Cycling Cities: Grenoble and Strasbourg Lead the Top 50 Commuting by Bike
This page is translated from the original post "Villes cyclistes : Grenoble et Strasbourg en tête du Top 50 vélotaf" in French.
- 07/02/2023 16:00
The Top 50 cities where the most bicycle trips are made highlights Grenoble, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux, but Paris remains the leader in non-car mobility.
France aims to triple its modal share of cycling, increasing from 3% in 2019 to 9% by 2030. It is primarily in cities that cyclists are more numerous, as seen in the 2022 travel report. Smappen, a data-focused company, has compiled a Top 50 list of urban areas where commuting by bicycle is most common, based on INSEE data from 2019.
Grenoble at the top of cycling
Regarding modal share, it exceeds 10% for the Top 5 cities. First, Grenoble reaches even 17.45% bike share, thanks to efforts by the environmentally-focused municipality heavily promoting this gentle mobility.
The prefecture of Isère doubles Strasbourg, which is close behind at 17.02%, followed by Bordeaux (14.21%), La Rochelle (12.33%), and Rennes (10.11%). Nantes is also high, with nearly 10% bike share, ahead of Toulouse and Lyon, with Montpellier at 11th and Lille at 17th.
Paris, Queen of gentle mobility
Home to the record bike lane of Sébastopol, Paris does not rank at the top of the list. Only 24th, Paris is an exception, thanks to its very dense public transport network. The Paris metro has 16 lines, in addition to an RER, trams, and bus lines. Moreover, the capital is the least dependent on cars, with 80.26% of trips made by bike or public transport.
Four other municipalities in the Île-de-France region complete the Top 5: Pantin and Saint-Ouen with over 75%, as well as Clichy and Aubervilliers. Among municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, Paris, Montreuil, and Saint-Denis form the podium. Outside Île-de-France, Lyon stands out with a 61.65% usage of sustainable mobility options.
However, Smappen highlights major cities where car usage remains dominant: Marseille, Montpellier, and Toulouse.
Percentage of the active population using a bicycle for commuting in 2019:
- 1 Grenoble 17.45%
- 2 Strasbourg 17.02%
- 3 Bordeaux 14.21%
- 4 La Rochelle 12.33%
- 5 Rennes 10.11%
- 6 Nantes 9.94%
- 7 Toulouse 8.78%
- 8 Lyon 8.75%
- 9 Colmar 8.68%
- 10 Angers 8.17%
- 11 Montpellier 7.94%
- 12 Chambéry 7.85%
- 13 Villeurbanne 7.06%
- 14 Tours 7.02%
- 15 Avignon 6.83%
- 16 Annecy 6.52%
- 17 Lille 6.37%
- 18 Dijon 6.14%
- 19 Lorient 6.03%
- 20 Mérignac 6.00%
- 21 Caen 5.94%
- 22 Valence 5.87%
- 23 Pau 5.53%
- 24 Paris 5.46%
- 25 Orléans 5.42%
- 26 Amiens 5.18%
- 27 Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine 5.15%
- 28 Pantin 5.10%
- 29 Besançon 5.09%
- 30 Le Mans 5.09%
- 31 Niort 4.91%
- 32 Troyes 4.91%
- 33 Montreuil 4.70%
- 34 Poitiers 4.51%
- 35 Pessac 4.48%
- 36 Arles 4.46%
- 37 Nancy 4.45%
- 38 Saint-Nazaire 4.39%
- 39 Nîmes 4.39%
- 40 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
- 41 Versailles 4.16%
- 42 Asnières-sur-Seine 4.12%
- 43 Vannes 4.08%
- 44 Ivry-sur-Seine 4.03%
- 45 Mulhouse 3.99%
- 46 La Roche-sur-Yon 3.85%
- 47 Toulon 3.82%
- 48 Clermont-Ferrand 3.80%
- 49 Nanterre 3.78%
- 50 Bourges 3.76%
Source Smappen/INSEE 2019
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