Bike parking at Burgdorf railway station (Velostation Burgdorf)
Best Practice
Topics
Mobility
Regional value added, Mobility, New forms of decision-making
Short description
Bike parking at Burgdorf Railway Station with additional services (bike repair, home delivery service from supermarkets, etc.) in Burgdorf, Switzerland. It is a combination of a project for the promotion of human powered mobility and an employment and reintegration program for long-term jobless persons.
Project executive
Fussgänger- und Velomodellstadt Burgdorf, Baudirektion der Stadt Burgdorf
Participants
City of Burgdorf, SwissEnergy (EnergieSchweiz, Federal Office of Energy), Verkehrs-Club der Schweiz (mobility association), Fussverkehr Schweiz (association of pedestrians Switzerland), Canton of Berne, IG Velo Schweiz (Cycling association), NewRide (Promotion of electric powered bikes and scooter, Touring-Club der Schweiz (mobility association, focus on motorised individual transport), local economy
Objectives
The Bikestation Burgdorf is part of the long-term project "Fussgänger- und Velomodellstadt Burgdorf" (FuVeMo: Pedestrian and biker model city Burgdorf). The project was initiated in 1996 in order to increase the modal share of human powered mobility. The FuVeMo project includes beneath the bike station several other projects: information activities for sports clubs in order to optimise traffic behaviour for training and competitions, a new form or mixed pedestrian-car zone close to the railway station with a speed limit of 20 kph and others. The CARLOS project was also initiated in Burgdorf.
Activities
The Velostation Burgdorf offers several services: Supervised bike parking, Bike repair service, bike recycling service, Home delivery from several supermarkets in Burgdorf for a small fee (2 CHF/delivery). Deliveries are carried out with e-bikes.
Process
Local population was involved in different ways: co-operation and public involvement for important steps, public polls, discussions with the local population as well as in the city parliament. At the beginning, the project encountered some opposition by the local economy especially regarding the also integrated traffic calming measures around the railway station ("Begegnungszone": mixed pedestrian-car zone). Later the differences could be balanced and acceptability is rather high now.
Results
Bike parking and home delivery service are rather successful projects. However, they still depend on public funds for the provision of services (wages of the personnel).
Evaluation
Many projects were evaluated. On the publication website of project (www.modelcity.ch) additional information is given. In general, acceptance is high and the projects show also a positive ecological impact (replacement of car trips, promotion of HPM)
Difficulties
Financial restrictions, acceptability of the local economy.
Budget
The budget for the bike station alone is difficult to quantify. The overall budget of the FuVeMo projects for the first 5 years was around 840'000 CHF. The major part of this budget however was used for the new pedestrian zone. (Euro)
Financial backer
City of Burgdorf, Federal Office of Energy (Program SwissEnergy), Canton of Berne, Local economy, different mobility associations (VCS, Fussverkehr Schweiz).
