Montreal and Montpellier

What do Montreal and Montpellier, France, have in common besides their first four letters ? Well, from my scant acquaintance with each, both have very lively centres and lots of beautiful young people walking around, keeping things vibrant and dynamic. Montpellier is near the Mediterranean and numbers about 200,000 people. Montreal is on the Saint Lawrence and numbers close to 4 million. Both have decent public transit. Montreal’s Metro, current infrastructure problems notwithstanding, efficiently covers a large area of the city and is fast and clean. There are also buses and suburban commuter trains. Montpellier for its part has trams and buses.

When I visited Montpellier this summer, I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown because I was foolish enough to drive a car into the town centre. I have since discovered that Montpellier is doing everything possible to deter this. Their plans are working. So much of Montpellier’s centre is made up of pedestrian-only streets, one-way streets, dead ends, and tramway-dedicated streets, that to drive in a car is sheer lunacy. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took over two hours for me to simply find a way to get to the hotel where Monika and I were staying. We circled around it and around it, but the direct path to its door seemed unreachable. Even when we eventually did find the hotel, we found that there was no parking, so we had to retrace our steps to the Place de la Comedie, find underground parking (at a cost of $30 per night) and walk the rest of the way on foot.

The tone of this might sound a bit like a complaint. It isn’t. I am in complete admiration of what Montpellier has done. Indeed, Montreal isn’t even that pedestrian friendly.

For anyone who hasn’t driven in an old European city, It’s hard to describe just how utterly different it is from driving in, say, Edmonton, Alberta. The skill level required just to park and stay alive is vastly higher. If Edmonton drivers tried out half their crazy shit in Montpellier, they would be dead or in jail. Simply put, I think most North American cities have made driving in town too easy. Driving is not supposed to be a relaxing, pleasant experience – unless you’re out in the country, the part of the world where the motorized vehicle truly comes into its own. In cities, driving should be so stressful and difficult that you only do it if absolutely necessary.

Here is Montpellier’s tramway – a modern marvel in the historic town centre.