Bicycle/tram interactions in French networks

Management: CEREMA/DTecTV and STRMTG/DTW
Production: CEREMA DTer Méditerranée
January 2012 - December 2014

Bike infrastructure is now an integral part of tramway line projects, as demonstrated by the second call for dedicated lane projects launched by the French Ministry of Ecology in 2010, which proposed to finance feeder bike routes to tramway stations as part of the project budget.

However, in practice, quite extensive cyclist use of platforms is tolerated. Faced with this situation, operators (via feedback from tramway drivers) have expressed their concerns, citing perceived safety issues and fear of cyclists falling.

The first phase took stock of the practices of cyclists on platforms, city by city, and measured the issues, which were very different from one city to the next. Above all, it provided an opportunity to consult the stakeholders, including operators, road managers and cyclist associations in each city about behaviour, practices and safety. They were also asked for their opinion (or rather that of the company/association/community they represented) about the possibility of tramway and cyclist cohabitation on certain sections.

Further research in Phase 2 was determined on the basis of the lessons learned in Phase 1. It was clearly necessary to make observations on the behaviour of trams and cyclists with regard to their interactions on platforms. A panel of cities with significant bicycle traffic on platforms was therefore selected, and behavioural observations were made.
At the same time, the decision was made to conduct additional surveys of cyclists only. These surveys led to a proposal for how to take cyclists into account on tramway routes:

1) New projects

• Integrate, right from the project design stage, infrastructure to enable cyclists to travel in both directions outside the tramway platform on cycle lanes, paths, two-way cycle paths or share the space with cars (in compliance with Article 228-2 of the French Environmental Code).

2) Existing infrastructure

• Look for possible adaptations for cyclists on all existing infrastructure other than cohabitation on the tramway platform: elimination of parking, optimisation of associated infrastructure, reduction in the number of lanes, credible 30km zones, etc.
• Study the possibility of combining bike and tram traffic under the conditions defined above (only if the above research does not lead to solutions acceptable to all).