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| Founded | 27 September 1979 |
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| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Focus | Environmentalism, soft mobility, cycling |
| Location |
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Area served | Germany |
| Members | 200,000 (10/2020) [1] |
Key people | Frank Masurat, Federal Chairman [2] |
| Website | www.adfc.de |
The Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC) (German Cyclist's Association [3] ) is a registered cycling association and club for cyclists in Germany.
The founding meeting of the ADFC took place on 27 September 1979 in Bremen, after the idea to establish such an organisation arose during the International Bicycle and Motorbike Exhibition (IFMA) on 18 April 1978. Jan Tebbe from Bremen provided the idea and was the first chairman of the ADFC. Other founders were planing and mobility scientists like Heiner Monheim or Tilman Bracher.
The ADFC is an interest group of cyclists in German towns, particularly in mobility policy. It became known for the bicycle climate test, which was carried out in 1988, 1991, 2003, 2005 and 2012.
The ADFC is a member of the European Cyclists' Federation and the International Mountain Bicycling Association. At the demand of the ADFC a National Cycle Traffic Plan was presented in 2002 for the first time by the Cabinet of Germany.
In some regions, the ADFC offers bicycle coding, coordinated with the police (FEIN coding). The ADFC advises in matters of theft prevention, secure bicycle parking facilities, and locks.
The local and district associations of the ADFC offer members and non-members throughout Germany cycle tours of varying difficulty and duration. The programmes are available from the groups and increasingly on the Internet.
"Mit dem Rad zur Arbeit" ("Cycling to Work"): Nationally exclusive with public health insurance, the campaign motivates employees to travel to work by bike, and to encourage companies to create favourable conditions to this end, e.g. showers or parking facilities. Aims are preventive health care and the reduction of motorised individual transport.
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The Dachgeber ("roof giver") is a sub-organization of the ADFC and a hospitality exchange service, which mediates on a basis of mutual free accommodation for cyclists on tour. Dachgeber is issued by the traffic educator, bicycle technician and bicycle travel expert of ADFC, Wolfgang Reiche. [4] The hosts are members of ADFC and provide accommodation free of charge on a reciprocal basis, which by rule only includes a place to sleep for the air mattress to be brought along. [5] Dachgeber was created in 1987 as a result of a global bicycle journey that lasted four years. [6] Dachgeber is a non-profit project and lists 3.200 hosts. [6]
The subdivisions of the ADFC also function as tour operators. State, district and local associations offer guided cycle tours of several days, in addition the ADFC brokers cycling holidays. In 1995 the quality certification "Bed & Bike." was started. Bed & Bike undertakings are guest establishments from five star hotel to youth hostel and camping site, which commit themselves to cater for the expectations of cycle tourists. Since 2006, ADFC tests and certifies long-distance cycle paths as ADFC Quality Routes ("ADFC-Qualitätsradroute") according to criteria developed by the tourism expert committee. In August 2008 the top mark of five stars was assigned for the first time to a long-distance cycle route: the Main Valley Cycle Route near Randersacker.
In rented information centres the ADFC offers advice on topics concerning bicycle and traffic, gives tips on cycle holidays, helps with the planning of tours, and lends books, magazines, bikes and accessories. With its programme "Bike + Business", ADFC of Hesse advises firms and administrations on the creation of cycle-friendly conditions for their staff.
ADFC is involved in the publication of a bicycle map series on a scale of 1:150.000 (according to the publisher's imprint Germany's most purchased cycle tour map) as well as of regional maps on a scale of 1:75.000 (occasionally also 1:100.000 or 1:50.000) and often creates bike maps right up to bicycle town plans following the slogan "from cyclists for cyclists." They offer courses and information on GPS navigation.
Members receive the magazine "Radwelt" every two months, and other regional bicycle magazines, as well as their tour programme in paper form.
Membership in ADFC gives insurance with excess for legal protection and liability as non-motorised road users; insurances against bicycle theft are available.
A few ADFC subdivisions organize bike travel fairs, bicycle flea markets, repair courses, courses on tour planning, cycle riding courses (cycle riding schools) for adults or maintain self-help workshops. ADFC Berlin organizes the converging bicycle rally, which according to their own assessment is the largest bicycle demonstration in the world.
Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ Touring Club", and is covered by company law. It works at a national and local level to lobby for cyclists' needs and wants, provides services to members, and organises local groups for local activism and those interested in recreational cycling. The original Cyclists' Touring Club began in the nineteenth century with a focus on amateur road cycling but these days has a much broader sphere of interest encompassing everyday transport, commuting and many forms of recreational cycling. Prior to April 2016, the organisation operated under the brand "CTC, the national cycling charity". As of February 2020, the organisation's president is the newsreader Jon Snow.
Bicycle Network is an Australian charity, one of the largest cycling membership organisations in the world, whose mission is to have More People Cycling More Often. Before 2011 it was known as Bicycle Victoria.
