About Munich

The city of Munich

The City of Munich is the capital of the Free State of Bavaria and the dominating metropolis in South Germany. Around 2,500,000 inhabitants are living in the greater Area of Munich, 50% in the City of Munich, 50% in the surrounding region. The population of Munich and its surroundings is growing continuously due to many migrants seeking job opportunities and education in the economically prosperous region of Munich. Therefore Munich is a comparatively young city – only 23 % of the population is 60 years and older and this percentage will not change a lot in the coming years.

The existence of Munich was first documented in the year 1158 when a bridge crossing the river Isar was built. Munich’s historic city centre was reconstructed after World War II and contributes now together with the shopping opportunities and the fair to Munich’s reputation as a major tourist destination. More than 4,5 million overnight-tourists visited Munich in 2007 and many more came just for day visits. The most famous event is certainly the “Oktoberfest”, a festival taking place each year for two weeks.
 

The general transport situation in Munich

With 1.25 million inhabitants, more than 300,000 commuters each day, about 4 million visitors every year, and a transport area covering 384 square kilometres, ensuring optimal mobility in Munich is a challenge. Munich has an urban development strategy called the Munich Perspective, which has two objectives:

• Improved mobility, to increase the attractiveness of the city to business

• Reduction of land and energy use, and reduction of emissions

The perspective of Munich is to expand and optimise the public transportation network, to relieve traffic congestion hotspots, to increase park and ride schemes, to increase the cycle path network and to tight traffic management and parking controls.

Munich’s traffic plan aims to shift as much car traffic as possible to more environmentally sustainable modes of transport: foot, bicycle and public transport.

The Munich Transport Company (MVG) is the second-largest municipal transport company in Germany. There are more than one million passengers using underground, bus and tram services each day. Munich has a well-developed and highly-efficient public transport system and offers a 435 km-long bus network, 86 km-long underground network and 71 km-long tram network. The driving force behind the expansion of Munich’s public transport system has been the city’s forward-looking transport policy, which recognised very early that a large city can only function properly if it has an efficient transport system in place. So almost every household is located with a radius of 400 m to one of the train or bus stations.

However also cycling is very popular in Munich. Alongside the Munich Cycling Network (1,400 km) and the 45,000 bike & ride facilities, the city offers cyclists numerous services. “Call a Bike”, the digital bicycle map of Munich with address-routing programme as well as printed bicycle maps.
 

Older people’s mobility in Munich

There are already some stakeholders in Munich offering special services for older people’s mobility:

• MVV (Munich Transport and Tariff Association) – a special tariff for older people and marketing for this tariff in relevant journals and fairs, barrier-free electronic trip planning as well as information by phone on the schedule;

• Green City e.V. – Cycling training for older people. Since summer 2006 cycling training courses, especially developed for senior citizens, are carried out in different districts in Munich. The major goal of these training courses is that senior citizens enjoy again everyday cycling. Moreover they should be trained for critical situations in traffic and overcome inhibitions towards alternative bikes.

• Verkehrswacht e.V. – lessons about road safety

• Police – educational trainings about road safety combined with “coffee parties”
  
  

Activities within AENEAS

Individualized marketing of sustainable transport modes for older citizens
In January 2010 the Mayor of Munich has send a Mobility Guidebook to 10.000 households in the age range from 60 to 75. The Guidebook contains a comprehensive overview of sustainable mobility options in the city of Munich, as well as arguments for a smarter use of the private car. For each of the mobility options targeted information for older users is provided, including ticketing, training courses and information services as well as useful telephone numbers and web-links. By sending in a reply card the recipients can order further free information material, including maps and information about special tickets. The reply card also provides the possibility to express interest in one of the presented training courses. In this case, the older citizens receive a personal telephone call to provide more detailed information and register for the course. Up to now 20% of the households expressed interest and ordered more information material or registered for one of the courses. Background and lessons learnt >>

Travel information, electronic devices and energy-efficient transport
A special training course will be designed that enable older people to use internet travel information, mobile phones, ticketing machines and other electronic devices related to energy-efficient travel (PT, carsharing, public bicycles, cycling internet trip planning). The major goal of these trainings is that older people improve their knowledge on travel options. They learn how to plan a trip and to overcome barriers related to electronic devices without staff.

Senior citizen mobility training
A comprehensive training scheme covering Walking, Cycling and Public Transport with theory as well as praxis sessions will be carried out. In small groups older people will be trained to travel safely and energy-efficient.

Further information and contact

Green City e.V.
www.greencity.de
Email: andreas.schuster@greencity.de
Tel: (49-89) 8906-6833

Landeshauptstadt München, Kreisverwaltungsreferat
(City of Munich, Department of Public Order)
www.muenchen.de
Email: johanna.balthesen@muenchen.de
Tel: (49-89) 2332-2442

MVG (Munich Transport Organisation)
www.swm.de
Email: paul.florian@swm.de
Tel: (49-89) 2191-2450

Diese Seite auf Deutsch 

About Munich

The general transport situation in Munich

Older people’s mobility in Munich

Activities within AENEAS

Further information and contact