Paris is the centre of a national, and with air travel, international, complex transport system. The modern system has been superimposed on a complex map of streets and wide boulevards that were set in their current routes in the 19th century. On a national level, it is the centre of a web of road and railway, and at a more local level, it is covered with a dense mesh of bus, tram and metro service networks.

Paris has one of the most sustainable transportation systems in the world (private cars are only 4.3% of the overall traffic in the city centre) and is one of only two cities that received the Sustainable Transport Award twice, in 2008 and 2023. The second is Bogota. The award was accorded for the continual efforts to expand active transportation networks, including specifically designated to help children, women, disabled persons. By the year of 2026, half of parking spaces should be turned into green spaces, bike lanes, spaces used for shared mobility and playgrounds.

In the years 2022–2023, 53.3% of the trips in the city centre were made on foot, 30% on public transport, 11.2% on bicycles and 4.3% on cars.

Bike lanes are being doubled, while electric car incentives are being created. The French capital is banning the most polluting automobiles from key districts. During only one year, the use of bicycles rose by 54%.

In 2022 the organization "Tools of change" finished a landmark case study about the transportation system in Paris. According to the study during the years 2010–2020 the modal share of cars in Paris declined from 12.8% to 6% while the modal share of active transportation (walking, cycling) rose from 55.4% to 68% (more than in Copenhagen and Barcelona) due to a combination of several governmental and local programs. Contrarily, in the whole Métropole du Grand Paris region the modal share of cars rose in those years from 39.5% to 43% and the modal share of active transportation declined from 40.3% to 36%. The use of public transport declined in Paris and slightly rose in the Paris Metropolis.

In March 2025, Parisiens approved a referendum, turning 500 more streets (5-8 per neighborhood) and 10,000 more parking lots into walking paths, cycle lanes, and greenery. 300 streets and 10,000 parking lots have already been transformed since 2020. The population will be further consulted about which streets will be converted.

Paris is known for the non-linearity of its street map, as it is a city that grew 'naturally' around roadways leading to suburban and more distant destinations. Centuries of this demographic growth created a city cramped, labyrinth-like and unsanitary, until a late 19th century urban renovation, overseen by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, resulted in the wide boulevards we see there today. This remained relatively unchanged until the 1970s, and the construction of cross-city and periphery expressways.

More recently, the city began renovations to prioritise public transport systems, and has created 'purpose' lanes dedicated to buses, taxis, and, more recently, cyclists, narrowing the passages reserved for automobiles and delivery vehicles. Although reducing traffic flow within the city itself, this traffic modification often results in traffic congestion at the capital's gateway thoroughfares.