Adventure Cycling Association is a nonprofit member organization focused on travel by bicycle. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Adventure Cycling develops cycling routes, publishes maps, provides guided trips, and advocates for better and safer cycling in the U.S. The organization grew from a mass cross-country bicycle ride in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial. Adventure Cycling also publishes a magazine, Adventure Cyclist.
Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) is the largest mobility club in Switzerland and a non-profit association. It has roughly 1,6 million members and 1900 employees.
Cycling is the second-most common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of Dutch people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the car (45%) and public transport (11%). Cycling has a modal share of 27% of all trips nationwide. In cities this is even higher, such as Amsterdam which has 38%, and Zwolle 46%. This high frequency of bicycle travel is enabled by excellent cycling infrastructure such as cycle paths, cycle tracks, protected intersections, ample bicycle parking and by making cycling routes shorter and more direct than car routes.
The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association is a bicycle racing organization based in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Cycling in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia takes place for recreation, commuting and as a sport. Sydney has a hilly topography and so may require a slightly higher level of fitness from cyclists than flatter cities such as Melbourne and Canberra. Sydney depends heavily on motor vehicles where traffic and public transport operate at capacity. This means that cyclist are often competing with motorists for limited space on busier roads, and for limited government resources for expenditure on road infrastructure. In its favour, Sydney has a generally mild climate and there are active cycling groups.
McDonald's Cycle Center is a facility for a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group in the northeast corner of Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It was formerly a bicycle station for public use. The city of Chicago built the center at the intersection of East Randolph Street and Columbus Drive, and opened it July 2004. Since June 2006, it had been sponsored by McDonald's and several other partners, including city departments and bicycle advocacy organizations. The bike station, which formerly served bicycle commuters and utility cyclists, provided lockers, showers, a snack bar with outdoor summer seating, bike repair, bike rental and 300 bicycle parking spaces as of 2004. The Cycle Center was accessible by membership and day pass. It also accommodated runners and inline skaters, but now is exclusively used by a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group.
Cycling in San Francisco has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving cycling infrastructure and community support. San Francisco's compact urban form and mild climate enable cyclists to reach work, shopping, and recreational destinations quickly and comfortably. Though San Francisco's famed steep hills can make cycling difficult, many parts of the city are relatively flat, including some of the most densely populated. However, heavy automobile traffic, the lack of bike lanes on many streets, and difficulty in crossing major streets deter most residents from cycling frequently in San Francisco.
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except where cyclists are barred such as many freeways/motorways. It includes amenities such as bike racks for parking, shelters, service centers and specialized traffic signs and signals. The more cycling infrastructure, the more people get about by bicycle.
Bicycle law is the parts of law that apply to the riding of bicycles.
The history of cycling infrastructure starts from shortly after the bike boom of the 1880s when the first short stretches of dedicated bicycle infrastructure were built, through to the rise of the automobile from the mid-20th century onwards and the concomitant decline of cycling as a means of transport, to cycling's comeback from the 1970s onwards.
There is debate over the safety implications of cycling infrastructure. Recent studies generally affirm that segregated cycle tracks have a better safety record between intersections than cycling on major roads in traffic. Furthermore, cycling infrastructure tends to lead to more people cycling. A higher modal share of people cycling is correlated with lower incidences of cyclist fatalities, leading to a "safety in numbers" effect though some contributors caution against this hypothesis. On the contrary, older studies tended to come to negative conclusions about mid-block cycle track safety.
Controversies have surrounded dedicated cycling routes in cities. Some critics of bikeways argue that the focus should instead be placed on educating cyclists in road safety, and others that safety is better served by using the road space for parking. There is debate over whether cycle tracks are an effective factor to encourage cycling or whether other factors are at play.
Gero Storjohann was a German politician who served in the Bundestag from 2002 until his death in 2023. A member of the Christian Democratic Union, Storjohann had served as the vice chairman of the Committee on Petitions from 2005. During his tenure, Storjohann was an advocate for improvements of transportation infrastructure, particularly for bicycles.
A bicycle highway, also known as a cycling superhighway, fast cycle route or bike freeway, is an informal name for a bicycle path that is meant for long-distance traffic. There is no official definition of a bicycle highway. The characteristics of a cycling highway mentioned by authorities and traffic experts include an absence of single-level intersections with motorized traffic, a better road surface and the absence of traffic lights. Bicycle highways are mentioned in connection with traffic jam. Owing to higher average speeds than normal cycling infrastructure, they provide an alternative to the car in commuter traffic. Often a cycling highway follows the route of a railway or other linear infrastructure.
Cycling in the United States is a minor sport in the country. It is also a mode of transport, particularly in urban areas.
Katja Keul is a German lawyer and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2009 elections, representing the Nienburg II – Schaumburg district. In addition to her work in parliament, she has been Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 8 December 2021.
A pop-up bicycle lane is a temporary bike lane that is used to test, pilot or trial new infrastructure to improve conditions for people riding bicycles. In the event that it is successful, interventions can be implemented permanently.
Swantje Henrike Michaelsen is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2021 German federal election.
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