News
Here you can find all the news about the Bike2BER project.
Bike2BER.de was founded in 2019 by Marius Langas.
Contakt:
April 2023
Together with the public relations department of Schönefeld Town Hall and the mayor, we have developed a guided cycle tour around the airport as part of the Stadtradeln 2024 programme.
We start at 10 a.m. at Schönefeld Town Hall and then cycle along Terminal 1 and the southern runway to the ‘Landebahn 3.0’ summer beer garden in Selchow in around 3.5 hours.
The tour is led by Manfred and Marius and is free of charge for all participants. There is a lot to see on the cycle tour, including gigantic new construction projects, lots of aeroplanes and plenty of nature. We also want to draw attention to the cycling infrastructure in the region and show how much potential there is for cycling in this highly congested region. Please bring your own bike! The route is not suitable for racing bikes. Further information about the route and the cycle tour can be found on the WEBSITE of the municipality of Schönefeld and or with a route for download at KOMOOT.
We are very much looking forward to the tour and would like to thank the municipality of Schönefeld and the mayor for their support.
March 2023
Current advertising in social media. Flughafen Gesellschaft Berlin Brandenburg (FBB) is currently showing this very successful graphic ‘Cycling to NYC’. We are of course pleased that the topic of cycling is being linked even more closely to the airport in this way, but we miss a reference to the airport employees who can also get to their workplace by bike. Cycling to the late shift is by far more common today than cycling to a flight. Even people who want to make a trip to the visitors‘ terrace or the southern runway by bike, for example, could be easily reached via such an cycling advert.
February 2023
Once again this winter, it seems that there are coordination problems between the municipality of Schönefeld and the airport company (FBB). While the roads to the airport have been ploughed for car traffic, there are several areas between Waltersdorf and the BER transformer station where pavements and cycle paths are permanently uncleared. Before the opening of BER Airport, there were large lorry parking areas directly next to the electricity substation, which represented the construction site access road and a certain ‘boundary’ to the airport grounds, so to speak. Since the opening of BER, however, areas up to the Kienberger Bridge have also been assigned to the airport and it is precisely this area that now remains icy and slippery for cyclists and pedestrians. As part of the city cycling event in June, we have the opportunity to draw the attention of the municipality and the mayor directly to the problem and hope that this was the last winter with icy pavements and cycle paths at the airport.
January 2023
BIKE2BER took part in the NUDAFA research project meeting in Eichwalde in January. The aim of the meeting was to bring together local cyclists to develop a cycle network for the district together with representatives of the ADFC. The focus was on general routes and basic routes and alignments through the district of Dahme Spreewald. At the end of the project, a comprehensive cycling network vision for Brandenburg should be ready in spring, and of course BER was not to be left out. We have campaigned for cycle routes in the vicinity of BER so that commuters can continue to get to the airport safely and comfortably in the future.
We would like to thank the NUDAFA team in Eichwalde, which is very committed to cycling in our region and ensures sustainable networking. Our thanks also go to Reinhard Kähler from the ADFC, who has been promoting cycling in the district for years and tirelessly campaigning for its expansion. We found it a bit of a pity that there is currently hardly any sign of life from the endowed professorship for cycling in Wildau – in our opinion, the students would have had a great opportunity to get involved and bring about positive change in the region.
December 2023
For almost a year now, the free cargo bike ‘Bertha’ has been travelling in the region around the airport. The bike was sponsored by the BER Airport and can be borrowed from the Zeuthen Jugendclub. When it is not on the road, it is used by the Jugendclub team for short trips around the town. This means that the large diesel bus can stay parked and the young people can get moving. Bertha was to be found at the youth tent at the Zeuthen Christmas market, and various materials were transported to the Christmas market by bike. This made it possible to organise trips at short notice without having to search for a parking space. The free cargo bike can be reserved via fLotte Brandenburg and then borrowed free of charge for 1-3 days. The project is financed by donations. The BIKE2BER team and the Zeuthen Youth Club realised the project together with the team from BER’s surrounding area department. THANK YOU to the BER team for their great support!
