BICLOU, EPISODE 6- The bicycle has established itself as the star means of transport for deconfinement. Greener, less noisy, hygienic ... the "biclou" seems like the miracle solution in town. But it lacked protected infrastructure to allow its development.
In a hurry, cities, prefectures and regions have mapped out temporary tracks - also called "coronapists" to avoid putting everyone back on public transport, while the epidemic still worries.
In a few minutes of meeting, the associations of cyclists saw certain requests 10 years old come to fruition as if by magic.
By implementing this "tactical town planning", the bicycle and other "soft mobility" make their way on the road, often biting on the lanes reserved ... for cars. How is this new cohabitation going?
A cyclist and a motorist on the same route
Tuesday, May 19, we debated Louis Belenfant, director of the Vélo Ile-de-France collective and Pierre Chasseray, director general of 40 million motorists on the same route, between Courbevoie and central Paris.
"We have to take up space on the car"
The two men had never met and without our proposal to report, they probably would never have considered doing so. News has also made this event possible. Indeed, with the deconfinement the bike nibbled on the roadway at the expense 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 you twist someone's arm to say" You saw, we created so many constraints for you that you were forced to do it differently " does not please me ". Louis Belenfant responds “To develop the bicycle, there are not 36,000 solutions, we cannot penalize pedestrians or public transport, we are forced to take up space on the car. "
And this is the option taken by many municipalities in France which have set up temporary facilities to encourage the use of bicycles and avoid the return of users in public transport.
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The city of Paris has created 50 km of temporary cycle paths. In the departments of the inner suburbs, more than a hundred kilometers of temporary development have been put in place. An interactive map to identify routes is offered by the Vélo Ile-de-France collective. An initiative supported by the Métropole du Grand Paris.
"And where are the bikes there?" "
During the journey, the two bicycle and car teams took breaks to comment on their trip. One of the stops took place on avenue de la Grande-Armée, not far from the famous Etoile roundabout which was impassable by bicycle before confinement.
It is now possible to take an underground passage under the Arc de Triomphe, reserved for cycling. During this break, Pierre Chasseray, noting the absence of a biclou on the road, opened hostilities with the controversial subject "And where are the bikes there?" " "It's not rush hour," Louis Belenfant replied, "and some temporary improvements have just come into being, cyclists must get used to. "
Cycling trips in full boom
Rush hour or not, cycle traffic has increased in France since May 11. According to the Vélo & Territoires association, bicycle counters, distributed throughout the territory, recorded 44% more bicycle trips than before confinement.
In Paris, some totems, installed on cycle paths, record crossing records comparable to those recorded during the transport strike. This is particularly the case for those on rue de Rivoli or the Georges-Pompidou road.
The temporary cycle paths are obviously not equipped with meters. If some motorists hope to see them disappear very quickly, the question is not yet settled. Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne has just indicated on May 29, during a press conference, that "the State will support the communities so that they perpetuate these tracks".