Freiburg:
Public transport policy as a key element of traffic displacement
Freiburg:
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| Country: | a) Western Europe | ,b) Germany |
| Language: | |
| Type: | Policy, 1 |
| Area: | City/Town, Rur/area/Village, 100,000 - 1 mill. |
| Actors: | Local government, Economic sector |
| Funding: | Local government |
| Topics: | Mobility and transport |
| Objectives: | Increase non-motorised mobility |
| Increase use of public transport | |
| Reduce car mobility | |
| Reduce car parks | |
| Reduce energy consumption | |
| Instruments: |
Over the past 30 year the transportation policy in Freiburg has increasingly taken into account the importance of ecological considerations. Public transport has undergone major improvements and has significantly contributed to the reduction of individual car use. The policy of public transport is accompanied by the integration of environmental and traffic-related aspects into urban town planning. Freiburgpublic transport policy can be regarded as an outstanding example of best practice for the following reasons:
The City of Freiburg is one of the German cities that did not principally base its town planning on ‘car-friendliness.’ The focus of inner-city traffic policy was placed on public transport due to the preservation of the historic city center. In 1972 the decision for the maintenance of the light rail system was made. As a consequence, the city center was pedestrianized in 1973 and in 1983 the first new tram route was opened.
Furthermore, in the 1970s, transportation policy was integrated into City planning policies. Since the introduction of the overall traffic plan of 1979 (Generalverkehrsplan) all means of transport have been regarded as equal parties in traffic. Therefore, the developments of the 1980s were characterized by a traffic displacement approach. Areas of action have included an extensive introduction of 30 kph zones, promotion of bicycle use, and an improvement of the public transport sector. The major objective of transportation planning can be summed up as ‘more mobility with fewer car trips.’
Within the last 25 years the philosophy of urban traffic planning changed from the mere provision of infrastructure for alternative means of transport to an environmentally oriented planning of a city- wide transportation system. Nowadays, the ecological impacts of traffic are considered in planning other public policy (e.g. economy, urban development, cultural events, etc.). The importance of these issues was revealed by a study on the environmental situation in Freiburg, that identified traffic as a major source of pollution as it is responsible for 93% of CO emissions, 82% of NOx emissions, 22% of SO2 emissions, and about 30% of CO2 emissions. With this in mind, the Freiburg transportation policy adopted the strategy of establishing the tram as the backbone of the mass transit system.
In the 1980s public transportation management principles increasingly focused on service improvements. The following principles are regarded as essential preconditions for an attractive public transportation system:
Careful planning of new routes primarily has to adapt system requirements to the city structure, for example with respect to particular residential and industrial areas. This planning approach is extended to the region and the connection of different networks. The second fundamental element of an attractive public transportation system is the pricing. In the mid-1980s the public transportation company started to implement measures in both areas and soon the combination of technical infrastructure, services and prices proved to be highly successful.
The policy of attractive mass transit services is not only a question of pricing but in the first place a matter of access to and comfort of the means of public transport. The Freiburg tramway network was perfectly designed to meet such high demands when it was redeveloped in the mid-1980s.
1. Public transport infrastructure
The optimization of various mass transit systems is a complex task when previously existing and newly established networks have to be connected. In Freiburg for example the tram has been integrated into an existing bus system. Furthermore, the routing of new lines has to be oriented towards current as well as forthcoming urban development. Although the tramway network only consists of three cross- city tram routes with a total length of 26.2 km, it is carrying 65% of all passengers within the catchment area, and tramways have been carefully planned along the main arteries of traffic volume. In comparison, the buses serve routes with a total length of 168 km.
In 1985 the first route started to serve the suburb of Landwasser. Within a short time about 2,000 people switched from car use to public transport. This new line has segregated tracks, and at traffic lights it automatically gets green lights. The preferential traffic regulation has contributed to a halving of the previous bus travel time. The advertising slogan of the introduction campaign was: "Faster than a sports car to the city center."
The importance of route planning has been demonstrated in the new route number five which passes through a residential and an industrial area. In order to get the greatest benefits for the network as a whole the City of Freiburg bought and demolished a 40-apartment building which was in the way of the planned track. In the meantime an integration of urban development aspects into the planning of the public transport network has become a familiar process. An illustration of this is a route which connects the so- called Rieselfeld District with the city center. The Rieselfeld tram has been running since 1997, when only about 1,100 people were living in the District. It is a political objective that the public transportation is so attractive here that people will no longer find it necessary to buy a second car. By the year 2,002 the development of 4,000 new apartments will be completed and approximately 12,000 people will have access to an efficient tramway. During peak times the tram is running every two or three minutes, and after 7 P.M. the interval is 15 minutes.
