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This time it’s there, the bike has dethroned the car in the French capital. According to a study carried out by the Paris Region Institute, 11.2% of trips are now made by bicycle in the capital – up from 3% in 2010 – compared to only 4.3% by car. However, walking remains the most common mode of travel (53.5%), followed by public transport (30%).
The prevalence of cycling is even greater in the inner suburbs (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine – Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne), with 18.9% of trips, compared to 6.6% for the car. In the greater suburbs, however, it is the car that remains the most used means of getting around. And in the region as a whole, public transport represents 45% compared to 33% for the car.
11.2% of trips are now made by bicycle in the capital – up from 3% in 2010 – compared to only 4.3% by car.
The study provides other very interesting results, such as the fact that the average travel time is 92 minutes per day on weekdays, 67 minutes on Saturday and 49 minutes on Sunday. In all, 39% of trips are for professional reasons. The study also notes that… 80% of users of the ring road live outside Paris.
3,337 Ile-de-France residents equipped with GPS trackers
Which should give food for thought to those who contest the Paris town hall’s policy of restricting traffic on the ring road. And that’s precisely what’s fun about this study, since it gives arguments to the team in place, as well as to its opposition. The Paris town hall was indeed happy to welcome the rise of cycling by attributing it to the implementation of its 2021-2026 cycling plan (+ 130 km of cycle paths, purchasing aid, development of Vélib’…), while the opposition pointed the finger at the city’s anti-car policy: reduction in parking spaces, increase in the price of parking, surcharge for SUVs, change in traffic plans, pedestrianization, etc.
The study therefore has several merits, that of helping us to better understand the habits of Parisians, and of fueling public debate. Carried out at the request of a consortium of fourteen public partners (the region, the four departmental councils of the greater suburbs, the city of Paris, the SNCF, the RATP), it was able to be carried out by equipping, from 2022 to mid-April 2023, 3,337 Ile-de-France residents with GPS trackers recording their movements, and should in any case be renewed next year.
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