Study of the bicycle as a mass feeder mode to regional train stations

To loosen car dependency, service to exurban areas can rely on the bicycle and public transport combination to achieve time-efficient, environment-friendly and cost-saving trip chains. This topic is scarcely investigated in France in spite of the increasingly important stakes. The potential development of such a combination depends on a set of factors (technical and regulatory aspects, users' constraints and expected benefits, political will); for that, a pluridisciplinary approach focused on a case study is fruitful. Costs and benefits for the community are compared in organizing an attractive bike-and-ride service instead of a park-and-ride service. Economic diagnosis is topped by a sociological approach (qualitative interviews with stakeholders). Analysis is applied to a French exurban territory (Val d'Amboise), where regional train is used to reach several employment clusters (including Tours), but where bicycle use for transport is presently low, in particular by lack of decidedly proactive policies putting into effect a global vision for public space adaptation and motorized travel containment. The implementation of intermodal travel with regional train is analysed in the study according to several scenarios, one of which heavily relies on the bicycle for the access leg to the station. Each scenario is associated with operational tools to capture, or extend the existing potential: technical tools such as station facilities, route bikeability, e-bike diffusion, and other incentives such as fare policy, innovative cartography, communication. The benchmarking of best French and foreign practices shed light on our analysis. Under certain conditions the findings could be applied to many exurban territories with similar situations.