Bordeaux’s tram system, initiated by Alain Juppe in 2003, spans 82km with 130 trams.
The system, costing €3 billion ($5.4b), serves 350,000 people daily, using electric trams.
In January, New Zealand’s coalition Government officially cancelled the $15 billion Auckland Light Rail project as part of its 100-day plan
Kiwis are proud of their natural and built environment but one of the problems with travelling is that, occasionally, you come across a city that does the act of existing so much better.
Like Bordeaux. France’s sixth-biggest city is simply beautiful, from itsGaronne River to its stunning old town, pedestrian precincts and shopping streets through the massive wine-growing region (almost a billion bottles produced annually, including the famous names of St Emilion, Pomerol and Medoc) and chic bars and restaurants (one for every 285 people, meaning competition is fierce and prices good).
The wine was sensational but it was the trams that really blew me away – and made me wonder what the hell is wrong with Auckland and our national politicians (please note the small “n”) that we/they can’t get our/their act together as Bordeaux has done.
Pre-2003, Bordeaux was swamped by cars and trucks. It was gridlock or almost-gridlock. So a brave mayor, Alain Juppe, initiated planning for a tram system, but far bigger and more sophisticated than the old clackety-clack system which had its rails torn up by the previous mayor yonks ago.
Paul Lewis and Jennie.
Now, 21 years later, the system comprises 130 trams running over four city lines spanning 82km, serving housing areas as well as inner-city through 133 stops, shifting 350,000 Bordeaux people (and tourists) a day, about 125m trips a year, with trams on most lines running every 3-5 minutes in each direction. Built in four stages across 20 years, also running to Bordeaux airport, it cost roughly €3 billion ($5.4b).
The trams are electric, powered by an underground live rail (no nasty overhead wires). They are big, silent, easy to use (automatic ticket machines at every stop; just tag on with your ticket, no need to tag off) and, frankly, awesome. The rails run everywhere but are not eyesores or dangerous, with the electrics well underground; bike lanes run next to them and some cheeky cyclists and scooter users even bike down the tram lines when the trams aren’t there.
It is all – take note, Parliamentarians – overground, no sign of those expensive, budget-blowing tunnels – and the “stations” are little more than elongated bus stops. It’s a magnificent system – and built for (depending on whose figures you believe), three or six times less than the Labour Party’s plans for light rail from the CBD through Mt Roskill to the airport. Those estimates were $15 billion or $30 billion, if you adhere to Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s figures as he killed the project, dripping scorn as he did so.
Scorn may be a useful political weapon but it delivers stuff-all transport for Auckland – a city much in need of a tram system like Bordeaux’s and suffering from almost the same traffic stagnation as Bordeaux did pre-2003.
Bordeaux’s tram system spans 82km and serves 350,000 passengers daily. Photo / 123rf
Ah, I hear you say, but France has so much more when it comes to population, taxes and the like. Not so much. Auckland population: 1.7m. Bordeaux population: 1.01m. However, they did have the following: when Bordeaux came under Unesco’s wing, a lot of money flooded into the city as it beautified itself to live up to the Unesco Heritage title. That, however, didn’t happen until 2007 – and the first tram stage was nearly built by then.
There is also a thing called the European Investment Bank (EIB), the lending arm of the European Union, which lends money for projects benefitting climate, environment, small and medium-sized enterprises, development, cohesion and infrastructure – projects that cannot be entirely financed by the member states. It’s poured €1.1 trillion into various projects over 60 years and lent €2.6 billion to France from 2000-2005 – spread across 12 French cities, including Bordeaux.
So it wasn’t really the EIB either, though it did help. It came mostly from (a) political will and (b) the need to free the city from the grip of cars and trucks. It allowed city bosses to plan a big pedestrian area and an easily accessible transport system which allies itself to cars (they built 15 park-and-ride centres), bikes, scooters and walking – and makes Bordeaux’s inner environs and attached suburbs simple to reach.
There is no stench of diesel when you walk through busy Bordeaux. Instead there is only the sweet smell of politicians who actually cared about their city and did something about it, as opposed to just gunning for re-election by building more roads (how’s it going, Simeon?).
Auckland’s population is larger than Bordeaux's. Photo / 123rf
We can’t, of course, compare Bordeaux’s attractiveness with Auckland’s rather haphazard oh-let’s-just-add-another-bit-on-here-shall-we planning over the past 50-60 years. After all, the city is so pretty, it is no wonder the Bordellais get narked when Parisians come for a holiday, coo, and say Bordeaux is just a mini-Paris.
The reality is, about 500 years ago, a city administrator Louis de Tourny designed the buildings that the man who re-designed Paris later, Baron Haussman, copied – so Paris is really just a big Bordeaux.
Auckland? Well, it’s more of a big mess – and no one can convince me that we can’t build 82km of overground tramways with 133 stops here. Okay, the North Shore might be a problem (though Bordeaux’s trams cross the Garonne) but the mainland can surely be served. Bordeaux did it for $5b over 20 years. Can anyone tell me why we can’t?
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie have been driving across Europe (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal) for the past three months, offering some advice on the best way to do so.
