Fast and safe bicycle routes, more space for pedestrians, attractive public transport: In 2014, people in Bremen thought about what traffic should look like in 2025. All parties had committed to the Transport Development Plan (VEP) 2025 – it is a consensus paper. It includes over 190 individual measures, most of which relate to strengthening the so-called environmental network: walking and cycling as well as local public transport. But in 2026 it will become clear that many of the long list of measures have not yet been implemented.
An alliance now wants to force the Bremen state government and the civic groups to be lucky: the city’s traffic development plan for 2025 should become a binding benchmark. Bremen should still achieve its goal of climate neutrality in the transport sector by 2038 – like other cities, Bremen has There have been hardly any greenhouse gases saved recently, especially in this area.
The initiative has important points to the successful Hamburg decision for the future in 2025 an: There the topic – the city’s climate goals – is broader, but the mechanism for setting intermediate goals is adopted – and proposing binding consequences if they are not met. “There is actually no concept problem, but rather an implementation problem,” says Dominik Lange from the transport transition alliance “Simply Get In”.
His association is one of the initiators – but the Verkehrsclub Deutschland and Fridays for Future and the Bremen State Working Group for Self-Help for Disabled People (LAGS) are also involved. Their criticism is that the current traffic development plan lacks timetables, intermediate goals and clear prioritization. And: If goals are not achieved, there are no consequences.
A rather poor implementation status
Die The Senate answered a major question from the CDU in 2024 allows a look at the rather poor implementation status of the transport development plan. You can pick out many examples. There should have been so-called meeting zones for pedestrians in residential areas a long time ago – there is currently no project mandate for this task, not even a legal basis.
The city no longer wanted to accept illegal parking on sidewalks – but an internal Senate dispute on this issue ensured that Citizens can go to the Federal Administrative Court had to at least bring the almost dead topic back into the debate. No new tram line has gone into operation since 2014. And the premium cycle routes also remain patchy.
The same applies to the area of accessibility: the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has actually required complete accessibility in local public transport since 2022. “But I always have to assume that the next train won’t take me,” says Florian Grams from LAGS, who uses a wheelchair himself.
The alliance is currently developing a draft law, including proposals for financing. is involved The lawyer Roda Verheyen was involved in the creation – In 2021, as a legal representative before the Federal Constitutional Court, she obtained the climate resolution, which made climate protection a generational task for the federal government. She also took part in Hamburg’s future decision.
The finished draft should be ready by March. After the Easter holidays in April, the collection phase for the first hurdle, the popular initiative, should begin. 5,000 signatures must be collected by June, otherwise “Simply On the Road” will not be approved as a referendum.
5,000 signatures must be collected by June, otherwise Simply On the Go will not be approved as a referendum.
If the number is reached, 24,000 signatures will be collected for the referendum in phase two starting in August. If this is successful, the citizens must deal with the request – if there is no agreement, a referendum will take place parallel to the next general election in 2027.
Bremen and Hamburg, together with Bavaria, are among the countries with the best opportunities for direct democracy in a ranking by the More Democracy Association. In one respect, the people of Bremen have it easier than the people of Hamburg in 2025: There is more time for the decisive collection phase in the referendum. Hamburg had three weeks to collect around 60,000 signatures, Bremen for 24,000 signatures three months. “That makes us optimistic,” says Dominik Lange from Simply Get In.
The Green Party parliamentary group has already commented – and welcomes the initiative “for a contemporary mobility policy”. Urban spaces would have to be redistributed and rules for the coexistence of modes of transport and road users reformed – these goals of the alliance would also be shared by the Greens.
We wish the initiative every success, says transport policy spokesman Ralph Saxe. The Greens have sat in all Bremen state governments since the VEP was created and have provided transport senators until 2023.