Better in what way? I've in Paris for decades, people are jammed together all the time. Horrible conditions during a pandemic. Let's face it, cars are better in this case. Biking in Paris where it rains all the time and gets really cold, good luck with that (I'm a biker myself and use it all the time, just not feeling good about this knowing Parisians).
It at least exists in a form that is usable. In the US, most people do not even live within a bus line that comes < 15 min frequency during the rush hour, let alone all day, or next to a rail line or something more substantial.
If the local bus only comes four times a day I'm much less likely to use it, since missing one means I am screwed for quite a while or then have to cough up money I wasn't planning on spending on a taxi.
> Biking in Paris where it rains all the time and gets really cold, good luck with that (I'm a biker myself and use it all the time, just not feeling good about this knowing Parisians).
Is it really worse than other big cities? Does it have a proven impact on bike usage? As some anecdata, it rains twice more in New York than in Paris 1,200mm vs. 600mm/year) and on more days (121 vs. 111/yr). Amsterdam, the well known bikes-everywhere city is colder and has more rain (900mm) than Paris. Berlin is well know for both frequent rains and a large bike usage.
Parisians using scooters (gas powered) seem not to be bothered by rain or cold that much. Otherwise scooter usage wouldn't be so high. Not as high as Naples though.
Paris is a lot flatter than Aarhus, which has much higher bicycle usage. And if you need to go to Montmartre, any Decathlon in Paris sells perfectly decent e-bikes for a few hundred Euros. It's infrastructure, not culture or hills or weather.
Yup, it is infrastructure. All those quaint cubic rock paved hilly streets in Montmartre with obstacles tobprevwnt cars parking and and cars parked on the side are a cycling hazard, especially when it rains.