Cycling France, a major project for our country

A few years ago, the government finally decided to launch a bicycle plan. It was about time: our country is underdeveloped on a European scale in terms of cycle paths. It is under-equipped relative to the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, which is well known, but also relative to other countries such as Germany and Belgium.

This Cycling plan was underfunded, to the tune of 250 million euros per year. But it was better than nothing. Unfortunately nothing happened as part of the 2025 finance bill presented by the Barnier government. This proposed nothing less than completely eliminating credits from the State Bicycle plan.

There is a shortage of 100,000 kilometers of cycle paths in France to create routes in cities, peri-urban and rural areas. To support this development, it is essential that a substantial state budget be put in place, of the order of 1 billion euros annually. This investment must be committed over time. And must be supported by a national, staffed “bike cell”. Currently only three people work around the interministerial coordinator for cycling. This is totally insufficient to coordinate investments at the national level.

Stabilized funding and a state operator are needed to implement them. We therefore propose that the Société des grands Projets (SGP) take responsibility for implementing the national bicycle plan. A country-wide bicycle plan is a major project and is therefore intended to be implemented by the SGP. It is a recognized project owner in public works and knows how to manage dedicated long-term financing, which it did to create the Grand Paris Express (GPE). It has also acquired a culture of strategy and dialogue with local elected officials which give it extraordinary credibility.

Finally its dedicated and virtuous financing model has enabled it to overcome all government hazards. This is the guarantee of the sustainability of commitments to local authorities co-financing infrastructure. Dedicated annual revenue of around 500 million per year would allow, with the leverage of the loan, to finance an intervention of around 1 billion euros for around ten years. It is entirely possible to use the same financing methods used for the GPE: extension of the local tax on offices, the tax on parking spaces, the tourist tax, etc.

Creating a quality bicycle network throughout the country is a major, urgent project for the success of the ecological transition across our country. With the SGP, we have a high-quality tool to implement such a project. Let's not wait. Let's implement it.