Get ready for France’s upcoming international activities! No, I’m not talking about the Olympics. However, the Paris, France 2024 Olympics is monumental. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the last time they held the Olympics. This event and their proactive stance on climate action could explain the recent national and transnational transportation infrastructure investments.
France National Assembly Building displaying Olympic figures
Eye-Opening Moments
During this year’s Earth Week, I want to discuss revelations from my recent Spring trip to Paris, France. This revelation involves France’s focus on transportation. This was my first trip to France, and I naively brought my North American lens of transportation with me. With this, I booked a car for a planned road trip during my vacation. This experience was eye-opening. I soon learned that the electric car I booked was probably not the best choice. The FIAT 500e can travel 240km before needing to be charged. New to this country, the rental agent recommended the same Fiat 500 in the hybrid model. I complied. Well, this wasn’t the first lesson about driving in France.
My first experience, regarding traffic, was when I took an Uber which was cheap and handy from Malakoff to Paris 3 days after my arrival. I got a quick education on Paris traffic that day from the backseat of the Uber. My driver weaved through various streets at noon to avoid huge traffic backups. I observed his mastery at avoiding cars and motorcycles weaving close beside us to gain their respective spot in traffic.
I asked him how he manages his sanity driving in this chaos as a retired citizen. He responded, “I do meditation, every day.” I said, “I can understand how that would help with this type of traffic.” The traffic is “by no means” synchronized with only lion-hearted individuals taking on this challenge.
Transportation in Paris
I am painting this picture to establish the foundation of why Paris’s public transit system is not only essential but well used. I was already using the Metro from Malakoff, a district outside of Paris Central. However, I never realized how essential the metro is to Paris and the outlying districts until a quarterway through my trip. “It is the second busiest metro system in Europe, also it’s the tenth busiest in the world. It carried 1.498 billion passengers in 2019, roughly 4.1 million passengers a day. This makes it the most used public transport system in Paris.” It also transports at least 63% of Parisians daily in opposition to the 11% using vehicles for their commute.
Metro public transportation station entrance in Paris
Transportation around France
Now, let me get back to my road trip. Fortunately, I booked my car from the airport allowing me to avoid that city traffic I mentioned. Once on the road, I paid various tolls that are on most routes. The tolls can cost upwards of twenty euros. This was even different from my experiences in American where tolls are often a few dollars at most.
I soon realized, that if I decided to take the fastest and most direct route, it would require more time than using the trains running regularly between cities and townships around France. For example, my first stop was to Metz, France on my journey. So, I mapped it using Google. By car, the trip took me 3 hours and 20 minutes. By train, the trip would only have taken me 1 hour and 30 minutes. So, in the end, I could have passively sat and enjoyed a scenic countryside view instead I drove a mundane thoroughfare to my first destination that day.
Roadtrip back from Colmar riding the transportation freeway
It is important to mention that one reason for driving was to give me the freedom to explore the countryside. Another educational moment was driving these freeways, I realized there were very few cars, and most users were semi trucks hauling goods. “The transport (national and international) of goods in France is dominated by road transport, with more than two billion goods transported each year. Road transport of goods is above all practical.” Unlike North America, they use their rail to move people not goods.
Environmental Advantages
I also noticed how clean and lush the environment was around me. This climate and landscape are like my home province of British Columbia, but it seemed fresher somehow. I saw fields upon fields of vegetation from the yellow rapeseed, used in biofuels, and cereal crops plus varieties of deciduous trees. In contrast, BC conifers intertwine themselves with sprinklings of deciduous trees. BC’s conifer stands are seasonally under attack from climate change forces such as hotter seasons, pests, and wildfires.
Lush varieties of vegetation along the drive back to Paris
So, France is sustaining itself even amidst our changing climates. I suspect their approach to community transportation gives them an advantage as well. As observed, few people drive from city to city instead they use commuter trains and public transit in the major centres. Currently, Europe is discouraging short-range air travel with policies and extra fees to incentivize rail travel instead.
Investment in community and cross-country transport is a priority for France and Europe. Currently, there is a multibillion-dollar project for a transnational commuter train from France to Italy. Additionally, there are steep investments into broadening existing routes nationally and Germany. These extensions are bringing more commuter trains, both rapid and slow, across the country plus using subsidized costs to get people to board trains.
From my trip around France which included Paris, Malakoff, Metz, and Colmar, I learned so much about how a small country is doing huge things about moving people around conveniently and cheaply. France is another shining example of how to approach transportation in a cleaner climate-friendly manner.
By Theresa K. Howell
2024 is my first post since the last updates in SPRING 2022 PART I & PART II. This is my monumental moment. 🙂
