• Marseille comes last in the first barometer of 200 walkable cities in France, a ranking without much surprise.

  • "Walking in this city is an absolute hassle, one of the challenges for us is to give the city back to pedestrians", assures the elected representative of mobility, who entrusts her roadmap on scooters and parking on the sidewalks.

We already knew Marseille to be the last of the cycle cities, so here it is also at the back of the pack of walkable cities, according to the first barometer published this Monday by the collective “Place aux pedestrians”. "It is not a surprise at all, but the message is very clear, clear and precise and encourages to continue the work with the elected officials", reacts Martine Bigot, administrator of the association 60 millions of pedestrians, and local correspondent for the city center of Marseille.

Out of 1,373 contributions, the highest participation in the online survey with Paris and Toulouse, the word sidewalk is the one that comes up most often.

Too narrow, cluttered with obstacles (scooters, dog droppings, potholes, badly parked cars and scooters…), when they are not cars parked astride the sidewalk.

A classic of the dissatisfied Marseille pedestrian: turning over the windshield wipers of the car encroaching too much and preventing passing with a stroller, not to mention a wheelchair.

Another technique also seen: a message in grease pencil left on the windshield, with the friendliness of use.

"It's downright Koh-Lanta"

"In some streets, it's downright Koh-Lanta to walk," denounces Martine Bigot, who cites the surroundings of certain schools, where clusters of college students have little choice but to walk on the road. "I am waiting for the sidewalks to be freed from paid horse parking spaces as a matter of priority," she continues. I am hyperpragmatic, it is not a question of overturning the table and putting motorists in difficulty, we have to find practical solutions to move the parking lot. "

According to Audrey Gatian, deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of mobility, there are in the city center of Marseille “between 5,000 and 6,000 places affected by horse parking”.

“It's the meaning of history to remove them, but we have to find concrete solutions, it's a long-term job,” she continues.

We are in discussions with the metropolis to have, for example, lower prices for residents in underground car parks.

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Soon, tidy scooters?

For the chosen one too, this ranking is hardly a surprise “in a city built for decades around and for the car. "" Walking in this city is an absolute hassle, one of the challenges for us is to give the city back to pedestrians ", she assures, in the continuity of the operation" the way is clear ", one Sunday a month on the Corniche in Marseille. Reasons to hope for a better place on the next barometer. There are according to Audrey Gatian. Starting with the new call for expressions of interest (a form of public contract) for three new scooter operators. It should be completed at the end of September, this time with the obligation to set up parking areas.

“Clearly, we have seen that parking scooters is a real problem in terms of a walkable city,” explains Audrey Gatian. In a few months, we will have scooters stowed correctly, already this summer we asked operators to limit the speed to 30 km / h in pedestrian areas, this created too many conflicts of use. An experiment is also being studied to, by the end of 2021, pedestrianize the surroundings of eight test schools during entry and exit times.

“After that, it's a whole, we must also strengthen public transport, there is a better network of the territory,” recalls Audrey Gatian.

For its part, the association 60 million pedestrians continues its mapping of the least walkable streets in Marseille, in particular those affected by parking on horseback on the sidewalk.

And is looking for correspondents throughout the city to advance the cause of pedestrians.

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