Bicyclists 🚴 Win Paris AGAIN…

[George Rheault]

Paris (like London a decade ago) has shown how a major metro area can meaningfully and successfully (politically and economically) pivot to bike/ped/mass transit centrality with the proper leadership.

So the efforts and gains recently made hopefully will stick around and even expand.

It should be said that Anne Hidalgo’s success is shakiest on its housing platform because while making Greater Paris more livable on a day-to-day basis, her administration has not been able to ramp up housing production to allow everyone to reap the benefits of the good work.

Here is one fair account casting shade on her accomplishments and how many skeptical voters see expensive gentrification and NIMBYism as drivers of the bike/ped agenda as much as common sense because the benefits largely accrue to the affluent and still excludes newcomers from taking advantage of the progress (Hidalgo’s housing agenda is not performing very well):  https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/21/travel/paris-transformation-anne-hidalgo-mayor