In the 1990s, Bordeaux decided to organise its transport network around a tramway system in order to reduce car usage.
The figures speak for themselves. Public transport use in Bordeaux has increased by an impressive 24 % since 2010, while road traffic fell by 18 % between 2000 and 2009. However, the capital of Gironde – considered by the National Federation of Transport User Associations (FNAUT) to have long sacrificed everything for the car – has had to work hard to achieve those results. How, then, did it manage to begin a mini-revolution? The key to Bordeaux’s success essentially boils down to one major decision: the city’s commitment to developing and organising its public space and mobility around an iconic tramway system. The first phase of this defining transport project was carried out for a cost of €690 m between 2003 and 2005, when the first three tram lines were created.
The decision to reintroduce a heavy mode of transport in the city was not a new one. An earlier tram service had been stopped in 1958 to create more space for cars, but moves to reintroduce it had been gathering pace since the 1970s. Nevertheless, it was only in 1995 that the idea won out, at the expense of a proposed metro line. “This surface transport mode requires a complete overhaul of urban space, contrary to the metro, which is often built underground,” argued the Urban Community of Bordeaux (CUB), indicating a strong desire on the part of the city to rethink its mobility and the use of public space as a whole – which is exactly what Bordeaux needed.
This was the starting point for a whole raft of initiatives aimed at reducing car usage, including a modification of the traffic-flow system and control of access to the city centre. Likewise, the entire public transport network operated by TBC (and managed by Keolis since 2010) was reorganised and the various modes of transport placed in a hierarchy – with the tramway at the top. These thoroughgoing efforts also went hand in hand with a landscaping project and the installation of various artworks along the tramway routes. Moreover, this commitment to the primacy of the tramway was applied across the entire tram network, including on the outskirts of town.