You don’t need to be an expert in the Freudian concept of random association to know that the merest mention of the word Montpellier is likely to produce another word – dynamique. For in less than three decades, the hub of the Hérault department has changed more than during the previous three centuries, rising in rank from the 25^th to the 8^th French city. Each and every opinion poll reveals that it is the place where most French men and women would like to live, work and play. Much of this is attributable to the city’s colourful Mayor and MP Georges Frêches, a skilled operator who has somehow managed to move the city along by leaps and bounds without losing sight of its historic roots. And he has now consolidated this reputation of having single-handed created the French California with his latest stunning success – Le Tramway.

Not that a tramway in the Languedoc is a new concept in any way. For trams were running right through the city’s miniature Arc de Triumph and all the way down to the historic Place de la Comedie as far back as the turn of the century. But le tramway à Montpellier is back with a vengeance as Frêches unveiled his new pet project on 30^th June. The key words being bandied about by his formidable PR team are propre, silencieux, rapide, confortable, ponctuel and couche-tard. Marketing hype it might well be – but having seen the tramway in action it certainly appears to be a system with which it is difficult to find fault. And Frêches being Frêches he has had the good sense to open the tramway to the general public free of charge for an entire week, immediately after its inauguration. And unlike many a public work in the UK, it has to be said, the Montpellier supremo’s pet project has opened 3 months ahead of schedule – and without any increases in local taxation to boot.

"Another dream which has come true", crows the Mayor, whose 28 sleek coaches will be transporting up 75,000 passengers each and every day. The multi-million pound project has been given a resounding thumbs up by the local population – and it is not difficult to see why. Well over half the city’s inhabitants already use public transport at least once a year, traffic is becoming increasingly congested and the best part of 10,000 parking places will be available to encourage Montpellierains to swap their cars for a ride on the environmentally friendly Tramway.

No wonder the city has been dubbed le coeur battant du Languedoc (the beating heart of the Languedoc region). Young people, the region’s lifeblood, circulate through it from all over the department in order to study at the capital’s numerous Universities and schools. And as a business centre Montpellier has forged itself not just in a creative and economic pump to be reckoned with, but the number 2 conference centre in the whole of France. Hardly surprising the local business community has likewise given Le Tramway a resounding thumbs up. And hardly surprising, it seems, that Frêches is likely to remain at the Mairie of Montpellier for quite some time to come.