Is Paris the worst city for bikes?
Paris, capital of France — and supposedly of love — is a dense and vibrant city that is not usually considered a heaven for bikes, unlike its Dutch and Danish counterparts. The Deputy Mayor of Paris for transport even states on his Linkedin account that Paris is “the most beautiful city in the world. But not for cyclists… yet”. Indeed, public space is scarce and most of the twentieth century saw major city planning decisions favour the car: from the end of the tramway service in 1937 to make room for cars, to the building of the expressway along the banks of the Seine and the Boulevard Périphérique (Paris’ ring-road) completed respectively in 1967 and 1973 — admittedly slightly offset by the decision to implement a parking fee policy. This situation means that competition for roads and friction between road users are higher than in less concentrated cities, like Berlin for instance. A noticeable surge of interest for the bike grew in the last 20 years, triggered mostly by Vélib, Paris’ public bicycle sharing system launched in 2007. As mobility issues, combined with growing environmental concerns, get more and more crucial, bike policies are tested everywhere and forthcoming French municipal elections are definitely not exempt. So, politics aside, is Paris really the worst city for bikes?
Let’s start with the first concerned by this: the bike riders. The French Federation of Bicycle Users (Fédération des Usagers de la Bicyclette — FUB) created a barometer for bike-friendly cities. The 2019 results were published in February 2020 and collected bike users’ opinions in all French cities. Paris is ranked fourth among large cities (over 200 000 inhabitants) and is awarded the special prize for best improvement since the last edition in 2017.
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