that further new measures and actions can be implemented. For example, as part of the project, the city of Bonn successfully applied for the 2023 pedestrian traffic check of the NRW Future Mobility Network. This can be carried out during the campaign period.

Major intersections and turning motor vehicles are sometimes the biggest danger spots for cyclists and pedestrians. Currently, the cycling infrastructure is usually designed in such a way that cyclists are guided in the blind spot of motor vehicles when turning. This often results in stressful and conflict-laden encounters for all road users. Dutch cycle traffic planning is based on the planning principle of so-called sustainable safety (Dutch: duurzaam veilig). It is built for people.

People make mistakes, an infrastructure should forgive these mistakes and thus help to prevent serious accidents. The structural separation of bicycles, cars and pedestrians is therefore also applied to intersections in the Netherlands.

The core element of the Dutch intersection design are crescent-shaped traffic islands, so-called safety islands. They reduce the turning radius for motor vehicles and thus reduce their speed when turning. Trucks can drive over them as they require larger turning radii. Cyclists and pedestrians have their own waiting niches and waiting areas. Stepped fords and waiting lines for cyclists increase their visibility compared to motor vehicles. The junction design is usually optimized by separate traffic light circuits. This means that cycling traffic going straight ahead and turning motor vehicle traffic are routed separately across the junction. According to the cycling decision, a total of 30 traffic light intersections are to be converted to this Dutch intersection standard in the coming years, which corresponds to six intersections per year.

0 crossings implemented

Unfortunately, there are no recommendations and planning guidelines for the installation of safety crossings in the context of the German Road Traffic Act and current German regulations. As a first step, the planners at the urban planning office have therefore derived requirements for the necessary area profile of intersections, i.e. taking into account current regulations and international guidelines, they have defined area requirements for the installation of waiting zones and safety islands. This resulted in an area cross-section of around 18 m for potential crossings.

The selection of intersections is difficult in Bonn, as only a few intersections have the necessary space for the installation of safety islands in accordance with the Dutch intersection design proposed by the cycling decision. In recent months, the city administration has identified 46 intersections whose conversion potential is now to be further examined. In this context, a criteria grid and ranking have also been drawn up, according to which the priority locations for the expansion of safety crossings are to be determined in a next step. Prioritization is therefore based on criteria that are decisive for the importance of the network for cycling and relevant for eliminating particular danger spots for cycling. In addition, junctions that will be affected by roadworks anyway in the coming years as part of other measures are also taken into account. The proposals will be presented to politicians in the future.

As described in Chapter 2.1, the implementation of protective crossings is also subject to a complex planning process based on the different service phases of the HOAI. This makes the fulfillment of Objective 3 significantly more complex and time-consuming compared to the time horizon specified by the cycling decision and the political resolution. According to the administration's assessment and review, this is not realistically feasible. As part of an implementation roadmap, a selection of the protective crossings to be converted will therefore be drawn up in the coming months and a timetable for their implementation presented.

In current planning projects, the feasibility of the Dutch crossing design is always examined, for example as part of the preliminary design planning for Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz and for the Provinzialstraße and Schieffelingsweg junction

In line with the cycling decision, 100 road access points and property junctions are to be redesigned in the coming years so that they can be crossed safely and barrier-free. To this end, pedestrian and cycle traffic at junctions between side streets and main roads is to continue at the same level (i.e. raised in relation to the roadway and without lowering the kerb). This means that the pedestrian and cycle path is kept at the same height above the junction. Motor vehicle traffic, on the other hand, crosses the footpath and cycle path via ramp stones when turning in or out. The ramp stones serve as a speed-reducing measure that protects pedestrians and cyclists from mistakes or inattentiveness on the part of drivers.

Two junctions and access roads implemented

Between 2021 and 2022, the city of Bonn tested the installation of (almost) level junctions as part of the sidewalk conversion on Endenich Allee. The border was lowered slightly to ensure safe progress for people who rely on a cane for the blind.

Based on this experience, the administration is coordinating a standard for the technical implementation of further projects. To this end, discussions were held with various stakeholders, including the Bonn Disabled Community, Radentscheid Bonn, the fire department and SWB. In order to develop a standard, requirements for different conditions must be examined, use cases defined and proposals for technical expansion variants developed.

