A ride in Berlin

[Ep. 998] Cycing from Prenzlauer Berg to the Gedächtniskirche near Bahnhof Zoo in Berlin, crossing the former border between East and West Berlin three times. I rode this route almost daily when I lived in Berlin in the Summer of 1992. The ride starts at my home at that time. Filmed on a Saturday morning in May 2023. More information in the blog post: bicycledutch.wordpress.com/?p...

[@insertaverygenericnamehere]

Unfortunately, the conservative mayor is fighting safe infrastructure - and supports even more infrastructure for cars.

[@silassheriff7868]

Conservatives are in 90% of the cases bad for the cities. Most of the time they get elected by sub urbanites, who harass city dwellers with their metallic monsters

[@BenchR267]

And they don't even realize what "conserving" really means…

[@reynoutdecourt7983]

Can't the mayor learn from the Dutch?! Idiotic!

[@Malvictis]

Wegner may not be the best mayor, but a conservative he is not. Judging from his pro-gays stance in the past he is a progressive so your statement is factually wrong. Moreover, a conservative mayor would have at least attempted to combat the rampant graffiti that plagues an otherwise beautiful city.

[@danielbum912]

@@Malvictis Wegner is factually in the self proclaimed conservative party, making him Berlin's "conservative" mayor.

[@annebraun581]

Berlinerin here. I mean it’s still so bad this infrastructure… especially the bumpy bike paths „on the sidewalk“ …. are just sooooo uncomfortable to ride. Thank you Mark for showing the tour.

[@DeadCat1982]

Great upload! Funnily enough we started both our Berlin adventures in the same street! Except for me it was in 2015 that I moved to Kopenhagener Str - nr. 21 that is. Loved the neighborhood and did the same route a couple of times, but especially through Wedding / Mitte with fear of own life. We ended our time in Berlin in the more modern building at the other end of the death strip that you saw when you drove out of Kopenhagener Str onto Schwedter Str, and moved back to NL in '22. I don't think I ever want to give up Dutch cycling infra anymore, even though I have very good memories from Berlin (including both my kids being born Berliners now).

[@rickute1458]

wow !! thank you so much for showing the photos of how it was before and how it is now, i tip my hat to you, you have done a wonderful job on this video !!!

[@CyclingSteve]

Thanks Mark, this was very interesting. Much quieter than I'm used to in London.

[@fritzp9916]

My first thought was that this isn't representative of Berlin and you picked some of the worst streets to cycle, but I think that's actually a me issue: I know the city (or at least the parts of it where I go 90% of the time) well enough to mostly avoid terrible infrastructure. That often means taking a detour, which isn't ideal. Karl-Marx-Allee is being upgraded bit by bit to really wide and smooth bike paths that are a joy to ride on. Oberbaumbrücke has become by far my favorite place to cross the Spree. The big street on both sides of Landwehrkanal has turned from almost completely un-cyclable to being enjoyable. Weigandufer in Neukölln is now a super pleasant bike street along the canal. Even Unter den Linden has been reduced to a single lane for cars, one for buses, and one for bikes (though drivers often abuse the bike lane as a right turning lane). There are many such examples of infrastructure that improved in the past few years but it isn't really a coherent and connected network yet. And sadly, it looks like the new senate isn't too keen on continuing, or improving upon, the efforts made by the previous one, but rather wants to preserve car parking.

[@kailahmann1823]

I think short (!) detours can be an alternative, if a street is to problematic to convert. Also you can't remove all car parking - and that was what the rhetoric in Berlin often felt like. In a well planned city only a tiny fraction of the streets need bike lanes - the vast majority are just limited to slow residential traffic, where cycling on the road is no problem. And these streets can still provide parking (possibly even more than before) for those residents, who need a car.

[@BicycleDutch]

I did not pick any streets, I just rode the exact route I cycled almost daily 31 years ago. If I had to ride from this beginning to this end point today I would probably revise the route here and there (to avoid Brunnenstraße for instance) but it clearly made my point. Berlin has not significantly changed its street design when you see almost no updates on a random route crossing so much of the city.

