They come to ETH Zurich almost daily by bike or e-bike. Three ETH transport researchers are investigating how an e-bike-friendly city works. They are also committed to a safe, sustainable, and CO2-reducing campus mobility at ETH Zurich.
A brief eye contact is enough. The feeling of safety increases. The e-biker has just turned onto Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse at the construction site of the new HPQ physics building. A bus belonging to the Zurich public transport company VBZ approaches her from the other direction. The gazes of the biker and the bus driver meet. Both assess the situation - and the bus continues its route to Affoltern, while Clarissa Livingston leads her e-bike to the parking spaces on the Hönggerberg campus.
Clarissa Livingston is a doctoral student in Kay Axhausen's transport planning group. She works at Campus Hönggerberg and usually comes to work by bike or electric bike. She is not only a regular cyclist, but also a transport researcher. She is involved in “E-Bike-City”. In this research project, seven groups from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG) have joined forces to articulate a vision of a city that devotes up to half of its available road space for e-bikes, bicycles, and other forms of a sustainable so-called micromobility. Now they are investigating the conditions and impacts under which such a city could be realised.
What an e-bike city needs
The researchers examine infrastructure issues such as the design of roadways, street networks, street space, traffic management systems, public transit operations with variable demand, and costs of implementation. In their research, they also explore issues such as noise and CO2 reduction, equity, and safety. The latter plays an important role in sustainable mobility, as e-bike users are repeatedly entangled in accidents. That's what David Zani is researching. As a doctoral student in Bryan Adey's Infrastructure Management Group, he, along with Clarissa Livingston, is investigating how the infrastructure of an e-bike city must be designed to minimise the risk of accidents while using cycling infrastructure.
“The feeling of safety on a road depends not only on how safe that road actually is from a statistical point of view.”David Zani of the Infrastructure Management Group
Safety and infrastructure are inherently linked – for example, the risk of accidents is reduced if tram lines and e-bike lanes are neatly separated and cyclists do not have to cross these tracks. However, safety is not just about which types of cycling infrastructure are objectively safest, admits David Zani, who, like Clarissa Livingston, typically comes to work by bike: “The feeling of safety on a road depends not only on how safe that road actually is from a statistical point of view,” he says.
Safety, the interaction with each other, and tricky spots
Clarissa Livingston follows on from this. Although difficult to quantify, the behaviour of road users and the way they interact with each other are important for the feeling of safety. “For example, the feeling of safety changes drastically for cyclists who are on the road with children,” says Clarissa Livingston. Eye contact is crucial: “What cyclists can see well and what they can't see well influences their sense of safety.” Among other things, she is investigating how traffic intersections and crossroads need to be designed so that cyclists and e-bikers feel safe while crossing them.
“For example, the feeling of safety changes drastically for cyclists who are on the road with children.”Clarissa Livingston of the Transport Planning Group
For instance, the approach to the Hönggerberg campus has its tricky spots. In a semester project on the subject of “E-Bike Campus”, which Clarissa Livingston supervised, the student Max Rieder found that the pedestrian crosswalks on Glaubtenstrasse Nord are particularly problematic for cyclists. Since the space between the pedestrian island and the curb there is just wide enough for motorists to assume they have enough space to pass cyclists. However, Rieder’s measurements show that this is not the case. Furthermore, the measured width does not comply with the recommended Swiss standards. Even experienced, confident cyclists feel unsafe there.
The Hönggerberg campus itself is a comfortable and pleasant place to cycle. However: “Above all, Max Rieder found that the signalisation that would enable cyclists to quickly find the parking spaces closest to their destination and other resources such as pumping stations needs to be improved”, Livingston says. In addition, she adds, Max Rieder determined that the types of parking racks currently installed on campus need to be changed: The current types do not accommodate the diversity of bicycles and e-bikes that are in use, especially with regards to tire widths, handlebar design, and vehicle length. In the case of the racks requiring the bicycle to be hung by its handlebars, the wiring of the bicycle risks being damaged.
