On the way to Copenhagen to lead the study abroad class, I first stopped in Paris because I’ve been hearing so much about how Paris is trying to be the first city to take the 50-year lessons of Copenhagen and implement them in 5 years. So I was curious how things were going, what did the infrastructure look like, were people biking, and what did it feel like to bike within a system in the middle of rapid change?

I was only there a few days, so cannot give a full accounting, so I will give a partial one.  But first, many many many thanks to Stein van Oosteren, a Dutch diplomat in Paris who also happens to be an expert (he’s Dutch) and evangelist for all the benefits that accrue to society by prioritizing cycling. Stein showed me around for a couple of hours and explained the transitions that have happened and those in progress.  That perspective is really critical because it is easy to enter a new situation and be critical of how things are and un-appreciative of how far things have come. Paris is not a Dutch-level cycling city yet, but Stein’s perspective clearly made the case that it is on its way. You are welcome to stop reading here and just watch a wonderful Streetfilms video by Stein.

How Things Were Going

My initial impressions from walking around Paris was that bike infrastructure seemed to be everywhere, which was not the case when I was last in Paris in 2012. And there seemed to be plenty of people biking as well. The infrastructure seemed inconsistent from a pedestrian view point and the central city was of course, quite crowded and full of people and life.

What Did It Feel Like Biking

I basically had three periods of biking experience over my short visit.  The first section was getting a day pass for Velíb, the original Paris docked bikeshare system and one that is widely used. (Many additional, private dockless bikeshare systems are now all over as well and also used quite a bit.) Using bikeshare was great because we (with spouse, Mindy) combined walking and biking depending on where we wanted to go.  Bikeshare was also a nice introduction to biking because at any point if we felt uncomfortable, we could just turn the bike in and not feel like we wasted money on a day-long rental bike.

Actually biking was super mixed.  On the one hand, it was definitely quicker when we wanted something quicker than walking and it was nice to generally have infrastructure, but understanding the system was hard at first.  Infrastructure changed block to block and it was not intuitively clear whether cross streets were bikeable or not, which one-way streets allowed ‘contra-flow’ cycling (‘against’ traffic), and how/where to make left-hand turns, especially given the many 2-way cycle tracks which are confusing when intersecting with other 2-way lanes.

In short, we were happy that biking was an option, we felt generally safe doing so, but it was not relaxing at all.  That said, doing something new in a new place is almost always a bit more stressful the first time as things are getting figured out.

My second phase of biking was going around the city with Stein and that was extremely enjoyable. We cycled in a variety of environments Dutch style the whole way, side-by-side talking without worry of ‘being in someone’s way’. We rode on some amazing, new 1st class infrastructure where entire car lanes were re-prioritized as protected bike lanes and that experience turned the entire Paris experience on its head – a future of relaxing cycling in this busy city could definitely seem possible. Thanks again to Stein van Oosteren for this experience and perspective.

My third phase was renting an e-bike for the day and exploring a slightly less travelled tourist route across greater central Paris.  The ‘e’ in the e-bike was hardly needed, but when I had opportunity to use it, it was amazing (like cycling up to Sacré-Cœur!). Most of the experience of this day’s less travelled (for a tourist) paths by bike were: 1) there was decent infrastructure for most of our journey; 2) drivers mostly seemed aware/accepting of people on bike as there really are a ton of people on bike, though in general the streets are a free-for-all for all users so if that is stressful to you, then cycling has a bit of stress; and 3) much of the infrastructure was much too narrow, too proximate to pedestrians (not usually cars, interestingly), and just required a lot of concentration to keep things going smoothly and without incident. For me, I think I would have relaxed cycling in such environments with a couple more days of just taking in the rhythms and finding the patterns of behavior in the initial chaos, though much of the infrastructure need expanding and upgrading already due to high demand.

My bonus phase of cycling was just watching things, again, as I walked around some more, including stumbling on some high volume cycling streets that Stein had showed me, but which I had no idea where I was during that initial excursion.  And in some of these observations, I think I was most inspired because the volume of people on bike when the infrastructure was properly provided, was simply amazing and unexpected (see video below).