Backpedaling. At the beginning of October, the municipal majority of Lille made a decision which made its green opponents, cycling associations and influential cycle commuters jump. It is now mandatory for cyclists, skateboarders and other users motorized personal travel devices (EDPM) to push, carry or pull their cars when traveling in pedestrian zones. The system even has a name, “cyclists, pied-à-terre”, and plans to tax the wallets of the unfortunate people who defy the ban.
Pedestrian zones reserved for pedestrians, logic or scandal? The system is put in place “in order to ensure better sharing of public space between the different forms of mobility in pedestrian zones”, declares the town hall, which argues by affirming that it is a question of “ensuring better security.” It must be said that the city center of Lille, and in particular its pedestrian streets, had become a sort of wild west with the development of UberEats deliveries or Deliveroo. Alone in the sector during the confinements, the couriers had acquired habits that were difficult to break, traveling on their electric vehicles, even on scooters, at speeds much higher than walking.
Driving is allowed, but at a walking pace
And this is precisely what poses a problem for the town hall. As the municipal opponents of “Lille verte” have put forward, the Traffic Laws already requires cycles and EDPM to “drive at walking pace” in pedestrian zones, while they are prohibited from driving on sidewalks. Except that, in reality, this is frankly not the case. Several police operations were carried out in these areas before the city made a radical decision. It is clear that things got better in the days that followed, before things came back to normal. Moreover, environmentalists themselves have recognized that “the conflict of use between pedestrians, cyclists and scooters exists and needs to be resolved”.
So, when the Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB) denounces “the multiplication [des] measures unfavorable to cycling”, “Lille verte” rather points to the extent of the area concerned and the times of application. In fact, the entire pedestrian area is closed to cyclists every day, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Saturday, if the end time of the ban is reduced to 7 p.m., the sector is extended to the entire temporary pedestrian zone.
Opponents would have preferred targeting “a few specific locations” and “peak times” instead of “so drastically limiting the circulation of mobility” without offering “any alternative or dedicated development”. Arguments that the town hall rejects, highlighting “more than 150 km of roads […] fitted out, nearly 6,000 bicycle racks and around a hundred bicycle boxes […] installed in the city.