Life outside of cars: Besançon

A while back I was part of an email discussion on transportation that revolved only around cars and driving. My blood started boiling. What about talking about people outside of cars, I said. That got me thinking.

I regularly go back to my hometown of Besançon, France. When I’m there, I walk and take transit. And I very much enjoy the fact I matter as a person outside of a car. Here’s why.

No right on reds. This is a no-brainer. When I cross a street, I don’t need to worry about being hit by a driver looking for an opening in traffic. Same if I’m going through an intersection on a bike. Either you have the green or you don’t.

Speed cameras are a common sight on major roads. They’re one of the many tools the city has in its toolbox and they work. This is one of them on Boulevard Winston Churchill, a major artery.

Major artery (4 lanes and two turning lanes) with a speed camera in the middle.

Retractable bollards are another tool in the city’s toolbox. They support quieter neighbourhoods. Downtown is only accessible to local traffic, public transit, hotels and deliveries (either using a fob or calling in to be let in). Walking, biking or rolling downtown is a very enjoyable experience nowadays, I must say. Automated retractable bollards are very practical as well. I’ve seen them in two neighbourhoods where I walk a lot. In one instance, it’s on a one-way school street. In another, it’s used at rush hour on a quiet street that was increasingly used by through traffic.What a great uss of bollards!

Two retractable bollards and a couple of posts blocking a street into downtown Besançon. Bollard to the right comes down upon activation by bus drivers. On the left, a sign says that delivery drivers and hotel visitors must ring in for hotels or stores to bring down the bollard and let them in.

An automated retractable bollard at the beginning of a one-way school street, in the middle of a chicane. Bollard goes up at school drop off and pick up at times indicated. A sign indicates that people on bikes can bike against traffic on this street.

Now speed mitigation measures wouldn’t be complete without speed bumps and chicanes. And they’re ubiquitous.They’re used on neighbourhood streets, often spread out on a given street, ensuring consistent low speeds throughout, and sometimes right at the same spot.

A chicane on a two-way street. To the right, delivery parking. To the left, a mini stretch of a bike lane.

There are a couple more things that I enjoy when I’m there. First are the many areas with a 30 kph speed limit. The City is sending the message that our streets are safer and more enjoyable for everyone when car traffic is slower. They work best on narrow streets with other speed mitigation measures. On narrow one-way streets with such a speed limit, you’ll also often find counterflow signs for cycling. This allows for more direct routes for people on bikes. I love it.

A 30 kph zone sign on a narrow one-way street with a sign above it showing that people on bikes can bike against traffic.

The second one is beg buttons. You don’t have to wait for 2 minutes when you want to cross a street. At an intersection I often cross, with 5 lanes of traffic, on average I’ve had to wait between 15 and 30 seconds. At some intersections, when you press a beg button, all pedestrian lights go green at the same time so you can cross two streets one after the other. After all, people who walk have places to go.

On this major artery, it takes 13 seconds after pushing the beg button to get a green light.

I’d be remiss not to mention transit. Transit there is frequent and reliable and an integral part of what makes it easy to get around. And it’s free on Saturdays. Now I would have liked to talk about M12 signs, that apply to cycling. But that’s a story for another day.