We were in Germany for our holiday this summer. It is always interesting to look at the car-free-dom possibilities in other countries – to dream about what could be in the UK.

The public transport, especially in the cities, from what we have seen is good, often very good – frequent, reliable, clean and not so expensive. The inter-city trains are also good, particularly comfort and space wise, although Deutsche Bahn, their national train company, is often very reliable – reliably late!

The cycle network in the cities and beyond is good – not Netherlands good – but certainly better than our experiences of cycling in the UK. There is a pretty extensive and well signposted network of cycle routes many of which are paths/roads just for bikes.

What is really great with the cycling in Germany is that there are many more people moving around on bikes of all ages – for exercise and getting around. You can see, in comparison to many parts of the UK, that there is a clear cycle culture. Cycling in Germany certainly cannot be dismissed by some as something of a woke pastime!

However, and it is a bit of a big however, in relation to car-free-dom, in Germany there is also an observably strong car culture! Which can feel quite depressing because a hope is that if in the UK we could only encourage more of a cycling, walking and wheeling culture that would dim car obsession. And, in doing so make cycling on less car congested and polluted roads more safe and enjoyable.

So from what we saw in Germany it does give us things to aspire to in terms of public transport and cycling culture in the UK. However, it does tell me that whilst improving cycling and public transport infrastructure, communications about the benefits and incentive schemes via workplaces can certainly help – for more people to enjoy car-free-dom, car obsession (and the massive marketing engine which helps constantly stoke it) needs to be challenged. And in the UK without the mega car industry and associated lobbying that exists in Germany we are in a stronger position to do that.