Bringing cycling to the forefront of the Paris elections

12 Mar, 2020
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
Author: Paris en Selle (Alyssa Heath) | Pictures: Paris en Selle (Pierre Morel)
The Parisian cycling advocacy group, Paris en Selle (local members of FUB), is changing the conversation about the role of bicycles in 21st century cities. All six mayoral candidates  attended the Grand Oral Vélo event organised by Paris en Selle. They had the opportunity to debate, discuss, and present their priorities and plans for the future of cycling in Paris.  

Paris mayoral candidates playing along the Grand Oral Vélo 

FUB members Paris en Selle and Mieux se Déplacer à Bicyclette invited the six leading candidates running in the upcoming Paris municipal election to participate in a conversation on their specific plans for making Paris a more bikeable city. The candidates included the current mayor of Paris, Anne Hildago (Parti Socialiste), Benjamin Griveaux† (La République en Marche, founded by President Emmanuel Macron), Cédric Villani (former member of La République en Marche), Rachida Dati (member of the right-leaning Les Républicains party), David Belliard (Europe Ecology party), and Danielle Simonnet (La France Insoumise, radical left). They all had 15 minutes of time to present their cycling plans and to answer questions from the moderator, an expert in urban mobility. Each candidates presented their proposals and ideas on how to create a city with safer and more accessible biking paths. 

Takeaways: The Future of cycling in Paris 

Municipal elections are being held on March 15th and March 22nd. Some candidates, while presenting their cycling infrastructure proposals, seemed to genuinely commit to changing the cycling culture of Paris. Their vision is of a Paris that more closely resembles cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. The current mayor Anne Hildago highlighted her “Plan Vélo” which follows the lines of the plan put forth by Paris en Selle themselves. Her policy plan completely adopts and implements the Vélopolitain network within the next four years (2020-2024). Additionally, she committed to making 100% of Parisian streets bikeable by 2024, in time for the summer Olympic games. Mayor Hildago envisions a city where citizens can get anywhere by bicycle in 15 minutes. 

Both components of her cycling plan featured Paris en Selle’s initiatives: Vélopolitain and Mon Quartier N’est Pas Un Raccourci. The first campaign, Vélopolitain, is an extensive bicycle network project, that mimics the lines of the Parisian métro, but is entirely made up of efficient and secure bicycle lanes throughout the city.  

The second campaign My Neighborhood is not a Shortcut, challenges the idea that small streets within Paris should be open to automobile through-traffic. This campaign suggests to reorganise traffic, concentrating car traffic to the main streets, and decongesting quiet residential streets. This plan embraces a pedestrian and cycling mixed-use of the public space, similar to the Superblocks layout in Barcelona. The Mon Quartier N’est Pas Un Raccourci vision creates a comprehensive biking grid, effectively completing the Vélopolitain. At the Grand Oral Vélo, most candidates committed to implementing the Vélopolitain cycling network if they are elected in March.  

The Grand Oral Velo event was the proof of the tangible impact grassroots organizations like Paris en Selle can have on realising the change we want to see in our cities. 

To watch a video of the entire debate, visit this webpage

Regions: 

News category: 

Topics: 

Contact the author

Agathe Marie's picture
Communications Officer

Contact Us

Avenue des Arts, 7-8
Postal address: Rue de la Charité, 22 
1210 Brussels, Belgium

Phone: +32 2 329 03 80