aixcentric

There’s nothing new under the sun it seems.  Eugene Caselli, the president of the MPM, has written to the transport minister with a request for backing for a télépherique in Marseille.  It would swing locals and tourists up the hill to Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde or across to L’Estaque….or even up to the Hopital Nord or out to the airport.  He points out that this is far cheaper per kilometre than the tramway and is an environmentally friendly alternative to all the tourist buses that labour up the hill to the church for example. 

In fact there was an ascenseur there until the 60s when it was demolished.  Locals have commented that the authorities can’t even get the ferry boat to run across the Vieux Port consistently nor have installed the tramway L2.  There are also concerns around the 100 days per year when the Mistral would give passengers more thrills than they bargained for!

In Aix, too, present problems are rediscovering past solutions.

A recent architects’ and town-planners’ forum in Aix, convened to tackle the growing traffic problems in the Pays d’Aix area, came up with the idea of introducing a system of trams. 

They want to encourage the Aixois to leave their cars at home and take to public transport.

Well this is hardly novel either – it was actually introduced back in 1903  with a tramway which took people between Aix to Marseille.  It set off from the top of the Cours Mirabeau – where the Terminus Café is today – and arrived in Marseille’s Quai des Belges nearly 2 hours later.  Trams ran every 15 minutes and were a great success.  The service only stopped in 1948 when trolley buses took over the route. As the French themselves say, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose!