The ModelRad project aims to identify development options for the future in a realistic modelling of cycling in German cities. The aim is to use an expanded, required data basis to identify where the cycling infrastructure needs to be expanded. These findings can then be transferred to other German cities. With a budget of over 96,000 euros, the participants have until April 2023 to find pioneering solutions for cycling. The money is being provided by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport as part of the mFUND innovation initiative.
Objective: To make the database for cycling comparable with that for car traffic
As part of the national cycling plan, politicians are promoting cycling infrastructure. Data-based planning tools that can be used to access important data for cycling are now to be further developed to improve funding. These will help to take greater account of cycling infrastructure when modelling traffic models. "There are currently traffic models in which cycling is considered in an integrated way, but their significance for cycling is still low compared to motor vehicle traffic and public transport," explains Prof. Dr Dennis Knese. "Further data and modelling parameters that are not yet available are needed to further develop the mapping of cycling. This would include, for example, more detailed information on mode of transport and route choice. This is precisely where the ModelRad research project comes in," says Knese, who is the project manager of ModelRad and an endowed professor of cycling at Frankfurt UAS.
Juliane Pillat is a project member of PTV Transport Consult GmbH, which is also involved in ModelRad, and she says: "The lower informative value of the traffic models with regard to cycling compared to motor vehicle traffic is mainly due to the fact that a larger database is available for motor vehicle traffic and this has been tested and continuously improved for many years. With ModelRad, we want to lay the foundation for similarly high standards in cycle traffic planning."
The ModelRad project using the example of Hesse
For the ModelRad project, the team will use the case study of Hesse to show which data and parameters are available and which are still missing, such as the influence of the weather on the choice of mode of transport. In the study area, a case study is being developed by the Frankfurt Road Traffic Office in cooperation with a number of partners. The aim is to use existing cycling facilities, such as cycle highways and urban and rural cycle paths, to show what can be improved on the routes and how these improvements can be incorporated into other existing models.
"A use case is important to demonstrate the applicability of the parameters determined. Collaboration with our partners helps to take the needs of local authorities into account at an early stage in such research projects," explains ModelRad project manager Knese. In order to take missing and undetermined parameters into account in the near future, the team is working on a new type of survey concept. This could focus on smartphones, which will record the movement profiles of cyclists. Once the project has been completed, the results will be published so that they can be incorporated into other transport models. This should help to expand the cycling infrastructure throughout Germany, for example in the problem areas identified in Hesse.
A kick-off event will take place on 11 July 2022, at which the objectives of the ModelRad project, including its implementation, will be explained. Further cycling projects will then be presented.
You can register for the online event with this link log in.
Lukas Niebuhr
Working student
