Since this winter semester, Professor Angela Francke has held the professorship in cycling and local mobility at the University of Kassel. She thus holds one of a total of seven endowed chairs on cycling fund by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. Born in Dresden, she has spent a large part of her academic career to date at the Technical University of her home city. After studying transport economics with a focus on transport psychology, business administration, transport and logistics, she became a professor of transport psychology. In an interview with Elektrofahrrad24, Angela Francke explains psychological phenomena related to the ebike, outlines her idea of car-free German city centres and talks about cycling in the Caribbean.
Ms Francke, one of your research topics is the psychology of cycling. What can we understand by that?
The field involves different topics and questions. For example, I would like to find out how people can be motivated to cycle who have hardly used bicycles in their everyday lives so far. What factors keep people from cycling? In this context, I am particularly concerned with subjective road safety. Compared to car traffic, cyclists are significantly less protected on the road and therefore more at risk. If cyclists feel endangered by car traffic, they will use their bikes less often than if they enjoy cycling and feel safe.
How much psychology is there in the topic of “ebikes”?
The possibility to use an ebike can strongly influence the choice of transport. The great potential of pedelecs and ebikes is that they significantly extend the range due to the motor assistance. This means that people can also use a bicycle in topographically more challenging regions or over longer distances without putting too much physical effort into it. So one obstacle is taken away.
In Germany, the number of ebikes sold could surpass that of conventional bicycles in the next few years. This has already happened in countries like Belgium. Do you also recognise a psychological phenomenon in this development or are we all just becoming more comfortable?
This question is not so easy to answer. For that we would have to look at how the number of bicycles sold is developing overall and for what reasons people buy a pedelec or ebike. In Belgium, for example, there are government subsidies for ebikes, which can be a great incentive.
For what other reasons, besides financial incentives, do people get into ebikes?
Some studies have been able to show that riding an ebike is perceived as safer compared to conventional bicycles. For example, a survey in North America found that 60 percent of people feel safer riding an ebike compared to a non-motor-assisted bike. They cited faster crossing of an intersection due to greater acceleration, better keeping up with traffic and easier maintaining balance at higher speeds as the reasons.
Winter is coming soon and many people are putting their bikes aside for a while. In your view, is year-round cycling also a psychological challenge?
More of an infrastructural one, I would say. It is reflected in mobility behaviour. Again, the subjective perception of safety plays a role. If you want to cycle safely in winter, you need well-lit cycle paths, for example, because more journeys are made in the dark. The keyword is reliable and equal winter maintenance services. Snow that is pushed from the car lane onto the cycle lane not only spoils the fun of all-year-round cycling, but also makes it more unsafe.
During your time at the Technical University of Dresden, you also investigated the topic of logistics. Is it a psychological phenomenon when companies still find it difficult to switch from cars to ebikes for logistical tasks?
Breaking with habits and familiar business processes is always a challenge. Companies usually need economic incentives to do so. But measures such as car-free city centres can also drive such a change. Companies would then be forced to adapt to the new circumstances and develop solutions at least for the ‘last mile’.
Nevertheless, there are probably many companies that are sceptical about such approaches.
Then they should visit Copenhagen. The city proves what is already possible. There are many companies and handicraft businesses that have discovered the bicycle for themselves. Businesses benefit from the fact that they can continue to park directly in front of their customers’ doors. Looking at what has already been tested and proven elsewhere helps to reduce resistance.
Logistics companies around the world have been using e-load bikes of all different types for years, thus countering bans on car traffic.
Once you said that one of your goals was to find an answer to the question of how the bicycle can become the mode of transport of choice in interaction with all other road users. What needs to change for this to happen?
Certainly, we need a city of short distances. The bicycle should be something normal, unagitated, everyday. And so attractive that people who can cycle don’t even think about using another means of transport for short journeys. When the car is no longer the central point in the use of traffic areas, people and the human habitat can once again become the focus of urban and street planning. Free space is created for the redesign of common areas, which can lead to more quality of stay in the streets and thus to a better quality of life. Another element is the so-called intermodal link. This means, for example, that you can cycle to the next public transport stop and then continue by bus or train. Such a positive experience is the basis for establishing everyday cycling as an attractive form of transport in our decision-making.
Where are we right now on the way to this point?
I think we are on a good path to becoming even more bicycle-friendly. For some years now, cycling has fortunately been attracting more attention from the general public. Especially due to the Corona pandemic, it has gained a lot of momentum. For a further increase, we need more knowledge and also well-trained professionals. The speed with which we have to tackle the expansion of the infrastructure for cycling has been underestimated so far. This need already existed before Corona, but it has increased further during the pandemic. With the adopted National Cycling Plan 3.0, the way has been prepared. Now the many measures must also be tackled and implemented quickly in order to become a cycling country.
In your opinion, what is the biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome until then?
For several decades, Germany has pursued a largely car-centred planning. Our cities and transport routes are primarily oriented towards the car as a means of transport. This goes hand in hand with a perceived customary right to drive and park by car at any time and to any place. And that at a standard speed of 50 km/h. Breaking such habits is a big hurdle, but necessary – and urgent. We need more equality to create a better quality of life and avert the climate crisis.
How about your personal cycling experience?
I enjoy cycling and am a typical everyday cyclist. I usually use my sporty city bike. It has suspension and a rear carrier, so it’s suitable for everything I want to do by bike. In Kassel, I’ve gotten along very well with the Nextbike bikes so far. In addition, I would like to purchase several more bikes at the bicycle professorship. I have a pedelec or a cargo bike in mind, so I will definitely continue to explore the city by bike.
What private experiences have you had with ebikes so far?
I’m thinking first and foremost of a stay in Lisbon. There, the public bicycle rental system is equipped with ebikes. In such a mountainous city, that makes perfect sense. It helps to make cycling more popular.
In one video, you can be seen swinging your right leg outstretched over the saddle as you get off, as if you were getting off a man’s bike, even though you were riding a woman’s bike. Who taught you how to ride a bike?
It was my parents, in the classic way on the footpath. Since I change bikes often and my everyday bike also has an inclined tube for more stability, it’s the way to get off that I probably have to think about the least.
As a visiting scholar, you taught in Trinidad and Tobago. What was cycling like there?
In itself, I was keen to cycle in Trinidad and Tobago. In the end, for safety reasons, I didn’t. In everyday life, I started to count the number of people cycling. At some point it became clear that it was always the same people. I conducted interviews with many transport experts and local officials and asked them why hardly anyone rides a bicycle here. I was even able to organise a workshop with the Ministry of Transport. Slowly the situation is changing there. In some parts of the country, the first bike lanes have been built and at least recreational cyclists are on the road. I am still in good contact with the university there and the person responsible for road safety in the country.
Along the Western Main Road towards the Chaguaramas National Park is one of the relative new cycle paths on the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
And how did things look at your station in Kharkiv, Ukraine?
Clearly different. There, in 2016, I planned a bicycle rental system in the city with students as part of a project. This was actually implemented two years later. So, I was able to take part in a huge bicycle parade and also cycle relaxed in the secondary network. It’s nice to realise how any city can become a cycling city with the appropriate measures.
Bikesharing has long since gained a foothold in Ukraine as well.
Thank you very much for the interview, Ms Francke.
Pictures: University of Kassel; Coboc GmbH & Co. KG; EAV; guardian.co.tt; wikimapia.org
