See Many of Paris' Newest Bike Lanes (And a Whole Lot More!)

I was in Paris in November. I wanted to make just a short follow-up on what's happening with bike lanes as my chief reason for going was to document school streets (film coming in early January!) but when I met up with a few people and was out around the city all you see is road construction going on. I wish this much bike construction happened in NYC!
So I got the drop on some of the newest installed lanes and one new car-free space! Check them out here. This film stretched to twice its length and still had to leave lots of great footage out. In one instance I literally was heading to interview Derek and I immediately said, "Hey, didn't the bike lane here used to be on the other side of the street?" And my recollection (even though I was only there a few minutes on my last trip) was they did improve the street.
Paris does have the Olympics coming so it's all hands on deck. The entire city is mobilized to make the transportation system work as efficiently as possible to move the athletes, visitors, city officials and residents around during that month. But even with that being true it is stunning to see the building going on.

[@rolandboerhof9391]

Great to see so many cyclists using the infrastructure. Built it and they will come

[@HansVerburg]

Wow that bike rack blew my dutch mind! Nice!!

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

Yeah. So glad Derek just decided to show me. I pondered whether it would fit in the film. Then I just decided to put it at the end as a sort of "extra". NOW it is already so popular I have excerpted it on TIkTok (@1000Streetfillms) and here on TwiXter since people want to forward around just that segment! x.com/Streetfilms/status/1737334682633576806?s=20

[@hajj9722]

This makes me so happy. I cant wait to go to Paris for the olympics in 2024!

[@tahsin_0348]

Please don't 💀☠️ It's gonna be a mess...consider delaying your visit by a couple years, till 2026, because by then the city will be much better equipped to welcome you, with the completion of many ongoing projects. But right now...is not the best moment to visit (to say the least, there's construction EVERYWHERE)

[@user-nwwioxy]

@@tahsin_0348stfu let him go

[@chromebomb]

paris has done a really good job with their infrastructure i was impressed

[@barberouge4324]

In France we call that the Vélorution 😁

[@DanielPodlovics]

I was in Paris 7 years ago and even then it wasn't too bad to bike around. Can't wait to go back and bike some more!

[@DerekKerton]

Great edits, Clarence. You really wove the imagery, and what the different people said together into a total story.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

Thanks so much! That's always the challenge: taking all the interviews and finding the right quotes and move them around until there is a semblance of a story. It's the harder way to edit but at least I feel like it is not me dictating the story - it's more finding a way to find the common ground of what people said and liked to talk about.

[@rodrigosouto9502]

Wow! Amazing evolution in just 4 years!

[@Ladadadada]

I really like the look of that "Paris Trombone". It seems the venerable Sheffield Stand has a worthy competitor.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

I put up an excerpt of just that since people really want to use just that segment. It's here on TwiXter: x.com/Streetfilms/status/1737334682633576806?s=20

[@CristanMeijer]

This honestly makes me tear up a little. It really fills me with hope for the future. Vive la France! 🇫🇷

[@coopaloopmex]

Excellent! I want to visit Paris now! Thanks!!!

[@Siranoxz]

I guess France is sketching the rough bike lanes and eventually refine them like our Dutch cycling infrastructure.

[@DerekKerton]

Exactly. Going as fast as Paris is can be a bit messy, we have to admit. But the problems of climate and city congestion don't need slow fixes. Holland definitely shows a "finished product", Paris shows a "work in progress" and most of the world shows "Afraid of change".

[@ryn2844]

@@DerekKerton As someone from Amsterdam, sure, we're ahead of most other places, but we are also very much still a work in progress, not a finished product. Things are improving fairly quickly here too (not anywhere near as fast as Paris), with the same amount of reactionary controversy as elsewhere. There is SO much construction work in Amsterdam, which is extremely annoying to have to cycle around, but given that the roads turn out better for bikes than they were before, I'll tolerate it. Also public transport is done better in most of China, Japan and Taiwan than in the Netherlands, so please take the best elements of multiple places and don't just settle for Amsterdam. Don't make Amsterdam your finish line. Actually, maybe you shouldn't even HAVE a finish line. Just keep on improving as new science and design standards keep coming out.

[@Bidam682]

Yes and it bankrupted the city in the process. We will be paying for the bad planning for decades to come. We're already paying actually, the city is not cleaned, nothing is fixed and it deteriorates slowly.

[@Claude1Rochon]

WOW ! these are SERIOUS bike lanes.

