E-bike Mont Blanc

The “E-bike Mont-Blanc” project co-financed by the Interreg Alcotra Italy-France 2021-2027 Program was approved by the Supervisory Committee on 26 January 2023. The Municipality of Courmayeur is the leader with partners the Valle d’Aosta Autonomous Region, Department of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, and the Communauté des Communes de la Vallée de Chamonix Mont-Blanc.

The amount of the project is €929,215.11, and this must be completed in 15 months starting from May 2023. The project, on the Italian side, is 100% financed, with 80% ERDF and 20% national counterparts. On the French side, in addition to the 80% ERDF grant, the project is self-financed by the Communauté de Communes Vallée de Chamonix Mont-Blanc for the remaining 20%.

Objectives
The project intends to sustainably enhance the natural and cultural heritage of Mont Blanc through the promotion and integrated and cross-border management of the recreational and tourist practice of e-bikes.

Through the cooperation of the three partners, a cross-border strategy will be implemented, characterized by sustainability and respectful use of the mountain to support the e-bike practice of tourist customers on both sides of Mont Blanc, involving local operators and companies.

Activities

To achieve the intended objective, the project involves three main activities:

– a cross-border promotion strategy that enhances the existing offer and communicates the potential, richness and diversity of the e-bike offer on the two sides of the Massif, making people perceive the added value of an “en plein air” holiday of discovery of the Courmayeur area and the Vallée de Chamonix where you can practice e-biking on itineraries that range from the Val Ferret in Courmayeur and the Vallée de Chamonix;

– the improvement and strengthening of the offer of e-bike itineraries, on the one hand adapting the current paths to allow the practice of e-bikes so that they are usable by bikers and trekkers, reducing interference between the two types of visitors and on the other by creating new sections of track at strategic points of the route network. The improvement of all the itineraries will try to preserve the most sensitive areas, in which e-bikes must not leave the indicated routes;

– the activation of a new transport service through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, taking advantage of existing buses and with an experimental shuttle to facilitate travel between Italy and France by allowing passengers to travel with their own e-bikes. The project will propose an offer that does not currently exist for those who intend to cross the border transporting their e-bike and must currently use a private car or rely on a few hauliers who offer a service on request. The project includes two types of solutions:

1. introduction, in the bus service between Courmayeur and Chamonix, of a specific offer for e-bikes, equipping the buses, during the summer period, with suitable bike racks;

2. establishment of an experimental on-call shuttle service (equipped with bike trolley) which will allow bikers to more easily reach the routes on one side and the other of the Mont Blanc Massif, through the Tunnel.

The results we intend to achieve are the following:
– conscious development and management of the network of e-bike routes on both sides, with an extension of the network on the Italian side in the Val Veny sector and with an optimization of the valley bottom routes as regards the Communauté de Commune de la Vallée de Chamonix Mont Blanc;

– overcoming the current lack of cross-border transport services dedicated to e-bikes, between Courmayeur and the Vallée de Chamonix Mont Blanc, specific transport services for e-bikes through the Mont Blanc Tunnel;

– increase in cross-border transit of tourists on e-bikes, thanks to the new bike transport service on buses;

– optimization of the offer of e-bike routes which aims to reduce the traffic of private cars through the Tunnel for the benefit of collective transport (public-private) which will allow visitors from both locations to live a unique outdoor experience, on two wheels on the other side of Mont Blanc;

– integration between the practice of mountain e-biking and hiking, identifying adapted routes by adapting existing routes that avoid conflicts of use and allow better use and tourist valorisation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Mont Blanc Massif.