This study is intended to provide food for thought for all regions. Why? Because the outer suburbs of Paris, which are less densely populated and more dependent on the car than Paris, are a good measure of the population's expectations regarding cycling outside major cities.

Mobility is sometimes constrained in Île-de-France

Report on the use of public transport in Île-de-France:

• The metro and RER/train are the most commonly used public transport systems: 84% of Ile-de-France residents use them and two out of ten do so daily (23% and 19%).
• Eight out of ten people in Ile-de-France also travel by bus (17% of them every day).
• The tramway is the least used public transport, but almost two thirds of Ile-de-France residents say they still use it to get around (62%). 

While 82% of Parisians and 76% of the residents of the inner suburbs are satisfied with the means of transport available to them, the gap widens when it comes to the residents of the outer suburbs, where only 59% share this opinion.

But also: the lack of choice of different transportation modes is seen as a constraint by 27% of respondents.

The inner and outer suburbs need alternatives to the car

88% of those interviewed use a car to get around, 33% of them every day or almost every day. It is even the preferred means of daily transport for 47% of the residents of the inner suburbs.

Today, the residents of Ile-de-France would like to have more alternatives for their daily journeys: 58% believe that it is difficult to get around without a car in Ile-de-France.

And the inhabitants of the inner suburbs have fewer alternatives to the car than others: 61% of them say they have a choice of several modes of transport for their daily travel, compared with 86% of Parisians.

And yet, the inner suburbs are a transport zone in their own right, as Benoît Yameundjeu, CEO of Fifteen, reminds us:
 

Cycling: a solution that is attractive for people of Ile-de-France 

Cycling needs at the regional level

• 53% of Parisians would like to travel more by bike
• 41% of employed people believe that the journey to work would be pleasant to make by bike.

Only 43% of Ile-de-France residents feel that the public authorities are doing enough to enable them to make greater use of bicycles for their daily travel.

While 56% of Ile-de-France residents consider most places they visit daily are located at a distance that would allow them to get there by bicycle, only 26% travel by bike at least once a week. 
 

Focus on the cycling needs of the inner suburbs

As far as cycling is concerned, the residents of the inner suburbs are the most dissatisfied: only 34% feel that the public authorities are doing enough to enable them to use their bikes more.

To date, in the inner suburbs, access to bicycle rental services is difficult:    

• 48% of the inhabitants of the inner suburbs consider that it is easy to hire a bicycle for a short period (compared to 72% in Paris).
• Only 35% of the inhabitants of the inner suburbs are aware of long-term bicycle hire services (compared with 49% in Paris)
• 30% of the inhabitants of the inner suburbs consider that it is easy to hire a bicycle for a long period (compared to 48% in Paris)

More incentives are needed to meet people's expectations

The potential for cycling is still enormous.

What would encourage Parisians to favour cycling for their daily journeys? The study provides several suggestions:

• The development of the public highway (for 64% of respondents) with, in particular, the development of safe cycle paths. Also mentioned: secure parking areas near public transport.
• Financial aid (43%): aid for the purchase of an electric bicycle or a subscription to a bicycle rental service (self-service or long-term).
• The installation of bicycle rental services (17%), whether for short or long periods. The installation of bicycle hire services at stations in order to carry out the last part of journeys by bicycle would encourage 7% of Ile-de-France residents to take up cycling, as part of intermodal journeys.

Benoît Yameundjeu emphasises the needs of the people of Ile-de-France, without denying the diversity of its regions: