This week I want to describe the different modes of transportation here in Aix-en-Provence. Because they actually say so much about our life here in France. Let’s start with:
Aix-en-Bus: There are a whole host of public buses here that serve pretty much all areas of the city. There is a peripherique, a ring road, surrounding the old city, and almost every numbered bus drives around it once during its journey. Imagine a spider web of buses stemming out from the ring road – that is the visual for the route map. Aix-en-bus also includes buses that go out to the surrounding towns.
There are three numbered mini-buses that drive through the tangled narrow streets of the old city, each following its own route. And there are also buses that you can call from certain stops that will take you up into further, less-travelled locations, all with your same bus ticket. It costs 7 Euro for ten rides, and a yearly pass is obviously a much better buy if you use it daily, as does Ed. You can transfer buses within the span of an hour,
Finally there are several other bus systems, for which you can buy separate cards, that will take you to all of the other Provencal locations: Marseille, Cassis, Arles, Nimes, etc.
Les Voitures: There are so many cars in this tiny city it is hard to believe. Before I came here I saw a pie chart of the number of car users per city and Aix-en-Provence was, if not the highest, up at the top. So that makes for lots of pollution on the high-traffic roads (i.e. the peripherique, from which we live one block away). I have found that a car is useful to explore some of the slightly off-the-beaten-path destinations for which the buses do not serve. Like finding the remote ice-cream store in the mountains, or getting into remote areas of the Camargues. But, for a decision we belly-ached about in the beginning, having no car has been a non-issue. Yay!
Les Motos: Because the streets tend to be windy and narrow, lots of people here opt for a motorcycle instead of, or in addition to a car. The motos squeeze their way through any small opening. They drive through the pedestrian areas of the old city, because they can. They follow the traffic rules when it suits them. And they park pretty much wherever it suits them. Including right in front of the store you are trying to enter.
Three-Wheelers: There are these funny little three-wheelers, with their double wheels in the front, that seem to be delivery vehicles. As in pizza delivery. There is also a graffiti-clean-up garage on our street that uses one of these as well.
Street-Cleaners: These are VERY important to the city. There are trash barrels around, but they do not get used quite as frequently as I am used to. When kids are given a gouter (snack) after school they will, likely as not, drop the wrapper from their chocolate snack. (Quick aside, everything is chocolate here. The kids are even eating a breakfast cereal with chocolate in it. Dark, not super-sweet, but chocolate none-the-less.) With the extra litter around, especially here in tourist-town Aix-en-Provence, there must then be extra street-cleaners. There are two sorts. There are mini-versions of “Dusty,” the Mighty Machines street-cleaner, that fit through the narrow streets. And then there are the city workers, vested in bright green, who push their carts throughout the city. One will frequently find them on break, having a coffee or pastis, but occasionally they will be pushing their cart through the city. They are equipped with a long hose, a broom and shovel, and a perpetually empty trash bag on the back. Once a day you will see the hose attached to a hydrant, as the market comes to a close and the cafes and restaurants set up for the afternoon. All of the market detritus gets washed away to leave a clean and shiny city. The streets also seem to be washed down on a regular basis, as the never-ending supply of crottes (dog poo) mysteriously diappears.
Les Livraisons/Camions: The other main vehicle in the old city are the delivery trucks. They deliver goods at all hours, directly to the store in question. And the store five stores down. And another 7 stores down from that. They drive from drop-off to drop-off and put on their blinking lights. And get out, unload, exchange pleasantries, etc. Blocking, meanwhile, any and all other vehicles behind them. It makes for very interesting walking as you try to squeeze by in the narrow space left between the camion and the buildings. And interesting listening as the other vehicles wait. And wait. And wait. Finally the driver hops back in to make the next delivery, at the end of the block.
Les Diablines: Because Aix-en-Provence is a tourist town, there are these funny little vehicles calles Diablines. They are electric vehicles and take you to different spots in the old town. They seem to work on a taxi-cab sort of model in that I think you can determine where you are dropped off. They hold about three people in each of two rows. Did I mention that they were electric? They are extremely quiet, which is very challenging on the crowded narrow streets of the old city. Especially when you are trying to keep your children from being run over!
Le Tren: I have not seen them recently, but in the summer-time there were these three-car trains that gave a running dialogue of ones visit through the city. They have not yet made their appearance for the season.
Les Velos: What would any good European city be without bicycles? There are bicycles here, but not half so many as I would have anticipated in a small town. But things are so hectic and busy, transportation-wise that I am not surprised that fewer people use bikes. The surprising thing, to me, is that people really just do not use helmets. Not even really the kids. It is very French to me that they would just decide that everyone would know where to be at the exact moment. Also, the bikes here are not the SUV types that people, at least in our family, use in Canada. They are very much the ride-out-in-the-country-with-a-basket-on-the-front kind. Very picturesque. Very French!
La Promenade: Every day, everywhere, people are walking. People of all ages, all walks of life. Mostly strolling, but you will occasionally find a person who seems to have an agenda walking a bit faster. Everything is done on foot here. And the amazing thing is that although no one seems to really be paying attention to each other, they all are. Checking out each others’ fashion, looking for someone to kiss, kiss and say the requisite “Bon jour!” to, and amazingly, never bumping into one another. Never any awkward who-is-walking-where moments. There is such a heightened awareness of people and personal space that is really interesting and beautiful. I know I have written before about how much I love being out and about so I won’t belabour the point. But last night, after supper, Micah and I took a stroll through the old city and listened to a man belt out opera in one of the plazas and watched all of the tourists and city-dwellers sit side-by-side, facing out to the sidewalk in order to people-watch while they ate their suppers. And just reveled in the act of walking through a beautiful, historic town. Because you can’t get that driving around the peripherique.
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