the French still addicted to the car

The car remains the preferred mode of transport for the French to go to work, even for short distances. This is the main teaching of a study published on Monday by INSEE.

In 2017, nearly three out of four working people took the wheel to get to work. Others ? They use public transport (16%), walk (6%), ride a bicycle (2%), a motorcycle or a scooter (2%).

Six out of 10 working people take the car for less than 5 km

Distance is logically the determining factor. The further away their work is, the more the French use the car. But it remains the dominant mode of travel, even for short distances: six out of ten working people use it for journeys of less than five kilometers.

Almost one in two, or 1.7 million people, even get behind the wheel to travel less than a kilometer. But they are not necessarily indecisive polluters. A good part are craftsmen, traders or employees likely to have to make business trips during the day, tempers INSEE.

Other criteria may also play a role, such as having to drop the children off at school on the way.

–

France of cities and France of fields

There is also a marked contrast between the France of the cities and the France of the fields. Outside the catchment areas of cities, 90% of French people use their car to get to work.

On the contrary, public transport is a specific mode of travel in city centers. Around 14% of working people use them in urban centers, compared to 4% in peripheral municipalities and only 2% in municipalities far from city catchment areas.

The phenomenon reaches its peak in Paris, where 44% of working people use subways, buses or trams to get to work.

The use of public transport is maximum for medium distances, between 2 and 5 km. Below, many active people prefer soft mobility such as walking or cycling. Beyond that, a certain number are inclined to take the wheel.

Strasbourg and Grenoble, champions of cycling

Walking and cycling depend largely on the distance to be covered, but also on the socio-professional category.

To do less than 5 km, executives pedal more than three times more than craftsmen or traders, and employees walk nearly twice as much … Differences which can once again be explained by the need in certain professions to move around during the day.

In large cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants, where its use is widespread, the share of cycling can also vary considerably. Grenoble and Strasbourg are the champions in this area, with workers favoring cycling in 17% of cases. At the back of the pack, come Marseilles and Saint-Étienne: less than one in fifty working people choose the little queen to go to work.

–

What about the future?

In light of the trends of recent years, it would be tempting to imagine that the bicycle dethroned the car for a majority of short trips. The figures collected by INSEE during its 2015 and 2020 surveys certainly show an increase, but very timid: in five years, the share of bicycles has increased by 0.9 points while that of the car has decreased accordingly, and that the use of public transport increased by 0.4 points.

The trend is however more marked in the urban centers, with a progression of the bicycle of 1.6 points and a decline of the car of 2.2 points.

–