Berlin – Speed, speed! Work, delivery of goods, manufacturing processes – many people have the feeling that everything is getting faster and faster. But there is an important area in Berlin where the pace has slowed: the average speed of the tram has fallen, as data from the Berlin Transport Company (BVG) shows. The left-wing politician Kristian Ronneburg is campaigning for the red-green-red coalition negotiations to also talk about accelerating local transport.
According to the BVG figures, in 2017, the first year of the electoral term that has now ended, Berlin trams traveled at an average of 19.1 kilometers per hour. As usual, stops at traffic lights and bus stops were included. In 2018 and 2019 it was 18.8 kilometers. Last year the average speed was 18.7 kilometers. The BVG has now reported this value for the summer of this year as well.
Tram is systematically slowed down
At first glance, the decline does not seem large. But just a few minutes more travel time on a line can add up to a few dozen hours over the year for the commuters who regularly travel there. Lifetime that could also be used in other ways than sitting or standing on the tram. The BVG, in turn, has to use more vehicles and more staff, which drives up costs.
What are the reasons? Before Corona, the general increase in road traffic in Berlin could have slowed down the tram, say observers. The disadvantage of this climate-friendly means of transport, which is shown in the form of traffic lights or lane markings in favor of cars, apparently had a greater impact.
In the case of regular bus services, however, the BVG figures now reported show a slight improvement. At the beginning of the electoral term, in 2017, the calculated average speed was 17.9 kilometers per hour. The following year it stayed that way, in 2019 the pace dropped to 17.8 kilometers. For 2020, a higher value of 18.2 kilometers per hour was reported, in the summer of this year it was 18.1.
“The main reason for the increase in speed are the traffic conditions due to the corona pandemic,” explained Jannes Schwentu from the BVG. “Our buses were a bit faster, especially in the lockdown phases.”
Senate orders bus lanes – but the districts do not implement it
But that’s not a reason to give the all-clear, say experts. There are numerous bus routes that are slowed down so much that they are considered disrupted. In many places, bus travel times would have increased – for example, where pop-up bike paths were created during the pandemic. On Kantstrasse in Charlottenburg, one lane was left in each direction, which buses and other vehicles have had to share ever since. From the BVG’s point of view, this is not a problem if parking spaces are converted into cycle paths. “But in places where new pop-up cycle paths are being implemented at the expense of existing lanes without the parallel preference for public transport, they can reduce the travel speed of the buses during rush hour,” said BVG spokesman Markus Falkner. “In Kantstrasse, for example, we noticed a reduction in speed of around four percent.” According to reports, the average speed fell by around one kilometer per hour.
“The numbers confirm our mantra as a leftist: We need bus lanes and priority control everywhere, as well as the tram in the priority network, basically on its own track. One of the main tasks in the coalition negotiations will be to agree on effective measures to speed things up, ”said Left-wing politician Ronneburg.
Violations of the Berlin Mobility Act
In the last electoral term, the Senator for Transport, Regine Günther (Greens), ordered the bus lane network to be extended by a quarter. But implementation soon came to a standstill in the responsible districts. Calculations show how important it is to save minutes in bus transport. When the speed dropped only slightly on the M27 line, the additional travel time added up to 27 hours – per day.
“The city with the best conditions for local public transport is the bottom of German transport policy – what does that say about our politics and administration?”, Asked Jens Wieseke from the passenger association IGEB and complained about “clear violations of the mobility law”. It should not happen that half-baked measures such as on Kantstrasse slow down bus traffic.
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