October 2023
Having already cycled to a few smaller airports this year, I took a trip to my old home in October. I worked at Frankfurt Airport for many years and cycled there almost every day. It was the first time I had cycled to the airport again since 2018 and not much has actually changed or improved in terms of the infrastructure. In fact, the major construction sites around the connection to Terminal 3 have caused even more obstructions and detours for cyclists. At the same time, the approach from neighbouring Langen was a beautiful tour through forest and nature and you could safely reach the eastern viewing platform. Nevertheless, I was a little disappointed, as the airport operator Fraport had had a cycle bridge built over the BMVD in 2021, which attracted a lot of media attention and praise. Although it is due to be completed by the end of 2023, I have unfortunately not yet seen or heard anything about this bridge. In addition, the connection from the bridge to Terminal 1 is still incredibly poor and dangerous. This whole traffic flow around Terminal 1 is a real stressful situation, especially for all commuters, who can also hardly lock up their bikes there properly.
This shows once again that you have to take a close look at subsidies and that the expansion of a network is always preferable to the ‘golden individual solution’.
July 2023
Bike2BER is now also available in English! We see more and more foreign cyclists at the airport and want to give them the possibility to find the best routes to the airport.
JuNe 2023
„Active Towns“ visiting Berlin. John Simmerman from Active Towns rode his bike from BER to Berlin Mitte and let the camera run with him. Simmerman is a well-known Youtuber who is especially experienced in the topics of urban development and cycling. It was exciting to see how he perceived the paths and impassabilities around the airport with his Brompton folding bike. He cycled from BER via Waltersdorf towards Tretower Park and commented his observations along the way. At the airport, he did not follow the BIKE2BER signage, but still found the right way to Berlin. However, he describes the signage at the airport as very opaque and you can see from the cuts that he probably had to reassure himself again and again via Google Maps or Komoot. Nevertheless, an exciting video and I hope that we can welcome John Simmerman soon again in Berlin!
May 2023
In May 2023, a long-planned bicycle tour was on the agenda. We cycled from Schönefeld to the North Sea and on this route we visited two airport highlights. One was Parchim/Schwerin Airport and the other was Sylt Island Airport. If you Google Parchim Airport, you will quickly notice the wide-body aircraft parked seemingly wildly on the apron on the satellite image. In addition, a new tower and a small terminal equipped with all the necessary functions were built only a few years ago. If you then cycle past Parchim in the direction of the airfield, it quickly becomes quiet and you are surrounded by a lot of forest. Only the large yellow approach lights break through this scenery and you realize that you are approaching an airport. If you then drive on the wide road directly towards the terminal, it suddenly becomes unreal. You’re virtually moving through a fully operational airport forecourt with cab stands, seating and buildings, but there’s simply nobody there. The crosswalk signs wobble and squeak in the wind, donuts on the asphalt testify to wild car races and the pictograms on the oversized parking lot dissolve due to the weather. Madness. The new 36-meter-high tower was still being built in 2015, and in 2019 the operating company filed for insolvency. Just a few months before my visit, in February 2023, the airport was then officially closed and is now a kind of lost place. By the way, you look for the wide-body aircraft in vain, they were removed shortly before the closure.
The situation is different at Sylt Airport. With borrowed cargo bikes we went from the train station directly to the airport. It was very busy here and when we arrived at the small terminal, we even got an ice cream from the airport staff. Thank you very much! The ride to the airport, which is only 8 meters above sea level, was easy and well signposted. Next to the airport there is a large dog park, where we made a good figure with our cargo bikes between big Porsches and Mercedes SUVs. By bike, we continued across the island with its huge dunes and lots of bike traffic. Many tourists take advantage of the large offer of rental bikes and then ride relaxed with the e-bike past the traffic jams. At the end there was one more adventure – after a flat tire in Kampen, the volunteer firefighters helped us back to Westerland, thanks for that too!
