Students in Grand Paris: limited use of bikes between home and place of study by a rapidly increasing population.
Half a million students study in the Grand Paris Metropolis - this figure has grown by 25% in 13 years and is set to increase even further according to forecasts by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
This huge increase is presenting key players in the public domain with some serious challenges, as this population, often described as vulnerable in expert surveys, has such a wide number and variety of needs.
Among these needs, students’ bike journeys, particularly those undertaken for practical reasons, have been little studied. Therefore, this study has taken an exploratory approach aiming to assess the means of transport, to quantify and qualify them and evaluate the various drivers and inhibitors linked to their different usages.
It relies in large part on the results of a survey of almost 600 higher education students spread out over 29 sites in Paris and the inner suburbs.
The data gathered reveals a very limited practice of active modes of transport, cycling in particular. This relative weakness is the result of a combination of diverse factors: generally long distances between home–place of study, a supply of facilities such as bike racks and Velib’ terminals which is often insufficient and ineffective, taking into account the daily flow of students to and from campus, and, in the eyes of this public, often less than optimum conditions for cycling (traffic density, lack of bike lanes).
