Makoto Aoki: The Importance of Transportation Policy as Seen in the Introduction of Trams

2018/10/10

Located about 400 kilometers southwest of Paris, Nantes, the former capital of the Duchy of Brittany, is often called the most livable city in France. In the field of urban transportation, it is known as the first city in France to revive the tram (streetcar). For the past dozen years or so, I have been conducting joint research on French urban transportation, focusing on trams, with Professor Kiyotaka Yaguchi of Sagami Women's University, and I have visited Nantes several times.

While French trams are highly regarded for urban transportation, lines were abolished in many cities after World War II, and only three cities remained before the revival in Nantes. In Nantes, where the system was abolished in 1958, it was not previously a means of transportation with a good image, as citizens referred to it as the "Yellow Peril" because the car bodies at the time were yellow. Other cities that introduced trams in the early stages also struggled to gain the consent of stakeholders and citizens, using creative nicknames and designs to dispel the negative image.

The introduction of the tram was a political decision made by the then-mayor of Nantes, Alain Chénard, as one of the measures to solve various urban issues such as traffic congestion and inner-city problems, and the importance of leadership is undeniable. It is also important that the tram existed as a transportation mode capable of providing high-quality public transportation services at a relatively low cost. At the same time, the institutional design, such as the financial aspects that supported the introduction, and the economic and technical studies played a major role. For example, the French transportation tax system, which financially supports the introduction and operation of trams, has had a significant impact on the introduction in each city through the expansion of target cities and transportation modes, as well as differences in tax rates. The inclusion of trams in the transportation modes for which tax rates were increased helped to encourage their introduction. Furthermore, the expansion of target modes led to the introduction of new modes such as guided buses (rubber-tired trams) and BHNS (equivalent to Japan's BRT: Bus Rapid Transit).

Designing institutional frameworks to guide desirable policies is practiced in various countries, including Japan, and the introduction of trams in France is likely a case where this was done very successfully. Considering that the revival of the tram in Nantes led to a re-evaluation of trams in various parts of the world, including Japan, I strongly feel the importance of institutional design in transportation policy.