I'd like to just step into this street scene, head right over to the Cafe on the left, and watch the trams go by as I sip a café au lait. The trams have been there since 1875, when the first horse-drawn tram traveled on this very street. If I were sitting in some other city, I might look at the trams with sadness, predicting their demise in a few decades. Not so in Marseille where trams have been running continuously since 1876.
And it's not as if the City Council in Marseille didn't try. They wanted to replace the trams with buses and were successful at pulling trams off of La Canebière by 1955. Since then though, new tram lines have been built and trams are back on La Canebière. It's part of a new plan to reduce car traffic and favor pedestrians.
Here is a view of the intersection today, looking like a pedestrian's worst nightmare. There is obviously still work to be done.
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