Spectrum: In times when the discussions are about diesel driving bans, CO² tax, climate protection, energy transition and alternative means of transport, the Düsseldorf CDU politician Andreas Hartnigk surprises in an interview with the Bild Zeitung with an unorthodox proposal; he demands parking fees for bicycles.
The bicycle is a much-discussed topic in Düsseldorf City Hall, and not just since the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in the Rhine metropolis. Yesterday surprised CDU man Andreas Hartnigk with an unorthodox proposal. The 50-year-old announced to the Bild Zeitung that he was currently preparing such an application. The initiative is a reaction to the intention of Düsseldorf's Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel (SPD), who recently brought an extension of the parking fee for cars in the city center to 24 hours.
Should this expansion take place, parking fees for bicycles would no longer be “an imperative of equal treatment”, Hartnigk believes. After all, cyclists would have a much lower tax burden than car drivers because they don't pay vehicle or mineral oil tax, argues the CDU politician. Likewise, someone has to pay for the increasingly expensive bicycle infrastructure. In practice, adhesive stickers are conceivable, which are paid as a lump sum and are said to be significantly cheaper than the car parking fee.
Incidentally, Hartnigk not only irritated politicians from the SPD and the Greens in Düsseldorf with his proposal, the idea also met with little approval in his own party. The Rheinische Post quotes another CDU councillor, who described the parking fee as a "crazy idea".