The submission of such a petition is a first in Switzerland. 2126 people have signed the paper, including Thomas Frischknecht and well-known entrepreneurs from north-western Switzerland. The petition will be officially presented to the state chancellery in Liestal on Wednesday (December 16) at 10 a.m.

Survey on 20min.ch
In connection with the collection of signatures, the free newspaper "20 Minuten" has taken up the issue and launched an online survey on whether hiking trails should be opened up to mountain bikers or whether this would be an imposition for everyone involved. Ride is asking its readers to take part in the survey in order to express the concern for shared use at this level too.
To the survey: http://www.20min.ch/community/poll/index.tmpl?pollid=10597

Fatal journalistic blunder
The article on the survey is a tragedy of journalistic performance. After Thomas Frischknecht is falsely hailed as an Olympic champion (after he was just as falsely declassified as a drug dealer years ago), Swiss Cycling board member Martin Bundi is misquoted and the facts are turned into the opposite. 20 Minuten writes that Bundi cannot imagine bikers and hikers living side by side across the board. "I was clearly referring to the freeride and downhill route in Chur as an example, which is to be greatly expanded over the next two years," he explains. There is widespread agreement today that hikers and mountain bikers can easily share existing trails and that separation only makes sense in certain areas or on downhill routes. This is also the direction taken by the petition, which wants to make single trails in the Basel region legal.

http://www.20min.ch/news/basel/story/14941331