The Tram comes to Paris

Paris opened the first electric tram (streetcar) service to run in the city for seven decades this morning. The line is only five miles long and it skirts the outside edge of the Left Bank. Trams have made a popular come-back in a dozen other French cities over the past few years, including the Paris suburbs. But the inauguration of the T3, Mayor Bertrand Delanoe's pet project, is being treated as an epochal event for the French capital.

Singers, dancers and Socialist dignitaries helped today to baptise the 340 million euro project which Delanoe sees as the symbol of the greener and friendlier Paris that he is trying to create. The city council's conservative opposition also see the tram as a symbol -- of Delanoe's campaign to make driving in the capital so miserable that people will leave their cars at home. So the opposition, including Dominique Perben, the President Chirac's Transport Minister, boycotted today's inauguration. 
   

The tram, which run on a grass-covered track, is an aesthetic success. Green and white and with huge windows, it has already changed the mood on the traffic-choked Boulevard des Maréchaux, the inner ring road. The line goes along the boulevard from the Garigliano Bridge to the Porte D'Ivry.

The first Paris tram service since 1937 will now be extended northeast, with plans eventually to circle the city. For Delanoe, a Socialist who has tried to add a funky and fun side to his sometimes stuffy city, the line is "a wonderful glimpse of a future, cleaner Paris, a great new urban adventure."

To accompany the biggest urban project since the Périphérique motorway in the early 1970s, the city has widened the sidewalk, added a cycle path, planted a thousand trees and spent four million euros (2.75 million pounds) on art. This includes works by Frank Gehry, the Canadian-American architect of the Bilbao Guggenheim museum and by contemporary art stars including Christian Boltanski and Daniel Buren. 

Paris residents, most of whom do not drive much, were until recently happy with the anti-car policies of Delanoe's Socialist-Greens administration. The mayor put a brake on the "all-car" policies that reached their peak in the 1970s when Presidents Pompidou and Giscard d'Estaing drove free-ways into and around the city and turned the Seine embankment and boulevards into traffic arteries.

Now  Parisians dislike the unintended consequences of Delanoe's crusade: an invasion of noisy scooters and motorcycles and a rise in accidents involving pedestrian and motorcyclists.  A big factor in the death toll are the wide bus lanes that run in the opposite direction to traffic. People walk into them without looking and they are often used by motorcycles and other traffic. An Ipsos poll by the conservative le Figaro today found that while 52 percent of the city approves of Delanoe's mayoralty, 68 percent are now opposed to his traffic policy. 

[Paris traffic]

To many of the motorists who suffer what the headlines call "Delanoe's traffic hell", the tramway is a waste of money. The opposition see it as a symbol of a "class war" that pits Delanoe's well-off city of 2.2 million against the banlieusards who commute from beyond the Périphèrique. Of 2.1 million cars on Paris streets every day, 60 percent come from outside the city.

Françoise de Panafieu, a former minister under President Chirac who is the opposition candidate for mayor in 2008, calls the tramway a "new city wall" against la banlieue -- the surrounding suburbs. "Before deciding to put a tram around Paris, which separates the city from the adjoining towns, M. Delanoe should have talked to their mayors to find out what they really wanted," she said. The money would have been better spent extending lines on the Métro railway into the suburbs.

Opposition from drivers and shop-keepers has lately calmed the fervour of Mr Delanoe and his two "anti-car ayatollahs", Yves Contassot and Denis Baupin, the Greens party deputy mayors for the environment and traffic.

Since 2001, their policies have cut traffic volume by about 10 percent by narrowing thoroughfares with broad bus and bicycle lanes and wider pavements. The motoring lobby and the opposition says that the resulting mega-jams have increased pollution.

The council trio have delayed publication of a long-term Mobility Plan with radical measures to curb road traffic in what is one of the world's most densely populated cities. These include turning the heart of the capital into a pedestrian zone, similar to the centre of Rome. Delanoe has rejected calls from his Green allies for a London-style congestion charge on vehicles entering the city, but many experts believe that tolls will eventually be inevitable.