March 2023
„GoAround“ signage project starts!
Together with the municipality of Schoenefeld and the Dahme Seenland Tourism Association, preparations are beginning for an „interactive airport round“.
Signage with QR codes and information boards will give visitors to the southern runway a special insight into the airport region. A simple scan with your mobile phone should be enough to find out about the latest, exciting and sometimes curious information relating to the airport region. In addition, we want to draw attention to interesting places or sights in the vicinity.
The possibility of signposting has been examined and assessed as feasible by the Schönefeld municipality and the airport company. This clears the way for a first exciting route around the southern runway.
But this is only the beginning! In the future, „GoAround“ is to encircle the entire airport and provide exciting insights on a 30 km long walking/cycling route.
february 2023
The second free cargo bike in the ZEWS region is available online. The free cargo bike is located at the „Jugendclub“ in Zeuthen and can be borrowed for 1-3 days via the fLotte app. After Eichwalde, Zeuthen is now the second location in the Lastenrad ZEWS project, and this Cargobike has another exciting function. When it is not on loan, it is also available to the young people and the club management free of charge. Whether short trips to the supermarket or a quick pick-up from the train station, the bike can be used in many ways. Even for staff trips within the municipality of Zeuthen, e.g. to a meeting or to a school visit, the e-cargobike can now be used without any trouble, and the diesel bus can be left standing. The Jugendclub (youth club) in Zeuthen plays a central role in the Lastenrad-ZEWS project. Here, the idea was concretised and funding applications were written. With the final realisation, a first goal has now been achieved! A big thank you goes to the team of the Jugendclub, the EKSW e.V., the KJV e.V. and the airport company Berlin/Brandenburg. Bike2BER.de is the initiator of the Lastenrad-zews.de project.
January 2023
All new!
The Bike2BER website has been completely redesigned and shines in a new look.
The loading speed and file sizes have been adjusted and the website should now be faster and more clearly laid out.
The new appearance should give the project more tailwind and seriousness, so that the development of cycling in the BER region can be further promoted!
I would especially like to thank Andy for the administrative work in the background.
All data will be available on the new Bike2BER homepage soon!
Thank you for using Bike2BER.
Dezember 2022
On 5 December, the final event of the Citizen Science project „Too close – safe with distance“ took place at the Technical University of Wildau. In workshops with the Open Bike Sensor Community, 50 cyclists had printed and soldered together a hand-sized Sensor so that they could then measure the distance between a bicycle and a car while overtaking by pressing a button on the steering wheel. It was an exciting project in which 50 participants ended up tracking over 16,000 overtaking events. I hadn’t signed up for the project because I wasn’t 100% convinced that the data in the Open Bike Sensor Portal would really be given any real impact (e.g. in politics). I think data is a first (and very) important step to change people’s views, for example the pop-up bike lanes in Berlin would not have been created without a data base on dangerous situations between cars and cyclists! Nevertheless, I believe that media like „shorts“ on YouTube and the Stream on TikTok or even a video with a spoken commentary have a much deeper impact nowadays than an elaborately processed statistic.
Let’s stay with politicians – in my opinion, these people are bombarded with documents and charts on a daily basis. Just like us, they sit on the sofa in the evening and want some light reading, for example the YouTube or TikTok Stream. And that’s exactly where they would then see the wild everyday life of the common cyclists in their region in small doses. Furthermore, it is suitably easy and pleasant to share a short video with like-minded people. So i think there is something missing like a Brandenburg YouTube hero, comparable to @wienerverkehr from Austria, who films and comments on problems on Austria’s roads with short videos. I think the Open Bike Sensor data paired with an appealing documentation on video could move a lot!
