In the midst of the Covid crisis, the novice troops of Grégory Doucet and Bruno Bernard have fallen behind in familiarizing themselves with the specificities of power and the administrative and financial constraints on their ambitious program for the agglomeration. A year and a half before the 2026 municipal and metropolitan elections, while left-wing partners are beginning to challenge the leadership of the Greens, what are the promises that will not be kept during the mandate, and probably beyond?
Extend metro D (Not held)
By essentially injecting the Sytral budget into the tramway, Bruno Bernard threw away his promise to extend line D from Vaise to the Industry district. Instead, a river shuttle will go there next summer. On the other hand, promise kept to extend metro B to Saint-Genis-Laval… Well, the environmentalists have nothing to do with it, but promise kept all the same.
Introduction of a single TER/TCL ticket (Not held)
The famous sea serpent promised by everyone for many elections. It therefore cost nothing to promise it in 2020. Except that in 2024, nothing has progressed and the prospect of a single TCL/TER ticket by 2026 is very low. The Metropolis of Lyon was unable to negotiate with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region of Laurent Wauquiez, will it be more successful with that of Fabrice Pannekoucke?
Tête d’Or park becomes a shelter for mistreated animals (Not held)
During the 2020 campaign, environmentalists were accused of wanting to close the Tête d'Or park zoo, in the name of animal dignity which led them to ban circuses with animals. Suddenly, they came up with an idea to satisfy both camps: create a refuge for mistreated wild animals, as well as endangered domestic species. An abandoned project. Instead, the guideline was never formalized. But some exotic species are being pushed out and deceased animals are not being replaced. According to the City of Lyon, this promise is still in progress: “To date, 400 animals live at the Tête d'Or park zoo, representing 60 species, including 33 threatened and 16 critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 60% of species are integrated into protection programs coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). We are strongly engaged in this reflection on the future of this space, by carrying out an evaluation of the reception conditions. for each animal in order to improve them. It is this same process that led to the movement of crocodiles to Morocco in 2022, the departure of red-bellied lemurs to Brazil or even the non-replacement of the dead lion in December 2021..
A corridor between Gerland Park and Blandan Park (Not held)
A somewhat crazy project to connect Gerland and Blandan, as the two parks are far apart and above all separated by thousands of homes, major roads and a railway… So crazy that the Greens gave up immediately after their election this idea of a green corridor.
A new metropolitan cemetery? (Not held)
These are typically the kind of skeletons that one discovers in the closet when coming to power, no pun intended. With metropolitan cemeteries soon to be full, environmentalists had to quickly find land to accommodate new burials. Otherwise, we will no longer be able to bury the dead in the city in a few years. After the revolt of the elected officials and residents of Charly, initially chosen, Bruno Bernard's entourage had promised to unveil the new place in September… 2023. In an impasse, since no municipality wanted to dedicate itself to this project, the Metropolis has decided to move towards the “petits-bras” solution, with the administrative recovery of numerous abandoned graves. But clearly, the subject will return to the table in 2026.
Total elimination of slums and camps (Not held)
It's one of Captain Haddock's plasters that sticks to Grégory Doucet's skin. But the mayor of Lyon proclaims loud and clear that he does not regret having announced the objective of zero people on the streets in Lyon. It is clear that the situation has worsened since his election. And that we are very far from the “total elimination of shanty towns and camps” that environmentalists wanted to establish by letting the homeless and migrants temporarily occupy “vacant public spaces”. Apart from a few gymnasiums and schools opening, or recently with the provision of a building in Gerland by a real estate developer for unaccompanied minors, the Greens have never taken action, and have even gone to war with the prefecture .
