Transport in Bordeaux. the metro “doesn’t respond to emergency situations”, according to the ecological mayor

Le Figaro Bordeaux

Once again, there is talk about the Bordeaux metro project. As the agglomeration becomes more and more saturated with public transport, the hypothesis, long neglected, particularly because of the state of the city’s basements, is gradually emerging, with less and less fierce opposition from elected officials.

In a letter addressed to the president of the Métro de Bordeaux association, the mayor of the city, Pierre Hurmik, considers that “the subway project, as proposed, does not respond to the urgency of implementing mobility solutions in the metropolitan area, given the duration of the studies and the work to be planned.“. On the other hand, the city council puts forward “Metropolitan RER“, with wagons and buses “to express“as well as the third”bike plan“and one”market plandevelop soft mobility in the metropolis;

Study the feasibility of the metro “until 2050”.

But Pierre Hurmik does not finally bury the metro project in the agglomeration. The environmentalist reminds that Bordeaux Metropole”wants to objectify the feasibility and feasibility of this project in the long term, until 2050“, with the start of the study “evaluate the analyzes already carried out and evaluate the feasibility conditions of the metro line in the metropolitan area“.

For Michael Baubon, founder and vice-president of the Bordeaux Metro Association, this new delay, however, has a bitter taste. “Believing that we can respond quickly and sustainably to emergencies caused by yesterday’s unforeseen events is the first step toward collective failure. But it wouldn’t be the first in terms of mobility in Bordeaux Metropole“, he laments.

Because the subway project in Bordeaux is not really from yesterday. Since 1986, its possible installation has excited the city of Bordeaux. In 1948, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, then the mayor of the city, decided to phase out the electric tramway. Although this mode of transport was highly developed in the agglomeration, the Liberation Companion at the time chose to give pride of place to cars and buses.

Two new tram lines

A few decades later, faced with the congestion of the roads by cars, Jacques Chaban-Delmas refuses to bring back the tram, but then plans to create a metro in Bordeaux. However, several controversies are true about this massive project. Its high cost for a limited perimeter, as well as the dangers of digging in the clay, limestone or sandy soils of Bordeaux, led Alain Jupp, Jacques Chaban-Delmas’s successor, to abandon the metro project and opt for a return. the electric tram, which crosses Bordeaux again since 2003.

But almost 20 years later, the four tram lines are regularly overloaded due to strong population growth in the metropolitan area. To deal with this, Bordeaux Métropole announced in October 2022 the re-selection of Keolis as the choice of concessionaire for the TBM network (Transports Bordeaux Métropole) for the period 2023-2030.

With the opening of this new period, the huge development plans for existing vehicles should see the light of day. There is currently no metro in the plan, but two new tram lines: line E to connect Floirac Dravemont to Blancfort, as well as line F to reach Mérignac airport from Bègles or Saint-Jeans.