November 2022
October 2022
A few days old already, but still very up-to-date: A drive along the southern runway by car shows how much activity and life takes place along the 4,000-metre-long runway. Cyclists, sightseers, motorcyclists and employees are using the well-built road. It quickly becomes clear how tight the space is for all participants and how many dangers can arise during interactions. In addition, there is a lack of seating, information signs and a public toilets. As you can see in this video, on a nice Sunday 1000-2000 people are on the move along the southern runway during the day. What huge potential remains unused here! It is up to projects like Bike2BER to show those people in charge this potential and to develop concepts together with the Schönefeld municipality. I am confident that the first progress will be visible as early as 2023!
September 2022
Bike tour around the BER – but without Bike2BER.
Promoting and developing cycling cannot be done alone. It needs good contacts and a regular exchange together. An open and transparent set-up as well as a certain cool and open culture. After all, we are talking about cycling here – sporty, active people – and not people wearing buttoned-up suits. Or do we? The people responsible in the Dahme-Spreewald district are apparently somehow not yet aware of this “ cycling vibe“. While loose groups and private initiatives in our region act with a „Du“ and a handshake, the people in charge in the district council and in the decisive committees prefer to be called „Sie“ and usually only talk about their own projects instead of asking about developments of the local projects. Even though many, many people in Brandenburg own a bicycle, the lobby of those who use it every day to cycle to work, for example, is still small. People know each other and know about the projects in the region. Therefore, it is a great pity if an exchange fails because of prejudices or private differences. It is important that new ideas are shared and views are classified, but this can only be done through discussions and preferably on a regular basis.
A positive example of transparent exchange is the group involved in the NUDAFA project in Eichwalde. Alf Hamann repeatedly invites people to exchange ideas, and projects like Bike2BER are not ignored there.
The new professorship in cycling (university Wildau) has also brought some exciting players to the region. Now, you can adorn yourself with them, talk a lot and take great photos, or you can finally work together with them and get some of those thousand ideas on the road!
August 2022
Break.
July 2022
In July 2022, a great milestone was reached in the Bike2BER project! On the BER homepage, you can now find the tab „Bike“ under „Getting here“. In addition, the free Bike2BER routes are mentioned in the overview. For almost 3 years I have been drilling the airport company on this topic. Now, together with the BER’s regional and press department ( who themselves are busy cyclists), they have succeeded in putting the important topic of cycling prominently on their Airport website. Thanks to all involved!
June 2022
When I heard about the professorship in cycling at TH Wildau in May 2020, I knew something special was going to happen here. And that’s exactly what happened. A few weeks ago, when I heard about a kick-off meeting between the Tourism Association Dahme Seenland e.V. and the municipality of Schönefeld, I knew once again that a small shake-up would probably be triggered.
And so, in mid-June, representatives of a wide variety of businesses or services related to local tourism met at the Schönefeld Dialogforum. I was accompanied by Sven Böhme from the (former) „45 über Null Café“ in Selchow – for me one of the biggest players when it comes to tourism in the region. The municipality had asked me to give a short talk on the topic, as I already offer two tourism products in the region with Bike2BER.de and Flughafen-erfahren.de.
It was a bit confusing for me that the Schönefeld municipality kept urging to more or less exclude the Airport from tourism and rather concentrate on the Mauerradweg (Wall Cycle Path) or water tourism. That is why I asked the mayor, Mr Hentschel, in my presentation to clearly differentiate between LIFE in Schönefeld and TOURISM in Schönefeld! When it comes to concepts of how to live together in Schönefeld and how to strengthen the community, concepts without the airport are certainly recommendable. But if you’re talking about tourism – which is still in its early stages here – then I think you just have to use this incredible attraction of the BER to your advantage.
I also presented specific and cost-effective ideas on how to build an interactive route along the southern runway, for example. In the end, it was a special appointment with great presentations and a spirit. We will soon see whether this kick-off appointment has created an initial spark!
