The story of the motion began back in June 2018, when Cantonal Councillor Martin Sailer from Toggenburg submitted the interpellation "Hikers and bikers in harmony" to the government. In its response, the government of the canton of St. Gallen confirmed that mountain bikers are also allowed to ride on classified trails in the canton of St. Gallen, such as yellow signposted hiking trails. However, it quickly became apparent that the progressive interpretation of this law alone is not enough to create a functioning mountain bike infrastructure. It remains too unclear who has what role and responsibility in this improvement process.

After the renewed interpellation with the question "What strategy is the canton pursuing for mountain biking?" from the end of 2019 did not receive a satisfactory response from the government, a non-partisan motion from September 2020 entitled "St. Gallen needs a mountain bike strategy" has now put the necessary pressure on the government of the Canton of St. Gallen to take concrete action. The discussion in the Cantonal Council showed that the topic is very important. The attitudes from a wide range of perspectives confirm that the next steps are urgently needed. The canton of St. Gallen must now define the basic principles and establish the framework so that responsibilities in coordination with the municipalities, landowners and stakeholder groups are more clearly regulated. Coordination with the national Cycling Act should take place in parallel. Action is now needed to adapt the infrastructure to expectations and reality and prevent conflicts

"The fact that the canton of St. Gallen has agreed to this motion is a great political commitment to the sport of mountain biking, especially if the critics are also in favor of it," says Roger Walser, Managing Director of BikerNetzwerk AG. "Our work in the Heidiland region was often cited in politics as a model example in this context."

Where in the Heidiland region, which includes Flumserberg, the majority of the talk is about tourism, elsewhere it is mainly about infrastructure, as the mountain bike network no longer meets today's requirements, especially in the catchment areas of the towns. Walser also agrees with this, as today's new generation will find themselves on the trails in the coming years.bikernetzwerk.ch