On the tail side, a historic record for cycling in Paris was beaten on September 15, the equivalent of a strike day in the winter of 2019/2020.
19,000 cyclists were recorded by the bike counter on Boulevard de Sébastopol.
A figure that does not count the nearly 1,500 reckless people who chose to ride on the road next door that day.
On the opposite side, an attendance that makes the cyclists themselves dizzy, forced to squeeze together and be even more vigilant than usual on an axis that has become far too narrow for such a flow.
"It's hell, it's horror, it's dangerous, it doubles in every way," says Paul, an experienced cyclist.
It's too crowded, there was a good idea at the start but we see that the double meaning is no longer enough”.
“It's just super stressful, what”, abounds Antoine, who swears never to venture there again.
At the pedestrian crossing, Gilles rages while trying to make his way between an uninterrupted wave of bicycles.
“I find that there is an aberration”.
This Parisian has nevertheless been a big fan of the Vélib' since its creation, but he does not understand the logic of this infrastructure that came out of the ground in 2019: "I think that the two-way side-by-side tracks are dangerous both for bicycles and for pedestrians ".
The segment is also distinguished by its accordion shape, which can vary between 2.5 and 4m.
“I would have liked it to be a little wider from time to time,” urges Romeo.
"Perhaps, a one-way track and the other in the other direction", hopes for his part Paul.
Questioned by Le Parisien in June 2022, David Belliard, ecologist assistant for the transformation of public space and mobility in Paris, already indicated that he was trying to remedy this saturation by the construction of two secure axes parallel to the boulevard de Sébastopol: the one rue du Renard and the other rue Beaubourg.
Decongestion routes that should see the light of day by 2023.
Read alsoParis: the cycle paths rue Beaubourg and rue du Renard, it is for 2023
These projects do not yet resemble the doubling of the track hoped for by many cyclists and their associations.
"The hypothesis of two uni-directional tracks, in order to considerably improve the safety of cyclists, indeed, can be quite discussed", had however suggested David Belliard during an interview for the Biclou series, in September 2021.