Mayor of London and Mayor of Paris share cycling expertise

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, agreed to share expertise on improving cycling in their cities during a meeting at City Hall yesterday (Thursday 9th January).

With a growing number of people cycling in London and Paris, and both having hugely popular cycle hire schemes, the mayors discussed the challenges of how they are working to improve road safety and deliver better cycling infrastructure.

It was agreed that London’s Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, will visit Paris next month as part of a pledge to share best practice and ideas on cycling and road safety.

The meeting follows previous discussions in March 2013 when Mayor Johnson and Mayor Delanoë met in Paris to share their experiences on diversifying public transport and their efforts to reduce pollution in their respective cities.

The two mayors also discussed the success of Paris’ electric car sharing service, Autolib', and the evolution of Source London, the UK capital’s electric vehicle charge point network and membership scheme.

Yesterday’s meeting also gave the mayors the opportunity to look at how both cities can further their cultural ties. In 2013 Paris was named among the world’s leading cultural destinations as part of the Mayor of London’s World Cities Culture Report. The two mayors discussed the possibility of launching a cultural exchange season aiming to promote Parisian artists in London and London artists in Paris.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “London and Paris have enjoyed strong links throughout history and today are home to some of the most creative, diverse and enterprising people on the planet. It’s been fantastic to welcome Mayor Delanoë to City Hall to share ideas about how we cement the bond between Paris and London and bolster our reputations as two of the world’s best big cities. From the efforts that we’re making to become cleaner, greener places, to the challenges of running transport systems and improving cycling infrastructure, our two great capitals have much to learn from each other.”

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, said: "I'm delighted that London and Paris - two very creative European capitals - are sharing their experience and savoir-faire. It's superb that our cooperation is enabling experts from our two cities to work together and discover a common dynamic."

Confronted with similar challenges the cooperation between the two cities has increased since the signature in 2001 of an agreement which has facilitated the exchange of teams to look at innovations and best practices.