Cycling Plan 2023: Only 250 Million?

The government has just announced a new step in its bike plan, aimed at improving infrastructure and parking for cycling in France.

Initiated in 2018 under the government of Édouard Philippe, with Élisabeth Borne as Minister of Transport, the “Bike Plan” now benefits from additional momentum. Élisabeth Borne, now Prime Minister, has just announced a budget of 250 million euros for the year 2023 alone, whereas the original plan allocated a budget of 350 million euros for the 2018-2025 period. This new allocation is distributed as follows: 200 million euros dedicated to infrastructure and 50 million euros allocated to parking. The first phase of the plan reportedly helped develop support for the purchase and use of bicycles, the creation of secure bike lanes, and strengthened efforts to combat theft, which has become a serious problem with the rise of high-cost electric models.

“The first five calls for projects launched between 2019 and 2022 have been very successful, with 933 winning projects awarded a total of 365 million euros in grants. 599 territories have thus been able to benefit from support for the completion of transition bike lane projects, the creation of secure cycling routes, and the resolution of route discontinuities“, explains the Ministry of Ecological Transition, headed by Christophe Béchu.

Raising Children’s Awareness About Bicycles

This plan also aims to raise children’s awareness of cycling from primary school, and hopefully teach them basic safety rules — especially in urban areas — which are unfortunately still not well understood by both children and adults alike!

While cycling associations applaud the financial efforts, some users remind us that the cost of building one kilometer of bike lane ranges between 200,000 and 300,000 euros excluding tax, which could fund the creation of about 1,000 additional kilometers of lanes at best!

Read also: Cycling practice increased by 11% in 2022