Expanding the bicycle infrastructure at ETH
In recent years, ETH Zurich has steadily expanded its infrastructure for cyclists and e-bikers on the Hönggerberg campus as well as in the city centre.In addition to parking facilities for bicycles, parking spaces with charging stations for electric bicycles, public bicycle pumps, a secure, weather-protected bicycle box, and a student-run bicycle workshop have been set up on the Hönggerberg campus (see overview of bicycle infrastructure).
In addition, ETH members can rent bicycles or e-bikes at favourable conditions: After taking out a discounted annual subscription, they currently have access to 2000 bicycles and e-bikes in the city of Zurich (Züri Velo from PubliBike), for which there are three stations on the Campus Zentrum and one on the Campus Hönggerberg. Furthermore, there are 40 e-bikes, including one e-cargo bike, available at any time from the partner Urban Connect at several ETH locations, as well as ETH's own team e-bikes or cargo bikes for institutes and departments (see overview). Soon, these offers, including their locations, will also be available in the ETH app on the map.
“We will continue to expand the bicycle infrastructure at ETH,” says Sandy Jeschke from the Mobility Office at Campus Services, who is responsible for the strategic development of bicycle, e-bike, and mobility services on the ETH campus. For example, additional bicycle parking spaces will be set up in underground garages as needed, or additional charging stations will be installed for the “long-term parkers” among the e-bikers. The safety of all traffic participants is naturally a priority in the retrofit of the Wolfgang Pauli Street.
Already today, bicycle parking spaces are illuminated when the evening comes: “That's important for us women,” says Sandy Jeschke. ETH also ensures that parking spaces have enough room, as the demand for bikes with trailers for children is increasing. Sandy Jeschke, who also has exchanged ideas with Clarissa Livingston, is looking forward to the results on the design of intersections and crossroads from the E-Bike City project and of the current ETH Zurich Smart Moves Mobility Survey which is also supported by Professor Kay Axhausen.
Besides costs, acceptance also counts
“Our research on infrastructure costs has shown that investments in cycling infrastructure are economically very attractive. They offer great benefits at relatively low costs,” says David Zani. However, setting up cycling infrastructure is often not easy in practice. Their construction is influenced by opinions: “Infrastructure is very much up for discussion.” Michael Wicki is researching public opinion and the acceptance of e-bike-related transport and infrastructure measures, as well as measures to reduce CO2 emissions from the mobility sector.
“As is often the case with policy measures, redistribution in e-bike promotion leads to some people feeling disadvantaged and rejecting such a change.”Michael Wicki of the Spatial Development and Urban Policy Group
“As is often the case with policy measures, redistribution in e-bike promotion leads to some people feeling disadvantaged and rejecting such a change,” says Michael Wicki, who is a postdoctoral researcher in David Kaufmann's Spatial Development and Urban Policy Group. “The important thing is to engage people who reject the change with ancillary measures to reduce barriers to e-bike use and increase uptake.” Ancillary measures usually include widely accessible information about the benefits and impacts of sustainable mobility and, as appropriate, compensatory measures. For Wicki, the eventual findings on what strengthens or weakens the acceptance of e-bike promotion measures will also be relevant for ETH campus development.
Better understanding of the routes to the ETH campus
All three mobility researchers, Wicki, Zani, and Livingston, are also happy to share their findings to make campus mobility at ETH as safe, low- CO2, and comfortable as possible. For example, they support “Smart Moves”: The campaign by Campus Services and ETH Sustainability is part of ETH Zurich's efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030. The three researchers also take part in competitions such as Bike to Work or the Academic Bicycle Challenge, a worldwide competition in which cyclists collect as many kilometres as possible. The data collected will be used to make the routes to work more bicycle friendly. “To optimally develop the campus, we need to know more precisely which routes ETH members take to get to ETH,” says Sandy Jeschke.
Further information
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