First Cars Gone, Then Bikes Gone

 I'll lay out this story over Berlin's Friedrichstrasse with some news from RBB (local Berlin public TV).  

For those who might have been around Berlin in the 1970s/1980s....Friedrichstrasse was a major street (going north - south) on the eastern side of the city.  It crossed the Spree, and Checkpoint Charlie lay on the southern part of the street.

In this era (1970s/1980s) cars went up and down the street.  It was a hub of transportation for people.

Well....things changed.  There's a km long area of the street that got blocked off from car traffic (Leipzig Strasse to Franzosischer Strasse).  The original idea was that part of the street would be used for cafe situations (you could sit there and have a beer or coffee), and the rest would be for bicycles/pedestrians.  

This concept has arrived at a new belief....that bicycles won't work.....too many pedestrians.  

So the new suggestion is that bikes will now be forbidden as well.

All of this affecting shopping in the district?  Well....yeah.  Dumping the car traffic played into fewer people wanting to mess with the inner city, and dumping the bikes will push things along this way.  

If you go and travel around Germany....especially urbanized areas....you find a lot of people want car-traffic hindered or halted.  You find this attitude in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, etc.  Some suggest tolls....to edge people out.  

Consideration of business operations and shopping?  This rarely comes up and people are shocked as major storefronts (having been there for decades) suddenly announce a closure and seek some out-of-town shopping mall situation.

What I find interesting in this story....is that bikes are also getting pushed out.