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Roundup: Strasbourg leads France in green transport as daily cycling expands

Xinhua, August 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

With a 2015 study putting Strasbourg as one of the most bike-friendly major cities in the world, the capital of Alsace stands at the head of the list for daily cycling in France, maintaining the largest network of bike paths in the country, and a higher rate of daily use than in other cities and regions.

Appearing in the Copenhagen Index of Bicycle-Friendly Cities for the first time this year, Strasbourg ranked 4th worldwide, outpacing other French cities Nantes and Bordeaux, which took 7th and 8th place respectively.

The 2015 ranking of 122 metropolitan cities around the world was based on multiple criteria, including the percentage of bicycle use, but also infrastructure, safety and politics around daily cycling. Only Copenhagen, in Denmark, and Amsterdam and Utrecht, in the Netherlands, placed higher than the Alsatian capital.

The city boasts over 560 km of bike paths and other routes accessible by cyclists. Strasbourg officials aim to see daily trips made by bicycle increase to a percentage of 30 percent.

Their plans include a project called VeloStras, which will create an additional 130 km of bike paths to serve the extended metropolitan area. Three new outer circles and nine connecting radials are planned to be completed by 2020 in order to facilitate longer trips for cyclists of over 5 km.

A new French law could see increasing numbers of daily bicycle commuters. Passed on Aug. 13, the new "energetic transition" law is set to influence sustainable development, and includes tax breaks for employees and their employers when they use bicycles to get to work.

The French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB), a Strasbourg-based national organization that is made up of regional bicycle associations, praised the new law.

"We are rather satisfied," Perrine Burner, director of communications for FUB, told Xinhua. "Companies will be able to benefit from a tax credit based on their employees' bicycle commuting measured by the kilometer."

There will also be tax reductions for employers who offer their employees free use of a company-owned fleet of bicycles.

These measures are likely to interest employers, not only for the tax benefits, but also for increased productivity. A 2010 study by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research showed a strong correlation between reduced absenteeism among daily commuters who traveled by bicycle.

French healthcare officials will also be interested in how the law could reduce costs, with a 2011 study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health showing healthcare savings following bicycle investment in the city of Portland, Oregon, of up to 594 million U.S. dollars. Endit