Close one of the city's two incinerators (Not required)
The incinerators of Gerland and Rillieux-la-Pape are a bit like the nuclear power plants of the urban area: aging, but useful. And more polluting since the Greens indicated that “80% of the waste burned in our incinerators comes out in the form of atmospheric emissions”. Hence their promise to halve the number of waste incinerated by 2026 to consider closing one of the two sites. Except that today, the Metropolis finds itself with incinerators that it will rather renovate instead of closing. A budget of several hundred million euros. And it even collects waste from the metropolitan area of Vienna to run its furnaces…
Do not touch taxes (Not held)
Neither decrease nor increase! The promise was beautiful, but so easy to break. Grégory Doucet managed to do without it for almost three years, but he ended up increasing the property tax, the first increase since 2015. In his defense, the mayor could not foresee the war in Ukraine and the explosion in the price of property. 'energy. For its part, the Metropolis planned to lower the household waste removal tax (TEOM) for exemplary co-ownerships. But nothing ever came. The City of Lyon believes that this information is false and that the promise was never made publicly. However, in an interview dating back to November 2019, the two ecologists, then candidates, responded for LyonMag magazine that with them, there would be GOOD “neither reduction nor increase in taxes”.
Publication of deliberations and documents of municipal and metropolitan councils (Not held)
A promise not kept as environmentalists, led by Bruno Bernard, are reluctant to open up to the population, the media and their opposition. Systematically publish draft deliberations before municipal and metropolitan councils? Niet. Yet they had promised it. And if the live council broadcasts are rather well done (and for their cost, this is quite normal), those of the district councils are a disaster.
Increase the Lyon municipal police force by at least 20 agents (Not held)
Promise not kept from September 2020. It only took a few months for Grégory Doucet to indicate that in reality, he would recruit to reach the “theoretical number” of his municipal police force. Since then, the number of Lyon agents has been kept secret but it is said to have fallen, in particular because the City has suffered an exodus at the expense of neighboring town halls which offered more advantageous missions and salaries. The City, however, welcomes the strengthening of the cycling brigade “fully achieved, going from 8 agents in 2020 to 17 in 2024”.
Establish a municipal police branch in the districts of Lyon (Not held)
Like the national police, the municipal police are not present in all the districts of the city. However, the Greens wanted to give more “visibility and mobility” to civil servants by implementing “in all neighborhoods of municipal police stations”. Instead, the renovation of the five existing police stations was voted on. The promise to form teams made up of police officers, mediators and street educators was not kept either.
Integrate Lyon into the international night train networks (Not held)
Not only has Lyon not integrated any network, and in particular Nightjet which the Greens praised in their program, but in addition, the agglomeration was erased from the State's 2030 plan. Enough to irritate Grégory Doucet and Bruno Bernard who demanded night train lines to Bordeaux and Brittany. So, promising things about which we can do nothing, other than lobbying, is a double-edged sword… Without forgetting that Ville et Métropole also lost 20,000 and 80,000 euros to join the adventure catastrophic Railcoop.
Pedestrianize the city centers of Lyon, Villeurbanne, Bron… (Not held)
Obviously, environmentalists hoped to win more cities than Lyon and Saint-Germain-au-mont-d'Or. Hence their somewhat daring promise to pedestrianize the city centers of Lyon, Villeurbanne, Oullins, Bron and “all volunteer cities”. In 2026, no city center will have become pedestrian, not even the Presqu'île where vehicles will still be present, even if their space will have been drastically reduced. And no city has curiously volunteered for this upheaval, which is often very frowned upon by traders.
Reduction of traffic in the Croix-Rousse tunnel to one car lane (Not held)
Despite the construction of a soft mode tube dedicated to pedestrians, cyclists and therefore buses, environmentalists wanted to create lanes reserved for buses in the Croix-Rousse road tunnel. Enough to reduce car traffic to just one lane in each direction. But since 2020, nothing has changed. It should be noted that if the Greens had been the sole decision-makers, the plan would have been implemented. But the State has its say and is putting the brakes on the project.
Two cable cars before 2026 (Not held)
Bruno Bernard waited until the day of his election by the Metropolis council to draw out this double project from his vest. The first cable car line was to see the light of day between Francheville and Lyon, the second between Limonest/Techlid and Lyon. Ultimately, both were thrown in the trash and, worse still, hundreds of thousands of euros were spent on studies that will not be used. Some elected officials are now talking about a cable car in Givors or Décines. But again, we don't see the tail of a cable.
