Le Figaro Bordeaux
In the city center, during rush hours, is the bicycle more efficient than the car or is it just an impression?
In Bordeaux, as in all major cities, the use of bicycles is booming.
In France, its use increased by another 5% in 2023. In order to carry out future urban developments best suited to this mode of travel, the Bordeaux metropolis has just launched a survey among cyclists, to find out their true speed in the department. .
“Between the estimated travel time and the actual time, there is sometimes a gap that we cannot really quantify
,” explains Bordeaux Métropole.
To better understand cycling travel times, the community has therefore launched a free application to
“collect the GPS tracks of Girondins who travel by bike”
.
Volunteers will receive a download link and tutorial as well as a quick questionnaire to complete.
Data will be collected during the month of March.
“The more participants there are, the more the survey will be representative of the diversity of practices.”
Read alsoBordeaux: cyclists put pressure on the environmentalist town hall for a secure track on the boulevards
The bike 10 times cheaper than the car
By 2030, the government wants to reach 12% of the modal share of cycling.
As part of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the government also wants to encourage cycling, recalling that “
during rush hours, a car takes 70 minutes on average to travel 10 km in the city, where the bike only takes 35"
, and that
"traveling by bike is 10 times cheaper than by car"
.
Arguments which seem to have resonated for a long time with the inhabitants of Bordeaux, a relatively flat and small town, regularly ranked among the most bicycle-friendly cities.
In the Bordeaux area, bicycles do seem to be faster than cars, but this impression has not yet been quantified.
“The choice of mode of transport is mainly determined by the speed used and the distances traveled.
However, the speed of cyclists is based on an assumption of average speed depending on the type of development, but not supported by real speed data
,” explains the Bordeaux metropolis in this regard.
“The precise data from this survey will make it possible to plan arrangements adapted to the practices of Gironde cyclists.”
In Bordeaux, as in the 27 other municipalities of the conurbation, cycling breaks remain numerous, but they are gradually being erased through developments.
Between 2020 and 2023, the metropolis has created 157 kilometers of cycle paths and lanes, for a total of 1,600 kilometers across the entire territory.
While the number of trips by car is decreasing significantly (-20% between 2009 and 2021), that by bike has more than doubled (+124%), making these secure arrangements necessary.