[@fritzp9916]

@@BicycleDutch Berlin has definitely changed its street design standards, in particular with the Mobilitätsgesetz from 2018. You're right that in all the years before 2018, nothing of any significance happened. And since planning and construction take a long time in Berlin, we're only beginning to see the effects.

[@fritzp9916]

@@kailahmann1823 Technically, you can get rid of all on-street parking. Japan works that way: if you want a car, you need to have a place to put it, e.g. by renting a garage. But of course that's not going to happen in Germany or even in the Netherlands. However you can, and should, reduce the number of parking spaces in the city.

[@kailahmann1823]

@@fritzp9916 that's basically what Amsterdam did: They've build underground parking garages and THEN removed a lot of on-street parking with very little discussion - because it wasn't "we want you to get rid of your car", it was "we need the space to make the street better for you". That's actually a common problem of green politics: They are very bad at marketing the personal advantages of the changes.

[@Sanginius23]

I lived many years in Berlin Friedrichshain and I stoped using my Bike very soon. It just sucks to ride a Bike, no space, no protection, way to many Cars. But Public Transport is very good

[@danielbum912]

I didn't know you lived in Berlin Mark, so cool! I was 1 in 1992 :)

[@kailahmann1823]

That were more cyclists running a red light than I see here in a whole year… Overall Berlin really lives up it's reputation here: Way to many on-street parking, multi-lane streets without even a painted bike lane and traffic rules are more like recommendations (where "don't block another's way" is clearly not a factor…).

[@marcelpereira7543]

The Problem in Germany is the following: The whole Infrastructure is biuld for Cars. Pedestrians or Cyclist have way shorter phases on intersections to cross. Cars get cameras arrays to see if they lightning on the intersection can be changed so one car doesnt have to wait while all other users like pedestrians get a beg button at best. Then there are cars everywhere. on every route i take, there is at least one car parking on the byicicle or pedestrian lane. The roads are like 50cm wide, cars parking on the side and you are constantly inside the dooring zone. As long as this isnt changing and cars get the only priority inside of cities, no one who really wants to get from one point to another will just wait at an dumb intersection.

[@kailahmann1823]

​@@marcelpereira7543 the shorter green phases are due to the clearance time: Slower traffic needs a longer time to cross the intersection. As Berlin uses dedicated bike signals, there is no useless waiting time - you just expect drivers and cyclists from the right to wait for you when they already have green. About parking on the bike lane: That's on my opinion a combination of bad enforcement and bad infrastructure. Here in Lüneburg it very rarely happens, because it's either impossible (bike lane behind parked cars or a green stripe; other cities also use bollards) or you get a ticket faster than buying Brötchen. The last one I can remember was I think a car from Dortmund (how fitting…) and I had to laugh at that poor idiot: He was parking right in front of an (unmarked) police building :)

[@PhouFoo]

Amazing that you survived this 30min, Berlin looks better now than in most other German cities, but still very much inferior infrastructure considering the government ist talking about transformating traffic ("Verkehrswende") for several years now

[@LeafHuntress]

Around ~16:00 Invalidenstraße, have they named it thus because of their intent to make more people on bikes crash? And in front of the main/central railway station as well. What a shame; double car lanes & a painted bike gutter. It's not as if it needs to be that wide because awhile later it narrows. Imagine if it were just bikes, buses & trams, perhaps a loop for cabs & cars to drop off/pick up. How much more space you would have for pedestrians, perhaps even room for a park with rainwater collection to future proof the city.

[@Franzliegt]

22:30 nice to see how much more comfortable it is not to ride the cyclepath

[@gnza2012]

of course, when there are no cars there.

[@MeatNinja]

Actually looks really nice considering how car infested it is. Would be amazing with Dutch level infrastructure.

[@riquelmeone]

That's probably due to the weather and the fact he went on a Saturday morning. A Tuesday afternoon would make this a completely different video.

[@clairegoeckner-wald3449]

I never understood why people watch ASMR to relax, but I think I understand now

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Anxiety +3000

[@klapiroska4714]

21:53 This tells me enough about the planning, design guidelines etc. Someone planned this, someone else probably checked and accepted the plan, someone painted this and presumably no-one questioned why cyclists are guided into a rather wide car-lane when there is a bike path right next to it.

