Grenoble is a small city located in a valley near Switzerland and Italy in the French Alps. It has already snowed in some of the mountains. Because of all the snow melt, the two rivers the Drac and the Isere flow through the valley. There is no underground metro system as there is a very high water table. Instead, the city uses an above ground tram and bus system that both students and business people use alike.
I have used the tram quite a bit since I got to France and thought it would be a good place to write about because I have already spent well over 2 to 3 hours on it. When i first started using it, I didn't pay as close attention to how interesting the tram really can be because I was preoccupied with making sure I got off at the right stop. I have come to discover that the tram in Grenoble is a place where a variety of people with different jobs, social classes, religions, ethnicities, and nationalities all come together.
On the tram, I have seen dressy black suits, Italian leather shoes, t-shirts distictly representing Armani or GUESS, spiked hair, men with purses (it is a new fashion in Europe), lots of Converse shoes, floral dresses, burkas, suitcases, sweater skirts, scarves of every color, strollers, bicylces, walking canes, leather breifcases, antique style high heels, studded sandals, colorful African dresses, tasteful and not so tasteful sweaters, and studded belts. I see people from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas and hear various languages including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, English, German, and French. For the most part, people are very polite, but I have also seen people who were far from sober and/or smoking on the tram. People travel alone, in small groups, and as families. Sometimes I see children traveling alone.
To pay for the tram in Grenoble, you have to buy a daily, monthly, or yearly pass. Before you get on the tram, you scan that card that you bought at a little machine at each stop and then get on the tram when it arrives. Of course, it is incredibly easy to hop the tram without buying a pass, and more likely than not, you won't get caught. There are tram officials who occasionally take the trams and check that people have been scanning their cards, but I have only seen them twice. As far as I can tell, most people do pay for tram passes, but the system allows people to use the tram who might not use it if they did have to pay. I have no idea who pays for the tram every time and who does not, but I think the system allows people to be honest or dishonest, or allows people who may not be able to afford the tram a way to get to work. Sometimes I wonder if the system is set up so that there is that margin where people can get away without buying a tram pass.
In conclusion, the tram is truely and interesting and diverse place. I feel as though public transit where I have lived in the United States (Seattle, Salem, and Hood River) is not used as commonly or does not have such an effective transportation system. The Grenoble tram (as well as what I saw of the Paris metro) is very effective and convenient, and therefore more people use it. It seems that public transit reflects a lot about a city and the various people who live and visit.
A tram arriving at night
Inside the tram
A bus and the Bastille
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