FactualIN ONE GRAPHIC – On the occasion of Car Free Day, we compared the number of cyclists and motorists on boulevards Magenta and Voltaire, in Paris.
Sunday September 19, the City of Paris is organizing his seventh Car Free Day : Automobile and motorized two-wheeler traffic will be prohibited throughout the capital from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., except on the ring road and a few exceptions (public transport, taxi, emergency vehicles). This is an opportunity for the City of Paris to promote walking, scooters or cycling.
A central element of municipal policy since the early 2000s, the bicycle is a rapid means of transport (15 km / h average, which is more than the 14 km / h of motorists) and economical in place: a bicycle takes up about 1 square meter of floor space, compared to 6 to 10 square meters for a car. As a result, thanks to the enthusiasm for cycling since the health crisis, we now see more bicycles than cars passing on certain Parisian boulevards during rush hour.
Up to nearly 600 bikes per hour on average
To make the comparison, we processed the traffic data for the start of the school year, from Monday August 30 to Friday September 17, on Boulevard Magenta (10e arrondissement) and Boulevard Voltaire (11e arr.). These two arteries were chosen because they each have two-way lanes for motor vehicles and for bicycles. With a notable difference in land use, since the cycle paths are between 2 meters wide (boulevard Magenta) and 3 meters (boulevard Voltaire), against 8 to 10 meters for the roadway.
During rush hour, around 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays, cycle lanes allow traffic between 23% and 109% more efficient than motorized lanes. On these boulevards, in September 2021, the lanes reserved for motor vehicles saturate and fail to exceed 420 passages per hour – knowing that an automobile in Paris is occupied on average per 1.1 people. On the other hand, cycle lanes see passing up to 580 bikes per hour on average.
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