[@flipsolo]

Massive respect to Mayor Hidalgo! I think she is one of the most transformational mayor in recent memory. She really made foundational changes to Paris and it just feels more welcoming.

[@nonokbh]

Well she also destroyed iconic urban landscapes and mobilier urbain.

[@wonjez3982]

Could you do a video on bike boxes/garages? Many people don't have the place for a bike at home and the few that still ride carry it up multiple stories (Berlin pre war buildings) every day because of bike theft. More and proper bike racks would be a good start too.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

I have a pretty ambitious slate but will put it on the list for evaluation when January hits to prioritize what films to do each season!

[@solal_ww]

I live in Paris and many automobilist are not happy about the changes but they really have to understand that bikes are so much more space efficient that in the long run it might even benefit them. And it will also help eliviate the pressure on the public transit system so that people that are too far to bike have great alternatives.

[@matthewconstantine5015]

This is great. I visited in 2019, so far my only time to Paris. I loved everything about it except for one thing. The traffic. Though I've since been to Rome, which was much, much, much worse when it comes to traffic, it was still up there with Manhattan for being unpleasant with cars. If all goes well, I'll be returning later this year and I'm very excited to experience the changes. I'll likely be walking, not cycling, but should still enjoy it.

[@cheriferdos7604]

Hoping to have such lanes in I ran to enjoy cycling 🚲..thanks for sharing

[@karlahovde]

I like that style of bike rack!

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

They certainly are cool!

[@annebraun581]

You go Paris!

[@ThePeanutWillEscape]

If you build it, they will come.

[@ThomasHaagen]

thanks 4 these funtastic insites (::

[@lyssasletters3232]

Love it❤❤❤❤

[@jazzfan7491]

How great

[@frosty4769]

The cycling infrastructure advocates all around the world thank the Parisians for their inspiring transformation that shows us it's possible and it doesn't have to take long!

[@castortoutnu]

"the width is constant" *Shows a section where the width is not constant*

[@stefano3202]

How does Paris, and other cities with more developed bike infrastructure, keep mopeds and modified electric bikes that go way too fast off of these lanes? In NYC they’re very often used by these vehicles and it makes it very unsafe as they often pass you at a very dangerous distance and high speed

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

Most don't. NYC is just different in the USA and many other cities in Europe. We have so many mopeds and e-bikes modified to go 30mph+. NYC just has waaaaay more of them.

[@DerekKerton]

How does Paris stop them? They don't. Mopeds and motorbikes often nip into bike lanes, but they usually don't stay for fear of enforcement. They use them to get around blockages, though, which means speeds a bit like us. It's a little frustrating, for sure, and not totally safe, but because their size is similar to bikes, it doesn't inhibit bikes in a significant way. 1 of 2.

[@DerekKerton]

But one thing that Paris has done is incentivize people to reduce the total number of combustion scooters in the city. Many scooter users have shifted to ebikes. As of last year, the city started charging motorcycles daily public parking fees. This reduces the total number of scooters, but also reduces the number of parked scooters. Next up, they are deploying "medusa" noise enforcement, where a device like a traffic cam automatically takes pictures of vehicles that cross a noise threshold. For now, it's just warning letters, but those will become fines. So, by making it "less comfortable" to own a motorized scooter, while also making it "more comfortable" to ride a bike in the city, they are nudging people towards the quieter, smaller, healthier, slower vehicles. 2 of 2.

[@stefano3202]

@@DerekKerton it would be a blessing if NYC could enforce something like that here as well as those bikes are also obnoxiously loud. But I fear that the problem here has become so bad and out of control. Many of these bikes are not even registered, and also have license plates that are bent upwards so that they cannot be read. It would take a lot of enforcement and probably confiscation of bikes to get that done. Those motorbikes are kind of in a grey zone where they are technically treated as vehicles, but very often are just not enforced because police cannot chase them as it would be more dangerous. I would love to ride my bike more in Manhattan but it is not a comfortable experience, in the outer boroughs it is better tho

[@KyrilPG]

2 things that help : e-bikes and "trottinettes" (often called e-scooters, the tiny unstable devices not the vespas) are legally limited to 25km/h and that is enforced. It's complicated to buy devices without cap in France and EU, while they are sold in the US. The other point is that the mass of cyclists discourage many moped / vespa users from driving in bike lanes. Before the cycling boom, mopeds / vespas were a very common sight in bike lanes, often driving the wrong way in one-way lanes and bullying cyclists to clear the way. Now they are outnumbered by cyclists, several folds.

