Several major transport projects are being carried out in the capital of Gironde.
Their goal is to encourage sustainable mobility, and to deal with a constantly growing population.
Although many measures have been implemented to promote modal shift over the last few years, Bordeaux and its urban area intend to press ahead with more.
Indeed, the conglomeration has set itself the challenge of doubling the public transport modal share by 2025, while managing to address the issue of a constantly growing population – which is expected to increase from the current figure of 740,000 to 1 million by 2030. That is an ambitious target, considering that the modal share of the car is still around 70 % compared to 12 % for public transport, according to the ’Quality of travel in the conurbation of Bordeaux’ study carried out at the end of 2013 by the National Federation of Transport User Associations (FNAUT).
To meet that goal, several development projects aimed at developing public transport supply are being undertaken. These include the Sud-Europe Atlantique high-speed railway line (LGV SEA), which will reduce travel time between Bordeaux and Paris to two hours by 2017, and between Bordeaux and Toulouse to one hour by 2024. As part of this major project, the Saint-Jean railway station, which the new high-speed trains will pass through, is set to be extended. A new passenger building is planned, along with new boutiques and services, and an additional 2,000 parking spaces. The aim is for the station to accommodate 18 million passengers per year from 2017, up from 11 million today.
Several improvements will also be made to the iconic Bordeaux tramway in the coming years, with the third phase of extensions, which began in 2011, due to be completed in 2018 for a cost of €818.7 m. When that work is finished, the tram network will comprise five lines covering 77 km and will be “one of the most extensive in Europe” according to the CUB’s annual activity report for 2012. One of the five lines will be the ‘Médoc Tram-Train’, which is due to link Bordeaux to Blanquefort over a distance of 7 km. A thoroughly extensive programme, in short.