Active and Sustainable Mobility in Lyon

Dutch Cycling Embassy travels to Lyon to explore opportunities for their network in the French city.

On Thursday, May 19th, 2022, Dutch Cycling Embassy Marketing and Communication Manager Chris Bruntlett traveled to Lyon to explore potential opportunities for their public-private network in the French city. As a welcome guest of the Netherlands Business Support Office (NBSO), he participated in a full-day program hoping to capture some momentum around “Les Voies Lyonnaises”, an ambitious plan to build 396 kilometers of cycling infrastructure on 13 regional “lines” by the year 2030, which aims to put 99% of its 2.3 million metropolitan residents within 10 minutes of a high-quality bicycle facility.

The day started at 8:30 with the inaugural “Rencontre des achats de la mobilite active et durable”, a meeting between the players who offer solutions for active and sustainable mobility and public and private suppliers. This included keynote presentations from several key stakeholders, followed by B2B meetings with many potential local partners. After a lunch meeting organized by the NBSO, which included Mariëtte van Empel from the Netherlands Embassy in Paris and the CARA European Cluster for Mobility Solutions, the group went for a short bike tour of Lyon’s impressive cycling infrastructure.

Last but not least, the NBSO arranged a screening of the film ‘Together We Cycle’ at Institut Lumière. Hosted and moderated by Stein van Oosteren (author of the book ‘Pourquoi pas le vélo?’), the evening included short debates about the future of the bicycle in Lyon, and a lengthy Q&A session with the audience or 200 or so. The event also included a soft launch for e-cargo bike sharing service Cargoroo, which will officially “go live” in September. We were excited to see the momentum around active and sustainable mobility in Lyon, and hope the Dutch Cycling Embassy can continue to work with them in the years ahead!