How Paris is Leading a Sustainable Transportation Revolution

Meanwhile in Toronto: "OK, so how do we increase cycling without any changes, and how do we decrease car usage without any changes?"

I'm a car guy, I have an r33 skyline and a Toyota MR-2 as my weekend warriors. That being said, I think cars are horrifically inefficient and as someone who lives close to Amsterdam, I've seen a drastic change in traffic and congestion from the early 90's to now, and I've seen the major improvements that happened in the city by motivating people more to take alternative modes of transport. They improved the infrastructure drastically and as a result, more and more people take either public transport or use an E-bike to get around. It's much more pleasant to walk around in the city, and I have no problem parking my own car at the edge of the city and take a 10 minute metro drive to the center to contribute to a cleaner, safer and more quiet environment in the city center. I'm 100% for limiting the use of cars in big cities, BUT this should obviously go hand in hand with offering good alternatives like more buses, light rail, bike lanes, etcetera.

Your map of Rue de Rivoli at the beginning is incorrect… but otherwise, great video! I remember, when I was working in Pairs during the covid years, i could see street changes everyday. I recommend you go back and bike again. A LOT has changed in 2 years since you last visited. Another reason why is because paris is using the upcoming Olympics to fast-track changes in the city.

Great video! This kind of work in promoting cycling should be studied by cities everywhere. The more infrastructure there is the more people will cycle.

Seeing these changes make me unbelievably happy

Some people say that it is more expensive to travel with a family using public transportation instead of using a car but tell yourself this: is it not better to have less cars on the road, less accidents, pollution, traffic ? Have more people exercise, bike, walk safely around ? Nothing is perfect but I would wager having less cars is defnitely a good thing. Most cars anyways are only transporting one person nodaways, except for holidays. Those who still need to use a car, will. But those who can use other means will switch and that is the entire goal of the transition.

Paris is extremely encouraging. Maybe not from a perspective of quality (yet) in terms of the cycling experience, but in terms of the decisiveness and expedience with which the transformation has been pushed over there and also the speed with which people have changed their habbits. That drop in the rate of car ownership is actually crazy. The only other city that has pushed for the same degree of transformation in the same (short) amount of time that i can think of is Seville in Spain, which is of course a much smaller city. But Paris really is proof that given the political will and urgency, not a single european city has a valid excuse not to transform itself into a bike friendly city within a decade or two.

I have been cycling a lot in Paris for over 20 years and I totally agree with your conclusion: - Paris is far from being a "cylcing utopia"; there are still a lot of problems (too many to be mentioned here) and many other cities (including important cities in France such as Nantes) have much better cycling infrastructure - But there have been incredibly massive changes during the last 20 years (since the arrival of Velib', one of the first bike-sharing systems in the world and the biggest to this day if I'm not mistaken). The situation has improved a lot. It took a lot of political courage to Delanoe and Hidalgo because they did it in face of fierce opposition from the right (and many are still very critical about it) and made traffic (promoting biking and public transport against personal cars) the centerpiece of their policy, but the fact that they have been consistently reelected proves that there is support for their policy. Great video anyway!!

Cycling is particularly great for Paris because although it is densely populated, it isn’t that big in surface area. With a decent cycling infrastructure you can really go anywhere in Paris in a fairly short time !

Seeing the dramatic change in Paris gives me a small amount of hope for some US cities. The economics of cars just is not sustainable

I love what's happening in Paris. Cities are for people, not for cars. It might be awhile before it's convenient to make all trips by bike there, but every car taken off the city streets is a step in the right direction.

Those are dramatic changes, almost half of the cars off the road and a big air quality improvement. Not to mention the quality of driving for the people who actually need to

I always am amazed when I see big cities or even countries giving huge importance to cycling. Unfortunately I live in Malta, where cycling has been given almost to 0 importance. Most of us, haven't even rode a bike once.

it's not only about cycling. Hidalgo is giving priority lanes to buses, removing traffic completely in small streets where there are primary schools as well. I live in a quit area in PAris (that exists ^^) and a big street close by has been reduced to only one lanes for standard cars and the opposite strictly for buses and taxi. The result is a much improved peaceful environment. You can litterally hear the birds when walking on the side walks. Amazing

Paris still lacks a lot of public transportation. The bus company is struggling to recruit and keep bus driver because work conditions are not great and the media keeps bashing them when they go on strike.

there was also a long transport strike in Paris from December 2019 to ~ mid January 2020. Not being able to rely on the metro and bus network to go work while the car was still a bad choice really pushed the need for individual cycle and electric scooters. Then there was covid a those pop up bike lanes got even more popular the summer when people could use their new bikes after months of lock down.

Great video. I lived in Paris in the late 90's, we used to cycle around the city for a "Manif a vélo" ( Demonstration on bikes) on weekends, taunting car drivers, and honestly risking our necks. That was when they started building bike lines, that were fiercely opposed, and fiercely defended by pioneering bike users. Just one remark: the map at 10 s does not show Rue de Rivoli, ( it shows Friedland and Haussman Avenues) Rivoli is to the south, closer to the Seine.

Every new mile of bike lane puts a smile on my face.

Great video. As someone who has been visiting Paris several times a year since 2004, I have seen huge improvements and have been a regular Velib user for more years than I can now remember. There was a "hiccup" when they changed operators but with the subsequent expansion of the network and introduction of e-bikes it is an excellent way to get around Paris.

i drove from frankfurt/germany to paris last summer with my bicycle. remember passing the same scene as in 0:19 lol. enjoyed alot this afternoon, going completly relaxed through the citycenter on bike.