You just have to walk in Paris, in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) or Sceaux (Hauts-de-Seine) to see the phenomenon.
For more than a year, the bicycle has been massively adopted for daily journeys in Ile-de-France.
At the same time, public transport has seen its public evaporate since the start of the crisis.
Will this enthusiasm for cycling and this disaffection for public transport last? As for the cycling associations, there is no possible doubt: the bicycle will continue to develop, even when the page of Covid-19 is turned. On the occasion of the regional elections, the IDF cycling collective, which brings together around forty associations, launched the “Yes We Bike” site. Among its demands: the construction of thousands of secure parking spaces for bicycles in the stations of Ile-de-France.
"Go suddenly to the station, leave it safe and jump in an RER to cross Ile-de-France by public transport: this gesture will become obvious when all stations are equipped with large bicycle parking lots », Writes the collective.
It therefore offers "100% bicycle stations by equipping the entire Ile-de-France network with bicycle parking and the 30 most frequented bicycle stations by 2024".
Intermodality still rare
A demand taken up by Valérie Pécresse (Libres!), The president of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), who wants to triple the number of trips by bike. “IDFM's ambition and the commitment we have made is to have bicycle parking at each station throughout Ile-de-France,” she recently underlined. The purpose of these secure spaces is to promote “train-bike” intermodality, which is still rare today. In December, IDFM adopted a plan to create “140,000 spaces” for bicycle parking in current stations and those of the Grand Paris Express by 2030.
We are very far from it today.
“Around 20,000 spaces” exist around train stations, “of which 10,000 are financed by IDFM under the ex Véligo program”, soon to be renamed “IDF Mobilités Bicycle Park”.
There are therefore more than 120,000 spaces to be developed over the next nine years, in or near stations.
“At each Ile-de-France Mobilités council, I fight for the provision of bicycle parking spaces equivalent to 10% of the station's traffic,” underlines Jacques Baudrier (PCF), elected from Paris and administrator of IDFM.
There are very competent teams on the subject of cycling at IDFM, but their number should be doubled or tripled.
"
VIDEO.
BICLOU: Taking the train with your bike: easier in Strasbourg than in Paris
If the political will is displayed, it is clear that things are not progressing much on the ground.
Those familiar with the matter do not mince their words: according to them, SNCF and RATP are dragging their feet and must "wake up".
“The stakes are huge for RATP and SNCF.
If they want the public to return to transport, they must see the bicycle as an ally and not as a competitor.
In the Netherlands, half of train users come to the station by bicycle, ”recalls Louis Belenfant, director of the IDF bicycle collective.
RATP singled out
Jacques Baudrier, who readily presents himself as "a pain in the ass" so that the bike is taken into consideration, also judges that the operators do not show themselves up to the stakes. “In the new RATP contract which has just been signed, there was nothing planned at the start on the bike! I had to insist that there be an objective of 5,000 parking spaces created, as well as a study for 5,000 additional spaces and the creation of a monitoring committee. It would even take 20,000 to meet the objectives of the IDFM cycling plan. Ditto for the SNCF contract, which goes from 2,500 to 10,000 places to be built in the new contract. "
It is urgent that @RATPgroup update its software!
➡️ Yes, the bicycle is a fantastic ally of public transport.
➡️ Yes, for that we must provide thousands of parking spaces for all these travelers 🚴.
The level set by @IDFmobilites is a minimum!
https://t.co/l0GOmxxwqf
- Île-de-France Cycling Collective (@VeloIdF) April 8, 2021
Questioned on the subject, the CEO of the RATP, Catherine Guillouard, considers on the contrary that the management has "ambitious objectives". “We already have 2,800 permanent bicycle spaces registered in the period, in our spaces. We have the ambition to get to 5,000 and look for 5,000 more. So I honestly think we're a long way from small numbers. Cycling is an integral part of our multimodal strategy. The objectives set by the contract are far from being negligible, ”she declared when signing the new contract binding the management to IDFM until 2024. The manager however highlights the difficulties that arise in developing roads and cycle access to stations. "RATP does not necessarily have direct access to fingerprints that belong to communities," she underlines.
Valérie Pécresse cites the Parisian example, where stations remain under-equipped with bicycle parking spaces.
“Inside the city of Paris, the subject relates to roads, which do not depend on the RATP.
We have proposed to the mayor of Paris to build 7000 secure bicycle relay parking spaces, at the gates of Paris in particular.
“Two years later, the discussions did not lead to…
So many arguments swept aside by Louis Belenfant.
“When necessary, the RATP knows perfectly how to open a dialogue to develop spaces on the roads of communities.
If interlocutors pass the buck to each other, it is often because there is no will to move forward.
"
SNCF decided to accelerate
SNCF now seems to have changed its approach to better integrate cycling into its "DNA". The Gare & Connexions subsidiary says it is ready to strongly develop “services for cyclists”. And to carry out these projects, it intends to "establish a lasting dialogue with associations". “Our motto is to make trains want to everyone, including cyclists. Our goal is to quadruple the number of spaces for bicycles, that's a big change, ”said a spokesperson.
Beyond the quantity, future arrangements will have to be more adapted to needs. “Today some bicycle lockers near stations remain empty, we observe at the SNCF. Discussions are underway on improving the routes from the station to the bicycle parking spaces, or the development of specific services, such as recharging for electric bicycles, repair services, bicycle covers for transport, signage or transport. 'digital information… ”
For example, at the Gare du Nord, 3,000 spaces for bicycles are provided. And in Austerlitz, where the number of parking spaces must drop from 177 today to 911, “the interior redevelopment of the station will simplify traffic and intermodality between mainline trains on the surface, the RER C underground and metro lines 5 and 10. Train-cycle intermodality will be particularly developed around the station. "A change of course that the followers of the little queen would like to see generalized to all operators.
