inauguration of Florence Tramway

On February 14 2010 the new Florence Tramway will be inaugurated at last. After five years of construction and a part of the citizens against the project, the first line of this new public transportation system will be active.
I am pro-tramway, I think that the tramway will improve the citizens’ quality of life, as it’s cheap, ecologic, very fast (sure faster than bus) and should even be always on time (here in Italy punctuality of public services is a strange thing…).

Line 1 will connect the southern part of the city to the centre of Florence, and soon will be built lines 2 and 3, connecting other parts of the city.
I hope that a new, efficient and diffused public transportation system will encourage Florentines to leave the car in their garages and move around with public mass transport. Florence has a real traffic problem, traffic jams at rush hours, even if the historical centre has some limitations to car traffic, is still chocking because of too many cars. So a new mass transportation system is not an option, but a real need.

Line 1 starts at Scandicci, enters the city of Florence and runs over via Nenni, viale Talenti and via del Sansovino. After Piazza Paolo Uccello crosses the Arno River with a brand new bridge and enter the Cascine park. From Piazza Vittorio Veneto continues to Viale Fratelli Rosselli, Via Jacopo da Diacceto and Via Alamanni. Here will soon rejoins the path of Line 2 to Santa Maria Novella train station.
The races on weekdays, when fully implemented (April 2010), will be every 3.5 minutes during rush hours, every 6 minutes during the normal hours and every 12 minutes during the late evening.

I’d like to participate to the very first ride of the tramway!

line 1 of firenze tramway (click to enlarge)

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