Cycling in Toulouse: ideas to see further
Routes reserved for bicycles, secure 100% bicycle parking lots, bicycle carriages in regional trains… existing tracks to move up a gear in the Toulouse conurbation’s bicycle policy.
The City of Toulouse and Toulouse Métropole are investing 160 million euros for cycling, by the end of the mandate, in 2026. Local authorities, including the Department, want to avoid an Express Bike Network of more than 370 km of tracks, for a serves 500,000 jobs.
But will that be enough? Is it up to the climate challenges of saving energy and reducing air pollution?
Priority axis according to Jean-Luc Moudenc
“The bicycle is a priority axis of our action to develop less polluting means of transport”, hammered Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president of Toulouse Métropole last Thursday during his back-to-school press conference.
However, Toulouse remains poorly ranked in the Barometer of cycling cities: 22nd among cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants.
Stein van Oosteren, defender of the bicycle and author of the bestseller “Pourquoi pas le vélo”, does not beat around the bush. “Total cycling budgets need to increase. Everywhere. Compared to what is still guaranteed to roads and highways, this is ridiculously low. One kilometer of secure cycle path costs €200,000. A kilometer of road or a widening of the ring road in Toulouse is several million, even several tens of millions of euros”.
Not enough for bike advocates
With the climate crisis and the energy crisis, the priorities must be reversed, according to the defender of the bicycle, cyclist of the daily newspaper. “When you build roads, you build motorists. When you make bike lanes, you make cyclists. »
Metropolitan projects: electric VélÔToulouse, express network, secure car parks, etc.
The town hall of Toulouse and Toulouse Métropole announced, last Thursday, a budget of 160 M€ in total, including the Express Bike Network (14 lines which cross the agglomeration), the footbridges bicycles on the Garonne and the development of the tracks and cycling facilities, on the current mandate. In a few days, 900 new secure spaces for bicycles will be opened in around ten Indigo car parks in the city, which will bring their number to 1,500. The number of hoops has tripled between 2016 and 2021. In 2024, the new call for tenders for the VélÔToulouse service will result in the provision of electric bicycles, and the construction of 192 new stations, including 75 in outlying municipalities. The metropolis will have 475 stations, half of which will be electric bikes.
And the diplomatic attaché to support: “It is not a question of culture. The Netherlands was a country of cars, before realizing the benefits of cycling. The Express Bike Network is good. Strasbourg has its own, Grenoble has its own. And the practice of low-cut cycling. The quality of the Network must be irreproachable, with real priorities for bicycles over cars, and wide tracks, on which two people can ride side by side, to be able to discuss without problem. »
To connect the outskirts to the city center (Toulouse), van Oosteren even recommends converting certain departmental roads into bicycle routes.
“The departmental network is dense enough for cars to pass to another place”, estimates this specialist in “little queen”.
Another avenue explored by the pro bicycle activist, the place given to bicycles in public transport, such as in trains, with the possibility of reserving certain wagons for bicycles. “Being able to do everything by bike and by train is the key”.
Barometer of cycling cities: Toulouse is stagnating
The result of the latest Barometer of cycling cities, a national survey conducted by the Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB), shows a very slight improvement in the general resentment of users of the cycle network in the city of Toulouse. A third (32%) of the 4,300 respondents revealed that the situation has “improved a little” for bicycles in Toulouse between 2019 and 2021, but more than half (55%) believe that the situation is “same” .
22nd out of 38 cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants
If we compare Toulouse with other cities in its category (more than 200,000 inhabitants), the Pink City ranks 22nd out of 38 cities. In 2019, it was 8th out of 11 ranked cities. Toulouse Toulouse is below the average for cities in its category (3.05). Grenoble (4.21) and Strasbourg (4.18), cities renowned for their policy in favor of cycling are at the top of the ranking and Rennes (3.74) complete the podium.
Among the strong points of Toulouse noted by the respondents to the survey, the one-way streets open to two-way streets for bicycles. Among the weak points, respondents noted the difficult frequency of bicycle theft and the safe riding of children and the elderly.