Second tramway, the choice of the half line will be a whole problem

If the construction of the second line of the Angers tramway has to be staggered, because of the financial tensions the city may face in the years to come, the problem may come from the choice of the first section. Which half of the line the future city council will choose? According to the Angers section of the Union des démocrates indépendants, whose leader is Laurent Gérault, town councillor and maybe candidate to the mayor office, the city will not have in the medium-term, the sufficient resources to set up, in one go, the entire line. Mr Gérault's proposal has been endorsed by the lastest candidate to mayor office, Jean-Luc Rotureau.

But that one didn't detailed which half of the second line he would choose to built first. Laurent Gérault offered to start with the section from Angers railway station towards the Angers exhibition park throughout Monplaisir and Banchais districts. Is that choice appropriate?

According to the Angers members of the Nouveau parti anticapitaliste, such an option would be a terrible mistake. Thousands of students registered inf the numerous departments of Angers university go and come daily from Belle-Beille and so from September to June, while the exhibitions park welcomes visitors less frequently. "The avoidance of Belle-Beille was already a scandal" when the first line was implemented, bemoans the Npa. The idea would have another interest : to allow employees working in Beaucouzé to use the tramway.

It is reported that the project would cost € 358 millions in which 201 millions would be in charge of state through allocations, the balance having to be raised or received in taxes Mr Gérault believe they could be increased. In the months to come, the Npa could awake the interest of the students and the employees regarding the route of the next (half) line. The companies located in Beaucouzé would not necessarily hostile to the idea given the finance, through the transport tax, the tramway. But an alliance between them looks unlikely. But in electoral times, who knows?