# Bordeaux's tramway network

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2024-08-29

bordeaux, ground-level-train-power, light-rail-transit, lrt, mobility, public-transit, smarttrack, streetcars, toronto, tramway, tramway-network, transit, travel, urbanism

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https://videopress.com/v/3Eq80SZc?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

I was very impressed by Bordeaux's tramway network. It felt like no matter where you were in the city, there was a tram gracefully passing you by. Here's a high-level [summary of the system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_tramway):

*   The network has 4 lines and a total route length of 77.5 km.
    
*   The first line opened in 2003.
    
*   The network has 130 stops, which crudely results in an average stop spacing of around 600 m.
    
*   The system pioneered ground-level power supply for the trains, which means no overhead wires. Supposedly this caused some issues upfront, but now it seems to be working just fine.
    
*   Most of the network runs on a dedicated right-of-way (en site propre). Meaning, the trains don't compete with car traffic. Many of the lines are quite beautiful too - see above video.
    
*   In 2018, the network carried close to 100 million people. This is in a city of ~260k people and a metro area of ~1.4 million people ([2020](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux)).
    

The key differentiators for me are (1) the stop spacing and (2) the fact that most of the system runs on its own dedicated right-of-way. These are two reasons why [Toronto's streetcars perform so poorly](https://brandondonnelly.com/2024/07/21/the-ontario-line-is-happening/). They stop too frequently. And most of the lines have to compete with traffic.

So why bother? Walking can be faster.

Bordeaux shows that -- if you implement light rail correctly -- you can actually move a ton people efficiently. With surface rail, you can also build out a robust network in a relatively short period of time.

Twenty years isn't that long in city-building years. It has already been 10 years since [Toronto was first promised SmartTrack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartTrack).

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/bordeauxs-tramway-network)*