The second tramway line financing plan in question

L'abandon, par l'Etat, de son projet d'écotaxe, et des recettes fiscales que celle-ci était censée lui procurer, pourrait avoir des conséquences sur la seconde ligne de tramway. En effet, il est prévu que l'Etat finance plus de 10% du coût de celle-ci. Si ses subventions font défaut, le tracé, la longueur et peut-être même le calendrier de la ligne pourraient être remis en cause. 


The route and the lenght of the second line of the Angers tramway were one of the main issues of the electoral campaign. An important change in the ability of the government to partially finance it could lead the different candidates to completely reconsider it. While it was planned that the state will finance about 10% of the overall cost of that scheme, € 36 millions out of 300 millions, the late abandonment of the ecotax by the government could deprive it of € 450 millions due to be dedicated to numerous tramway schemes all over France and, among them, the B line of the Angers tramway.

That change could lead candidates to shorten the route of the facility due to link Belle-Beille and Monplaisir districts and to join the first line at the Saint-Laud railway station (Frédéric Béatse and Jean-Luc Rotureau's platforms), or the hospital (Laurent Gérault's proposal), or at the Molière square (Christophe Béchu's idea). Regarding the shortening, most of the candidates give priority to a half-line between down town and Monplaisir, even if, it would be more logical to implement first the line between Belle-Beille and down town given the number of people studying on the Belle-Beille campus and living in Angers.

Mr. Rotureau, who plans to go beyond Monplaisir until the exhibitions park, could also to lower the scale of his project. About the route, some of them have integrated the use of an existing facility to cross the Maine (Laurent Gérault), others (Christophe Béchu) having choose a more direct way in order to save resources to build a new bridge. Other restrictions could be necessary. It is likely that the future Angers city council could be able to explainnew choices for the B line after the loss of a tenth of the budget. If such a hypothesis is confirmed, the implementation of the second line could have consequences on the faibility of other projetcs, like the ice skating. That will make easier for the Angers mayor to justify changes between campaign proposals and realisation.