Public transport providers in Germany have decided to set up flowering strips along tram tracks running through the city in a bid to support the local ecosystem.
Managers at the BSVG bus and rail company in Brunswick said the project would start this summer. How many kilometres of rail tracks would be affected has not been decided yet.
Organisers’ main motivation is to support solitary bees such as leafcutter bees and mason bees. These non-domesticated species play a vital role due to their engaged pollinating activity.
Their existence is considered under immense threat due to the ongoing reduction of habitats spurred by construction projects and the sealing of soils.
Officials in the Lower Saxon city have said that the flower strip initiative could be extended in the coming years. Experts at the local Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI) – a leading centre for vegetation research – will supervise and analyse the endeavour.
JKI researcher Henri Greil underlined the pioneering aspect of the project due to the planned application of a special mixture of seeds. He added there were currently no comparable initiatives in any other German city.
Brunswick is the second-biggest city in the northern German state of Lower Saxony. It has nearly 249,000 inhabitants.
BSVG operates six tram lines covering 59 kilometres (37 miles). The city-owned company’s bus network is much larger (510 kilometres, 317 miles). Only five of the 163 BSVG buses are electric models.