All supporting infrastructure is designed to provide trams with optimal conditions. New routes replace bus routes which nowadays are primarily used to feed the tram lines with passengers from suburban or remote areas. At certain points there are special transfer stations to the German Rail network, and short distances are guaranteed to other means of transport. Such transfer stations are also focal points of the local bus system.
2. Price policy in public transport
In 1984 the new city-wide Environmental Card for 38 DM per month allowed the holder to travel an unlimited number of trips within the urban network: monthly ticket previously cost 50 DM per month. This was the first example of an ‘environmental ticket’ for an urban public transport system in Germany. The introduction had been inspired by a Basel program.
In 1991 the introduction of a regional Environmental Card for 49 DM per month set a new standard as it gave access to all 17 public transport networks within the area. The new regional card replaced Freiburg’s Environmental Card and it is also valid on routes of the neighboring districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Emmendingen. In total it gives access to 2,900 km of public transport routes which also includes the tracks of the German Rail. In 1993 the price was raised to 66 DM per month or 660 DM for a year. The current price is 59 DM per month or 590 DM per year. This card also introduced some additional bonuses, like transferability, weekends and holiday travel for groups of up to two adults and four children.
The Freiburg public transport company, VAG, serves a population of approximately 227,000 people (including approximately 60,000 commuters from the region). Within a decade the number of public transport passengers has more than doubled to 64,900,000 passengers. In 1997 trams had been used for 44,654,400 journeys and buses had transported 20,249,500 people. In 1984 the total number of public transport trips was 29,000,000.
The introduction of the new regional card proved to be an important factor for the increase in transport figures. Within the first year the number of daily trips in Freiburg and the region increased by 26,400 journeys whereas the number of car trips fell by 29,000.
Between 1976 and 1996 the percentage of car use declined from 60% to 43%. The change in modal split resulted in 4,000 cars less per day in the city center. Despite a growing number of inhabitants (increase of 25,000) the absolute number of cars entering the city center fell from 236,000 to 232,000. Freiburg is the only city in Germany which can report such a turn-around. 70% of the population lives within 500 meters of a tram stop. The average distance between two tram stops is 452 meters and the average distance between two bus stops is 646 meters. The active mass transit fleet includes 53 tram vehicles and 86 buses.
90% of the students at the University of Freiburg are using public transport or their own bicycle.
Personal communication with Andreas Hildebrandt, Freiburger Verkehrs AG, 1998.
Apel, Dieter / Pauen-Höppner, Ursula 1992: Neue Verkehrskonzepte großer Städte, Arbeitshefte Umweltverträglicher Stadtverkehr:, Nr. 3, Berlin.
Baumheier, Ralph 1993: Kommunale Umweltvorsorge. Chancen und Probleme präventiver Umweltpolitik auf der kommunalen Ebene am Beispiel der Energie- und Verkehrspolitik, Basel.
Göbel, Norbert 1994: Integriertes umweltorientiertes Gesamtverkehrskonzept in Freiburg i. Br., in: Siegfried Behrendt / Rolf Kreibich, (Hg.), Die Mobilität von morgen. Umwelt- und Verkehrsentlastung in den Städten, Weinheim, pp. 101-109.
Blatter, Joachim 1994: Möglichkeiten und Restriktionen einer umweltorientierten kommunalen Verkehrspolitik - dargestellt am Beispiel Freiburg im Breisgau, in: Archiv für Kommunalwissenschaften, II, pp. 317-341.
Kretschmer, Rolf-Michael 1995: Report about public transport in Freiburg, Paper presented to the Light Rail 95 Conference in Croydon, (ms.).
| Name | : | Kretschmer |
| Firstname | : | Rolf-Michael |
| Telefon | : | ++49 / 761 / 45 11 0 |
| Telefax | : | ++49 / 761 / 45 11 139 |
| Address | : | Technical Director |
| Freiburger Verkehrsbetriebe | ||
| VAG | ||
| Postfach 506 | ||
| Besanconallee 99 | ||
| D - 79005 Freiburg i. Br. | ||
Project was added at 27.06.1996
Project was changed at 25.01.2001