City bikes for a good climate in Saxony

Cycling for a good climate, that is the idea behind the city bike campaign, which is gaining more and more followers every year throughout Germany. In Saxony, 18 municipalities are also participating this year. That is more than last year (11), but compared to other federal states it is quite low. “City cycling is not yet as established in Saxony as in other federal states,” explains Sebastian Reisch, spokesperson for the Climate Alliance. City cycling is a campaign of the network.

The aim of the campaign is for people to cycle as many distances as possible for 21 days. The aim is to increase awareness of cycling as an environmentally friendly form of transport. If the municipality where you live participates, you can take part in the city bike campaign. The kilometres cycled are registered. Prizes are awarded annually to winning municipalities in various categories.

Leipzig and Dresden have been involved for a long time

In Saxony, Leipzig was the first city to join the campaign in 2009. Last year, the trade fair city was ranked third among cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Leipzig residents cycled more than 3.5 million kilometres during the campaign period. According to Climate Alliance, Dresden is also one of the veterans of city cycling.

Compared to other states, the 18 participating cities in Saxony are quite small. In Rhineland-Palatinate, which is comparable in size to the Free State, 124 municipalities are participating this year. In the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt there are 31 municipalities and in Thuringia 36.

“One reason for this is probably that Saxony is the only state that does not financially support the participation of its municipalities,” says Alliance spokesman Reisch. In many other states, participation has increased as a result of the support. Saxony-Anhalt started the funding in 2023 – with a clear effect. The year before, only four municipalities had participated there.

Free State investigates financing

The Saxon Ministry of Transport announced that the Free State of Saxony welcomed the city bike campaign and also saw a positive effect of the campaign, but that it “unfortunately has not yet been able to provide funding for the participation costs for various reasons”. “We are currently intensively examining how the support of Saxon municipalities can be organised in the future.” However, because the administration is committed to economic efficiency and economy, the administrative costs must also be weighed up.

Last year, 2,835 municipalities nationwide participated in the city bike campaign. Some 1.1 million people got on their pedals. They cycled some 228 million kilometers.