Germany needs a national strategy to boost walking - Federal Environment Agency

Germany needs a national strategy to boost walking as the most basic, quiet and emission-free form of mobility, according to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The agency says the potential to increase walking is large because a fifth of all distances covered by cars are shorter than two kilometres. “Pedestrians are a blind spot of transport policy,” said agency head Maria Krautzberger. “We need a national strategy for pedestrian traffic similar to those of several other European countries” such as Austria, Scotland, Wales, Finland and Norway, the UBA said. The agency suggests stricter speed limits, steeper fines, and fewer parking spaces for cars and an extension of pedestrian areas in order to increase the share of pedestrian traffic by half by 2030. Some media reports focused on the UBA’s proposal to eliminate two thirds of all car parking spaces in cities in the longer term to improve the conditions for walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.

Find the UBA press release here and a Spiegel Online article here.

Find background in the dossiers Towns and cities central to heating and transport transition and Car giant Germany struggles to ignite Energiewende in transportation.