Paris, France
By Ross Douglas
Imoved to Paris five years ago to start a business promoting sustainable urban mobility solutions. I run an annual trade show, Autonomy Paris, that exhibits alternatives to single car ownership and driving. In January and February, our team of 10 were selling this year’s trade show scheduled for the first week of November at La Villette in Paris. None of our clients, with the exception of two Chinese companies, were worried about the impacts of Covid-19. On March 15 the French government was encouraging its citizens to go out and vote in the municipal elections taking place across the country. The next day it did a U-turn and declared a lockdown.
Like everyone else in the country, we started télétravail the next day and now start our mornings at 10am with the Zoom team meeting.
A lockdown is the last thing you want when you own a trade show that makes money from businesses that move people in cities. The big concern for cities like Paris is that urbanites will return to car use to avoid public transit. The city has worked tirelessly on measures that have reduced car ownership from 60% in 2001 to 35% today and doesn’t want that trend to reverse. The city is rolling out additional bike lanes in the hope that Parisians turn to bikes, not cars.
On a national level, the government last week announced a à20m (R400m) plan for repairing bicycles, installing temporary bike parking spaces and financing cycling coaching sessions.
The one major upside to the lockdown has been the clear blue skies — no pollution and no vapour trails. I take my two small children out every day on a cargo bike and ride up to Montmartre to look out over
Paris. Now that Parisians and others in Europe have experienced such low pollution levels in their cities, there’s a strong commitment from policymakers and citizens to keep it that way when life returns to normal. For this reason, my clients believe that in the long term this will be good for their businesses.
After the prime minister, Edouard Philippe, announced that social distancing will be the primary tool to fight the virus until there is a vaccine, I converted my trade show into an online trade show.
Despite living in a small apartment, with two young kids and having a business that’s directly affected by the coronavirus, I have been surprised at the benefits that have arisen. I have more quality meetings as people have more time. I’ve also been amazed how everyone is now open to collaborating, which is not common in France. I’ve been able to build partnerships with other event companies that would have been unimaginable a few months ago.
Obviously this is going to be a difficult period for businesses that are unable to go digital. My favourite brunch restaurant down the road used to seat 60 people and employ 12 staff. The owner now sells cappuccinos through a hole in the wall. But for those of us who can go digital, these will be exciting times. We’ll be able to reach bigger audiences at a fraction of the cost.