Leader of the proect: Dr. Holger Hantzsch

In the past the region of Bitterfeld was more known as an industrial location than as a recreation area. Especially after the German reunification in 1989/ 90 the industrial image of Bitterfeld was the reason for negative headlines in the international media. Things that were kept secret during the GDR period now came to be publically-known.

Newspapers, radio and TV reports created the  image of being the most devastated region of Europe: industrial smog, badly smelling air and dying nature. All in all this made up an area where it was almost impossible for people to live.
As a result of the peaceful revolution in the GDR enormous changes took place in the Bitterfeld region.The polluting chemical industry could no longer compete with international companies. Industrial plants, which were partly built before the Second World War, were mostly pulled down and replaced by new establishment of companies in the "Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen". Open-cast mining was stopped. Within one decade the district was completely changed concerning the economy and the ecological system. But the new firms could not take over the huge number of people who had worked here before 1989. Thus the district of Bitterfeld became the region with one of the highest unemployment rates.
Because of the end of open-cast mining large former mining areas must be recultivated. This actually is a big opportunity for the development of a huge recreation area and therefore for the formation of tourist industry in our region. In order not to repeat former mistakes "soft" environmentally friendly tourism should be established. This also includes the development of an attractive system of public transportation to open up the recreation area of the Goitzsche in a carefully planned way.

This research team wanted to analyse the attitude of 10th and 11th graders towards the use of bus connections, car traffic and other transportation into the Goitzsche to make suggestions for favourable bus connections.
In the past the region of Bitterfeld was more known as an industrial location than as a recreation area. Especially after the German reunification in 1989/ 90 the industrial image of Bitterfeld was the reason for negative headlines in the international media. Things that were kept secret during the GDR period now came to be publically-known.
Newspapers, radio and TV reports created the  image of being the most devastated region of Europe: industrial smog, badly smelling air and dying nature. All in all this made up an area where it was almost impossible for people to live.
As a result of the peaceful revolution in the GDR enormous changes took place in the Bitterfeld region. The polluting chemical industry could no longer compete with international companies. Industrial plants, which were partly built before the Second World War, were mostly pulled down and replaced by new establishment of companies in the "Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen". Open-cast mining was stopped. Within one decade the district was completely changed concerning the economy and the ecological system. But the new firms could not take over the huge number of people who had worked here before 1989. Thus the district of Bitterfeld became the region with one of the highest unemployment rates.
Because of the end of open-cast mining large former mining areas must be recultivated. This actually is a big opportunity for the development of a huge recreation area and therefore for the formation of tourist industry in our region. In order not to repeat former mistakes "soft" environmentally friendly tourism should be established. This also includes the development of an attractive system of public transportation to open up the recreation area of the Goitzsche in a carefully planned way.

This research team wanted to analyse the attitude of 10th and 11th graders towards the use of bus connections, car traffic and other transportation into the Goitzsche to make suggestions for favourable bus connections.
 

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The recreation area "Goitzsche" shall become an attractive one for young and old people. Therefore it's necessary that it can be reached easily by individual as well as by public transport.
The aim of our opinion poll was to analyse expectations of teenagers concerning how to reach the "Goitzsche". Besides we wanted to find out how this age group wants to reach this recreation area and how much they are willing to pay for this.
To be able to make suggestions about the realization of these ideas, it was necessary to check at what time of the day and on what day of the week there would be special preferences to visit the "Goitzsche".
Students of grade 10 and 11 of the Walther-Rathenau- Gymnasium Bitterfeld were chosen to be our target group because particular opinions and habits of the curent mobility have  already been developed, and here should already be clear ideas and expectations about their future mobility.
The project group decided to use a multiple-choice questionnaire. The questions were to be as short and clear as possible. For the fact that during the course of the lesson it became obvious that the willingness to work with questions demanding detailed explanation strongly decreased.
Thus we left out alternative questions, and wanted to find out about the opinions of students to the issues more exactly instead. Therefore we agreed upon the possibility of allowing an individual number of answers although the analysis of percentages is limited by that
It was expected that most students either go to the "Goitzsche" by bike, or with their parents or friends as well as on their own by car. In this connection it was interesting to ask about how parking fees could lead to the willingness to do without car. Besides the attractiveness of bus and shuttle connections should be analysed. We expected that the attractiveness would be increased by bus transport in short intervals. (The questionnaire)
 
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As already mentioned in chapter 2 it must be kept in mind that the number of possible answers was not limited.