[@unbreakableldorado7723]

More bike lanes and trees are the way to go, Paris is doing an amazing job

[@TheObimara]

I like the really wide bike streets and the mostly car free canal zone... That bidirectional shown at the beginning already looks like it's going to be insufficient, and not holding because it's a silly urban bi-directional. Those racks look okay, but unless they're made of really fancy metal such as that lock the guy uses, they can be cut... Also, a few were placed so that bikes were sticking out into the bike lanes and I saw nothing for larger bikes or longer bikes.

[@DerekKerton]

You're right that the city has not yet adapted to the surge in popularity of cargo bikes and bucket bikes. A longtail can fit OK. Those bikes are gaining fast as car replacements, and are even promoted through their availability in the capital region's Lease-to-own program, called Veligo.

[@KyrilPG]

There's also a consulting "group" (I think it's a kind of non-profit association or something like that) called "Les boîtes à vélo" whose mission is to advise and accompany companies, from major consortium to one-man artisan companies, to switch from cars / vans / trucks to bikes, cargo bikes and bike trailers as much as possible. And it works, I live in Paris 19th district, North corner of Belleville metro, and a few months ago I urgently needed a plumber : he arrived on a cargo e-bike with more than enough tools and materials. He told me that they were absolutely pissed about the worsened traffic, complexity and parking reduction and switched to cargo bikes kicking and screaming but that now he wouldn't ever go back to needlessly driving an entire van for more than 9 out of 10 jobs. To the point he even sold his van and now shares one with 2 or 3 other artisans to use when a particular job really requires it. And even then, the van apparently collects dust for most of the week in a suburban garage. The pain and rage of many seem to come from anticipation and ignorance, as the overwhelming majority of those who've switched, or at least tried, are now raving about their cargo bikes and don't regret their van one bit.

[@tahsin_0348]

I can't wait to see how it'll all turn out in 2026!😁 But for the next year I'm afraid Paris will go through hell for the Olympics 😬😬

[@cedrictrimoulet6239]

It doesn't show the traffic jams in adjacent streets, nor the fact that people living around Paris cannot access the city anymore. Commuting journeys have been made more complicated and so much longer.

[@delftfietser]

Do you mean commuting journeys by car, that travel times are extended and even access restricted? I am not intending to seem stupid. I both cycle and drive in my city, and it's probably a bad truth that to build more bicycle lanes one must remove car lanes. This makes the remaining car space less efficient while increasing safety and use of the bicycle. Someone is always the loser, put in pain and inconvenience. There is no equity.

[@soulofamerica]

I look forward to visiting again in 2025, but I will definitely rent a bike or scooter.

[@TheObimara]

One person mentions the infrastructure spreading out but it's not clear what's happening in more modest, outer districts. I would like to see a POV of riding around those famous traffic circles. I echo the comments about secure overnight parking in front of housing. Curious what people who mostly identify as drivers think about it all...

[@DerekKerton]

As for drivers, well, most hate the changes. Taxi drivers have protested them at various times. But Car owners are just 30% of households in Paris. In the suburbs, it's a higher percentage, and they DO want more public space dedicated to car parking in the city. As for the roundabouts, here's one I took a few years back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3TFpaGjl8x_hbM This intersection has been further changed with even more reduced car access, and a "forest" has been planted in the center just last month!

[@ivanberranger5105]

Unbelievable… I was born there, lived there for 30+ years. Riding was a NIGHTMARE! But I did… some! Question though… where do they park all these bikes? I used to carry mine 4 flights of stairs… Now here I am living in another nightmare city for cyclists, Houston Texas… I risk my life daily I hear you, why not move back to Paris… agreed. I just saw le canal Saint Martin, my grandparents lived there… across the bridge… ❤❤❤😢

[@bruceclark7198]

Houston is a nightmare. But you can help us get better. Become a member of Bike Houston, which advocates for safer streets.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

Where does everyone park? Well they now have TONS of bike parking on the street. See this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4rLZpiobpJ4qZo

[@DerekKerton]

Pour se garer la journées, il y a beaucoup d'arceaux offerts, et une croissance rapide. Et quand il manque des arceaux, on utilise les barrières anti-stationnement des voitures. Ca s'arrange bien. La nuit...ben...ce n'est pas aussi cool. Si on a un vélo qui vaut plus que 50 balles, on ne la laisse pas dans la rue, ou bien on ne la retrouve pas le lendemain. Mais les syndics ont mis des arceaux aux cours, alors ca aide...mais il y en a plein de gens qui les emmènent aux aparts - plutôt chiant pour l'étudiant dans une chambre de bonne au cinquième ! On les voit aux balcons. Des gens s'en servent aussi des trottinettes électriques privés. Mais, n'oubliez pas les Vélib, les Lime, et les Dott. On peut s'en servir d'un vélo en libre service, et la problème de stockage n'existe pas.

