The transformation of Paris into a bike city over the past few years has been remarkable. And a lot of the credit goes to Mayor Anne Hidalgo. But there’s another story that I discovered while riding every new bike lane built in the past year in the city, and it’s a story of citizen and advocacy work that has lessons for people in cities all over the world.
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0:00 Introduction
0:30 The start of my quest to ride 40 new bike lanes
0:45 The popular story of Paris’s transformation
2:25 How advocacy groups encouraged cycling
3:01 Observatoire de Plan Vélo
3: 55 An influential but simple map
6:55 Paris bike advocates’ secret
8:32 What other cities can learn from Paris’s cycling advocates
#cycling #bike #commuting
40 Comments
Induced Demand.
In a positive way.
Great to see a video with positive change, I've managed to influence getting more bike racks in my town, a small startbon the journey of making progress 🚴
Französische Revolution 2.0!
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!
I think youtubers also helped! Have you heard of altis play? He is a parisian cycling youtuber that advocates for better cycling infrastructure
I applaud the people of Paris that have achieved this amazing achievement. In some of the places you were filming you could actually see the buildings. In my many visits to Paris I remember many conjested streets and cars parked everywhere. Many times there was barely space on the street to drive. I wonder how many car passengers were actually shopping or visiting restaurants and cafes? Or were they working in them?
Where I live in the uk not a single penny has been spent on bike infrastructure and I doubt anyone in the local or regional councils ever considers them.
I am getting older, but I would like to see this city that I once visited in my youth.. the 'transformation' sounds wonderful.
8:25 this not correct . The sign means ' one way street , except for bikes ' : the closed end of the one way street , that is open for bikes.
It is one of the best traffic signs around. A one lane one way street is usually fairly safe for cyclist . And it can be implemented almost everywhere for the cost of the white rectangular sub sign ..
FYI, 18th is a special zone called "rue aux écoles" meaning "street having schools". It is closed to car so children and parents have a bit of room when exiting school.
Paris cyclist and comuter here. The work done in only 5 years is insane.
I enjoy every now and then being surprised by new safe and cosy new biking infrastructures.
Some places still need some adjustments, but hey we've got to appreciate the work done already.
2:03 riding over a red light while complaining over another misbehavior… ;-D
Parisian here, I'm glad we're getting a lot of stuff for cycling. Another important part of this "bike revolution" is Vélib. It's cheap and when it works, it's pretty nice so it allowed a lot of people to easily try cycling in Paris before investing in a bike. I showed 2 of my friends of nice cycling can be using Vélib. Véligo is also a great renting service that allows people to try owning an e-bike for 3 to 6 months. I think more than 80% of people who tried got convinced and bought an e-bike, so it's a very good and effective initiative ! As long as you have bike lanes, of course.
Thanks for the video. In my home country Sweden we have lots of combined walk and cycling lanes many of which were built as early as the 1970s. I don’t like them very much so I just wanted to ask if this type of combined lanes exist elsewhere. They are more usual in suburbs and parks and not so much in city streets.
Some of the bike lanes look substandard. We have that problem here, too, in New York City (NYC). But some are being improved. Mostly, I think NYC is doing the right things but at the wrong pace. I suspect Paris doesn't have the problems of bureaucracy that NYC has. I don't know if that can ever be fixed.
Imagine how much better it would be when the shared city bikes gets (really) integrated to the "new simplified pricing system of transportation" in IdF.
And ofc if the quality of rises enough (more that 1h, electrification, reduced weight, easiness of use)..
China should receive some credit for cheap electric bikes. When I commuted 14 miles to work, there'd be a handful of bikes. Now there are 10x as much, mostly eBikes, young and poor people.
Socialism is the real freedom. The Parisians have accomplished remarkable work!
Not yet happening in Germany with all our Nimby's who cry out loud when they can't park their car in frot of their door, until politicians backtrack on changes towards bike-friendly politics. All of that happens downtown where there's only multi-family homes all around…
The best take away, "you don't have to talk about it for 10 years…"
Are they still busy when it’s freezing cold or pissin with rain, because here in the U.K. i suddenly find myself cycling almost alone !
Anne Hidalgo empezó con las ciclovías antes de ser alcaldesa. Desde que era parte del equipo del que le precedió.
excelente contenido. Muchas Gracias!
The idea to advertise maps such as the RER-V (inspired by the regional railway system) or the Vélopolitain (inspired by the métro system) by local cycling advocacy groupes was brilliant : the public could get an idea of the scale of the projects, and politics could easily assimilate the projects in their own programs. With the enthusiasm it sparked in medias and social medias, it became impossible for politics to oppose it. Indeed, the RER-V was eventually included into the regional plan for cycling, and the Vélopolitain network became the norm in Paris and surrounding cities.