[@daniels7031]

actually, that's by design. The smaller bike paths on the sidewalk are optional, cyclisty can use them if they prefere the safety at the cost of going slower, but they don't have to use them they can also ride on the street if they prefere, for example if they want to go faster. The orange line alows for cyclists to use the cycle path if they want to by entering at the lowered kerb on the right or to merge safely with motor trafic by letting them in to the street at the dotted line.

[@reueljames4914]

Hello sir, long time.. I was lettle busy in delhi as you know city of delhi full of mess... But its was wonderful video which you sir upload, again i wish i was there.. Regards Richard james.... New Delhi

[@KJSvitko]

Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles. Safe protected bike lanes and trails are needed so adults and children can ride safely. Speak up for bicycles in your community. Bicycles make life and cities better. Ask your local transportation planner and elected officials to support more protected bike lanes and trails. Children should be riding a bicycle to school and not be driven in a minivan.

[@Walt1119]

Sure isn’t near as nice as cycling in the Netherlands!

[@Arjay404]

What the heck is this intersection 3:12? Why is the traffic light AND the stop line at the other side of the intersection? Is it just for the crosswalk? But if so why stop traffic in the middle of the lane from cars coming from the right? Or is that a one way street? Very confusing situation here.

[@BicycleDutch]

That light is only regulating the pedestrian crossing. The street I was on has priority over the side streets.

[@th60of]

The light is for the pedestrian crossing. We're on a through street (white and yellow diamond), so vehicles coming from the right have to yield. The broken line, however, indicates where to stop when the light is already red, so as to keep the intersection clear for vehicles from the right wanting to turn left. (They might also have a chance to sneak in if they want to turn right, but of course, they will have to stop for the pedestrians as well.)

[@2Kaleb]

I can hear the Call-a-bike bicycle 😅

[@ce17ec]

As a cycling ambassador you seem to like noisy and a bit irritating bikes ..... But nice video. Shows there "is room for improvement" in Berlin. So many traffic light, stops and very small bike lanes. I biked 5 days in Berlin about 15 years ago. In a way I liked it because of the constant danger and the way you had to find your way between the cars. My wife did not, never again she said. I guess you did not wear a helmet there?

[@kailahmann1823]

Still seeing so many streets with _nothing_ those narrow bike lanes probably have low priority - even if a lot of them would probably be much easier to fix. There are even parts like Klingelhöferstraße (with it's access road), where just a bit of signs and paint would turn this into probably one of the best sections.

[@RealConstructor]

I’m all for cars, but not in city and town centers, and definitely not at high speeds and on multilane streets. It is better healthwise to restrict through traffic for cars in city and town centers in case of pollution and accidents. It is unnecessary if you have good sidewalks, good cycle paths, good public transport and free parking at transport hubs outside the city center. Berlin has 2.5 out of 4 so not bad, but it could certainly be better.

[@Mick_Holland]

Thanks for posting this great video. I found it interesting to read the comments from @sanginius23 and @insertaverygenericnamehere decrying the cycling infrastructure in Berlin. I remember Berlin as being very unfriendly for cyclists a decade or so ago. This video shows how much things have changed and makes me want to come home. If they think this is bad perhaps a visit to England might make them reconsider.

[@mopedtobias9049]

Heard, Mogadishu is bad too but is that what we compare ourselves with? It should be better no matter how bad other cities are.

[@RealConstructor]

Bernauerstraße is nice, but for safety they should add continuous sidewalks and cycle paths at side streets, and change the bus or tram stop. People waiting a5 the stop need to cross the cycle path if a tram or bus stops, at that moment many have no attention for cycle traffic, only for the bus or tram entrance.

[@simpleton7]

17:00 Nextbike collector parks on the congested pavement rather than one of the five motor traffic lanes. It's a sickness.

[@angeloderricoue]

Hi, do u play this video in a week day or in a weekend? I wonder u cause it seems a very quiet city.

