Toulouse: in Basso Cambo, a giant car park to take the metro
Opened this Monday, August 29, the new car park at the terminus of metro line A increases the parking supply for the benefit of public transport.
A big cube six stories high and covered with 8,000 metal scales has just come into being in Basso Cambo, at the terminus of line A of the metro. Under construction since January 2021, this giant car park intended primarily for users of the Tisséo network opens its doors this Monday, August 29. With its 480 spaces in silos, therefore 300 outdoor spaces are added, i.e. a total of 780, it increases by 60% the parking capacity of the old park and ride, which was saturated as are all the Toulouse metro terminus car parks .
This XXL car park is in fact a centerpiece of the Tisséo network, an essential tool for the development of public transport. It is this infrastructure that allows residents of the outskirts of Toulouse to leave their car to take the metro to the city center or bus lines, such as No. 25, which has been going to the cable car at the Oncopole since September. For these users, parking is free (provided they have made a round trip and validated a transport ticket in the hour preceding the exit and parked less than 24 hours).
The attractiveness of public transport is thus conditioned by the existence of these relay parks. Tisséo Collectivités voted a plan a few years ago to increase their capacity. For the organizing authority of urban public transport, these are the largest in France, outside Paris, she regularly replies to criticism of saturation.
ZFE: new stage
Today, eight relay car parks are available along the two metro lines. There are six more for the purposes of certain Linéo, one for the tram (at Aeroconstellation) and a newest addition with 500 seats at the Oncopole for Téléo.
The question of access to public transport is all the more crucial as Toulouse passed last March under the regime of a low emission zone to ban the most polluting vehicles. This September 1, the ZFE is also taking a new step with the ban on circulation of Crit’Air 4 utilities and trucks. The Basso Cambo car park, although located in the ZFE, will be accessible to all vehicles via the avenue Paul-Ourliac, from avenue Eisenhower.
Tisséo Collectivités, contracting authority for the Basso Cambo car park, which cost €13 million, aims to make it a multimodal center with a ground floor reserved for buses, a 100-space bicycle park, charging stations for electric vehicles, a drop-off zone, etc.
The car park, designed by the Toulouse architecture firm Azema, is also accessible to motorists who do not take the bus or the metro. But this with a tariff (2 € per hour during the day). Particularity, a nearby office building is planned. The 6th floor will be sold to the promoter and reserved for office employees who could access it by a footbridge.