A visit from the state of Hesse! Roland Rücker is the bicycle representative of the city of Kelsterbach and a good friend of mine. We have worked together for several years and share the same passion: making cycling better! Kelsterbach, like Waltersdorf or Schönefeld, is only a stone’s throw away from the airport. However, this is Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt Airport. Also, or precisely because Frankfurt Airport is much busier than Berlin Airport, many FRA Airport workers want to cycle to work, but there are problems there, too. Roland advises decision-makers in Kelsterbach and it and knows the region very well. It was great to be with him on the road and, for example, to discuss the infrastructure in Waltersdorf or at Terminal 1/2 in a relaxed atmosphere and, above all, live on site. His input is both an inspiration and a mission for me, so I look forward to being on the road with him again soon in Berlin and Brandenburg!
Cycling around BER Airport? That’s possible! But what’s the route like, and where might it get confusing? In this video we cycle around the Capital Airport together and I tell you a bit about my experiences on the topic of cycling around the Airport.
May 2022
Back to school? Almost!
In May, there was an event at the TH Wildau regarding the professorship in Cycling. Since spring 2022, it has been possible to complete a Master’s degree in Cycling at the university Wildau. There was already a „summer bike tour“ with Bike2BER and TH Wildau in September 2020 as part of the preparations for the degree program. I urgently wanted to use the students‘ know-how for the development of the cycling infrastructure around the airport, and it was very important to me that the university heard about the Bike2BER project from the very beginning. However, the event in May was not related to the Airport, but was a lobbying event for the Bahn (German Railways). The representatives gave crisp talks about how great they are building bicycle parking facilities everywhere and how many trains are now full of cyclists. Almost too good to be true.
When the mayor of Königs Wusterhausen then took the microphone and catapulted everyone back to reality with a story about the unsolvable difficulties of building a bicycle parking garage, the event suddenly became a bit fun.
Besides many people in suits, there were also a few casually dressed people sitting in the lecture hall – the students! I met a few of them a few days later at the university and we cycled to the airport. For me, these moments are gold, because by asking a lot of questions and sharing experiences, a lot of problems and misunderstandings can be easily cleared up instead of sending long emails or PDF documents back and forth.
Thanks to the three, and good luck in your further studies!
The first free cargo bike has arrived in Eichwalde! With Anette Sticker (KOMMA bookshop) we have the first bike patron in the ZEWS (Zeuthen, Eichwalde, Wildau, Schulzendorf) region! The project Lastenrad-zews.de is, like Bike2BER, on the Bike2 Mobility platform and is an absolutely great project that brings together many committed people and local companies. With Fahrrad Ranzinger in Königs Wusterhausen and the Zentrum für Mikromobilitä in Wildau, there are two strong partners in the region who can provide us with bikes and service. Together with Anette from the bookstore and the fLotte Berlin team, it will soon be possible to simply rent a bike for 1-3 days free of charge via the fLotte app! The next bike will be at the Jugendclub in Zeuthen. The team of the Jugendclub had been trying to find solid funding over the last few months and actually received two sponsorships at the end of May. They are currently looking for a suitable bike for the station at the Jugendclub. However, we do not expect to see a fLotte bike at the Jugendclub Zeuthen until late summer.
On 2 May we were awarded the 2nd prize in the „competition of the lively city centres“ in Frankfurt an der Oder, in the category „actions, campaigns and events“ (municipalities/cities with less than 20,000 inhabitants)! Like Bike2BER, Zeuthen Open Streets is another project from the Bike2 Mobility platform, and I had started it just under 1 year ago. In the meantime, several Zeuthen Open Streets have taken place in Oldenburger Straße, Miersdorfer Chaussee, Schulstraße and on Siegertplatz in Zeuthen. The aim is to strengthen the network of Zeuthen’s residents and to bring a public space to life for a few hours. It is also intended to encourage people to leave their cars behind and come into the town centre by bike or on foot. The expert jury, consisting of urban planners and politicians, particularly emphasised the cooperation between the municipality and the Open Streets team, as well as the requirement that the participants have to organise the activities themselves. The prize was endowed with 8,000 EUR. More information about the award and the Zeuthen Open Streets project can be found HERE.
April 2022
Bike2BER.de at the VELO in Tempelhof ? Yes!