[@Blackadder75]

Some say, he still stands there till this very day..... 2:09

[@hendman4083]

The fall of tbe Wall must have been a true gift for tbe city planners, all the free space to utilise. But what did they do with it? Slap in car lanes and call it a day, or has that space been turned into a usefull public space?

[@kailahmann1823]

That part actually is quite good (Bernauer Straße). Also Schwedter Straße ("Mauerpark") looks to be a bike street or similar?

[@alangillanders2811]

That's a noise bike you have. I would have to fix that, would drive me crazy.

[@GordoGambler]

I think it is a fricking E bike.

[@caso6481]

Is it the cobblestones, or do you really need to oil your chain? Delightful ride, though.

[@BicycleDutch]

Hotel rental bike.

[@judebrown4103]

​@@BicycleDutchMark I was thinking the only thing that could improve your videos would be a sort of 'tour' of the bike you're using. Just so we can imagine where all the squeaks and rattles might be coming from!😂 This was such an interesting ride. I'm glad that half way through I paused to read the blog post that goes with it. I was wondering how you were able to negotiate those complicated junctions without hesitation. Although some of those roads were scary they're still not as bad as some places over here in the UK, we're getting better in some areas but those that do not have any infrastructure are pretty awful. This video was fantastic and so educational for someone who can remember the wall coming down as though it was yesterday. 👍

[@TJ-hs1qm]

The drive train sounds kaputt

[@manu.yt25]

The amount of parked cars is insane, doesn't look like a modern nordic capital city...

[@hassansarfraz7603]

I saw this video but seems not easy to drive bicycle in Berlin for tourists…

[@hondaryder3779]

Nou, die trappen nog aardig door die Duitsers, geen idee waarom ik anders had verwacht. Niet je mooiste rit(wel interessant), ik zie toch liever mooie landschappen. Maar ik ben maar simpele boerenlöl broek😊

[@rich_edwards79]

Well it's not as bad for cycle-friendliness as the UK - though few places are - but it's got a long way to go to reach Dutch standards! It looks very spread out and highway dominated. You can tell it was mainly redeveloped and rebuilt in the mid 20th century when car-centric design was all the rage. A pity that there seems to be so little historic architecture left standing but anyone who has seen pictures of Berlin in 1945 will appreciate just how destroyed it was and how little could be saved. It's very green though, lots of street trees. Again something the UK could learn from.

[@simpleton7]

Well, comparing the capitals, London doesn't have the basic historical cycle network Berlin has, but the width/quality is often awful, and as you can see they've put more and more on-road painted lanes in during the past 20 years. London has less safe space, but what is there is much better (Embankment, Mile-End road). I feel safer cycling in Hackney than in Neukölln. But the worst in London is probably worse than the worst in Berlin. Across the rest of the country, again I don't think the gulf is that big. Of course, more Germans cycle (and walk, I think), which is what counts, but I think it's in part a cultural thing.

[@keremmoral6913]

Hi...Will you visit to Türkiye for riding?Best whishes...

[@shoukatalilashari4255]

Hoe gaat het met jou Good evening Sar I m not good in Dutch

[@RealConstructor]

Cars are driving way too fast for safe cycling, especially on Brunnenstraße.

[@amcaesar]

Do you still sprechen sie Deutsch, Mark?

[@BicycleDutch]

I do

[@SandroAntonucci87]

it's dreadful biking somewhere else outside the NL isn't it? just watching at this "infrastructure" I just cringe actually it got better as you went further, still better than anything you can find in Rome or Milan what's your review?

[@rich_edwards79]

Better than anywhere in the UK, but that's not exactly a high bar, when hating cyclists has become part of the stupid left vs right culture war here.

[@Anders127]

Why do you ride through the red light at 34:25? Inspired by the locals?

[@BicycleDutch]

I had my eyes on the terrible surface there, trying to find where I was supposed to be going in the building site and trying not to get my wheel caught in ridges. And I am so used to not having to observe car traffic lights when turning right in the Netherlands that that is in my nature. I only realised I should have stopped for that light when I saw the video. But I was in nobody's way, there was no interaction with other traffic, so no harm done.

