Bordeaux slips from fifth to tenth place in the ranking of major cities. This is one of the findings, for the Gironde, of the Barometer of cycling cities 2021, unveiled Thursday evening by the
FUB (Federation of bicycle users).
[Résultats #BarometreVelo2021]
“Big cities” category: congratulations to Grenoble, first in the ranking with a score of 4.21 out of 6 and better progress! 👏
Second place: Strasbourg
Third place: Rennes pic.twitter.com/xdDqL526fF— FUB (@FUB_fr) February 10, 2022
Benoit Gilliot, coordinator of the Vélo-Cité association, however, qualifies this raw result from the outset: “it is difficult to compare the winners of 2019 and 2021, because in the meantime we have included cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in the ranking. big cities. »
“Lack of continuity of cycle paths”
Conversely, we can even point out that the score obtained by Bordeaux (3.40) is above that obtained in 2019 (3.24). The feeling has therefore improved. But the town still remains below average, and only gets a D… Not terrible. “There is above all a very strong increase in waiting” on the part of cyclists, analyzes Benoit Gilliot. Especially in a city where the practice is growing considerably. In 2019, the modal share of cycling was estimated at 14% in inner Bordeaux. The next household survey should confirm that it has certainly increased further since then.
“Cyclists are no longer satisfied with promises and are clearly expecting a qualitative leap in the facilities, continues Benoit Gilliot, as well as a major appeasement with motorized vehicles. The lack of parking for bicycles, the excessive speeds of vehicles, the lack of continuity of cycle paths at intersections… What was acceptable a few years ago, is becoming less and less so. This is why the city’s cycling plan is eagerly awaited to calm the situation. »
Vélo Express network in sight
The metropolis actually voted at the end of 2021 a budget of 138 million euros in favor of cycling for the next three years. It should make it possible, in particular, to start the development of a Vélo Express Network (ReVE), supposed to reach 270 km in length by 2030.
“It’s an ambitious, qualitative cycling plan, rejoices Benoit Gilliot. There is a substantial budget, we hardly expected as much. However, there remains a big question mark on bicycle parking, especially in stations. To make a junction with the metropolitan RER project, a greater number of bike stations are needed, but the SNCF is still struggling to integrate the bike into its facilities. »
The Vélo-Cité association warns that it will look closely at the developments that will be made, and will even create for the occasion a very wide panel of cyclists to send as many comments as possible. “We are asking for the same thing to be done for the bicycle as what was done for the tram, that is to say uninterrupted corridors that cross the metropolis, without any break. You have to manage the intersections, the hard points, which everyone has refused to manage for fifty years. Cyclists ask that we do not abandon them in the roundabouts. »