Comments on: Park, Ride and Wash in Fahrradfreundliche Muenster

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:31:47 +0000

Münster is quite the bike town, but the Radstation doesn't solve all the problems associated with bike parking. Since I frequently visit Münster sans bike, I can tell you that as a pedestrian it is not pleasant to be forced off the sidewalk and into the street because the rows upon rows of bikes lined along the sidewalk physically leave no space left for walking. Also, since Münster is so bike-centered, it os often difficult to visit many of the sites outside of the city center because it is assumed that everyone has/can ride a bike to reach them. Not to mention that the canals winding through Münster have to be cleared frequently from bikes thrown into them by drunken students...

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:16:50 +0000

But if you wash your bike you remove all the lube from the chain, cables, and pivot points. You are asking for rust and poor performance. Although I do like clean bikes.

By: Chris in Sacramento

Chris in Sacramento — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:08:34 +0000

Thank you for posting this. One of my better bicycling days was in Muenster. A fella working at the Radstation offered to give me a tour of the town, so we spent a few hours on the trails and streets of that very bicycle-friendly place. Sweet.

I'll always remember my train trip from Muenster back to Schipol airport in Amsterdam. Three transfers, a couple of which gave me only TWO-MINUTES in between trains. Could you imagine having confidence in such a schedule in the USA? Of course, it went off without a hitch.

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:05:52 +0000

Let's not forget beer!

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:05:55 +0000

All that and they make awesome cheese too.

By: d

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:14:19 +0000

I was just in Bremen, Germany, home to a huge Mercedes manufacturing plant. Despite this, biking is a big part of life there. The sidewalks are divided in half: the half closest to the buildings are for pedestrians and the half closest to the street is a bike lane. There are as many biking-specific traffic signals and signs as there were for cars. Most people kept their bikes locked up outside instead of in their apartments, even overnight. Most of the people who rode to bike -- all ages by the way -- weren't wearing cycling clothes but normal, casual work clothes. I even saw a few riders in suits and top coats with briefcases in their bike baskets. For those who couldn't ride, there were ample streetcar routes through almost every major thoroughfare. Even in busy residential neighborhoods -- some which reminded me of Greenwich Village, the Upper West Side or Brownstone Brooklyn -- there were few cars on the road, no honking from the ones that were out and about, and a lot of yielding to bikes, pedestrians, and trams.

The more I travel around Europe the more it is evident to me that the U.S. is getting left behind when it comes to transportation. While we keep struggling with ways to keep gas prices low and build new roads, many Europeans (who have had to deal with high gas prices for a long time) are getting new buses, streetcars, and infrastructure and policies designed for pedestrians and bike commuters. Their cities are moving forward through sensible transportation policy while ours are stuck in gridlock.

By: Sam Clifford

Sam Clifford — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:03:16 +0000

That is a fantastic idea. $4 for a bike wash is an absolute bargain.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:21:12 +0000

I want a bike wash

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:48:21 +0000

Hmmm! Makes the bike parking deck in Amsterdam and the crowded street parking in Copenhagen look downright tawdry.

Then again I might be just a little biased to the German way of doing things.

PS Thanks for these pics. While I've known about the bikestation in Muenster and have seen pictures of it, I've never seen picture like these of the facility.