What does a city feel like after it cuts car traffic in half and gives the streets back to people? We take you onto Paris’ bike lanes, into its buses and metros, and through the policies that turned a car-choked capital into a place where movement feels easy, human, and fast.

We break down how temporary “COVID paths” grew into a citywide Plan Vélo, backed by a major budget and an audacious goal: make every neighborhood bike-accessible. That meant building more than 1,000 kilometers of bikeways, re-striping streets, adding protection, and coordinating signals so cycling works at all ages and abilities. Pair that with bus-only lanes, filtered residential streets, and the removal of 50,000 parking spaces, and the result is a network that moves more people with less noise and danger. 

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