The Paris metro is known for its Haussmann style stations, its interminable underground tracks and its daily saturations. It is part of the history of “cleaner” public transport in Paris.
The story began in 1662, when the philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascale managed to set up five regular lines of coaches with five marked grounds, starting from Luxembourg and serving different places in Paris. These “five-floor coaches”, serving passengers, tend to unclog what is at that time the second most populous city in the world after London. By following a fixed route with regularly scheduled departures and a decisive rate depending on the route, the five-floor coaches present in the seventeenth century the essential characteristics of modern public transportation. The adventure continues in the nineteenth century, when the first “omnibus” emerged in Nantes through an idea of Stanislas Baudry. This initiative is followed by a dozen of companies that specialize in this production. In order to increase even more the flow of Paris, Baron Haussmann unifies these companies. But how do this transportation look like? Simply two horses pulling a vehicle that can carry up to 40 passengers. But these impressive horse vehicles are nevertheless replaced by steam engines. This will bring a new issue: A lot of smoke in the capital.
In 1880, the implementation of electricity will finally solve that. Despite a shutdown between 1930 and 1990, the new electric transports reduce drastically air pollution in the capital.
