The episode in detail
A thesis on utility cycling between Lyon and Hamburg
Manon Eskenazi is 30 and works at the Laboratoire Ville Mobilité Transport, affiliated with the École des Ponts et Chaussées and Gustave Eiffel University. Her thesis, defended in January 2022, compares cycling policies and utility cycling practices in Greater Lyon and Hamburg.
The choice of these two cities is no accident: both launched cycling policies in the late 1990s, but with very different results. The cycling modal share was 1-2% in Lyon against 12% in Hamburg at the start of the thesis (15% today).
“You don’t take up cycling because there’s a cycle track outside your door. What makes you take up cycling is a whole environment, in particular a close social circle that familiarises you with cycling, that socialises you into it.”
Infrastructure is not enough, but it is essential
The thesis’s central finding is a paradox. Cycling infrastructure does not directly trigger people taking up cycling. It removes barriers (feeling unsafe, discomfort), but it’s the people around you, the communities of practice, that drive the shift into action. A colleague, a friend, a neighbour who cycles every day creates a knock-on effect more powerful than a new cycle track.
That said, cycling policies remain essential: they signal that the city takes the bike seriously and create a favourable environment. It is a necessary precondition, but not a sufficient trigger.
“Showing that the city is doing something and building a cycling city creates an environment favourable to the growth of cycling practices.”
Who is cycling infrastructure built for?
Manon raises a question rarely asked: who is this infrastructure meant for? Some measures, such as contraflow cycle lanes in narrow streets, do more to slow cars down than to make cycling easier. Cyclists do not necessarily feel safe there.
The question splits in two: should facilities be built for those who already cycle (to keep them cycling) or for those who might start (to convert them)? And where should they be built? To move away from the image of the bike as something confined to city centres, infrastructure needs to be planned for the outskirts too. Hamburg had already grasped this in 1998 with its veloroutes concept: 14 routes across 280 km, designed as a backbone transport network.
Temporary cycle tracks, a confirmed accelerator
The Covid pandemic acted as an accelerator. Local authorities had to offer an alternative to public transport and rolled out temporary cycle tracks (‘coronapistes’) as an emergency measure. Manon’s observation: cities already dedicated to cycling policies simply rolled out, more quickly, projects they already had in the pipeline.
“We saw départements (the local government areas below France’s regions) take one lane in two on their departmental roads. That was still pretty much unprecedented.”
Counts show that even after the post-lockdown drop, the number of cyclists remains higher than before Covid. This is not an isolated episode: the SNCF-RATP strike at the end of 2019 had already caused a similar peak. Every transport crisis pushes a wave of new cyclists towards the bike, and some of them stay there.
Buddy bike commuting to overcome fear
When asked how to promote bike commuting, Manon points to an initiative born during the strikes: buddy bike commuting. The principle is simple: an experienced cyclist accompanies a beginner on a shared route. No need for a tandem bike, everyone pedals their own bike.
“There are a lot of people today who are afraid of the bike, who are worried they won’t know how to behave in traffic. Cycling with someone else helps remove quite a few barriers.”
Cycling schools round out this approach for those who cannot ride or who are afraid to get back in the saddle in an urban setting. This is consistent with the findings of her thesis: peer socialisation into cycling is the most powerful lever.
From a rubbish bike to Véligo, then to a mechanical bike
Manon is not herself a longtime woman bike commuter. Her first attempt, in her first year of a Master’s degree, with a bike too poor in quality to get up hills, had put her off. It was in Hamburg, during her thesis fieldwork, that she rediscovered bike-sharing. Then in Lyon with a borrowed bike. Then in Paris with a Véligo rented for nine months, to cross the bois de Vincennes and follow the banks of the Marne as far as Champs-sur-Marne, a scenic 20 km ride.
“I felt like I was a little bit on holiday two or three times a week.”
Today, she rides a mechanical bike restored in a self-repair workshop, combined with bike-RER intermodal travel. Her kit is minimal: a rain cape, and a fine pannier bag still waiting for a rack.
