Auto-Free New York: Light Rail in France

11:51 PM EDT on September 15, 2007

The September monthly meeting of Auto-Free New York will feature remarks by Paul Rivey, Civil Engineer and Urban Planner from Paris.

More than a dozen medium-sized French cities have built new light rail systems in the past two decades. Now even Paris has caught the spirit and completed its first line within the city walls. Light rail provides an appealing alternative to motor vehicles in dense places.

But where's NYC? The Mayor's new 2030 sustainability plan completely ignores this winning mode. Find out how France succeeded. Come to the next Auto-Free NY meeting to hear Paul Rivey, a French urban planner and engineer talk about the City of Light - and Light Rail!

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Stay in touch

More from Streetsblog New York City

Carnage

Cement Truck Driver Kills Cyclist On Treacherous Borough Park Stretch

A senior cement truck driver struck and killed a cyclist on a notoriously dangerous Borough Park avenue on Wednesday.

Gersh Kuntzman

March 12, 2026

MTA

MTA Demands Albany Deal With Toll Evasion Already

A new analysis of toll evasion found that the amount of money owed by drivers who don't pay paper toll invoices has more than doubled since 2022, from $147 million in unpaid tolls to nearly $350 million.