CITY CYCLING 2024: Jena celebrates milestones in its commitment to sustainable mobility

This year's CITY CYCLING in Jena(link is external) once again produced impressive results and set new records. With over 4,000 participants (+38% compared to the previous year) in a total of 161 teams, the cycling campaign was a complete success. The cyclists covered over 700,000 kilometers - 26% more than in the previous year and also a new record for the city of Jena.

Once again, Jena's schools were among the city's strongest teams. They made up the largest group of participants and cycled the most kilometers. Angergymnasium, already the best school team in Thuringia in 2023, defended its top position with an impressive 55,000 kilometers. With a total of 420 cyclists, the school contributed almost 8% to Jena's overall performance. This year's most active cycling school team was the Freie Waldorfschule Jena with an impressive 295 km per cyclist.

In addition to the top trio of Angergymnasium, Otto-Schott-Gymnasium and Ernst-Abbe-Gymnasium, other schools are among the best 20 teams in the city, including the Montessori School, the Kaleidoscope School, the Christian Gymnasium, the Heinrich Heine School and the Jenaplan School. The commitment of teachers and students sends a strong signal for the promotion of cycling.

In the "Best Clubs" category, the ADFC Jena-Saaletal came out on top with 439 km / head. They were followed by the DAV Jena section with 295 km / cyclist and the Naturfreunde Thüringen e.V. MTB-Jena with 273 km / cyclist.

The asphericon GmbH team, which is once again the main sponsor of this year's CITY CYCLING Jena, also delivered another strong performance. With over 8,000 kilometers cycled, the previous year's performance was clearly exceeded. This corresponds to an average of 354 kilometers per person and secures the team a place in the top 10 of all participants in this category.

"Every year, CITY CYCLING motivates more and more people to get on their bikes - from nursery children and schoolchildren to professionals and sports enthusiasts. The commitment of schools in particular is impressive and must be an incentive for the city to continue investing in cycling infrastructure," comments Alexander W. Zschäbitz, Managing Director of asphericon GmbH. "In this way, we can help ensure that the youngest cyclists can get around the city safely, easily and quickly. As a long-standing supporter, we are delighted about the great participation and are proud to be part of this movement."

"Jena really delivered at the CITY CYCLING event. It is particularly impressive that we have overtaken Erfurt for the first time in terms of the number of cyclists, with 4,046 to 3,592. The missing 3,000 kilometers that Erfurt cycled this year will be made up next year. This achievement shows how important the bicycle is as a means of transport in Jena and that we are on the right track with the gradual implementation of the Jena 2035+ cycling plan," emphasizes Lord Mayor Thomas Nitzsche.

STADTRADELN is a Germany-wide initiative of Klima-Bündnis e.V., which stands for safe cycling and more climate protection. The city of Jena organizes the CITY CYCLING with the support of the Free State of Thuringia, the Working Group of Bicycle-Friendly Communities (AGFK) Thuringia, the ADFC Thuringia and asphericon GmbH.