SPEED AND CAR TRAFFIC REGULATION IN URBAN AREAS The Case of Paris

Improvements in individual mobility conditions for drivers in the Paris conurbation (higher speed and lower cost of individual mobility) have contributed to the reduction of urban area density and have led to dominant use of the car and a dramatic reduction in walking and cycling, while the use of public transport has remained roughly constant. The car now highly dominates the other transport modes in many places including the Paris metropolitan area.As a consequence of the car domination, a great part of public opinion claims a reduction of the car use and the development of alternative forms of transport. The aim of this study was to determine whether those claims are consistent with the actual present car traffic speeds. More precisely, our aim was to try to answer some questions: have car drivers a good appreciation of car speed performance? How many are car drivers who could save time by using other modes of transport? What can be expected from a drastic growth of the public transport supply and/or from a reduction of car speed in order to reduce car usage and consequently car traffic flows.This paper presents our methodology and the major results obtained through numerical simulations based on Paris conurbation transport models and figures