City Life

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Bike share: Paris has made space for cyclists in a way that I simply have not seen in any other city (www.torched.la)

submitted 4 months ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/citylife@beehaw.org

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I had read all the stories. I had even written a few myself. In just five years, Paris's cycling modal share has doubled, from 5 percent of all trips in 2020 to 11 percent in 2025. That's mostly thanks to a total of 870 miles of bike lanes, about half of them installed over the past decade. But now that I'm here, I feel like it's my duty to tell you the transformation that's occurred is even more dramatic than described. Since I've biked all around Paris for a total of three full days — which clearly makes me an expert — I can say this with confidence: Paris has made space for cyclists in a way that I simply have not seen in any other city.

And here's my extremely hot take: biking in Paris might be even more convenient than walking.

That's saying a lot coming from me, a professional Walker™.

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[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 0 points 4 months ago

I would encourage you to see how other countries handle things. At least in NL, there are trains and busses too, and you can do all three if you want (train, bus, and bike). It'll still be faster to commute by all three of those from halfway across the country than it is for most people to drive to San Francisco every morning (I know the SF commute, not the Chicago one).

Rural areas in all countries I've visited (which is a lot) pretty much require cars. There's usually a train stop somewhat nearby, but you'd just drive where you need to go.

But when several states are there size of European countries, it puts some of that into perspective.

The size has never really been the issue. Suburbs aren't the size of an entire state, and cities (okay. ignoring Texas) aren't the size of European countries on their own. The issue is a lack of funding for alternative transportation methods.

Amtrack is dogshit. I don't think anyone, even in the US, debates that. Now imagine Amtrack, but it's a high speed rail that stops at the station every 30m or so. Also, it goes to every city in the country. Now you have a good public transportation system, and it'd be on par with some of the worst public transportation I've seen in Europe.