At the beginning of the questionnaire we asked about means of transportation that the interviewed persons would use to go to the Goitzsche. Only 10,26 % of the 78 interviewed persons answered they would go by bus; 85,9 % go by bicycle and 25,64 % by car. Moreover there were also 6,41 %  who want to use a motorcycle. Obviously according to the students the bicycle is the mean of transport by which they are most independent. This can also be seen in connection with the age group questioned since they haven't got a driving licence yet. That point that busses play a less important role can be put down to the fact of bus connections, which only exist on weekdays. The bus stops to reach the Goitzsche are probably unfavourably located, too.

Furthermore the interviewed persons were asked about the parking facilities they would use. 14,1 % would prefer central parking and shuttle busses; 83,33 % direct parking nearby. In this aspect especially a certain laziness and lade of trust in the reliability of shuttles services plays a role. Moreover there is a number of illegal parking facilities near the Goitzsche. (diagram 2)

To find out about parking fees the participants were ready to pay we suggested different prices. 56,41 % would agree to 1,50 DM per hour; 8.97 % would accept 1,50 DM to 2,50 DM; 37,18 % think that even 5 DM per day would be appropiate but only 2,56 % didn't want to pay fees. High parking fees or parking fees in general don't seem to stop them from using their car.(diagram 3)

The next question referred to the days favoured for visiting the Goitzsche: 15,38 % prefer week days and 92,31 % weekends. It was also asked about the times when the interviewees would visit the Goitzsche. 2,56 % visit the Goitzsche in the morning on week days; 34,62 % in the afternoon and 35, 9 % in the evening. On Sunday only 5,13 % visit the Goitzsche in the morning; 62,82 % in the afternoon and surprisingly 44,87 % in the evening. Main visiting times are also at weekends. Therefore public transportation as well as shuttle services have to be offered at weekends whereas Saturdays' evening hours have to be taken into account, too.

On Sunday mornings 11.54 % of those asked would go to the GOITZSCHE, 76.92 % in the afternoon and in the evening at least 21.79 % would visit the GOITZSCHE. 

Referring to the question, whether the pupils would use bus connections because of too high parkingfees. 20.51 % of the people asked decided for YES, 25.64 % for NO. 46.15 % were not sure whether they would use this offer and answered with PERHAPS: 62.82 % of the pupils, that means almost a third, agreed that  these buses should go every 30 minutes.

This is a very surprising result that we hadn`t expectetd so. That`s why they decided for an economically senseful variation uniting mobility and profitability for the bus company. 26.92 % want the buses every 10 minutes and 14.10 % every 60 minutes. (diagram 7)
 
 

Referring to the question, whether they would also use shuttle buses, the people interviewed were of different opinions. Ca.50 % of those asked were for or against it.(diagram 8)
About half of the people asked would leave their cars behind at central car parks and likely use the local transport service because of environmental reasons and because of the higher recreational value of the GOITZSCHE. 70.51 % also spoke out in favour of these buses be in a free change in connection with a one-day-valid bus ticket which you have needed for the journey here, for example 14.17 % wanted to use the shuttle buses generally with costs and 5.13 % free of charge.(diagram 9)

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Our opinion poll showed that ecological thinking among the students asked is widely spread. If public transportation hardly plays a role in redesigning the area of the GOITZSCHE at the moment. it`s likely to be caused by the fact that profitable use of  buses  is hardly possible at weekends.

However if there is no public transport available, it will lose its attraction for the future visitors. Therefore it should be tried, by all means, to offer bus connections for reaching the GOITSCHE from Bitterfeld, Wolfen, Bad Düben and also from Delitzsch at peak hours. The number of visitors depends on weather conditions as well as the season of course. Consequently flexible solutions must be found. Indeed the arrangement of the "bus by call" system in the country can be considered such a flexible solution, but it might be insufficient for coping with the number of visitors of the GOITZSCHE. area.

Thus an extended availability of buses could be useful from April to September, especially if it is announced by regional radio stations. A clean environment contributes to the attractiveness of the GOITZSCHE area. An effective system of transport should support this since we have only borrowed the earth from our children.

 

Contents

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1.	Aims of the project
2.	The questionnaire - the aim of the survey and hypothesis
3.	Evaluation of the questionnaire - data collecting and interpretation
4.	Conclusion