Xavier Garcia, first federal secretary of the Maralpine Socialist Party, is in the thick of reconsidering how to best deal with the future of regional transportation. After developing a thorough metropolitan bike plan, he recently submitted the idea of creating an automatic metro line to unclog the motorways and the local TER line.
It is an ambitious project that the Socialist Party of the Alpes-Maritimes is proposing: condense the supply of transport around Monaco and decongest current hotspots by relieving both road traffic and providing facilities for travelers living far from current TER stations. The local politician Xavier Garcia has therefore proposed the forthcoming construction of a light automatic metro, similar to the ones that can be found in Lille or L’OrlyVal, between La Turbie and Monaco. A development that would account for the construction of a relay parking lot on site, a model that exists already in the Lyon area and Rennes.
Goodbye to the daily grind
The very small opposition at the County Council would thus invest in one of the modern components that was championed the French left: territorial planning with sustainable perspectives. Xavier Garcia is putting his name on this proposal. According to his calculations, a 2.5 km tunnel between Fontvieille and La Turbie would cost 250 million euros and could be co-financed by the Principality, the French state, the PACA region, and the European Union. Those connections have yet to be formed, but in the meantime, the project could receive the support of many motorists and riders of the Nice-Ventimiglia TER line who make the journey daily.
*Article originally published on the French edition of the Monaco Tribune.