[@TV1862Dillingen]

The German Cycle infrastrukture looks like a third world country compared to the Netherlands

[@miles5600]

cause their ignorant asses didn't wanna improve

[@heikkirautanen]

Quite an "interesting" city for a cyclist. The cycling infrastructure seemed pretty bad and as a result bad infrastructure produces bad cyclists.

[@WetDoggo]

10:27 what the heck is that? Whomever thought it's a good idea to place a go left lane to the right of a straight ahead lange is an idiot... or really clever if there's an actual good reason for it.

[@simpleton7]

They wait for the lights, so there shouldn't be traffic going straight ahead. There's not really a good reason, it saves space to put more car lanes in to have right-turning cyclists wait at the side.

[@WetDoggo]

@@simpleton7 but... it's left turning cyclists on the right side... doesn't make sense no matter what

[@simpleton7]

19:27 Dreadfully inappropriate diversion. They could have just put up a Tempo 30 sign and 'No overtaking bikes' (Verkehrszeichen 277.1) and kept bikes on the road. Instead they're assuming cyclists will go at a speed acceptable to brush past those walking. Oh and 21:30. No acceptable pedestrian diversion, so of course this woman walks in the road.

[@dagmarvandoren9364]

My home town looks. Many times third world...primitiv ....the GRAFITTI...no elegance. People make it that way...so, who are these people....calling this being free....i am.old now and marriage took me away from my beloved home town. It had more class with bomb holes....it looks so run DOWN...thisvis not the GERMANY i love....god help us....the waterpipes should be dark green to fit nature and not bon bon..purple..etc....so many thoughts...and now we have,all these wars again.....our KAISER loved our town......

[@dammitdan106]

Is gasoline 16 euros per liter?

[@silassheriff7868]

Unfortunately not

[@christianhumer3084]

Nope. Its around 1.5€/l

[@OenkePoenke]

what you see at 6:43 in the first row is Diesel at 167.9 Eurocents per Liter - bwlo following are "Super E10" (95 octane, 10% "eco" fuel), "Super E5" (05, 5%), "ARAL Ultimate 102" (102 octane for stupid drivers with too much money who think their cars actually benefit and will be more powerful using it) and "ARAL Ultimate Diesel" (same for Diesel and yes, there actually is a market for this - fuel being too expensive? This proves otherwise)

[@christianhumer3084]

@@OenkePoenke Some Cars need a higher octane number to work properly, since a lower octane number means that fuel combusts uncontrolled more easily. This can damage high petformance engines in the long run. These special Diesel contain additives that can help the engine work longer. It doesnt give a performance boost (as far as I know). Its not useful/necessary to buy it every time though.

[@OenkePoenke]

@@christianhumer3084 believe that if you like. All modern combustion engines, including the high performance ones, work with 95 octane very well, their engine management is perfectly able to adopt (by indeed loosing a bit performance). Some older cars still need 98 octane, though. So regarding this and also regarding that belief in Diesel additives: Yes, feel free to believe! More so, what you say only proves my point, as high performance cars are expensive and people choose to pay more for them - and for the fuel involved. And old cars that need 98 octane to work properly are also expensive to operate today, aswell as guzzling way too much gas. So when it comes to whinig about fuel prices - if you drive one of thos cars which "need" or actually need even more expensive fuel, that whining simply makes no sense. That said, fuel prices didn't keep up with inflation at all the 40+ years I've been monitoring them. And not at all with the pullution and destruction they cause.

[@bmcd9490]

Disappointing and dangerous lack of cycling infrastructure. Bad for tourism and for the environment. What ever happened to the German green movement?

[@simpleton7]

Busy celebrating phasing out nuclear power! In all seriousness, the Greens have been in power for two-ish years, and although they have far more seats than when they were in government in the late 90s/early 2000s, they are a junior partner. The FDP is currently in charge of the transport ministry, so this government actually does a lot of things Greens don't agree with in this area. Like cutting the funding for cycle infrastructure in half this month! Bremen, Freiburg, Erlangen, cities where the greens are the strongest/regularly second strongest, where you can really put responsibility at the foot of the greens for the infrastructure situation, it's not so bad. Hamburg is quite strong with the greens and not so cycle-friendly, though I'd say it's better than Berlin.