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Normandy: more and more bicycles on board trains
Soft mobility is on the rise in Normandy trains, so much so that cyclists use stratagems to place their machine in the small spaces, designed for this purpose, on board the wagons. – (France 2)
Soft mobility is on the rise in Normandy trains, so much so that cyclists use stratagems to place their machine in the small spaces, designed for this purpose, on board the wagons.
Take the train by bike. For three years, this has been Damien Fischetti’s life choice. He settled in Rouen and continues to work in Paris. “That corresponds to approximately 3,000 kilometers per year, just for the bike-to-work trip. Every day it’s 1 hour 20 minutes by bike and 2 hours 40 minutes by train for the return trip”always with the same ritual, hang up your bike very quickly. “You only have three bicycle spaces, which today, for a region like Normandy, is very few”, he explains. That evening, all places are taken fifteen minutes before departure.
Priority to passenger comfort on trains
Faced with this success, reservations for one euro have become compulsory since this summer. “It’s very complicated because there are very few bike spaces”, explains a cyclist who has not reserved. But the Normandy region, in charge of TER, assumes responsibility: it wants to prioritize passenger comfort. “We will never have enough space to carry all the bicycles that are in demand and the purpose of our trains is first and foremost to transport passengers”, recalled Antoine Jean who manages the soft mobility plan for the Normandy region. Priority in Normandy,bikeimprove parking lots in stations: 1,200 additional spaces will be built within a year.
