For opponents, the tram north tangent is too massive an intervention in a natural monument. The proponents promote the project as an important contribution to the transport transition. On Wednesday, the Mobility Committee took the northern tangent a little further with the routing decision for the first section. But the approval of the Free State, which is the owner of the English Garden, is still missing. The tram will run through it with battery power, i.e. without overhead lines, over a length of 800 meters. Bavaria’s former Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) declared his consent five years ago. It remains to be seen whether the current state government also takes this stance.
However, the Munich Transport Company (MVG) believes it has good chances. With only 19 tree fellings, the plans are to minimize interference with the existing property. A tunnel variant was ruled out, among other things because at least 100 old trees would have had to be removed and the Chinese Tower stop would have been eliminated. The planners also rejected the lawn track option because it would have meant a more massive intervention in the park.
Now there will be a slimmer variant with mixed traffic, in which trams and cyclists will share space in the future and the road will remain largely in its current position.
Section one of the tangent is intended to create a 2.2 kilometer long connection between Elisabethplatz and Tivolistraße between the existing tram lines 27 and 28 in the west at Elisabethplatz and tram 16 in the east on Tivolistraße. Stops are planned at Elisabethplatz and Habsburgerplatz, at Giselastrasse and Thiemestrasse as well as at the Chinese Tower and Tivolistrasse.
Overall, the northern tangent would create a connection between Neuhausen and Bogenhausen that is around 13 kilometers long.
Many residents are not so enthusiastic about the future route. In Schwabing, 246 roadside parking spaces are to be made way, and in northern Lehel 26. However, the mobility department wants to create a balance with new rules for residents-only parking. 56 parking spaces could be created for residents in the future parking garage on Elisabethplatz, and up to 16 in a private garage on Franz-Joseph-Straße.
Lars Mentrup (SPD) explained that in the future, Munich residents who live centrally will no longer be able to be sure whether there will even be a parking space for their private car. Only people who really need them should own a car there. He left it open as to who should actually decide according to which criteria who needs a car and who doesn’t.
For Fritz Roth (FDP), Metrup’s statements were a “threat” and at the same time a “low point” for the SPD. Veronika Mirlach (CSU) doubted, on the one hand, the transport added value of the tram and, on the other hand, the assumption that parking spaces in garages could compensate for the loss of parking spaces. The FDP and the CSU/FW parliamentary group then also rejected the proposal.
The majority, on the other hand, believed that a tram had added value, for example in comparison to the electric buses proposed by the CSU.