The City invited the press yesterday morning to the presentation of the 2020 bike plan.
Nice will be the starting city of the 2020 Tour de France. However, the 5th largest city in France ranks second to last in the ranking of cities – with more than 200,000 inhabitants (see links below) – where it is possible to cycle in a “simple, comfortable, and safe” manner. Yet, Nice was a pioneer with the blue bikes starting in 2009, which now have nearly 17,000 subscribers!
The Municipality invited the press yesterday at noon to the presentation of the 2020 bike plan developed by the City, under the aegis of the State. Indeed, the national bike development plan announced at the end of 2017 and unveiled at the beginning of September by Édouard Philippe aims to accelerate the co-financing of cycling projects.
The government intends to triple the share of bicycles in daily commuting by 2024. Christian Estrosi has therefore unlocked an annual budget of €500,000 to implement this project.
The Mayor of Nice announced to the crowd on Avenue Jean Médecin, the transformation of bus lanes into green corridors with a bike path and pedestrian area. “This follows the removal of nearly 800 buses after the commissioning of tram line 2, which will eventually be replaced by electric buses.” The existing lanes are expected to be reinforced.
“Nice is today fully adapted to the daily practice of cycling (…) 160 km of bike paths on the metropolitan territory, of which 75 km are on the commune of Nice.” The Promenade des Anglais remains the most used axis by bicycles with peaks of more than 8,000 trips per day. “I announce that a counter will be installed in 2019 on this axis, with a totem allowing real-time reading of the number of passages.”
“On this East-West axis, we are going to create a true green thread in the heart of the city. Tram line 2 will allow for the freeing of spaces and a return to calm circulation. More than 6 km of bike path, more than 6 km of green promenade, and more than 1,000 trees planted!” the Mayor of Nice declared.
The implementation of actions to promote bike mobility is a major component of the Metropolis’s transport policy, focused on sustainable mobility and multimodality.
Another announcement, the City of Nice will introduce, by the end of the year, electric-assist bikes and electric scooters in self-service.
Encouraging the use of bicycles also means offering additional secure parking solutions – declared Christian Estrosi. Spaces and facilities for bicycles systematically included in new construction projects (housing, offices, shops…) should soon emerge. As well as a large plan for the deployment of on-street bicycle parking. The idea of creating secure bicycle parkings, adapted for electric bikes, with access at €10/year for annual public transport subscribers will be implemented.
“By the end of the year, we will have three new self-service electric mobility services: electric scooters, electric bikes, and electric scooters.”
