[sustran] "A Convenient Truth - Cycling, authority and lessons from Paris

Eric Britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Wed Aug 9 02:36:09 JST 2006

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Mass Bike Rides in Paris – Vive la difference

Eric Britton, New Mobility Partnerships <http://newmobilitypartners.org/>

PARIS. August, 8, 2006

Americans often think of the French as being individualists, hot tempered and
unruly. Hey, that can happen, but at a time when you in New York are simmering
not only from the your local warming but also and far more permanently it would
appear from a conflicted, traumatic relationship with city government and the
police, the story of the mass rides in Paris is something of a cautionary tale.

If you come to Paris . . .

If you come to Paris with your bike or skates, you will be able to join a mass
ride once or twice a week and make a grand swing of the city lasting a couple of
hours, and all that in safety and harmony with the city, the police and the
public (other than some drivers who can get a bit excited if they have the
chance, but we have them under control). You will not be stopped, you will not
be warned, you will not be arrested, and you will not be struck or manhandled.
But if you are from New York City you may be a bit disoriented and surprised by
the way it works here, police and all.

The Paris Friday Night Skate organized by http://www.pari-roller.com
<http://www.pari-roller.com/> is the bigee, with up to fifty thousand on line
skaters joining the ride, but this note will look at its little brother the mass
bicycle rides in this beautiful city. They have a lot in common.

While there is also several weekly bicycle mass rides, the main one is a regular
Friday night ride organized by a public group "Paris Rando Vélo". The ride
starts at City Hall at 10:00 pm and takes about two and a half hours to cover
20-25 km. An average of 500, 600 cyclists participate in the summer, half that
number in the winter months.

How it all started

The bike mass first took shape in 2000 after a major transport strike which had
the effect of bringing a lot more cyclists onto the streets. An organizing group
– which later formed an “Association” (a main form of organizing and registering
community and public interests activities in France) took shape and their first
step was to meet with the Prefect of Police to report on their intentions and to
ensure that they were in full compliance with the law.

The police said OK, but you have to organize and police yourselves (having run
into some problems and manpower requirements with the much bigger Friday night
skating mass ride for which after a rough start beginning in 1995, eventually
came to be have good police, emergency and city services support. But such
support ties up resources so the Prefect insisted that the cyclists would have
to do their own policing (We can do the skaters in another letter from Paris for
you.)

So the event is entirely self-organized , with the Association providing a
couple of dozen staff members as monitors, with a handful leading to way to stop
traffic at all intersections and the rest simply keeping an eye on and herding
and when needed lending a hand to anyone who may get into a bit of trouble.
Paris Rando Vélo also organizes private rides, so if you come to Paris with a
bunch of friend and want to do a bike tour of your own, you will find their full
coordinate at the end of this short piece.

Both mass events are encouraged by City Hall and the elected officials, who see
them as good for Paris and good for Parisians. The police are apparently having
a second look about possibly providing further backup, but with or without it
the Paris bike mass works.

Cycling in cities; A Convenient Truth.

Lessons for New York from the Paris experience over these last years? Hard to
say what these might be because the basic cultures are so different but here are
a few thoughts that come to mind:

1. Transportation professionalism. If you want to change something in the
transport sector, you better be a pro. While French cyclists can be as
self-centered and aggressive as anywhere in the world, their success has come
through taking off the hard edge and coming in as a responsible community group
that can perform -- they have found that it is more effective to organize,
prepare, contact and negotiate than to engage in street warfare with the
authorities.

2. Iron discipline: Given the complexity, the delicacy of the
transportation metabolism of a city – even at 10:00 on Friday nights – there
must be absolute discipline for both the route and the timing. Nobody likes
surprises, including those who will have to carry the ball if you drop it.

3. Be there or be square: Numbers count and so does regularity. Everyone
should be accustomed to you being out there when announced and start to see you
and the event as part of the normal city landscape. And of course if you ever
find yourselves at odds with the authorities it certainly helps to have fifty
thousand voters smiling and riding right behind you. Numbers talk

4. Have your man in City Hall: It really helps to have your man in City
Hall (In Paris it’s Denis Baupin, who is vice-mayor, a Green and a cyclist
himself. And he is committed). And there is no doubt that a great key is to
have the mayor on your side as well (which is the case with Mayor Delanoë here).
If your guy is just there for the odd photo op, get rid of him and find yourself
someone with real commitment, day after day after day.

5. Be your own good cop: The ability to do the monitoring and
self-policing work yourselves is a big plus. Perform with discipline and the
authorities come around. They may have to bite their lip, but they will become
part of the solution

6. Communicative like a winner: Reaching out to the press and the media,
and in the process getting your main message across. That being about winning,
not about either fighting, losing or raw deals (even if that is also true for
now).

A final thought from this side of the Atlantic has to do with self confidence
and steadfast determination. (Am I starting to sound like your grandmother?)
Cycling – and mass cycling events, well organized, without a chip on your
shoulder and coordinated with the community as a whole – is a part of the
solution to the pressing problems of transport, the economy and quality of life
in all our cities, New York included. Cycling can show the way for the rest. It
is one part of a whole class of new solutions to our present problems of
disorientation and dysfunctionality in the transport sector, for which we have a
phrase – the New Mobility Agenda. Or better yet perhaps “Cycling, A Convenient
Truth”.

You have that on your side, so keep moving

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