Best Practice: Pedelecs as municipal transport.
 

 
The City of Stuttgart has for some time been engaged with pedelecs. Not just because ExtraEnergy e. V. has been active here for some time, but also because this hilly town seems made for pedelecs. Now the town council has set up “Stuttgart Pedelec” to increase awareness of pedelecs amongst the employees and residents of the city.

Implementation
For Stuttgart Pedelec the city of Stuttgart developed its own strategy to implement and popularise electric mobility in the town centre. In Stuttgart many are aware of the pedelec, thanks in part to the pedelec races organised in 2007 as the ‘Pedelec World Cup’ which attracted many well known participants, including the Mayor Martin Schairer. This positi- ve feedback now needs to be reinforced for the longer term.

>> Pedelec race in Stuttgart

Since 2009, the city administration has leased 20 pedelecs, and bedecked them with the official colours and logo of the city. These electric bikes are kept ready for use in the town hall and other council buildings. Also in the fleet are 25 electric scooters, provided in co-operation with the Baden-Württemberg regional energy supplier EnBW.

Objectives
Stuttgart Pedelec is directed especially at those employees of the City of Stuttgart who are often on the road, for example caretakers who each evening need to lock up at four different schools, or technicians who are always out and about carrying out maintenance. It also aims to enthuse these people for “a new type of cycling without the sweat”, which for this city with height differences of 300 m is most important. To date, all of the test riders have been highly satisfied.

DO IT YOURSELF

• Pedelecs which can be tried out in real world use have the best chance of catching on
• Shorter trips around town are especially easy to manage
• Offers an alternative to a service van
• Free loan system open to all staff enables even the lower paid to share in the benefits of pedelecs
• Don’t be frightened off by hills, simply overcome such obstacles with electric assist