A cable car in Bordeaux? In any case, the metropolis confirmed this Friday, during the presentation of its mobility plan, that it was seriously considering it.
With a capacity of 10,000 to 13,000 passengers per day, this is obviously not what will solve the problems of road congestion and transport saturation. But it would offer an additional crossing of the Garonne, and, as the president of the metropolis Alain Anziani added, “it is also a tourism tool. “” Wherever the cable car exists, it is very popular with tourists, and there it would offer a view of Bordeaux. “
“Is a cable car in the sky compatible with Unesco regulations? “
The planned cable car line “would be created between Lormont-Buttinière and Bordeaux-Achard, near the Cité du Vin,” explains Alain Anziani. About two kilometers, it would see the light of day “around 2026, perhaps before” and would cost some “40 million euros. “In its study, Bordeaux Métropole, which rather evokes 10,000 travelers per day and a cost of 50 million euros, estimates the journey time between 10 and 14 minutes depending on the scenarios,” which would make it possible to unload line A “of the tramway .
“But there are several difficulties, warns the president of the metropolis, the main one being the Unesco rules: is a cable car in the sky compatible with the Unesco regulations for the protection of the city of Bordeaux? “This is why the metropolis” is studying how to bypass the areas protected by Unesco, to ensure that there is no conflict. “
The other difficulty with the cable car, “is that it has to be interrupted three weeks a year for maintenance issues. “And there is” acceptability by the inhabitants. This is why “the question of the itinerary is major”. The service must also still be the subject of arbitration. “For the moment we would like him to go as far as Lormont, but we would like to ensure that the Cenonnais can also go up, so we may need an additional pylon on the Cenon side. “
“How to combine the rights of way of a new bridge with the activities of the port? “
On the other hand Alain Anziani said he was “cautious” on the issue of a new bridge north of Bordeaux. “A bridge does not only concern the inhabitants of the metropolis, it can be for people who come from much further away, they are not the same users. And a bridge is expensive, it poses logistical and technical difficulties with considerable rights-of-way. On the right bank, how can these rights-of-way be combined with the activities of the port, and where on the left bank would he arrive? On the Blanquefort side? We really have to be convinced that a bridge would have a significant effect on traffic before we study it. “
The considerable delays in the delivery of the Simone-Veil bridge, which will not be ready until 2024, have they also scalded the metropolis? “No,” says Alain Anziani. It’s behind us, and now we have better control of the difficulty of the river. “
Finally, Alain Anziani confirmed that the metropolis would “double the number of batcub [navettes fluviales] “To ensure that it becomes” a real means of transport “between the two shores.