Paris to Become 100% Cycling City Within Four Years, Reveals New Plan | Hacker News Reader

Paris to Become 100% Cycling City Within Four Years, Reveals New Plan

forbes.com

35 pointsingve12 comments

Not exactly true, at least from what I read elsewhere [1].

The plan is to make Paris 100% cyclaBLE.

[1] (French) https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/nouveau-plan-velo-a-paris-la-car...

This would remove one of the major blockers for me to move to Paris, the other one being a lack of mountains. :D

Seriously though. The (nominal) price tag on this seems ridiculously small, and if this reduces the need for cars then it will make the whole city sooo much more livable. The only worry I have is that traditionally, scooters (the internal combustion ones, not the new electric ones) contribute disproportionately to stress and noise of French cities. Reigning these in will be another challenge entirely. But great news for Paris!

The headline is misleading. It's about making Paris 100% cyclable, not getting rid of cars (as the first comments here seem to assume).

> Paris is already in the process of removing more than 70% of its on-street car parking spaces.

That seems like a terrible idea. This just makes it so that people have to depend more on slower modes of transport such as public transit or bikes. In cities with well managed population density, there’s nothing that can match cars because they take you direct to destinations at high speeds with no waiting times or stops. Such a drastic reduction in parking spaces means people will lose time, convenience, and likely travel less. While committed urbanists may see that as a win, it will be a hit to quality of life for many who expect road infrastructure for vehicles as a basic service.

With the current mayor, Paris will probably go bankrupt before that...

Does that include privately owned e-vehicles?

too bad for disabled people and people who need an ambulance, i guess. The new ulez is about to come into effect in london and i'm pretty annoyed. Together with e10 fuel, they are just political window dressing to inconvenience taxpayers with minimal impact on the climate. Like ltz's and cycle lanes.

A lot of disabled people cannot drive. A friend of mine is a quadruple amputee. Bike lanes are his best bet for getting around independently in his electric wheelchair.

And the comment about ambulances is also ridiculous considering how often cars obstruct cities. You get to the hospital quickly because dense cities have lots of hospitals.

Cars are a major source of inconvenience and health damaging pollution to a lot of other tax payers. The only window dressing is how we continue to try and nudge people into doing the right thing with taxes and fees. It is a small amount money to the people who can afford to make better choices. And a large amount to those who can't. Just be straight with people and tell them to stop.

The mayor of Sydney made a few km of our main street pedestrian only (service vehicles can enter early morning/nighttime). Ambulances can cross the distance in a third of the time now and often route through there to cross the CBD, they aren't banned from what was once previously a horrendous congested car hell that even google maps admits will take you longer in a vehicle than on foot in peak hour.

Your predictions are misplaced.

You should see the Netherlands. 100% cyclable but lots of streets are there for emergency vehicles, buses and trams. Disabled can and do ride in the bicycle lane with their electric wheelchairs.

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