What Gower Learned From His Hamburg Trip

Transit committee chairman Glen Gower recently went to conference in Hamburg. The meeting was sponsored by UITP, an international transit organization whose president is outgoing OC Transpo general manager Renee Amilcar.

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One wonders what lessons Amilcar is bringing to Hamburg from her experience here.

What Gower is telling us in the missive below is something one could have picked up from the internet. Nothing here is any kind of revelation that would warrant a trip to Hamburg. One wonders if the time and expense could better have been spent fixing our 750 broken-axles-and-climbing light-rail project. Strange but we don’t hear much about the biggest fiasco in Ottawa municipal history coming out of city council and committee meetings. Shouldn’t a councillor or two be pounding on a table somewhere demanding a fix after six years of futility.

That said, Hamburg appears to be doing a bang-up job on transit. Our’s would be better if the LRT and bus system worked efficiently. Apparently, that’s asking too much.

As you can see, your agent is not a big fan of the time and expense of travelling to conferences. There’s usually lots of work to be done at home before the luxury of conferences becomes a precedent.

But here is the release below:

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Last week I traveled to Hamburg to attend the UITP Summit, an annual conference focused on all aspects of public transit.

Over 10,000 people attended from 100 countries and it was a great opportunity to learn about the latest and greatest in transit innovation. (I’ll write more about the conference in a future post.)

As conference hosts, city officials in Hamburg made a point of showcasing their ambitious plan to improve mobility and achieve 80% of trips by sustainable modes (walking, cycling, public transit) before 2030. They are well on their way.

It was a good time to visit and learn, as Ottawa’s City Council will be finalizing the City’s new Transportation Master Plan in the coming weeks. A few takeaways + some photos below.

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This newsletter excerpt from transit committee chairwoman Glen Gower is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours

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Hamburg is a city-state with just under 2-million people, and a larger metropolitan area population of 5.1-million. They have the third-largest port in Europe and home to some major companies like Airbus, Lufthansa, and Unilever. A former Hamburg resident told me that she believes the city is the most livable in Germany, in large part because of how easy it is to move around the city

Ottawa’s Official Plan sets a sustainable (ie, not by car) mode share of 50% by 2046. That’s still behind where Hamburg is today at around 70%, but it was helpful to picture what Ottawa might look like with a similar mix of transportation options.

What struck me was that there are still a lot of cars in Hamburg, and a lot of parking and speeding too. But there are lots bikes, ridden by people of all ages and shapes. And buses and trains are busy at all hours of the day, with people from every demographic.

When Hamburg says they want more non-car options, they really don’t mind which alternative you choose. Transit, walking, bike, e-scooter, ride sharing, ferry, whatever: they are all options for people who don’t want to use a car, either by choice or by necessity.

They are making big investments in transit (including billions to add more rail), but they recognize that transit won’t work for every trip. You might need an e-scooter or a bike for the last kilometre of your journey. Or you might want to take a taxi home if you’re going out late. (We took the train from the airport to our hotel in the afternoon; on our way back we took an Uber taxi because trains don’t run first thing in the morning.)

Hamburg has done a great job at integrating the different modes. Many transit stations (train and bus) have space for bike share parking, scooter parking, and even car share with charging stations.

The German government recently introduced a transit pass that costs 58 euros per month (“The Deutschland-Ticket”), with unlimited transit rides in any city in the country. Not surprisingly, Hamburg has seen a huge uptake for this (58% of all transit users have the pass), given that a regular single-fare ticket starts at €3.90, and costs more if you’re traveling further between the suburbs into the central area.

There are no fare gates at train stations, and no fare machines on buses! They rely on the honour system to make sure people pay the fare. It makes for fast boarding, but I wonder about fare evasion. Someone told me this is a normal practice in Germany, and that they estimate a fare evasion rate of 3% to 4%. They do have fare enforcement officers although I didn’t see any on my trips. (I was making 4 or 5 trips a day using trains and buses.)

I was fortunate to have dinner on the first day of my visit with Dr. Anjes Tjarks, Hamburg Minister for Transport and Mobility Transportation (what a title!), who explained that even with high transit use and bike use, there is still pushback from residents and businesses when things change: converting a car lane to a rapid transit lane, or removing a row of parking to add bike infrastructure. One challenge is trees: they are a source of civic pride in Hamburg and quite often a limiting factor to expand bike infrastructure.

There’s direct municipal government involvement in the various modes as well, either through ownership or regulation, and often both. For example, the city is collaborating with a company called MOIA (a Volkswagen subsidiary) to deliver “ridesharing”, essentially shared rides via taxi. Another example is the taxi industry, where all new vehicles must be electric.

Most of their trains run at least every 10 minutes, with higher frequency during the busier times. Bus routes in the central area run every 10-15 minutes. At this frequency, you just “go” – there’s never really a need to check the schedule.
Hamburg’s first subway opened in 1912, so they do have a bit of a head start on Ottawa!

I’ll wrap up with a quote from something I heard at the conference – not from Humburger, but from Diego Monraz with the Department of Transportation in Jalsico, Mexico: “The most powerful social public policy we can offer in our cities and countries is that of the right to mobility… the right to mobility is as basic as the right to health, education, or security.”

For You:

Barrhaven Buses Unreliable: HILL

LeBreton Flats: The Trouble Is Not The Sens

Airport Community A Planning Fiasco: BENN

Ottawa Wants Real City Hall Leadership

How To Say Nothing: WHOPPER WATCH

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