Any inhabitant can tell you : the mere fact of associating the two key-words  « Aix » and « car » is enough to set one’s teeth on edge. Caroline, a travel agency worker on the famous Cours Mirabeau Street, shrugs her shoulders when we questioned her about parking in Aix : « It is a real pain in the neck, I’ve used my car today, so I’ll be bestowing 12 euros onto a meter. » The fact is that if you need a car in this city, you also need a personal fortune.

Solving the car problem could be the upcoming challenge for Aix-en-Provence. As in many others towns which aren’t adapted to high-density car traffic. Aix-en-Provence and its suburbs approximately number 330,000 people and one million car journeys per day. The consequence is a diurnal suffocation of the traffic and the certitude of wasting so much, so very much time in your car.

Some may object that you have the bussing solution. The town hall’s website asserts : « When a bus is full, it is like 60 less car in the traffic. » An objection may be voiced : not all the people travelling by bus actually possess a car. And the bus is no panacea, as Caroline observes : « Bus schedules are shifted forward or back during school holidays, thus we are forcibly adapted to them. » The bus organization is sometimes a bit weird, for instance, concerning the Proxibus, Pierre, a retiree, says : « It’s OK to go to Aix, but forget the return, it isn’t planned for in the schedules. » So, you need to use the well-known “D” system : « My wife and I try to organize our agenda. One of us drives the other into town and when he has finished his business, he calls up the other to pick him up him by car. » Everybody can’t have recourse to such a solution and so, sometimes, people prefer living outside the law, like Caroline : «  The municipal parking officers go around the area where I  park my car about once a  week, so, I opt for the solution of « forgetting » to pay and copping a fine of 11 euros from time to time. » At least that’s more economical than spending a whole day in the Pasteur parking lot ( 12 euros ) ! This sort of incivility gives one cause ponder on finding a way to save Aix from the « cars only » syndrome, especially now that George Bush has been so happily re-elected ( or has he ? ) and that the price of petrol is not ever again going to come down !!!