From BZ/dpa
According to the new Berlin Senator for Transport and Climate Protection, Manja Schreiner (CDU), car traffic in the capital must be curbed.
“It’s definitely the case,” said the CDU politician on Sunday in the RBB “Abendschau”. You want to start with the commuters.
“We have a lot of commuter traffic,” said Schreiner. “That is a very central demand that we are making and that we will now implement, that we have park-and-ride parking spaces in the outskirts, that we make public transport more attractive, that we close gaps.”
► The new senator, on the other hand, is critical of the discussion about more 30 km/h zones in Berlin. “One has to say that three quarters of the streets are already in the 30 km/h zone. It’s already traffic-calmed everywhere,” she said. “It’s totally understandable in the neighborhoods, but you have to take a closer look at it on the main streets.”
If there are schools and nursing homes there, it is appropriate to limit the speed to 30 kilometers per hour. “On the other hand, commercial traffic has to flow in a city of over a million inhabitants. The citizens also want to be taken care of, which is why you can’t just drag the 30 km/h speed limit everywhere.”
► On the question of how wide bike paths should be in the future, Schreiner said: “Especially in the city center, of course, you have a very large cyclist traffic. And it is also appropriate that there is a width of 2.30 or 2.50 meters.” It is also about the fact that cyclists must have the opportunity to overtake.
“The coalition agreement addresses that a bit differently,” said Schreiner: In the outskirts or where long planning shows that 2.30 meters are not possible, but maybe 1.50 meters, a bike path is better than none at all.
In general, the following applies: “Even a car driver has to get used to the fact that we are in a big city and have different mobility needs, which means that cycling naturally has its own needs and importance. And everyone will have to be considerate of one another.”