Mayor announces plans to make Paris 100 per cent cycle friendly by 2024

Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, has announced her plans to transform the streets of Paris where 100 per cent of roads are cycle friendly by 2024.

In order to fulfil her commitment of carrying out an “ecological transformation of the city”, a new traffic plan will be implemented to promote walking, cycling and public transport, Hidalgo noted. Some of the details are as followed:

• At least one cycle route will be created in each borough: a street where pedestrians and bikes have priority over motor vehicles
• Two-way cycling will be generalised in zone 30
• All bridges will be equipped with secure cycle paths
• The green thread, a network of planted lanes, will be reserved for pedestrians and bikes to connect Paris to neighbouring municipalities
• The Olympic cycle loops will link the Olympic sites and the territories
• The realisation of the Vélopolitain and the RER V – a new network of major cycle routes – in addition to the 1000km already existing
• Apply and enforce the Street Code, which gives priority to the most vulnerable, pedestrians and cyclists
• Regulate the access of heavy goods vehicles which are not equipped with an anti-blind spot devices
• Multiply prevention campaigns and controls for compliance with the rules
• Learn to cycle from school – multiply school bikes to promote learning for all audiences and create spaces dedicated to learning to cycle
• Install Véloboîtes for secure residential parking of bikes, equipped with pumping station and repair tools in free access
• Install secure Vélostations in 15 Parisian stations (7 large stations, 8 intermodality nodes including RER stations like Nation and Porte Dauphine), to promote train / RER / metro and bike intermodality
• Offer a multi-park bike pass giving access to the 100 underground car parks in the city’s concession and to the car parks of the city’s social landlords
• Support the creation of secure bicycle shelters wherever possible, in condominiums, social housing buildings and in corporate buildings
• Investments for bicycles will reportedly be increased to €26 per inhabitant per year – a total of €350 million in six years. 

Hidalgo’s plans also include the removal of 72 per cent of on-street car parking spaces to make more room for cyclists. According to a 2019 study by Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme (Apur) there are currently 83,500 on-street parking spaces, which means Hidalgo plans to remove approximately 60,000 of them.

Another detail in the plan is the concept of creating a ‘city of 15 minutes’ in which ‘hyper proximity’ will give residents nearby access to essential living needs, replacing the construction of new shopping centres, for example. Alongside this, the Mayor has also included the detail that expansion of green spaces, vegetable plots and playgrounds will take precedence over car parking spaces.