Nice
One thing needs to be said : while the work for cyclist has been impressive in the last few years, the streets improvement must always take into account the pedestrians: while the number of cyclists continues to increase every year in Paris, there are far more pedestrians than cyclists ; the recent street improvements have therefore aimed at giving cyclists a safe, dedicated space, but have also taken into account pedestrians : it is now illegal to park before a red light (so that pedestrians are more visible to car drivers), lots of sidewalks have been refurbished so that pedestrians (and wheelchair users, who were until very recently just an afterthought in Paris) are more comfortable, sidewalk "ears" have been created at intersections so that pedestrian safety is improved, ans of course the "rue des écoles" scheme aims at totally giving the street to the children near elementary schools (more than 200 rues des écoles have been created in the last 4 years)
The overall aim of the municipality concerning traffic is to reduce through traffic so that people who live in the city have more space that people who cross through the city… makes sense, doesn't it?
During my brief stint cycling in Paris, I found traffic to be much more "organic" than North American traffic.
It felt more like moving through a crowd of people than the inhuman machinery of American streets.
Chaos, but a kind of chaos we evolved to exist in.
Ive heard you can cycle for about 30 minutes from the city center to the countryside
What an incredible transformation. Haven’t been to Paris since before Covid, can’t wait to go back and see the changes for myself! A true inspiration for cities in NA
It's awesome to see what Paris and its people are doing! 😀
Haha found myself in a bike on my way to work on the video
I live in a suburb of Paris, and Versailles is also a great place for cycling.
I love Paris because you can take the train with your bike (only the week-end) and visit new places (Vallée de la Chevreuse, Bièvres, Canal de l'Ourcq, FoutaineBleau…). It feels like you're in the countryside!
The one thing none of you foreigners mention is that while Paris prioritizes cycling, not much is done for the people who can't… Subway reliability/frequency decreased noticeably, 95% of the metro stations are not accessible and so on. So, yeah, it's great to be able to cycle but it alienates everyone else, especially the people who can't drive/cycle.
Great video Tom ! Nice to see both my work (the bike you are riding in the video) and my advocacy group (Paris en Selle) in the same video!!
Always a fan of these city visits. Keep it up!
Those bike lanes are really busy. I guess I would feel more comfortable being on a car lane 😅
When did Paris decided to switch to biking? Just when they lost access to cheap gas. And their colonies. They understand that economy will go down, and people won't be able to pay for gas but they will still need to go to work. Has nothing to do with social movement. Social movement is just used to push for some political decisions.
Retail bicycle outlets need to do more to encourage young people and older adults to ride bicycles.
Sponsoring bike trains to escort children on their rides to school would be a great start. Organizing volunteers, teachers and other to ride along would be a great start. Getting children out of minivans and onto bicycles would be healthy exercise, build independence and make society healthier.
Fun ride should also be organized. Getting a local bike club or school to sponsor an annual event to a local park or trail would encourage both adults and children to ride bicycles. Getting local elected officials to help with sponsored activities would help to educate them about the need for safe, protected bike lanes and trails in their community. Offering space and coffee for local riders to meet up would also improve store traffic.
Bicycles, ebikes, electric cargo bicycles, robo taxis and escooters are great options for last mile, short distance travel.
Reduced transportation costs and fossil fuels free transportation.
Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles by providing SAFE, PROTECTED BIKE LANES and trails. Every adult and child should own a bicycle and ride it regularly. Bicycles are healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation. Electric bicycles are bringing many older adults back to cycling. Ride to work, ride to school, ride for health or ride for fun. Children should be able to ride a bicycle to school without having to dodge cars and trucks. Separated and protected bike lanes are required. It will also make the roads safer for automobile drivers. Transportation planners and elected officials need to encourage people to walk, bike and take public transportation. Healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation. In the future cities will be redesigned for people not cars. Crazy big parking lots will be transformed with solar canopies generating free energy from the sun.
Riding a bicycle is a great way to exercise. Ebikes are bringing many older adults back to cycling.
Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles. Safe protected bike lanes and trails are needed so adults and children can ride safely. Speak up for bicycles in your community. Bicycles make life and cities better. Ask your local transportation planner and elected officials to support more protected bike lanes and trails. Children should be riding a bicycle to school and not be driven in a minivan. Be healthier and happier. Ride a bicycle regularly.
The cohesive, named, connected network is exactly what we need in Edmonton and Calgary for us to move ahead.
Excellent video and example of how grassroots efforts facilitate the change when it comes.
Yeah…… very nicely done! 👍👍👍👍