Bike Barometer November 2022: +34% of Passages Compared to 2019

According to the latest Ville & Territoires bulletin, bike crossings have also increased sharply in the city, especially in Paris, but are stagnating in rural areas.

Since the beginning of the year, the hundreds of counters across France record +9% more crossings compared to 2021. This is the main lesson from the data as of November 6, 2022, from the Bike Traffic Bulletin in France by Vélo & Territoires. 

It’s even much more than three years ago, with +34% compared to 2021 over the January-September period. The authors specify a growth of 27% in the first week of the All Saints school holidays, “driven by exceptional weather”. Overall, they attest that cycling also benefits from favorable temperatures this fall “with summer-like conditions for several weeks”.

Increase in cities, suburban and rural areas stagnate

Once again, a very marked increase is observed in cities, where cycling is experiencing great success, with +12% of visits in a year. Confirmation of the “commuting by bike” trend, traffic is highest during weekdays. “The return to in-person work has boosted weekday traffic” declares Vélo & Territoires. The greatest increase is on weekdays, +14%, versus only +6% during the weekend. The reason is that “rainy weather during winter holidays negatively impacted weekend traffic”.

In suburban and rural areas, the results are mixed compared to 2021. Practices in these regions are “probably more oriented toward leisure, and more sensitive to weather” explains the report, adding that “the volumes recorded, however, are still largely higher than those usually observed before the health crisis”.

Contrary to cities, traffic is higher during weekends than during weekdays, especially on Sundays. This is where it slightly declines (-4 to -5%), while cycling activities are better during the week compared to last year (+2 to 3%). A sign that infrastructure is lacking outside cities?

The bulletin also confirms that bike tourism is attracting new enthusiasts. The popularity of EuroVelo routes, long tracks crossing Europe and France, has skyrocketed. The increase is +12% in the first 10 months of 2022 compared to 2021, and +30% compared to 2019.

In which cities is cycling exploding?

Compared to last year, Strasbourg and Dunkirk show the highest growth among major communities (+22%). Overall, all cities have grown more than 10%, with a slight slowdown in Bordeaux, where bike crossings increased by only 8%.

Regarding the evolution compared to the pre-Covid period, Paris is by far the city with the largest increase in bike traffic. And it’s obvious for anyone to see, especially since back-to-school where cyclists jostle on certain roads, including the famous two-way bike lane on Boulevard Sébastopol, exceeding 19,000 crossings per day during weekdays! Overall, the 64 counters in the capital recorded an average of 2,685 crossings daily this year, a +68% increase compared to 2019 (on 39 comparable counters)! 

Dunkirk ranks second with a +45% increase, Lille third with +32%. Cannes and Annecy also saw a boom in cycling, but with only 3 to 4 comparable counters over the period.

Evolution of bike crossings from January to October 2022:

*Average daily crossings per counter

Also read: Bike bonus: new incentives from 300 to 3,000 euros