The ecotax renunciation threatens the Angers tramway second line

L'abandon de l'écotaxe par le gouvernement français va priver celui-ci de ressources pour le financement de projets de transports urbains, dont celui de la seconde ligne de tram d'Angers.

The last Angers municipal campaign focused on the neccessary revision of the lengh of the second tramway line. And that was appropriate because the renunciation, by the French government, to the "ecotax" implies a loss of around € 800 millions. That money was due to be used for the financing of transport schemes all over France and, among 16 trolley lines, there is the Angers project.

The allocation the city planned to receive from the French state could
be reduced and even paid out (if it is ever paid) later. Will the town be able to finance the difference? Is the tram-train project foreseen between Trélazé and Angers also affected by such an outcome? The second tramway line should link the Belle-Beille and Monplaisir disctrict with a connection to downtown at Molière square (in the new Angers mayor platform).

But Belle-Beille is, above all, the Angers campus where thousands and thousands of students go every day. With the cancellation, or at best the postponement of the new line construction, the attractiveness of Angers for students could also be affected. The city could regret that such a route was not be implemented first.