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verdiepingirislamers · 7 years

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Het interview

Wanneer je iets nog nooit hebt gedaan is de kans groot dat het misgaat. Dat was het geval bij het interview, door een storing in de audio recorder moest een deel van het interview opnieuw. Gelukkig had ik het interview als back up ook op de Canon opgenomen dus gelukkig wist ik welke vragen we misten.

Omdat ik het zelf overzichtelijk werken vind, heb ik naar alle audio beluisterd, heb ik alle “ruis” weggegooid en heb ik het interview overgetypt. Op deze manier heb ik een eerste verhaallijn geschreven.

103153

Who are you etc

My name is Tim, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Berlin, Germany. And I work for volksentscheid-fahrrad, the Berlin bicycle referendum.

Why did you decide to volunteer there?

A1: I decided to volunteer there because I wanted to help improve Berlin as a cycling city and as a more livable city.

A2: I decided to volunteer for them because i want to improve Berlin as as cycling city and I want city’s rather for humans than cars.

Why Berlin and no other German city?

Berlin has some unique features, better than other cities in Germany. Berlin has a very high rate of public transportation and of bicycling. But still the car plays a major role in how the city looks like. We have very wide streets and these are often made for cars.

What does your organization do to get to these improvements?

We started a petition about 1,5 years ago and collected 100.000 signatures in the last summer in less than 3 weeks and now we’re negotiating the Berlin cycling law which will be the first in the whole nation of Germany to provide a better cycling structure for Berlin.

Would you say this is a fast or slow proces?

Of Course the change won’t happen from today to tomorrow but our law will guarantee better cycling structure for Berlin until 2030. And until then we’ll always be besides the local governments and help improving Berlin on a local *uhm* level..

P2: our law will help improve Berlin as a cycl city until 2030 and *muh* until then we’ll always be besides the local governments and improve Berlin on a local level.

Are you going to be part of this organization during this whole process?

Ofcourse I can never say if I’ll stay in Berlin for the next 13 years but as long as the referendum *uhm* as long as Berling is not a cycling city I will always be part of this cause to get Berlin to where it should be.

Core business of the organization?

The volksentscheid-fahrrad or Berlin bicycle referendum was founded in november of 2015 and then we *ehm* wrote a law that would improve cycling in Berlin. We collected more than 100.000 signatures in less than 3 weeks in the summer of 2016. After that the new Berlin coalition has agreed to negotiations with us about the Berlin cycling law which will be put in place later this year.

Can you tell me the same about the Hubschrauber? - goals of organization

Our main goals are to have two meter wide protected bike lanes at every major street in Berlin, to have bicycle streets that are only open to bicycles and cars that need to go there. To have *EHM* bicycle highways that go from the city center to the outskirts of the city to connect and also make commuting also from the outer parts of the city more attractive.

P2: also we want to change 50 intersections a year because intersections is where most Berlin cyclists get killed. We had 17 dead cyclists last year. Most of them were killed by heavy duty and most of the cyclists get killed by trucks and that’s the reason why we need safe intersections where truck drivers can always see the cyclists.

The Hubschrauber short

The Hubschruaber is a self-reparing bycicle workshop that is/was founded 20 years ago and is part of the rumbaud university. It is designed for people to come in and fix their bycicles under supervision… under supervision of volunteers and all the equipment there is donations of people who come and fix their bycicles.

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Would you still be a part of it?

I will be part of this organization as long as Berlin needs it. And now we found it to regonal groups in the districs of Berlin so we will be part of the transformation of Berlin as a cycling city…. So we founded the different groups of the districs of Berlin and we will be part of the change of Berlin as a cycling city directly where the change is happening.

Does it make you feel proud?

When I think back on cycling in Berlin just now or even two years ago I imagine what It will be like in 10 years, I hope I will be proud and I hope that Berlin will have changed a lot.

What drives you to do all of this?

I was born and raised in Berlin, my family comes from Berlin for many generations and… so Berlin is my home and everyone likes their home nice and ehm so I like to improve Berlin because this is the center of my life and my life is always happening here so… I like a nice home.

Do you think you’ll ever leave Berlin?

I might but I’m sure I’ll always come back here.

The Hubschrauber, it’s not part of this organisation right? - explain what hubschruber is

The hubschruber is a self-helping workshop for bycicles so you can come in and use our tools and ask questions. If you want to fix our ehm your bike it doesn’t matter if you just want to fix a flat tire or if you want to do more difficult stuff with your bike. You’ll always find someone who know all the details of the bicycle and working with the bycicle. And ofcourse you’re also welcom to just fix a flat tire.

P2: the Hubschruber is not part of the berlin bycicle referendum but was founded 20 years ago by students *NOISEEEEE* of the rumbaud university but now still some students are working there but there’s also lost of people who have nothing to do with the university but who still volunteer there or go there regulary.

