Light rail doesn´t make sense in much of Paris itself, for instance, but it would probably bring great benefits to the surburbs. I see that the Metropolitan region is already on this:
The Lighter Side of Paris Railway Technology
Decision-makers for Paris and the Île-de-France region seem in little doubt that the speed of service implementation and flexibility of light rail makes it a transport problem solver and that it is, in fact, back to stay. There is a commitment to expand the format, with mode interchanges remaining to the fore in planning. The wholly new 'Y' configured Saint-Denis/épinay-sur-Seine/Villetaneuse route around the north eastern neighbourhoods would see a tram network in place, as opposed to the present single T1 line, also set for further extension. It is unlikely, though, that Paris will again see multiple tram routes in the centre as per Brussels or Amsterdam. The principal role of modern Paris tramways is that of a high capacity direct link between outer districts, obviating the need to travel wastefully via the centre, thus also freeing capacity on radial routes. Cutting across such routes, the trams can provide any number of interchanges with SNCF Transilien services, RER and to a lesser extent in the outer districts, RATP's Metro.
Decision-makers for Paris and the Île-de-France region seem in little doubt that the speed of service implementation and flexibility of light rail makes it a transport problem solver and that it is, in fact, back to stay.
There is a commitment to expand the format, with mode interchanges remaining to the fore in planning. The wholly new 'Y' configured Saint-Denis/épinay-sur-Seine/Villetaneuse route around the north eastern neighbourhoods would see a tram network in place, as opposed to the present single T1 line, also set for further extension.
It is unlikely, though, that Paris will again see multiple tram routes in the centre as per Brussels or Amsterdam. The principal role of modern Paris tramways is that of a high capacity direct link between outer districts, obviating the need to travel wastefully via the centre, thus also freeing capacity on radial routes. Cutting across such routes, the trams can provide any number of interchanges with SNCF Transilien services, RER and to a lesser extent in the outer districts, RATP's Metro.
A general problem that I think exists with suburbian public transportation is that it is often conceptualised as 'getting to the centre'
Absolutely. If I want to travel between my auntie and my sister on the outskirts of London I have to use my car (a 25 minute drive). otherwise I have to go from zone 6 all the way across the underground to the other side of zone 1 and then all the way back out again, which can take 2 hours. There are buses but on the weekends one an hour and it takes at least an hour and a half.
Now if I lived in one part of London and worked in another area on the outskirts, that's a nightmare. Ad astra per aspera
That does not help you for daily commutes, when these highways are jammed, but the rest of the time, it is really convenient to drive around Paris. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
From a 2004 World Business Council for Sustainable Development study (mainly car industry) -- originally a 2002 Renault publication. At least 6 year-old data, but it's the big picture...
