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The Business: Bike use in Europe is streets ahead

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Man looks at Melbourne Bike Share station
The Business: Bike use in Europe is streets ahead

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8, 9–10


In the German city of Leipzig, it seems as if almost everyone rides a bike.

Like many European cities, Leipzig is 'bike friendly' and its residents have taken full advantage.

In this clip, the reporter shows us why Europe is streets ahead when it comes to encouraging bike use and investigates what it might take for Australian cities to catch up with this emerging global trend.


Things to think about

  1. 1.How often do you ride a bike — once in a while, once a week or every day? Is the place where you live bike friendly? If you wanted to, could you ride to places safely? What would encourage you to ride a bike as your usual form of transport?
  2. 2.Give examples of why the residents of Leipzig use bicycles to get around. What is their attitude towards bike use? Outline how the NextBike bike-sharing system operates. What are the advantages of this system? Leipzig is a city 'set up' for bicycles. Describe how this makes the city more liveable.
  3. 3.In Leipzig, how might technology and public transport innovations further improve the operation of bike-sharing systems? How does evidence provided in the clip support the idea that 'in Australia we've still got our training wheels on' in relation to the use of bikes? According to Craig Richards from Bicycle Network, why is lack of infrastructure a key issue?
  4. 4.Looking at your own area, think about the infrastructure that would support safe and efficient bicycle use. Create a map showing paths you would use to get from place to place. Incorporate similar innovations to those used in Leipzig. Demonstrate how bicycles could better connect you to people, services and other places.



Date of broadcast: 8 Jul 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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