Showdown! Paris Bike-Friendly Challenge | French Plus One, Minus Two (from

[@RetailDM]

As an dutch person i follow NJB and shifter about our total normal infrastructure. Last year I was in Paris and amazed about the bike roads in the city. I know it is not as good as we are used to, but i was thinking on taking a bike next time that I am in Paris. The city is changing and is on it's way to become a cycling city if they keep up with this.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thanks for the Dutch perspective! What excites me the most is that people Parisians and suburbanites are totally on board with more paths and lanes, the demand is high, and this pushes mayors and others to do more! Let's say we're a developing cycling city!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

This is such a fascinating look at Paris. I’ve been so interested in the city after reading about how much it’s changed over the last couple of years, and this really give me new insight. How would you say this route compares to a similar route in Paris five years ago? Thanks for doing this video 👍🏼

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thanks so much! I have seen other cities compete and it definitely motivated me to enter! 5 years ago, you could not use small streets as shortcuts. Cycles lanes or paths were already present on most large avenues and boulevards. And bikes were allowed to use bus lanes since the 80s. I thinks I would have stayed on the broad streets and shared the road with motorists. But honestly, 5 years ago, I wouldn't even consider biking as a possibility! Cycling in contraflow lanes in Paris is very recent. It was generalised in 2022 when 95% of Paris' streets were limited to 30 km/h (20 mph).

[@Altis_play]

super concept je note l'idée !

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Yes ! C'est ça qu'on veut ! 😄 Je me demande si je vais pas le refaire pour de vrai, en allant à Villiers-sur-Marne ou un truc affreux du style !

[@pappy9473]

The high speed bumps are necessary as SUVs and other such vehicles simply sail over low bumps with impunity. And as we know an incident of a vehicle of this type, on hitting a child or bicycle user results in death of or serious injury to the child or person on a bike far more often than if the same incident occurs with low vehicles. Great video

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you very much!

[@for22day]

Viewpoint from someone in Vancouver: envy of all the raised crossings; amazement that the rating ends up in negative territory … we would love to have such quiet and dedicated routes for cycling covering such a long distance; understanding that improvements are still needed

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

I have not been kind, it is true, and I picked this route because it had a large variety of issues! Unfortunately, raised crossing is really a local thing, but more and more towns understand their benefit!

[@leohuisman5977]

Good to see how Paris is developing/improving it's cycling infrastructure. It takes time, Rome also wasn't build in 1 day. I live in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and compared to other cities in the Netherlands we lag behind a bit. But our city has improved a lot over the years.....so will Paris, it just takes time (and political will). Oh yes...and I took your advise and subscribed to your channel 🙂

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you very much! Yes, we are very patient, and sometimes it feels like nothing is being done, but it's very progressive. Many things to come this years it seems!

[@minhn1994]

Having cycled in Paris occasionally, this seems to be pretty representative of the experience. Certain streets are excellent, but they are broken up by bad infrastructure and don't form a cohesive network. There's an absence of "continuité cyclable". Watching your commute, it definitely looks like an overall poor experience and I think the -19 is justified.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

I'm so used to cycling the entirety of rue de Rivoli that I often forget how bad it is when you go elsewhere... There are many ongoing works right now, and a lot should change pretty soon!

[@tocatchasnark1471]

Minus 10 for trying to run the couple over on the zebra crossing, you should stop for pedestrians at 3:20

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Nice catch, unfortunately it was red for them, I totally noticed that the first lady didn't look at the sign or the road. I braked to let her pass and the second lady stopped when she should have. She might have acted like she didn't see but who knows? Even if it's red /for them/ I have to let a pedestrian finish, and she did. Then there's common courtesy. But that's another can of worms.

[@georgekarnezis4311]

God, France 🇫🇷 looks like a dream. You were too harsh on the scoring. But your criticism was valid.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

I regreted using this path because it's bad compared to alternatives, but I also wanted to showcase the wild variety of stuff we have and how disconnected it is! Some roads are a little too perfect and have less stuff to discuss :p

[@Maguramishi]

Thanks. I enjoyed viewing the infrastructure and your comments (and your comments on the comments)

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Hahah thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@leahvanloon8217]

When Paris reopened with new bike lanes and infrastructure I was kind of excited to use them, especially the path down rue de Rivoli to Saint Antoine but the sheer volume of other cyclists is really daunting! Maybe I’ll work up the nerve to try on my next visit. Thanks for this video!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

We might hit new records this year! I'd say to avoid rush hours! Other than that, traffic in Paris during the day is OK in most places for cycles.

[@jolly7728]

Fun to watch. You were very fair. Great to see Paris. Only thing is that if the roads were perfectly set up for biking, wouldn’t it be a little boring for cyclists? All the surprises and infrastructure "flaws" help to make riding a bike exciting since you have to be really intelligent to ride safely in traffic.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you! I chose this path instead of the more recent, more secure rue de Rivoli, which is close to perfect, there wouldn't be much of a competition. Since starting recording journeys, I'm much more observant of changes, and maybe that makes me more cautious. Also I don't want to be caught making a mistake!

