with the shortage of fuel, the bike becomes an ally to go to work
Bike counters and specialty stores recorded increases. Faced with the fuel shortage, Toulouse residents seem to be turning to cycling.
Leaving the car in the garage, and adopting the bike to go to work, this is the trend that seems to be taking shape in the pink city. Between the rise in gasoline prices and its scarcity, we must then rethink our habits.
At MécaniCycle, a bicycle repairer south of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), customers seem concerned about this fuel crisis. “The subject is on everyone’s lips”, says Laurence DelMarcelle, co-manager of the store. In some brands, the news is felt even in sales. For Franck Gormand, the head of Vélo Station Toulouse, the order books are spread over the next six months. “Sales have jumped since the start of the school year, and it’s not just post-holiday resolutions, these fuel stories have clearly played a role”he adds.
Same speech, in the François Verdier district, at an electric bike seller:
We have on average between 10 and 20 people who will inquire to invest in a model.
With a third of French service stations affected by this shortage, Toulouse residents have decided to put their foot to the pedal. A trend confirmed by counters placed in the streets, especially the one near the Matabiau station which registers thousands of cyclists every day.
Even if the shortage ends, the bicycle must be trivialized for short journeys.
Boris Kozlow, association two feet two wheels
The Metropolis confirms this trend. “We are seeing increases between 17% and 67% between the weekly average values and the average value for this week, which is indeed quite remarkable, especially near airport/aeronautical sites”she indicates to our colleagues of 20 minutes.
In 2020 and 2021, the health crisis accelerated this change in practices. With fear of overcrowding in public transportthe use of bicycles has continued to increase despite the disappearance of certain forms of travel (teleworking, closure of certain schools, curfew, etc)
According INSEEfrom the end of the spring 2020 confinement, in Toulouse, on the avenue de Lyon, the passages of cyclists increase by 8% (working days of June 2020 compared to June 2019), a little further, along the canal du Noon, in Port Saint-Étienne, they are up 12% for working days in September 2020 compared to 2019.
Other factors also explain this enthusiasm, ecological awareness, the desire to play sports or even the development of infrastructures. In 2022, these are more than 600 km of cycling facilities on the territory of the metropolis including 322 kilometers in Toulouse, which allow the inhabitants and tourists of the pink city to cross the city from side to side.