The bicycle has established itself as the star means of transport for deconfinement. Greener, less noisy, hygienic… the “biclou” appears to be the miracle solution in the city. But there was a lack of protected infrastructure to enable its growth.
Hastily, cities, prefectures and regions have drawn up temporary routes – also called “coronapists” to avoid putting everyone back on public transport, while the epidemic is still worrying.
In just a few minutes of meeting, the cycling associations saw certain 10-year-old requests come to fruition as if by magic.
By implementing this “tactical urban planning”, cycling and other “soft mobility” are making a place for themselves on the road, often taking over lanes reserved… for cars. How is this new cohabitation going?
A cyclist and a motorist on the same journey
Tuesday May 19, we had Louis Belenfant, director of the Vélo Ile-de-France collective, and Pierre Chasseray, general manager of 40 million motorists on the same journey, between Courbevoie and the center of Paris.
“We have to take back space on the car”
The two men had never met and without our offer to report, they would probably never have considered doing so. Current events also made this meeting possible. Indeed, with the end of lockdown, cycling has taken up space on the road to the detriment of motorized vehicles. A loss of ground on one side, a small victory on the other.
For Pierre Chasseray the problem lies in the method, “Me the strategy where we twist someone’s arm to tell them “You see, we have created so many constraints for you that you are obliged to do differently” that does not please me “. Louis Belenfant responds “To develop cycling, there are not 36,000 solutions, we cannot penalize pedestrians or public transport, we are obliged to take back space from the car. »
And this is the option taken by many municipalities in France which have put in place temporary arrangements to encourage the use of bicycles and avoid users returning to public transport.
The city of Paris has developed 50 km of temporary cycle paths. In the departments of the inner suburbs, more than a hundred kilometers of temporary developments have been put in place. An interactive map to identify routes is offered by the collective Cycling Ile-de-France. An initiative supported by the Métropole du Grand Paris.
“And where are the bikes there?” »
During the journey, both bike and car teams paused to comment on their journey. One of the stops took place on Avenue de la Grande-Armée, not far from the famous Étoile roundabout which was impassable by bike before confinement.
It is now possible to use an underground passage under the Arc de Triomphe, reserved for bicycles. During this break, Pierre Chasseray, noting the absence of bicycles on the road, opened hostilities with the controversial subject “And where are the bicycles there?” “. “It’s not rush hour,” Louis Belenfant retorted, “and certain temporary arrangements have just been created, cyclists need to get used to them. »
Bicycle travel booming
Rush hour or not, cycle use has increased in France since May 11. According to the association Cycling & Territoriesbicycle counters, spread across the entire territory, recorded 44% more bicycle passages than before confinement.
In Paris, certain totems, installed on cycle paths, record traffic records comparable to those recorded during the transport strike. This is particularly the case for those on rue de Rivoli or rue Georges-Pompidou.
The temporary cycle paths are obviously not equipped with meters. If some motorists hope to see them disappear very quickly, the question has not yet been resolved. The Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne just indicated on May 29, during a press conference, that “the State will support the communities so that they maintain these tracks”.