The council does aim to curb high-polluting vehicles in the capital -- mainly 4x4s, motor cycles and scooters and older delivery vans. "We want to restrict circulation according to the pollution level of a vehicle," said Contassot. "Access to the city will be limited for high-polluting vehicles while low-polluting vehicles will be free to circulate."

The arrival of the tram has done nothing to change the habits of Paris public transport workers. The unions have called a strike on the whole RATP, the transit authority that includes the tram, for next week.  

[the last Paris trams]

Comments

[Francis]

Down here in Nice we also have a tram - unfortunately it doesn't move. The Nice tramway has been being built for about 3 years now (I think its three - lost count) and still isn't finished but as the local news reports they have delivered a tram to sit at the Place Massena for locals to practice getting in and out of. The construction of the tramway has been a boon for all the out of town shopping ares and a complete disaster for the town centre ones because during construction the roads have been dug up and driving and parking in Nice has been a nightmare.

What the Nice tramway has also done is allow the local pols and fonctionnaires to practice the noble art of municipal corruption - something that they already had down to a fine art but as they say practice makes perfect...

[rocket]

The tram is a wonderful idea as well as 50 eurocent/day parking on the streets for residents. I rarely take my car when I need to move around Paris, instead using Public tranport. Parking runs me about 10 euros per month in the street rather than 150 underground and who needs to a have a nice car in Paris with the parking habits of Parisians.

When I need to get to the suburbs, I will systematically take the car because I find the trains cold, dirty and often at the limit of dangerous. The tram needs to be built around the "marechaux" as soon as possible for those who don't need to converge towards the center. As per the green covered track, I fear that the pristine aspect will soon become tempestously dirty as is the habit in public spaces in Paris. The mayor should also make more of an effort to clean up the city streets and clean up the dog poop,(I used the word "poop" to avaoid certain sensitivities by using the word "shit") but this requires a herculean if not impossible effort to educate the Parisians to wait until they get to a trash can to discard their rubbish rather than the instant gratification of throwing it in the streets. Many have tried and failed and it's a sure vote loser. Try teaching Parisians public consciousness. Good luck! And what's with the mounds of cigarette butts piled up around the metal gratings surrounding trees.

The French claim to be environmentally conscious but that of course is in the same ephemeral line of thinking as "nous sommes tous someone for a day" Unfortunately the mindset here is not able to comprehend that being green also means being clean oneself not just controlling exhaust emissions.

I give those trams about a month before they are convered in graffiti.

[Marguerite]

Dans le plan mis en oeuvre pour dissuader les Parisiens de se servir de leur voiture, il y a aussi les contraventions de plus en plus rapidement deposees sur le pare-brise, la fourriere qui patrouille et enleve les vehicules meme la nuit et les controles d'identite et de l'alcoolemie.
Un ami restaurateur me disait ,il y a quelques jours, que cette politique avait pour consequence que les gens sortaient moins le soir et que la clientele des restaurants avait diminue.

[Valentin, Paris]

It's also a matter of civic solidarity, not just education: praising solidarity when it's about "taxing the rich"; being less solidary (if not downright selfish) when involves being civic and bringing one's own contribution.
It goes the same about the equality: very popular concept, especially when it means bringing others down to the base level.

As with the Hallyday "scandal", or the boundless right to go on strike, these too are French idiosyncrasies we'd gladly do without.

[Isabelle]

I agree with those calling the traffic politics Delanhoe's hell. It is.

I agree that using the car inside Paris is not necessary. I don't use it, I never did.

But yet, as many Parisiens, I work in the suburps and have to take my car since there is no reasonable alternative. If I took public transportation it'd double my travel time and I would have to change twice or even three times if I took the bus from the train station to my working place.

Unfortunatley M. Delanhoe tries to dissuade people from using their car rather than inciting them to use public transportation by new suburp trains.

I need my car. In order to go to work and for my professional travels. But now I have even more difficulties to find a place for my car in the evening and to travel the short distance from my home to the motorway. I really live close to the motorway but with all the artificially created traffic jam (I think to again dissuade people) it takes me 20 to 30min for which I could spend only 10.

I still will go on using my car since the alternative isn't acceptable. The only thing I do is that I will spend more time in my car travelling from motorway home and vice-versa and more time in searching for a place where to leave my car. With all the stop and go I doubt that this will reduce pollution.

