From April 20, the Ile-de-France region will offer new subsidies to encourage cycling. This aid is now aimed at the purchase of bicycles without electric assistance and electrification kits.
Bicycle sales are faltering, but not stopping. After a 7% drop in 2022, the market could rise again this year, at least in Ile-de-France, with a financial boost. On April 20, IDFM (Ile-de-France Mobilités) will present to the board of directors a series of measures aimed at helping individuals to equip themselves with all types of bicycles, electric, but also muscular or cargo. Last year, sales of mechanical bicycles plummeted by 13%.
These measures, if they are validated, will come into force on September 1, but some will benefit from retroactivity to the date of the board of directors, i.e. April 20.
“To make the Véligo Location service consistent with aid for the acquisition of bicycles, it seems necessary to also diversify the types of bicycles that can be the subject of a subsidy by Île-de-France Mobilités”, indicates the project of deliberation.
Decreasing aid, but not capped
To broaden the scope, the region has decided to reduce the aid for the purchase of an EAB by 100 euros, reducing it from 500 to 400 euros on September 1, 2023. But this subsidy will no longer be capped. It will be combined with the aid offered by the municipalities.
“We are simplifying the system (…) by making it cumulative with the aid of the municipalities”, declared Valérie Pécresse.
A person whose income makes it possible to obtain aid of 300 euros from his town hall, as is the case in Puteaux, will see the bill for his bicycle drop by 700 euros instead of 500 until now. Until then, the cumulative subsidies of the region and its city were capped at 500 euros and the Putéolians could only obtain 200 euros from the region.
100 euros for a mechanical bicycle
The real novelty are aids for mechanical bicycles. Until now, owners of muscle bikes, or those who afforded one, were the poor relations of soft mobility. Aid of 100 euros (capped at 50% of the cost) will be offered to 15-25 year olds for the purchase of a new or used bicycle purchased from a professional from April 20. Not enough to afford the “gravel” of your dreams, but the gesture will allow you to invest in a simple and efficient road bike such as you can find new in supermarkets or used at many retailers.
Another novelty, aid of 200 euros to invest in a kit to transform a muscle bike into an electric bike. Important precision, this device must be installed by a professional. As for mechanical bicycles, requests for files will be taken into account retroactively to the date of this Council”, i.e. April 20, specifies the draft deliberation.
This type of device is available from 500 euros. They not only allow you not to spend too much on a VAE, but also to keep your bike. Some kits, such as electric wheels, even make it possible to switch from one bicycle to another in families who do not want or cannot replace all the bicycles.
Another proposed measure is aid for bicycle leasing for companies with fewer than 50 employees. It will be capped at 150 euros per year and per bicycle within the limit of 5 bicycles and for a period of 3 years per applicant.
Since 2019, the Ile de France region has invested 100 million euros in cycling (aid and infrastructure). In 2023, the annual budget will be increased by one million euros to reach 34.85 million. In 3 years, the region has granted 200,000 aids of 500 euros for the purchase of an electrically assisted bicycle (VAE) yet at 700,000 the number of cyclists in the region whose objective to be reached is 2.1 million cyclists.