I was a little proud, even if it was „only“ a little logo on the Fluhafen-erfahren flyer. The tourism organisation Dahme Seenland e.V. presented the Flughafen-erfahren Tour and since this tour was developed from the Bike2BER.de project, we are still visible on the poster. In any case, I was very pleased!
The team from Königs Wusterhausen also takes care of tourism in the airport region and Bike2BER and Flughafen-erfahren are two great brands in this segment!
Many thanks for the support at the VELO!
Stormy April.
The bicycle stands between the Steigenberger Hotel and Terminal 1 are already barely sufficient in spring. My suggestion to the Airport that more bicycle racks be covered and that other covered areas could also be used for bicycle parking was kindly refused. These angular, grey U-shaped bars are thereby also real paint killers! Not only the bicycle stands, but also the bicycles look unattractive after a day like this. This bicycle parking area, directly in front of the Steigenberger restaurant, is a good alternative for safely parking your bike here at BER. The short distance to Terminal 1 and a certain “ monitoring “ of the parking spaces by the hotel staff are a plus for this location. Too bad FBB ( Airport Company), a great area – especially for the cycling employees – is unfortunately not used enough here, in my opinion!
March 2022
Bike2Ber was again a guest at the Dialogforum-BER! This time I was interviewed by Clemens Glade. I was talking about my feelings on the current situation for cyclists on the routes around/near BER. I campaigned for the “ Airport Circuit“ to finally be completed and appealed to politicians to cycle more in order to better understand the problems and challenges for cyclists in the BER region! You can find the whole article HERE. Many thanks to the team of the Dialogforum BER for their support!
February 2022
Changeover and separation of Bike2BER.de and Flughafen-erfahren.de websites.
At the moment, some Bike2BER and Flughafen-erfahren websites are temporarily unavailable or look a bit bumpy. This is due to the separation of the databases and the switching of the tariffs. Thank you for your understanding.
You can always contact us via info@bike2ber.de!
January 2022
Happy New Year and all the best for 2022!
The new year starts with great news for all commuters working at the airport. The airport company Berlin Brandenburg (FBB) has installed new bicycle parking areas at the access control points for employees. This means you can now park your bike a little more safely within sight of the checkpoint. Hopefully these useless construction fences, which in recent months have mainly served as permanent parking for „junk bikes“, will also disappear soon. Not only did these temporary solutions look terrible, you couldn’t really park your bike safely either. The new parking spaces are a positive sign from the Airport Company for cycling at the airport. Keep it up!
December 2021
Bike2BER with a strong second year
In 2021 Bike2BER.de + project websites again reached over 10,000 visitors! I would like to thank you very much for that!
It shows how important cycling is becoming and of course already is in the BER region!
The numbers break down as follows: a good 3500 visitors reached the Bike2BER.de landing page (an average of 10 per day), about 6500 visitors clicked on Flughafen-erfahren.de and about 2000 visitors on Zeuthen-os.de . There were around 900 visits to the Bike2BER Map and over 200 routes were downloaded. The airport tour including the Airberlin memorial was downloaded the most. This development also shows that the leisure factor plays an enormous role at the new Capital Airport and that it is worth investing further in mobility and infrastructure.
Bike2BER.de, with its linked projects, stands for a „hands on“ vision for the airport region. We want to actively engage with small and sometimes larger, future-oriented ideas in this highly dynamic region and make a positive impact on its development. The Corona pandemic, climate protection, airport development…and many other major issues have been hitting this structurally weak region east of Berlin in a bundle for just under 2 years. Major tasks have been redistributed, decisions suddenly have a much greater impact than they did a short time ago, and investors are flooding the region with projects and ideas. Too often, topics such as cycling simply fall by the wayside, or at least they are put on the second or third level of priority. We are still far away from a functioning cycling infrastructure in the airport region, far away from coexistence in road traffic in the ZEWS regions and a kind of „feeling“ by those responsible for the benefits of an attractive offer for commuters or leisure cyclists in the airport region.