[@unsafevelocities5687]

Watching this from Australia I think you were a little harsh, especially since Shifter didn't -2 repeated problems. If you re-scored Calgary the same way, I'd say there would be a greater difference. But, yeah, it looks so much more fun to cycle in Paris than here in Melbourne. Paris seems to be doing a great job turning car-centrism around so quickly! See you in 40 years when Melbourne looks like this! lol Nice radio voice, btw!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

3 years ago Paris didn't look like this! That's how 'long' it took! They're doing it street after street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood and it started with ugly planters and uglier yellow plastic bollards, all this got removed because of all people it's drivers who complained the most about how it looked. This pushed Paris to go accelerate the upgrades! Win-Win!

[@unsafevelocities5687]

@@EKsUrbanTracks That's amazing! I like that drivers were just resigned to it happening so it may as well be pretty. That's awesome.

[@miketrebert7788]

Thanks. Nicely done - very clear. Normal speed would have been tedious.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you! I guess I could have kept the video at normal speed, but I would have had to edit in a style I didn't yet have!

[@humanecities]

Great to see more +1, -2 from more cities! This is a great way to see things around the world and consider how to improve things in my own area!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Absolutely, seeing other places is what inspired me to do the same!

[@Littleweenaman]

great video🎉!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you very much!

[@catlerbatty]

A bus in such narrow streets is an unusual sight. I wonder how they turn and stuff.

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

I used to ride this bus line years ago, cars show courtesy to buses most of the time, and cars can pass each other if they go slowly, but cyclists? Still, I have never heard of any incident, maybe this false sense of security is what makes some drivers drive less carefully.

[@akaDenisDenis]

I love you Eric

[@jmhaddon]

First time I watched your channel and an instant subscribe from me!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Thank you so much!

[@BoBandits]

Très bien!

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Merci !

[@LeafHuntress]

Merci beaucoup pour le vidéo. J’aime tous les chaînes qui essayent le challenge. C’est vachement bien on y voit. Je suis heureuse que le vélotaf et les autres usages de bici (comme acheter quelque choses) tousser dans le monde. Oui, Paris n’est pas lá maintenant, mais c’est plus que Londres ou faux-Londres. J’espère que tu comprends mon comment. À tantôt aux Pays Bas. Liefs leafs (^.^)

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Oui, j'ai tout compris ! Faux-Londres haha ! Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais j'ai vraiment l'impression que Londres est en avance sur Paris ! À bientôt !

[@filou5835]

@Paris Cycling - Découverte à vélo, j'ai découvert ta chaîne avec le challenge . J'aime beaucoup ton contenu. Merci de la part d'une team cyclo à la cool ( 🤓+ 🐶) 🥰

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Énorme merci ! Vous avez une chaîne pour cette team ? Vous êtes de quel coin ? Pourquoi pas faire le test par chez vous aussi ? :p Ça pourrait être sympa si plusieurs coins de France le faisaient !

[@filou5835]

@@EKsUrbanTracks : je n'ai pas de chaîne mais j aime regarder les déplacements à vélo. Ta voix est très agréable, je t invite à nous la faire écouter+ souvent pour nous livrer tes ressentis vélo ou décor si ça te dit 😉

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Merci du compliment ! Je prépare quelques vidéos avec ma voix pour la semaine qui arrive ^^

[@everytimeieatsnowitscold5277]

Je dois noter que tu as un sacré bon accent, ce qui n'est pas le cas de la plupart des fr (j'en fais partie :p)

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Merci beaucoup ! Je ne parlerai pas des nombreuses prises inécoutables qui ont été supprimées entre temps :D

[@rafi6618]

mind if I ask? are you french? p.s. nice video tho

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Not at all! Yes! 🇫🇷 Thank you!

[@godemperormeow8591]

Paris bike commuting isn't the best but infinitely better than FLORIDA.

[@AssBlasster]

4:57 you missed -2 for the work van blocking the entire bike path and sidewalk! As an American, what the hell! Why can't our streets be this narrow *throughout* the city. Only like downtown areas may have streets this consistently narrow, like 2-3 car widths. Also, way more consistent appearance of painted bike symbols copy and pasted all along the road vs the seldom sharrow in the USA. I will actually be visiting Paris for first time in May, so would you have any suggestions for new bike routes to explore the city?

[@EKsUrbanTracks]

Yeah, straight, wide streets/avenues with nothing to slow speeds suck. Paris is actually very inconsistent on the painting or lack thereof, but I think the copy/paste is becoming standard. I guess is cheaper and doesn't required heavy maintenance and it's more versatile.