In 2023, the metropolitan cycle network is estimated at over 4,000 km of cycle routes.
The cycling network has expanded in recent years, as a result of local authority master plans and cycle plans and the funding they provide. In 2019, for example, there were 2,614 km of cycle routes in the Metropolis, while in 2023 approximately 1,400 km more have been counted, that is an increase of over 54%.
The number of cyclists has grown: according to the 2020 Global Transport Survey, 5.4% of mechanised journeys in Grand Paris Metropolis are made by bicycle, compared with 3.8% in 2010. Since then, the health crisis has accelerated this increase further and marked a change in behaviour, both from a local authority point of view as of cyclists themselves. On Boulevard de Sebastopol, the City of Paris counters show that in 2023 there is a daily flow of about 13,000 cyclists (the average on a working day, in both directions of traffic), this is slightly over 385,000 per month. Quite a considerable number of cyclists.
Also in Paris, the 95 monitoring counters (spread over 43 sites) show an average +71% increase in people using cycle infrastructures between 2019 and 2022.
Apur has identified and mapped more than 2,000 km of planned routes, backed by a number of stakeholders, which will amount to a network of over 6,000 km by 2030.
This map is taken from the Grand Paris Cycling Atlas produced in partnership. It brings together the different networks for the first time, including the project for a 617 km structuring network that will integrate the 3 main networks: VIF (Vélo Ile-de-France), the cycle scheme - Plan Vélo Métropolitain - and the Olympistes implemented by the City of Paris, Seine Saint-Denis and Paris 2024. The Agency also drew upon Departmental circuits, the cycle plans of different territories and the work of Société du Grand Paris and Île-de-France Mobilités in station hubs.
Three major challenges have been identified:
- The development of the network, and particularly that it be continuous, structuring and legible in Grand Paris.
- Feeder services to and from future and existing metro stations in Grand Paris. With 4.36 million inhabitants living within 3 km of Grand Paris Express stations, i.e. a 15 minute bike ride away.
- The increase of cycle services (parking, bike shops, self-service bikes and repair points, Vélib and Véligo hire bikes, cargo bikes and cycling education for all ages).
