While the metropolitan majority is increasing projects in western Lyon with a tramway and Voies Lyonnaises, elected officials in the sector are still calling for a metro and are worried about the reduction in automobile roads. They hope that the Metropolis will back down as it recently did in the face of organized opposition.
The 2020 metropolitan election campaign was partly played out on the question of mobility and in particular the Ring of Sciences, a sea serpent quickly buried by environmentalists. The ring road will never be closed and its western section between the 9th and Gerland will always be missing. “Historically, the West is the poor relation of the metropolis in terms of heavy public transport infrastructure. This is a problem that has been going on for decades. There are no lines that can convince our residents to change their mobility habits,” deplores Sébastien Michel, LR mayor of Écully. West Lyon is the area where the share of travel by car is highest. “80% of residents live in houses with a garden, a garage and two to three cars per household,” points out Jean-Charles Kohlhaas, ecologist vice-president of the Metropolis in charge of mobility.
