mobility
shape together.
Normally, I don’t write about transportation policy here, since it doesn’t fall within my usual area of expertise. However, I’d like to make an exception for this election, since, on the one hand, I’ve spent several years trying (…) to get politically involved here, and on the other hand, this election has highlighted some glaring problems, particularly in transportation policy. That’s why this post focuses solely on transportation policy in Berlin. And to anyone who’s already rolling their eyes—yes, I agree with them. Countless things have been done wrong or not at all here over the past few decades. But that’s precisely why this can serve as a good example of how to do things better.
The result is a clear expression of the voters’ will. While the majority of voters in the city center voted Green, the outlying districts are overwhelmingly Black. Why is this? While the discussion about transportation projects in recent years has focused primarily on the city center (Friedrichstraße, the M10 extension to Turmstraße, neighborhood blocks, pedestrian projects, the bike network, e-scooters, etc…), projects in the outlying districts have been notoriously put on the back burner. In neighborhoods like Spandau-Wasserstadt, huge new development areas have sprung up without adequate local transit connections. Tram reactivations, which would be relatively simple, have been discussed for decades, yet nothing happens. Instead, the debate has centered on whether an underground extension would be a better way to connect the airport. The map clearly shows what voters think of this.
The reality of life in the suburbs is quite different. Here, public transportation is structured very differently—or, to put it bluntly: it’s completely neglected. Districts the size of major German cities have no (or hardly any) rail-based public transportation. No trams, subways only if they go downtown, and if you’re lucky, a commuter train heading the same way. On the other hand, living in the city center means enjoying the luxury of public transit. A subway every few meters, e-scooters everywhere, and an Uber isn’t far away. Here, the latest new subway line was opened in an area where stations had to be closed because they would otherwise have been too close to another subway line.
There is plenty of room for speculation about why this happened. What should be clear, however, is that things cannot continue this way. From this, we can identify several areas for action that are important not only in Berlin but certainly in many metropolitan areas with neighborhoods where many commuters live. What is happening here on a large scale is also a reality in Dortmund and the surrounding area (my old home).
If we don’t want to continue neglecting the outskirts, we must clearly strengthen all public transit routes. It must, of course, be possible to live in a large residential development in Spandau-Wasserstadt with excellent public transit connections that quickly take you into the city center. This means we need rail-based public transit here, which should ideally be built at the same time the housing development is planned. This also involves giving people as many incentives as possible to avoid using their own cars. This also means that urban planning must ensure local amenities are available—such as a bakery and shops just around the corner—rather than, as is often the case in these areas, requiring residents to travel to large shopping centers with vast parking lots.
The debate over private car use was certainly a major factor in the decision. Yes, if you live in Berlin-Mitte (or, like me, in Charlottenburg), you don’t need one, and you quickly come to the conclusion that it’s irresponsible to own a car that takes up so much space and produces exhaust fumes. However, the reality of life outside the S-Bahn ring is different, and that is something we have to accept even in Mitte. Here, it would be advisable to push for a transition to zero-emission private cars. I don’t want to speculate here on how many charging stations there are in the outlying areas. However, when I see my brother-in-law driving several kilometers in the Ruhr region with his electric car to reach a fast-charging station because electricity is cheaper there, I would argue that we are still far from achieving our goal.
And what about the things we discuss in our public transit bubble—like e-scooters, on-demand transportation, and car-sharing? So far, these haven’t made a dent in the suburbs (sorry about that). E-scooter providers pick the profitable areas themselves; the same goes for carsharing, and the use of on-demand services is practically nonexistent. And yes, I know what I’m talking about—I’ve managed plenty of projects. If we want these services to be truly useful, we need to invest significantly more here. Then it must be possible, even in Kladow (have fun finding it on the map), to be picked up within minutes by an emission-free shuttle that takes you and other passengers to the train station. This would mean we’d have to put significantly more traffic on the road than we do now. And we have to do it reliably—not just talk about pilot projects. Only then will we have a chance of getting people to leave their cars at home—and, if necessary, get rid of them altogether.
Yes, that all sounds like a lot of work. However, this election clearly shows what happens when you don’t make the effort to reach out to these voters as well. In the truest sense of the word…