Well, if there'd be a reasonable alternative in public transportation taking me in one hour from home to work without too much changing I might change my mind. But it doesn't seem to happen.

[Robert Marchenoir]

One of Paris mayor's green ayatollahs famously answered once, to a lady asking him how to bring her children to school without a car: use a bicycle with a cart in tow.

Typical of the socialists' arrogance, ignorance of real people's real problems, and preference for dreams over progress.

[rocket]

Robert I've heard even better than that from a fonctionnaire at the Prefecture in Paris to a American woman whose children were born in France but who herself needed to go through "regroupement familiale".

The fonctionnaire told her that the kids could stay but she had to return to the states to make the formal request.

I guess this is supposed to be French humor and I also you are supposed to laugh and smile all friendly to the fonctionnaire when they make this kind of asinine remark.

I even read one better abut 20 years ago in the IHT. This happened in the United States.

The IRS - (fisc américain) made a mistake with the taxes of a schoolteacher and she got a bill for $3,000,000,000 ( trois milliards). When the teacher asked what she should do about this they told her to go ahead and pay it and then they would reimbourse her.

[isobel]

The cycle lanes in Paris are an absolute menace for pedestrians.It means in effect that you are crossing 6 lanes of traffic, with the cyclists having no requirement to stop as they are riding along the pavement and don't have traffic lights.
And when are the police going to do something about motocyclists riding on the pavement?

[Michael]

Trams seem to be a municipal macho totem, not just in France, but around Europe. But new tramways are expensive and disruptive. More consideration should be given to the trolley bus - just as green, but requiring no tracks. But to have a real impact on traffic in Paris, Delanoe would have to adopt the congestion charge and improve public transport links from the banlieue. Posturing with the tramway and bikes is easier.

[Roger Goodacre]

From personal experience, I'd say that the congestion charge in London has had far less impact than is claimed: after an initial reduction in traffic, congestion is now almost as bad as it used to be, and significantly worse around the edges of the chargeable zone. Despite a mass public consultation exercise by the Mayor's Office, in which almost 80% of residents rejected the proposal, the London mayor has decided nevertheless to extend the zone to cover all of western central London (including the quartier français around the Kensington lycée). And despite an election promise not to raise the congestion charge for 10 years, he increased it earlier this year from £5 per day to £8 per day "for investment in public transport" (ho ho!).

Unlike Paris, there is far too little cost advantage in using public transport in London (the minimum pay-as-you-go bus fare is £1.50 about to rise to £2, the tube fare is about to go up to £4 for a single journey, although it's less expensive if you have an Oyster 'carte orange').

Understandably people prefer to sit in the privacy of their own vehicle, even if it's advancing no faster than a horse, rather than pay for the privilege of being squeezed up against the great unwashed having to listen to tinny tuneless tunes blaring from multiple headphones.

Politicians over here have realised that under the guise of a green agenda, they can raise enormous sums of additional revenue (the airline departure taxes have just been doubled), by taxing activities which most of us cannot escape. Naturally the extra taxation is not hypothecated, and only a small proportion goes into environmental or transport improvement measures.

Seen from London, complaints about inadequate transport links from the suburbs to the centre in Paris are a little difficult to understand, given the huge investment over the years in the RER system. In London, the first RER-type west-east line has been debated for 20 years, and is planned in theory for about 2014 - but no-one's holding their breath.

[Robert Marchenoir]

I understand the point of the tram is not its greenness, but its tracks.

When you drive a car, you usually do not fool around with trains. You stay clear of railway tracks. Same thing with a tram in a city.

Also, I suppose trams have an absolute right of way in the cities which use them.

Both effects add up: normally, trams do not get stuck in traffic jams, as buses and trolley-buses do.

[Edward Johns]

The information and opinions posted here all add weight to the argument that more use should be made of video conferencing and internet technology--in other words remove as much as possible the need to travel to work.
Failing that, the avoidance of commercial and working premises being concentrated in city-centre locations might help. I'm sure that some tax-break system could be used to encourage businesses to re-locate to more provincial settings.