And how did you start to volunteer there?

I went htere last year and wanted to fix my own bike after a friend told me about it and then I went there more and eh, at one point I just started working there instead of working on my own bike.

A big part is also helping other people, is that also a big part of it for you or is it just about the bikes?

Well first of all I didn’t really like to work on bicycles, I like to ride them and be advocate of them but after but I didn’t really like to fix them but at the time came where I also started to like it *NOOISE* and now I like the mix of helping the people but also just helping them get back or get back on the bike first and by that way helping Berlin. *NOISE*

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Actually I don’t even like to ride bikes but I just think they’re superior form of transportation.

You want to improve Berlin, why by focussing on the biking culture?

Well trafic is one of the biggest problems in Berlin, the only way out of the trafic situation right now is the bicycle because we already have a quit good public transportation, there’s lots of room to improve there but it will take many years or decades….. We already have good public transportation in Berlin but there’s still room for improvement. But all these improvements will take years or decades and it will be very costly, biking structure ont he other hand is quite cheap and can be build pretty fast. So if we want to make the trafic in Berlin better for everyone, it’s the bycicle is the only way and also looking at global climate change it’s the only way out of… also looking at climate change the bycicle is the only way to prevent it (if it’s not already to late)

Does your volunteering influence the people around you?

People in whole Berlin are getting more aware of this topic, it was last year when we had the elections in Berlin it was one of the top priority …. Ehm … topics…. People are getting more aware of cycling and transportation in it’s whole. Last year when we had the elections in Berlin it was one of the major topics around all the parties and no party was strictly against bycicles anymore. That is a huge change from just a couple of years ago and people are getting aware of it because it’s in all the news and all the newspapers and on the tv stations and radio and… people try to take the car less and use more public transportation and byciles but… the infrastructure is still often so bad that it’s just not made for the number of bycilcs we already have on our streets and it’s also not made for every cyclist. Many people are still … not brave enough to embrace the Berlin trafic and that sould be changed because bycicling should be mmmmm….. And everybody should be able to bycicle and now that’s not the case. Because because the bicycle infrastructure is…. Lacks of so many points that just brave cyclists dare to bike the streets of Berlin.

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If I had a cargo bike with my children with them, inside, I don’t think I would bike many streets here. Just the long streets but *examples*...

P2: Right now many people want to bike but they can’t yet because of the lack of infrastructure and we want to change that, we want to make it able to bike for everyone that wants to bike, so that the people who need the car have free streets and aren’t stuck in traffic anymore. That will improve the life of everyone. Cyclists, motorists and people using public transportation.

In everything you say you say we not I, how do you describe it?

I would speak of myself as part of the initiative and also as our goals are my goals as well. And all these goals are… to improve Berlin as a city and as a cycling city.

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Smart and emotional? How ehm it’s like a virus that this referendum mate so there’s similar becuase for example in Bernbeck where …. Not such a big town, they started a referendum as well and are collecting the signatures. They need like 40.000 because it’s a small town and ehm sunday there is a first event of the rathenslfs Hamburg.

More about the collectives working together?

After our successful campaigning in Berlin other cities started to move aswell. For example in Barnbeck, Munich or Hamburg there’re similar thoughts of doing such a referendum or campaigning…

After our successful campaigning in Berlin other cities started to move and started to do similar campaigning to us. For example in Barnbeck there’s also a similar referendum to ours and other cities are currently also campaigning for better cycle structure. We are ofcourse supporting them and going to these cities and helping them improve not only Berlin but other cities as well.

Next - ghost bikes

Our organization started to put up a white ghost bikes, the day after every deadly cycling accident in Berlin. Last year we had 17 dead cyclists on the streets of Berlin that’s the most of any german city and these white ghost bikes are spread over the city and remind cars every day about ... of the fact that people are killed every day on our road s and it should be no longer accepted that these people are leaving us.

P2: The ghost bikes remind the people who go by there every day that traffic is dangerous and you should pay attention to the road. Ofcourse for motorists but also for bicyclists.

EDIT VERSIE 1

103153 My name is Tim, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Berlin, Germany. And I work for volksentscheid-fahrrad, the Berlin bicycle referendum.

133946 I was born and raised in Berlin, my family comes from Berlin for many generations and… so Berlin is my home and everyone likes their home nice and ehm so I like to improve Berlin because this is the center of my life and my life is always happening here so… I like a nice home.

103153 i want to improve Berlin as as cycling city and I want city’s rather for humans than cars.

103153 as long as Berling is not a cycling city I will always be part of this cause to get Berlin to where it should be.

133946 I will be part of this organization as long as Berlin needs it.

133946 I hope I will be proud and I hope that Berlin will have changed a lot.

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