Case Study: Pedestrian Saturdays - Le Mans, France

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Synopsis

Le Mans is a medium-sized town in the County of Sarthe, 200 km to the west of Paris. An historic city with an artistic tradition, Le Mans possesses a variety of monuments and has a diverse architectural heritage. Le Mans' transport policy includes the following five objectives:

• improvement of the quality and reliability of service of public transport,
• reduction of the flow of private vehicles from the suburbs (both inner and outer suburbs),
• reduction of pollution: NGV buses, LPG municipal and community vehicles,
• a rethinking of the arrangements for delivery of goods,
• extension of the pedestrian precinct in the town centre.

Pedestrians, cyclists, motorists: the town belongs to each and everyone of us and, in order that we may all live together, our local authorities must provide each of us with what we need: bus services, parking places, cycle paths. As far as pedestrian areas are concerned, the extension of the precinct in the town centre is one of the objectives of Le Mans' transport policy. The shopping streets in the town centre are transformed into a pedestrian precinct every Saturday afternoon. This initiative was first launched on the occasion of the 2001 "In town without my car!" campaign and was then made permanent. The streets involved in the initiative are closed to motorised traffic between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. During the first months of operation, seven or eight entry points were left to allow local residents access to the town centre with their cars. Temporary employees were responsible for the control of these check points and for providing information to car drivers. However, the system was changed as a result of the increasing number of motorists trying to "negotiate" they way into the town centre. From now on, streets are to be closed off with chains. Permanent information boards have been installed to provide the population with information about Saturday street closure regulations. A single check point manned by two temporary employees remains in place. The new system is now working properly. This initiative was also used as a field trial for permanent pedestrianisation projects in some streets.

Target groups: all citizens
Fields: walking / pedestrians - mobility advice & campaigns

This case study is one of 175 projects from the Smile Project Local Experiences Database listed on this website.

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Citizens : Local Government : Mobility Management : SMILE Project : Sustainable Transport : Urban Transport : User behaviour

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Ville de Le Mans