[Loïc]

They can add dozen of tramways or metro lines, it won't change anything simply because the congestion is on the axes East-West and North-South, used by people from the Banlieues to come to work in Paris but worse off all, to La Defense.

La Defense is the business centre but it is already full, and instead of trying to promote businesses to settle in the East area (that could decrease unemployement in suburbs like 93 too), the Paris city and the Region agree to build more skycrapers in La Defense! Nonsense..

[Loïc]

They can add dozen of tramways or metro lines, it won't change anything simply because the congestion is on the axes East-West and North-South, used by people from the Banlieues to come to work in Paris but worse off all, to La Defense.

La Defense is the business centre but it is already full, and instead of trying to promote businesses to settle in the East area (that could decrease unemployement in suburbs like 93 too), the Paris city and the Region agree to build more skycrapers in La Defense! Nonsense..

[Isabelle]

I think there are some good hints in your post, Edward. Teletravail is far too little used in work. Althoug I admit, having had some experiences with video conferences, it is not an easy way to exchange ideas. But this is probably because I am still not much used to it.
And I really wouldn't mind to take public transportation to work (offering the oportunitiy to prolonge my night a bit or to read a good book for which I have just too little time) if there'd be a reasonable alternative. Today as it is, I woulnd't change my 50min car trip with the 1h30 that it'd take me with a combination of 1 metro, 2 RER and 1 bus each way. I would change it for a 1h trip combining 1 RER and 1 bus or 1 metro, 1 RER (and even 1 bus). Inside of Paris I definitly use public transportation. I am a huge fan of it! I only use my car if I know I'll return too late after the last metro train has gone.

[christopher muir]

Yes, an answer to city traffic congestion is to encourage more on-line work communication from home. Surely it makes perfect sense to trust office workers to operate from a home study area rather than drive polluting vehicles to the office every morning.

[Sarah Hague]

The same weekend, the second tramline in Montpellier opened connecting the south west to the north east. They are painted with a zappy 60s-inspired design of big flowers. The tram works very well here, especially with the park and ride schemes at the tail end stations.

[Thomas R]

I was pleased to see a reference to the "rise in accidents involving pedestrian and motorcyclists". I did not know that that was the case - but I guessed it must be so.

I frequently meet motorcyles using the pavement to travel the wrong way up one-way streets, or as a inside 'fast lane' to overtake slow moving traffic. And these are not diddy little scooters either, but big beasts of the auto-mechanical jungle.

But my biggest complaint is, 'when did pedestrian crossings become the approved parking spots for these machine?' You cannot find a corner that does not have a collection of the things blocking the way. Recently, I could not even reach the button to request a crossing without first squeezing around two and then over a third monster.

They should be removed from the pavements and be melt down for scrap.

[The 3rd Column]

Driving a car in Paris is simply not worth it.

Good to hear about the tram in Paris.

[John Rees]

I drive a scooter in Paris as it is the only realistic way to get around. I agree that scooters parked on the pavement are a nuisance, but there are too few areas to park what is a growing number of bikes. I cannot see the argument that bikes form part of the emissions problem since for any given journey they spend less than 40% of the time required for anyother form of motorised transport in the city.

[g.scott]

after reading the various comments about travelling around paris,i find shanks'pony is the best /cheapest way.

[Gigi]

They have recently inaugurated the third tramline here in Grenoble. It's much quicker in the rush hour but you have to be prepared to travel with your face flattened against some fellow traveller's damp overcoat and to endure some very close encounters. To be honest, I haven't noticed much of a reduction in traffic jams on the boulevards either...perhaps this is a version of Parkinson's Law where the Population Expands to Fill the Transport Available for their Commuting. Or something.

[A H Bureau]

Well folks all that I read is people complaining that they can't have their cake and eat it too...

This very small planet called Earth can only take so many millions/billions of cars...

Public transportation in all it's forms is the future and we will all have to drop our individual likes and dislikes and cram into any mode of public transit available before we all choke on our own fumes...

The whole car concept is getting old and tired and we better start rethinking how we can move around in our cities, suburbs and countryside...

It will require much imagination, tolerence, massive investment and a complete overhaul of how we build and live in our cities...

I just hope we can get it done before it's too late...