According to the resolution on the cycling decision, 3,000 bicycle parking spaces are to be installed each year - this corresponds to a total of 15,000 bicycle parking spaces. At least 600 of these are to be installed in bicycle boxes and/or parking garages at locations with a high parking demand.

725 parking facilities installed, 872 in planning

In 2021 and 2022, a total of 725 bicycle parking spaces were installed, 21 of which were in lockable bicycle boxes and 120 in covered and weather-protected parking facilities.

Of these, 572 were installed in the Bonn district, 61 in the Bad Godesberg district, 43 in the Beuel district and 28 in the Hardtberg district. As part of the "Emission-free city center" project, 21 lockable bicycle boxes were also set up at the following locations in the Bonn-Zentrum district: Wilhelm-Levison Straße (5 parking spaces), Arndtstraße (6 parking spaces) and Kaiserstraße (10 parking spaces).

These can be booked via the "Bonn mobil" app and can be booked and used both for short-term parking and as part of an annual subscription.

The required targets of the Radentscheid exceed the previous expansion rates of bicycle parking spaces many times over. In recent years, an annual parking facility concept has been drawn up for the expansion. The process has therefore been adapted in order to come closer to meeting the targets set by the Radentscheid: From mid-2023, an app and web application will be available that will enable Bonn residents* to submit location proposals for parking facilities.

Building on a digitalized inner-city workflow, the aim is to accelerate the planning process for location proposals. In addition, a tender for a framework contract for the construction of bicycle racks is currently being prepared. This should ensure that a minimum number of racks can be installed by a construction company each year. In the first year, the city of Bonn would like to start with 1,000 parking spaces and gradually increase the number.

Between 2023 and 2024, further parking facilities are also to be installed in automated bicycle parking garages. For example, Stiftsplatz, Frankenbadplatz, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz and Beuel train station will each be equipped with a bicycle parking garage. The Stadthaus garage will also have a lockable parking facility. This will create 372 secure parking spaces.

To ensure safe progress, the cycling decision calls for cycle paths and footpaths to be kept usable. This includes the maintenance and renovation of the asphalt surface of cycle and pedestrian infrastructure, priority parking space monitoring and the expansion of winter road maintenance on the cycle path network.
Keeping cycle paths and footpaths clear of leaves and overgrown shrubs etc. is also part of keeping them usable.

Adaptation of the cycle path network for winter road maintenance, renovation of cycling infrastructure winter road maintenance

BonnOrange is currently revising the prioritization list for winter road maintenance. There are currently around 70 km of cycling infrastructure on the winter road maintenance prioritization list. As a first step, the aim is to close the gaps and identify routes between districts that are not currently covered by the winter road clearance service.

The next step will be to decide the extent to which winter road maintenance capacities should and can be expanded based on the coordinated cycle path network and the implementation roadmap of the cycling decision.

Roadworks management

Construction sites are set up in accordance with the provisions of the StVO. The "Roadworks safety on footpaths and cycle paths" guidelines issued by the Working Group of Pedestrian and Bicycle-Friendly Cities (AGFS) are used as required.

Parking space monitoring

No additional measures were taken, as parking space monitoring had already focused equally on footpaths and cycle paths. Ten additional staff positions for traffic monitoring were created to implement the parking space concept for the inner Nordstadt and Venusberg, among other things. This is to ensure that footpaths are usable for everyone.

Renovation and maintenance: 1.2 km repaired

In 2021, the road surface of the 1 km long cycle path along Pascalstraße was renewed and repaired and the road surface of Fontanestraße was repaired.

The Radentscheid demands an annual written report on the implementation status of the Radentscheid and transparent disclosure on the acquisition of funding and the involvement of external stakeholders.

Introduction of Jour-Fix Radentscheid Bonn, updating of the website on cycling issues and projects in the city, publication of a transparency report

This report is the first publication to provide information on the implementation status of Bonn's cycling decision and thus meets the demand of the citizens' petition. As mentioned at the beginning, it was only in the course of last year that central positions could be filled and this task fulfilled accordingly.

At the same time, the website on mobility and transport issues was revised. Since February 2023, the city of Bonn has been providing bundled information on current projects and topics relating to cycling at  www.bonn.de/radverkehr. In addition, the city administration has set up a regular Jour-Fix with representatives of Radentscheid Bonn since 2021, in which the implementation status of the individual goals is discussed. So far, 19 Jour-Fixes have been held.