In order to speed up the ecological transition and encourage soft mobility, the Greater Paris Metropolitan Council adopted a series of measures on Monday 18 May. This €110 million recovery plan aims at supporting the various players in the economy “for a sustainable, balanced and resilient territory”. A plan that will make it possible to speed up the ecological transition in particular. Indeed, €10 million will be allocated to the plan to finance metropolitan development and urban cuts throughout Greater Paris. Focus on the various actions planned by the Council as part of its recovery plan.
150 kilometres of temporary bicycle paths
Since the beginning of the containment’s end, in order to offer alternatives to public transport and to cope with the massive return of car traffic, Greater Paris has set up temporary cycle paths. In fact, 50 km of tracks has been operational since May 11. New tracks continue to be created. The objective: to reach 150 km of temporary cycle lanes. Many cyclists are delighted by the opening of these new tracks and hope that they will remain permanent. The association “Mieux se déplacer à bicyclette (Better cycling)” also declared “It’s incredible but the Covid has enabled us to unlock a lot of doors. We’ve won ten years”. These new tracks are part of the region’s desire to double the number of cyclists, from 400,000 to 800,000 a day.
2. 100 new Vélib’ stations
The actions in the framework of the recovery plan for the Greater Paris Metropolis do not stop there. The latter wants to extend its self-service bicycle network by creating 100 new stations by 2022. Indeed, Vélib’ finally wants to reach the objective it has set itself: to put 19,000 bicycles into circulation compared to 13,000 at present. These new stations will be located, as a priority, near public transport but also along the main routes structuring the metropolis. All of this in the desire to promote soft mobility within Greater Paris.
Indeed, this new fleet of Vélib’ bikes will make it possible to meet the increased needs of cyclists and thus generalize the use of bicycles in the region. Since Wednesday 6 May, the number of journeys made by bicycle has increased by almost 60% in volume compared to the week of 4 to 10 March, just before the quarantine, according to calculations by the Data cell at Le Parisien.
In addition, the increase in bicycle traffic also means an increased need for bicycle repair and maintenance. This is why the metropolis will federate and support the development of a new metropolitan-wide bicycle repair network. It will therefore launch calls for projects in order to propose offers that meet the new needs of the people of Île-de-France.
3. Development of electric vehicles
As part of the new Greater Paris stimulus plan, the region will also develop its infrastructure for recharging electric vehicles. Following the failure of Autolib in the metropolis, the latter has taken the decision to re-use vacant Autolib sites. The tender was won by Metropolis, which will be in charge of deploying a charging network for electric cars throughout the metropolitan area. According to Métropole Grand Paris’ press kit, nearly 3,084 charging stations will be installed by 2022, including 2,852 former Autolib sites. From June 2020, the first pilot station will see the light of day. Work on these kiosks will begin in the summer of 2020 in the 130 municipalities that make up the Greater Paris metropolitan area.
To catch up in terms of electric car recharging infrastructures, the metropolis will offer different types of charging stations that will vary in power and price. First, it will offer “Metropolis Proximity” terminals. These will offer a charge of 3 to 7 kW and will be aimed primarily at residents who do not have a charging point and who wish to recharge their vehicles over a long period of time. Then, the “Metropolis Citadine” terminals, with a charge of 7 to 22 kW, will enable much faster recharging, for example, the time it takes to go shopping. Finally, the “Metropolis Express” terminals will offer very fast recharging from 50 to 150 kW, which is mainly intended for users with a long journey ahead of them.
In order to limit post-load parking, Metropolis will impose a penalty of 1 to 3 euros for 15 minutes for post-load stops. It is expected to offer rates between 0.36 and 0.72 euros per kWh, depending on the power of the terminal. These different charging stations will be accompanied by a mobile application that will make it possible to locate the various recharging points, reserve them, set them up as required and even pay for the recharging. It is highly likely that in a few years time, these terminals will not be limited to electric vehicles but will also make it possible to use and reserve other means of transport, by integrating a MaaS solution such as the Lyko API ;).