[@ivanberranger5105]

@@DerekKerton merci Derek. On est loin des solutions adoptées à Amsterdam: le garage à vélo! Mais bon j’admire qu’ils enfin ont sacrifié les voitures et camions dans ces rues pour les vélos! Le quai de Valmy: Je ne pouvais pas dormir à cause du bruit des bagnoles! C’est décidé, je rentre à Paris! Hm… maybe?

[@ivanberranger5105]

@@bruceclark7198 I’m not advocate enough? I ride 9 miles to work and 9 miles back… every day! Some people hate me for doing this. I get people spitting at me from their car, some have thrown bottles at me. Even kids from a school bus. Advocate? Doing what… sitting in a meeting talking about it? Thank you for being advocate…

[@nonokbh]

3:44 not Rue de Rivoli lol

[@benjaminbouaoune4466]

It is ... 134/136 rue de rivoli, la samaritaine. Around there

[@nonokbh]

@@benjaminbouaoune4466 thought it was the facade rue de la monnaie .. probably the same on Rivoli!

[@monowheeling]

5:01

[@PurpleRider]

I see scooter, I see bikes, did you spot the electric unicycle rider?

[@austin.paquette]

It feels like this has come absolutely out of nowhere. What Paris is doing is why I don't trust my city designers and lawmakers anymore when they say studies need to be done and things need to be assessed when it comes to adding new bike lanes. Red tape just delays things and allows idiots to voice their stupid opinions that end up making the final product worse. Just DO IT and see what happens. If a temporary design is successful then begin the process of making it permanent. If not, make changes and then assess. Everyone is too afraid of pissing off drivers. I can see in my mind what my city would look like if they followed Paris' vision and it would be beautiful. But instead we get piddly little unprotected gutter lanes while the cars get 2, plus turning lanes. My downtown could benefit so much from pedestrianization, but they only do it once a year during the summer (always to great success) as a little festival and open it right back up to cars after, immediately going back to insufferable. North Americans design their life around cars, and can't even fathom, for a moment, how good we could have it if we designed for humans instead.

[@nonokbh]

Copenhagen-like UNIDIRECTIONAL bikelanes are better. The problem is that in Paris people tend to bicycle on both sides ... but in one direction.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

While unidirectional bike lanes are certainly preferred, there are plenty of times that bi-directional work and are a good choice depending on the road geometry. If you want to think one-standard fits all, then you'll never enlighten yourself to all the options.

[@benjaminbouaoune4466]

@@StreetfilmsCommunity They are cases where bi directional is acceptable, but they are almost never better than a properly constructed uni directional on both sides

[@horizon1460]

Interdire les trottinettes et les vélos dans Paris sa perturbe les conducteurs de véhicules 🚗 et les passants qui traversent ils sont prioritaires sur terre

[@jesuschristii8839]

In english please.....

[@CLMBRT]

A good effort from the city hall but people are too undisciplined (all of them - car drivers, mopped drivers, cyclists, pedestrians) which makes the cycling experience really frustrating and a bit dangerous. I used to ride my bike more in North America, here I rather walk.

[@KyrilPG]

Hey, it's Paris, it has always been an organized mess with a hint of orderly chaos... After all, the French are a unique blend of Germanic organization and Latin chaos, it's sometimes painful but surely tasty. The big step will be when the Étoile will be redone. Will it still be the thunderdome arena it is today? (And always been). Or will it transform into an appeased magical roundabout? Though, Paris without a healthy dose of chaos would feel strange...

[@laurent.pietri]

"Quick and dirty" voilà le résumé des infrastructures cyclables parisiennes - "vite faites, mal faites " -- "Quick and dirty" is the summary of Parisian cycling infrastructure - "quickly done, poorly done" --

[@Bidam682]

Ca me fait mal de voir ce genre de videos qui montrent le 1% des pistes cyclables qui sont bien faites et ne montre pas le désastre dans le reste de la ville. Et la dette abyssale créée par des décisions 'coup de tête' sans planification et qui coutent une fortune à réparer.

