The phenomenon is anything but new. Each time a TGV is approaching, the surroundings of the station become congested in a few minutes, from the beginning of the boulevard de Tessé, where the double line is required, to the roundabout, under the forecourt of the station, along which cars flow, piling up like pearls on a necklace around the fountain.
Sometimes in several rows. It is not uncommon for vehicles wishing to circulate to find themselves blocked and, when forced to stop, use the horn with the idea of unblocking the situation. In vain.
“The noise pollution is permanent”
In the front row, the residents can’t take it anymore. The heat making things even more painful. “In the evening, we try to catch a little air by opening the windowssighs for example Gaëtan, who lives in a small apartment rue Mirabeau. But it doesn’t stop. I can’t even hear the TV. Often, I close it and face the fan.”
Ludivine lives in the same street, at 4e stage. But directly dominates Place Albert-Iiswith a breathtaking view of the famous roundabout.
“C’est infernalshe testifies. We feel it mainly in the evening from 7 p.m., since for four hours, trains from Paris follow one another. But no matter the time, in fact. Noise pollution, within the meaning of the prefectural decree, is permanent.
Two floors down, Teki explains that his windows vibrate continuously during honking. And if the situation worsens in the summer, at the same rate as the number of trains, “We go through this all year round, day and night”would like to support Olivier, Ludivine’s companion.
One evening a few days ago, while her two sons aged 10 and 12 were trying to fall asleep, the Toulonnaise came down crying, at the end of her tether, while a bus driver, completely stuck in traffic , sounded the horn, just as exasperated.
“We discussed at lengthshe continues. And for them too, it’s very complicated.”
For the buses, “every weekend is hell”
Ramzy Hanchi, union representative of Unsa transport, largely confirms: “Every weekend, especially in the evening, it’s hell. We’re blocked all the time, especially since people also get into the bus line. Regularly, it creates tension between the drivers and the people in the cars, who don’t want to move. On line 9, which does the reversal, the drivers can’t take it anymore. And then people also park at the bus stop, they don’t care Sometimes, we pick up passengers directly on the track and therefore not people with reduced mobility, because we can’t approach the sidewalk.” The cowardly, almost fatalistic trade unionist representative: “This situation has been recurrent for years. Even with the new station, even with the works, nothing has changed.”
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What solutions?
On the side of the town hall, we recognize that it is a little discouraging. “Huge investments have been made to solve this problem.recalls Mayor Hubert Falco. We created a bus station, while the buses were in bulk on Boulevard de Tessé. We have fitted out the station and its forecourt, creating a short stop nearby, we have created free car parks for the first 15 minutes, which are never saturated. Of the 80 places, there are always 60 empty. And then there is also the underground car park at the station. In short, whoever wants to park, can park!“
The problem, precisely, according to Ramzy Hanchi, is that those who park on the roundabout often have no desire to park elsewhere.
“As long as we don’t get toughhe believes, people will stay on the roundabout. Sometimes they move, but they go around and they go back to exactly the same place. The only thing that makes them leave is when they see the municipal police, by the way.“
Hubert Falco: “Of course the cameras work!”
Four years ago, to counter indiscipline, the municipality had also invested in cameras, precisely intended to “video-verbalize” offenders.
But local residents and bus drivers are skeptical. “I would be surprised if they worked, comments Gaëtan. If people took big plums as soon as they land on the roundabout, I think that with word of mouth, it would calm them down and it would dissuade a bunch of them.”
“Of course they work! retorts Hubert Falco, taking his deputy Laurent Jérôme to witness. The problem is that the fined person has no small piece of paper on the windshield, they receive it at home a month later. And we also try to find the right balance in the sanction, to be understanding. We do what we can… But it’s true that between July 14 and August 15, in particular, it’s complicated. We gave instructions to the agents of the Urban Supervision Center to be more strict.” A pause, then: “We cannot put a municipal police officer behind each car, sighs the mayor. At one point, it’s a question of good citizenship.“
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