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French prime minister pledges to treble levels of everyday cycling by 2024Cyclist in Paris crossing the Pont des Arts on a Velib (CC BY SA 2.0 on Flickr by Jean-Francois Gornet)

French prime minister pledges to treble levels of everyday cycling by 2024

"France is a great cycling nation," says Edouard Philippe. "But in France, cycling is still a sport"...
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, Sep 18, 2018 16:54
9

Edouard Philippe, prime minister of France, has unveiled a programme designed to treble the number of people in the country using bicycles for everyday journeys by the time Paris hosts the Olympic Games in 2024.

“France is a great cycling nation,” he said, unveiling the government’s Plan Vélo [Bike Plan] . “I saw this again first-hand this summer by visiting a stage of the Tour de France.

“However,” he continued, “in France, cycling is still a sport. A popular sport, and one that is very widespread,

“But it’s a sport and too seldom a means of transport for doing the shopping or going to work, as happens in northern European countries which are less passionate about cycling than us.”

Currently, 3 per cent of daily trips in France are made by bicycle, a figure which the government wants to increase to 9 per cent in the coming years.

In a speech delivered in the city of Angers in the Loire Valley on Saturday, the Republicans politician pledged that the government would spend €350 million on cycling infrastructure over the next seven years.

The money will be used principally to connect local networks, which are the responsibility of regional and departmental authorities.

Philippe said that missing links in cycling infrastructure between local authorities “discourage cyclists, because [those routes] are the most dangerous.”

Invitations to tender will be issued next year, with local authorities encouraged to bid for their share of the cash, which marks the first time central government in France has funded cycling projects.

Other measures being introduced to get more people cycling within France include tax breaks for employers and workers and free cycling lessons in all secondary schools by 2022.

All new bikes sold in France will also be security marked in an attempt to combat theft , with 300,000 bicycles reported stolen last year alone.

The prime minister promised to overhaul the country’s Code de la Route [Highway Code] which he acknowledged was, “from the outset, designed primarily around the car.”

Philippe said: “The thinking now is to adapt it to other means of getting around, especially cycling, so that cyclists are safer.”

He concluded his speech by quoting Jean Bobet, the younger brother of three-time Tour de France winner Louison Bobet and who was himself a successful rider, winning Paris-Nice in 1955 and later becoming a noted journalist and author on cycling, on how riding a bike gave one pleasure despite the effort.

“The effort nowadays is global warming,” Philippe said. “The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Air quality in cities. Stress.

“The Plan Vélo is one way amongst others of adapting to it, which at the same time does not prevent getting real pleasure, real wellbeing in our cities and countryside,” he added.

“After all, in a society which is a bit addicted to speed, it’s sometimes good to know how to live by ‘freewheeling’.”

France
Plan Velo
Edouard Philippe
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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wjhall | 6 years ago
3 likes

Strictly, the Code de la Route (1) is the road traffic laws, not an equivalent to the UK Highway Code, which is a guide to the road traffic laws. The literal translation is a classic 'faux ami'.

For comparison Manchester claims to have a plan to spend GBP 1.5 billion on cycling over 10 years, including infrastructure (2). The French national plan is said by Le Monde (3) to be to spend EUR 350 million over seven years. Le Monde tells us that the spend will including supporting e-bike purchases, bike fleet deployments, education, including in schools, and theft prevention, the latter apparently being the problem most feared by cyclists. Infrastructure mentioned includes generalisation of advanced start bike boxes, and cycle contraflows, the danger of the last to be assessed by mayors.

Various organisations have responded that 50 million per year is about a quarter of what is needed. Le Monde refers to the failure of the previous plans, in 2012 and 2014, to achieve their objectives.

(1) https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074228
(2) https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/cyc...
(3) https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2018/09/14/un-nouveau-plan-pour-c...

 

 

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... | 6 years ago
4 likes

Bored with these announcments of 'targets' and 'aspirations' and the like.  Such a long, long history of them, invariably quietly forgotten.  Just get on with it and get back to us when you have some real results.

 

Depends on whether that announcement includes real definite, actually going-ahead immediately, plans to _do_ something.  But I can't read it because I haven't yet met my slightly-overdue aspiration to 'pass O level French'.

Avatar
dreadcast | 6 years ago
6 likes

French PM and other ministers spotted cycling in Anger before journalists... caught hopping in a car to reach next meeting, 800 meters away.

France loves cyclism but hates cycling. 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
5 likes

Won't happen, the golden days of French cycling are long gone, roads in city/town centres are awful for the most part, little or zero infra, this is apparent in the working class towns/cities compared to the more tourist attractive parts. Yes there are some enclaves but actually the drivers in France are not much better than those in the UK quite honestly.

The only saving grace is the 30km/h sped limits which whilst not adhered to all the time are at least fairly universal and there are speed cameras in these areas.

Oh and woe betide if you use the road instead of a cycle lane that runs alongside, been beeped plenty of times over the years.

The other issue is that just like everywhere else the government has been focussing on making cyclists wear helmets and hi-vis instead of fcussing on shit driving and lack of infra/poor road design, the fact you have to have hi-vis in your car at all times is a joke in itself.

If they address the basics of why so few people in France cycle they might actually get somewhere, however even in villages car is king and you'll see many driving a few hundred metres to get their groceries.

Avatar
Kendalred replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Won't happen, the golden days of French cycling are long gone, roads in city/town centres are awful for the most part, little or zero infra, this is apparent in the working class towns/cities compared to the more tourist attractive parts. Yes there are some enclaves but actually the drivers in France are not much better than those in the UK quite honestly.

The only saving grace is the 30km/h sped limits which whilst not adhered to all the time are at least fairly universal and there are speed cameras in these areas.

Oh and woe betide if you use the road instead of a cycle lane that runs alongside, been beeped plenty of times over the years.

The other issue is that just like everywhere else the government has been focussing on making cyclists wear helmets and hi-vis instead of fcussing on shit driving and lack of infra/poor road design, the fact you have to have hi-vis in your car at all times is a joke in itself.

If they address the basics of why so few people in France cycle they might actually get somewhere, however even in villages car is king and you'll see many driving a few hundred metres to get their groceries.

Not sure why the words 'plus ca change' keep coming to mind...

Avatar
brooksby | 6 years ago
2 likes

Good luck to him.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
1 like

I'm currently on holiday in Paris and I've been surprised by the number of e-scooters - the push along with your foot kind of scooter. My wife uses a standard scooter for commuting to the train station but after seeing so many Parisiens zooming around, she's looking to get an electric one herself to cover her 6 mile commute.

Avatar
ChancerOnABike | 6 years ago
2 likes

I hope it does improve as it's pretty crap where i live in Toulouse alhought generally the drivers are far more curteous than i remember in the uk. 

 

Here's a pic of the well thought out contraflow cycling 'lanes' in Toulouse city centre. Seems like they're using cyclists as traffic calming devices

Avatar
maviczap | 6 years ago
7 likes

Meanwhile in post Brexit Britain the Government backed by the motor industry, plans to treble the use of cars and other fossil fuelled vehicle, and so car drivers can rest easy in their tin shells, new legislation making it mandatory to wear a helmet and hi viz, and make cyclists pay to use the road will be introduced. Mandatory insurance and number plates will also be required, plus a £200 cycling proficiency test before riders can use their bicycle on the road.

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