For the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Paris, Vélib' Métropole pulls out all the stops. The public bike system is deploying two giant, temporary Vélib' stations, with a total capacity of 800 bikes. One is at Place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement, the other on the Quai d'Orsay in the 7th. They will be in operation on Saturday, September 26, 2026, the day of the open-air Mass on the Champs-Élysées.
The idea is simple: offer a practical solution for a forecast crowd of a very large size, as several hundred thousand faithful and curious onlookers are expected between Place de la Concorde and the famous avenue. In short, bicycles will have a prominent role that day.
Each of the two pop-up stations accommodates 400 seats. The first is installed on the Place de la Madeleine, at the foot of the church with a façade reminiscent of an ancient temple. From there, simply walk down Rue Royale to reach Place de la Concorde on foot.
The second site sits at the corner of the Quai d'Orsay and the Pont des Invalides, on the Left Bank. A convenient stop for anyone arriving from the south of Paris who wants to finish the journey by crossing the Seine on foot.
The two stations are dressed in the service’s colors and appear on the Vélib' app map, with their opening hours. Handy for checking their location before you head out.
Bicycles take center stage that day, as the metro will be severely limited around the Mass. Some stations will close as early as Friday evening, September 25, and the list keeps growing on Saturday. Here are the metro stations closed on Saturday, September 26, 2026, from the start of service:
Starting at noon, Ternes (line 2) and Saint-Philippe-du-Roule (line 9) will close in turn. Trains will pass through these stations without stopping, and line 6 will be cut between Charles de Gaulle–Étoile and Trocadéro. On the bus side, many stops in the 7th arrondissement are suspended from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., notably around the Invalides, the Orsay Museum and the National Assembly. The line-by-line details are in our article on the metro stations and bus lines disrupted on September 26.
When you’re driving, it’s best to skip the area. Since September 16, the Place de la Concorde, the lower end of the Champs-Élysées, and Rue Royale (between Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré and the Concorde) are closed to traffic for the setup of the installations. On Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., a large car-free zone covers a substantial part of the 8th arrondissement and 7th arrondissement.
On the Left Bank, motor traffic is barred on Quai d'Orsay, Quai Anatole-France, and four bridges—Alma, Invalides, Alexander III, and Concorde. Pedestrian access, meanwhile, goes through screening checkpoints set up by the Police Prefecture. So it’s best to plan to finish your journey on foot. All affected streets are listed in our article on the circulation and parking restrictions for Saturday, September 26.
These measures may still be adjusted to meet security requirements. For a complete overview, we also recommend our guide on traffic and transport restrictions and our tips for getting to the Pope’s Mass by public transport.
You don’t have to be a regular rider to enjoy it. Sign-up is available via the app or on the Vélib’ Métropole website. For occasional use, the Ticket-V is the best option: a single 45-minute ride, on a mechanical or electric bike, for 3 euros.
Behind this arrangement lies an environmental imperative. For Dan Lert, head of Agemob, the agency running the program, decarbonizing large events starts with transport, the sector that accounts for the first slice of emissions. He notes that Paris hosts around 5,000 events a year and that for the biggest ones, organizers are required to provide bike parking.
With 21,000 bicycles spread across around 1,530 stations, Vélib' ranks among the world's largest self-service bike networks that includes electric bikes. The service, run by Smovengo under a public concession valid from 2018 to 2032, was used by 935,000 people in 2025.
This engagement forms part of a papal journey that also takes in Lourdes and Metz, concluding on September 28. Pope Leo XIV becomes the tenth pope to visit Paris, eighteen years after Benedict XVI. To help plan your visit, the Diocese of Paris outlines the access arrangements for the Mass, and our piece on the papamobile route recaps Friday’s events. Also notable: the Grand Palais will be closed this weekend because of the pope’s visit.
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