[@ErickHumboldt]

Bikes don t stop at trafic light, very dangerous for pedestrians, this city is fully chaos

[@KyrilPG]

There are signs called M12, the little triangles under stoplights, that transform red lights into yield signs...

[@fredh.1678]

"Anne Hidalgo has great plans for Paris" Sorry no, she doesn't

[@jesuschristii8839]

Kremlin's cheap trolls are so funny 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@Bidam682]

@@jesuschristii8839 I live in Paris and I can tell you he's right. The mayor bankrupted the city. What is shown in the video is carefully selected. It doesn't show the rest : badly designed bike lanes, dirty city everywhere, drug addicts constantly harassing locals and the hundreds of millions spent on doing quickly and badly, and then rebuilding differently the next day because the mayor had a change of heart.

[@jesuschristii8839]

@@Bidam682 that s funny because you are not the only citizen in paris.... and the other citizens keep voting for her.... Funny isn t it?

[@Bidam682]

​@@jesuschristii8839 She was elected with less than half of the votes, 4 years ago. At that time people didn't know fully about the disastrous financial situation, and it got a lot worse since then. You can be sure that she's out next time. She's widely unpopular nowadays, except among foreign youtubers but they don't vote in Paris elections. She was a candidate in 2022 for the presidential election she got the worst score of the whole existence of her party (less than 2% at national level, 2,17% in Paris). Only 22,000 Parisians voted for her to become president, out of a million voters...

[@jesuschristii8839]

@@Bidam682 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Are you a kremlin's troll? We are not in russia you know???

[@Bidam682]

Yes bike lanes are a good thing, but not in the way it was done in Paris. Because when you build and rebuild and rebuild because it was badly planned in the beginning you're spending A LOT of money. This is how it's done in Paris, bad planning and endless spendings to fix mistakes. The mayor bankrupted the city, the finances have never been that bad in the existence of the city. She doesn't care it will be the problem of the next mayor. She also paid a personal vacation trip to french polynesia with city funds and tried to disguise it as an 'official' trip (it was actually to attend the wedding of a family member). There are also many other suspicions of corruption. This is the worst mayor that Paris had, she has seriously compromised Paris future. I cringe when I read people not living in Paris praising her. You don't know the reality of her disastrous management of the city. It's easy to get the praise of youtube urbanists, just a layer of green paint on the side of the street, they don't look further than that because it validates their fantasy of a global transport revolution happening everywhere. If you spent 100 millions euros painting the street green they don't care it's not their money.

[@KyrilPG]

I live in Paris and have been for the past 40+ years. Mayor Hidalgo is the best one the city ever had, even though she wasn't my first choice at the beginning, but the way she revolutionized mobility and street occupation really is great. The Polynesia trip is way overblown and a speck of dust compared to so many other politicians. She only coupled a professional trip to a personal one, quite benign compared to Chirac's entire holidays with zero professional bits, Tiberi's fake electors or many other politicians actually being on the take. And she decided to pay for her trip to silence easy attacks. The streets and biking equipment are done and redone mostly because opponents (or the prefecture) would have blocked the final stage or any form of advanced modification if it happened without intermediate steps. Now that the demand for cycling equipment is obvious and can't be doubted, the city hall goes much more directly to full blown equipment, bypassing steps. And keep in mind it is a transition, many people complain about change and cry about the city hall changing things too fast. So which is it? Make up your mind! Intermediate steps to ease the transition or direct jumps to more final equipment stages? You can't have it both ways... Plus, the city isn't bankrupt, it only had some financial difficulties linked mainly to the pandemic, just like IDFM recently had a fiscal cliff. Something entirely different from being bankrupt. Stop watching CNEWS, it rots the mind...

[@RantRantJoe]

Oh, God.. this is our future. It's like going backwards in time. 🤢🤮...

[@lws7394]

Mmmm, Back in time ? Like when a lot less people were overweight or obese (not with a downward life expectancy trend) . When children

[@thastayapongsak4422]

This is the future, and your mind is stuck in the past.

[@jerrytwolanes4659]

The future is coming. You obviously don't like that fact but the truth remains....the future is coming! IMHO, it is really something I learned in 4th grade? I've accepted that fact since then and not once ever in my life would make a statement like you did. Because you know, facts and junk

[@Redzwan]

Your mind is still in the 1960's.

[@StreetfilmsCommunity]

@@Redzwan HAHA!