When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris a decade ago, he was too intimidated to ride a bike. Though he had cycled everywhere as a student in Rennes, the bustling French capital felt overwhelming. Cars were all around, and cyclists had almost no protection.
But once the city created a separated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to two-wheeled commuting and never looked back. He now volunteers with the cycling advocacy group Paris en Selle and has watched with amazement as Paris shed its car-centric image.
“It started slowly and really accelerated over the last ten years,” Roudaut said. “At least in some parts of the city, we have a cycling network that is becoming safe and fairly complete.”
Since Anne Hidalgo became mayor in 2014, Paris has undergone a major transformation: planting 155,000 trees, adding hundreds of kilometers of bike lanes, pedestrianizing 300 school streets, and banning cars from the banks of the Seine. Parking spots have been turned into green spaces and café terraces. Fewer parents now worry about their children being hit by cars on the walk to school.
Now, as Hidalgo steps down on Sunday after 12 years as mayor, her efforts to make Paris more livable are seen as a model for progressive European cities, even as national governments retreat from green policies.
“When people ask me for advice, I tell them not to be afraid of being ambitious,” said Roudaut, who last year hosted a delegation of German Green politicians trying to understand why Paris succeeded where Berlin has struggled. Even though Hidalgo only achieved part of her vision, he added, “everyone is saying: ‘Look at what Paris has done—it’s amazing.’”
Not all Parisians agree. Efforts to make streets safer have taken space away from cars, sparking pushback from drivers. Referendums on higher parking fees for SUVs and more pedestrianized school streets passed with worryingly low turnout. Ahead of last month’s municipal elections, right-wing candidate Rachida Dati criticized what she called the “anxiety-inducing” chaos in public spaces, though she stopped short of proposing to reverse core policies.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian last week, Hidalgo said pedestrianizing the riverbanks had been “a tough battle,” but now that it’s done, people don’t want to go back. “Today, there are generations of children who have never known cars there. People say ‘wow!’ when you tell them,” she said.
Experts say the shift was helped by Paris’s unusually compact administrative boundaries, which give commuter suburbs less influence over transport than in other capitals, as well as groundwork laid by earlier mayors. Still, it took courage to push through policies that inconvenienced drivers while delivering shared social and environmental benefits.
More could be done, but the changes so far are “fabulous,” said Audrey de Nazelle, an environmental epidemiologist at Imperial College London who grew up in Paris and returns often. She remembers when cycling was so rare that “if you saw another cyclist, you could stop and have coffee together.”
“What’s missing in the rest of the world is courage,” she said. “Mayors could say: ‘This is my chance to leave a legacy,’ but most…”Paris is among 19 global cities that significantly reduced two harmful air pollutants between 2010 and 2024, according to a recent report. However, the list also includes several neighboring capitals with less progressive urban policies. During that period, fine-particle pollution decreased more quickly in Brussels and Warsaw, while nitrogen dioxide levels dropped faster in London.
Berlin, which last year expanded a motorway within the city and voted to remove 30km/h speed limits on 23 major streets, still has a higher proportion of cyclists than Paris.
Giulio Mattioli, a transport researcher at the Technical University of Dortmund and former Paris resident, noted that Paris is not exceptional but has instead caught up with many other cities from a lower baseline. “The conditions were already there—you just needed to build some bike lanes and people would use them,” he said.
Cities across Europe experienced a surge in cycling and bike-friendly infrastructure during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, progress has faced setbacks due to a political shift to the right and the rise of conspiracy theories targeting concepts like the “15-minute city.”
While central Paris has transformed into a “15-minute city,” its extensive suburbs remain car-dependent and separated by a busy ring road. Jean-Louis Missika, a former deputy mayor who served under Mayor Hidalgo and her predecessor, argued in an analysis for the thinktank Terra Nova that reimagining the Boulevard Périphérique is crucial to turning Paris into a post-car metropolis.
“As long as this 35km motorway continues to encircle Paris, the Greater Paris metropolis will remain an imaginary concept—an administrative construct without urban reality,” he wrote. “A metropolis cannot be built by putting walls between its people.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about Pariss shift from cars to bicycles designed to answer questions from basic to more detailed
Beginner General Questions
1 Whats happening with cars and bikes in Paris
Paris is actively reducing space for cars and investing heavily in bicycle infrastructure The goal is to become a 100 cyclable city by making biking safer more convenient and a primary mode of transport
2 Why is Paris doing this
The main reasons are to reduce air pollution fight climate change decrease traffic noise reclaim public space for people and improve the overall health and quality of life for residents
3 What are the most visible changes on the streets
Youll see many new protected bike lanes cycle highways along major routes carfree zones near schools and the removal of thousands of onstreet car parking spaces
4 Is it just about bikes or are other options included
Its part of a broader 15minute city plan While bikes are a major focus the city is also expanding pedestrian zones improving public transit and promoting scooters and other micromobility options
Practical HowTo Questions
5 How can I rent a bike in Paris
The citys main system is Vélib with thousands of electric and mechanical bikes available at stations across Paris You can rent them via the app a subscription or at the terminal
6 Are the new bike lanes safe
The protected lanes are significantly safer than sharing the road with cars However safety at complex intersections and awareness from both cyclists and drivers remain ongoing priorities
7 What if I need to drive into Paris
Driving has become more difficult and expensive Expect reduced lanes lower speed limits fewer parking spots and an expansion of the lowemission zone that restricts older polluting vehicles
8 Are electric bikes popular there
Yes extremely The Vélib system has a large fleet of ebikes and private ebike use has soared They make tackling Pariss hills and longer distances much easier encouraging more people to switch
Advanced Impact Questions
