Where is cycling in the Nantes metropolis? Nicolas Martin: “You won’t come across a person from Nantes who will tell you that they haven’t seen its development. Since 2015, we have seen an increase of almost 18% per year in the number of cyclists on the roads of Nantes. Which is phenomenal.
»2030 objective: 15% of journeys by bicycle
Meanwhile, motorized traffic is falling by 1.5% per year… “We have never hidden our ambition to reduce the role of the car, the solo car in particular, in Nantes and its surrounding area in favor of active modes and public transport. Today, the modal share of cycling is estimated at 9%. It was 3% in 2020. Nantes Métropole had set itself the objective of reaching 12% of bicycle trips by 2030. Some found this objective illusory: we are going to exceed it and we are now aiming for 15%. »
Is infrastructure up to the task of this boom? “We are already more than 750 km away from existing cycling facilities in the metropolis. Since 2020, we have been engaged in an ambitious program which results in an investment of 116 million euros over the entire mandate, to develop masterful and structuring bicycle axes. In 2024 alone, we are committing 14 million euros compared to 5 million in 2023. We will be at 40 million in 2025 and 2026.”
