{"id":211869,"date":"2025-10-14T08:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/211869\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:13:09","slug":"paris-sets-another-record-logs-21817-bicycle-trips-in-a-single-day-on-one-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/211869\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Sets Another Record Logs 21,817 Bicycle Trips in a Single Day on One Route"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris, once the poster child for car-clogged boulevards and endless honking, is now rewriting the story of urban mobility\u2014on two wheels. This September, the city broke yet another series of cycling records, underscoring what many residents already feel in their daily commute: Paris \u00e0 v\u00e9lo<\/a> has officially become the new normal.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 9, according to a social media post from deputy mayor David Belliard, the city logged 21,817 bicycles on Boulevard du Palais\u2014a route that only opened two years ago\u2014alongside 15,549 on Boulevard Saint-Michel and 15,412 on Avenue de Clichy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the result of choices that we have made,\u201d Belliard wrote in a celebratory post on LinkedIn<\/a>. \u201cTo make public spaces safer, more breathable, more pleasant, and to offer everyone the freedom to move around other than by private car.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a statement that sums up a decade of transformation. Paris has been steadily rolling out protected cycleways, redesigning intersections, and removing lanes of car traffic to make space for bikes and pedestrians. At times, those changes have sparked fierce debate\u2014particularly among drivers and business owners who worried the city was pushing too far, too fast. But if the data is any indication, the gamble has paid off.<\/p>\n

Even before the fall surge, summer 2025 saw all-time highs: 21,000 bikes on Rue de Rivoli and 26,000 on Boulevard de S\u00e9bastopol in a single day. That\u2019s roughly one bicycle passing every three seconds, day and night. It\u2019s an astonishing image\u2014proof that Paris\u2019s \u201cPlan V\u00e9lo\u201d has achieved what many thought impossible in a city once dominated by traffic jams and exhaust fumes.<\/p>\n

Critics used to call the cycling lanes \u201ctoo wide,\u201d \u201ctoo numerous,\u201d or a \u201cwar on cars.\u201d But as Belliard noted with characteristic Parisian wit, \u201cParis by bike, it works\u2014or rather, it rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paris<\/p>\n

Rue de Rivoli in Paris, circa 2020<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s cycling renaissance didn\u2019t happen overnight. Paris\u2019s momentum began in earnest under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose administration made cycling a central pillar of the fight against climate change and urban pollution. Belliard, the city\u2019s Maire-adjoint \u00e0 la transformation de l\u2019espace public et aux mobilit\u00e9s, has been at the heart of this effort for 10 years, guiding a transformation that has reshaped not only traffic patterns but also the identity of the French capital itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess pollution, less noise, more health, more freedom,\u201d Belliard says\u2014each phrase reflecting the broader social vision behind the infrastructure: to make city life more humane and sustainable.<\/p>\n

And, it is Belliard who hopes to take Hidalgo\u2019s place as mayor in the next election, following the outgoing mayor\u2019s decision to retire from politics.<\/p>\n

And the results of the investments Paris has made are tangible.<\/p>\n

Air quality has improved dramatically, traffic injuries have declined, and the number of Parisians who identify as daily cyclists continues to climb. The humble bicycle, once seen as a niche mode of transport or a tourist\u2019s plaything, has become the city\u2019s defining mobility symbol.<\/p>\n

And as Belliard reminds us, this isn\u2019t the end of the journey. \u201cThis transformation has only just begun,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris, once the poster child for car-clogged boulevards and endless honking, is now rewriting the story of urban…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,13782,82],"class_list":["post-211869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-paris","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}