Whilst I understood from the posts that BSO are referenced as low end/budget bikes, I didn't know what BSO meant, so googled it.
I will agree that for many people a BSO is where they start (and where I started many times in my late teens and early 20's). There is a market for them and many reasons why people buy them, such as affordability, it will do, need something unattractive, something to just sling around, a bike is a bike attitude etc with ride/build quality etc coming at the bottom of the list. Most of the people outside a forum will have kittens hearing about bikes costing £500/1k upwards. Its only when one takes a greater interest in cycling that they realise what a mistake a BSO is and a few hundred more could have got something reasonable.
That France govt scheme looks fair considering a lot of stuff will easily get going with a few minor tweaks and lube etc.
Its taken the circumstances of Covid-19 to seriously get me in the saddle, with me just going for a bit of exercising, not realising that my exercise route trounces what my work to commute would be. I hope on the other side, people do start using bicycles more, be it for a bit of leisure or commuting.