Does the ruling coalition of the SPD and the Greens really want to achieve the goal it has set for itself of making Hamburg a cycling city? In view of the Senate’s constant focus on the concerns of drivers, which also characterized the state election campaign at the beginning of last year, transport transition activists have recently become more and more doubtful about this.
Now, for the first time, a concrete number shows that the progress in becoming a bicycle city has lost momentum: Last year, only 50 kilometers of cycle paths were expanded or newly built in Hamburg – the lowest number since six years ago.
“We are making Hamburg more bicycle-friendly step by step,” said Transport Senator Anjes Tjarks (Greens) happily on Friday. The construction measures implemented in 2025 created and improved important connections for cycling.
And: In addition to the number of kilometers, the focus is primarily on the quality and innovation of the measures – the city is specifically focusing on “safe, comfortable and sustainable cycle paths”. It is therefore pleasing that 66 percent of the cycle paths built or renovated are separated from vehicle or pedestrian traffic. “The bicycle is central to our transport planning and strategy,” said Tjarks.
Moratorium against parking pressure
The 50 kilometers represent a decrease of more than 20 percent compared to the previous year: 65 kilometers were completed in 2024; From 2020 to 2023 the number was also between 53 and 62 kilometers. However, the decline is “not due to unwillingness or a lack of resources,” as a spokesman for the transport authority explains when asked. Rather, fluctuations in the number of completed construction projects are common, for example due to weather influences, which lead to delays.
But if a new cycle path is to be created, it usually has to be Space is taken away from vehicle traffic. This could be a lane – or parking spaces. In order to prevent the reduction of parking spaces, the so-called parking moratorium has been in effect since last spring at the insistence of the SPD. Since then, all urban construction projects that would eliminate parking spaces have been suspended.
Construction can only begin if a Senate commission led by Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) has reviewed the plans, called for improvements to preserve parking spaces if necessary, and then raised no more objections. All further plans are on hold for a long timeUntil a so-called “Parking Master Plan”, which is intended to relieve the “parking pressure” on Hamburg drivers, was drawn up by the Senate.
According to the spokesman, this moratorium may have played a role “in individual cases” in cycle path projects that were not completed last year, but it is “certainly not the main reason” for the decline.
Although no figures are yet public as to how many construction projects for cycling were stopped last year due to the moratorium, both the opposition left-wing faction and the General German Bicycle Club ADFC are assuming a negative impact on the expansion of the cycle network. “The Senate’s backwards parking moratorium stalls the urgently needed expansion of cycle paths“, says Heike Sudmann from the Left Party. After all, according to the Senate’s budget plan for 2025, 75 kilometers were even targeted.
More renovations for motor vehicle traffic
According to Jörg Lau from the ADFC, the moratorium is also inhibiting. For example, a cycle path project in the northern district was supposed to be completed last year – but was stopped due to the removal of five parking spaces. And in the Hoheluft district, the construction site to redesign a street to benefit pedestrians and cyclists was already set up last May – and then interrupted at short notice.
“With the moratorium, the Senate has really put the brakes on projects like this,” criticizes Lau. He can’t see anything about an actual traffic turnaround in the city – as long as Hamburg renovates three to five times the number of lanes for vehicle traffic every year.