According to the survey, 80% of families use their e-bike daily to at least four times a week, with 39% using it daily and 41% using it at least four times a week. The main areas of use are transporting children (94%), shopping trips (94%) and leisure trips in the local area (83%). For trips to work, 51 percent of respondents use their cargo bike.
The main motivation for Stuttgart families to ride an e-load bike is the time saved (no need to search for a parking space, no traffic jams) as well as making a contribution to climate protection. Thus, 71 percent of the families surveyed replace car trips within Stuttgart with their e-load bike. Together, all the families riding cargo bikes have thus covered just under 1.8 million kilometers since the start of funding in 2018, saving 451 tons of CO2. 51 percent of respondents also stated that they would not have purchased an e-load bike without the city's funding program.
Desire for better bike lanes
When asked what they would like to see, the most frequently mentioned concern of the families who ride their bikes is better cycling infrastructure, at 86 percent. Among other things, wider bike lanes, better separation from pedestrian and car traffic, public charging stations, more bike lanes and winter road maintenance were mentioned. Thirty percent of respondents would like to see more parking for cargo bikes at their homes and on the road, covered parking, or repurposing of car parking spaces.
"The survey reflects all the benefits of cargo biking, but also the obstacles that cargo bikers face. We need to continue to work on this. Our promotion alone does not make Stuttgart a bicycle city, but it is an important building block," says Ralf Maier-Geißer from the Strategic Planning and Sustainable Mobility department, which commissioned the survey.
1,200 funding decisions since 2018
Since the end of 2018, the state capital Stuttgart has issued more than 1,200 funding notices for e-load bikes. More than 900 subsidized e-load bikes are now part of sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility in Stuttgart. With the introduction of an additional social component for lower-income families, the acquisition is to be further promoted. The funding program will continue largely unchanged in terms of content in 2022/23. This was unanimously decided by the Committee for Urban Development and Technology at its meeting on Tuesday, December 14.
In addition, the city is planning a long-term e-bike rental program in cooperation with the social enterprise Neue Arbeit gGmbH, probably starting in April 2022. The so-called "Stuttgarter Rößle" will then be distributed by the social enterprise to at least ten distribution points in the city area. Here, too, there will be staggered rental prices for households with Bonuscard+Kultur or FamilienCard. The exact start date will be announced at www.stuttgart.de/lastenrad. Further information about the Stuttgart Rößle will also be available there from February 2022.