The new Telecabine Project states a 20 minute journey by road to get from Le Fayet to St Gervais DMC: this time corresponds to a journey by bicycle !!!!

The reality is 8 minutes by car. We need to compare the 5 minute journey time for the proposed telecabine to the 8 minutes road journey, a saving of travel time of only 3 minutes.  (simulation via Michelin) (detail of the route)

 In reality, the proposed telecabine will take much longer because you will have to add the parking time and the time needed to get from your car to the departure station. 

The reality is an increased journey time, and the need to walk 1km with two busy road crossings, while buses reach Le Fayet empty.

The new Telecabine Project says they want locals to use this proposed telecabine link as public transport to replace the current buses for high school students. This will force the students to walk one kilometer on foot, crossing two busy roads to reach their school (René Dayve du Mont-Blanc high school) from the proposed station in Le Fayet. Currently the bus picks them up close to their homes and drops them off at the gates of the school. There will be more stages to their journey, and therefore a much longer journey time to and from school. ( simulation high school student journey Gare Fayet-Lycée )

It is worth noting that the school buses from Les Contamines will continue to transport students attending the Warens college and the high school. So in any case we will have a school bus that will travel down the D902 passing in front of the school.

The valley lift will operate automatically under video surveillance without any human presence. Three quarters of the route of the valley lift is located in a red zone with strong rockfall, collapse and landslide hazards.

 Is that an acceptable plan?

This point has not been taken into consideration in the Mayor’s telecabine project, or in the MRAE report.

Increased noise pollution for these young children is not addressed, nor is the increase in traffic around the building (a dramatic increase given the number of additional parking spaces to come) and the inevitable air pollution that accompanies it.

Significant noise is expected as the cabins leave the station, approximately 90 decibels (comparable to the noise emitted by a chainsaw). When the cabins pass the pylons the noise level will be approximately 60 decibels (comparable to the noise emitted by a strimmer).

The lives of students and residents along the proposed route from Le Fayet to Chatelet will become a living a nightmare with these cabins passing every 22 seconds. Who would bear that?

Sound simulations were carried out at 4 meters above the ground which does not correspond to the noise produced by the pylons at 9, 12 and 15 meters above ground which will be at the same level as some homes.

The results of the study in the file are based on the regulations applicable to road infrastructures, ignoring the decree of August 31, 2006 relating to the fight against noise in residential neighbourhoods. This noise pollution affecting existing and planned homes along the proposed route would be describes as ‘Strong’ on the scale of the fight against neighbourhood noise.

The study of noise at the Châtelet does not take into account the extension of the operating time: the additional noise is compared with the existing noise of the DMC gondola, but not the additional noise when the DMC is not in operation while the valley lift will operate every day of the year from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The proposed route of the telecabine link line is a serious privacy breach.

The opaque design of the lower part of the cabins is not sufficient to limit the view of the houses below 

The reduction in road traffic is insignificant. The MRAE study indicates a drop of only 9.33%, so not a significant drop in traffic on the D902 road (route des plagnes).

No mobility study has been carried out to discover the importance of this supposed “missing link” for the daily movement of the population. No alternative solution has been proposed nor any projection on the inevitable adoption of non-polluting individual means of transport (electric vehicles) and how this affects the valley’s inhabitants and environment.

The route of this telecabine would pass through the Thermes du Fayet Forest which is a Classified Wooded Area (EBC) and hunting reserve.

The impact study indicates that it is a natural area of ​​major ecological interest and an ecological corridor for the movement of wildlife.

The MRAe produced an analysis and summary of the impact study on April 14, 2022. It appears that the study was not very thorough and recommends further study due lack of information and anomalies.

The impact of the route of the cable car on the Thermes du Fayet Forest and the Bon-Nant gorge will be immense for biodiversity.

There are many chestnut, hazel and walnut trees where there are species of mammals such as roe deer, deer, wild boar and small animals such as red squirrels, weasels, ermine. There are also many species of birds, including black kite, woodpecker, buzzard, great spotted woodpecker, and also bats, …

Some of these species are protected or classified as threatened, such as the black kite, red squirrel, Tengmalm owl, etc.

Bats present on the site such as the lesser murin or the pipistrelle are also on the red list and have a risk level classified as high.

The destruction of numerous breeding trees will be harmful for these species.

In addition, the suspicion of frequentation in this ecological corridor by a couple of Lynx (an endangered species) has not been dealt with.

There is also the issue of light pollution. This will impact diurnal wildlife because the pylons and cabins will be lit at night due to operation from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Noise and light pollution will have a detrimental effect on the daily movement of our wildlife. In winter, the Thermes du Fayet Forest is a habitat for a large number of them where certain areas are inaccessible to man! This reserve aims above all to protect the animal population and to ensure the natural environments essential to the safeguarding of these threatened species.

Other works in the commune of Saint Gervais have already or are about to begin, such as the Voza pass forest road or the creation of new ski slopes where the forest and the wetland will be impacted.

• Will the destruction of habitat areas for our fauna and flora ever stop?

• The well being of human beings is given too much priority over our environment and that is increasingly worrying for the future. 

The annual operating costs are estimated at one million euros.

The expected revenue will come from ticket sales and from a contribution deducted from the sale of each Evasion Mont-Blanc ski pass.

The estimated budget for the operating costs of the Valléen lift will leave a substantial remainder for the municipality of Saint-Gervais. The figure of eight hundred thousand euros per year has been mentioned.

• What will be the impact on the municipal taxes of St-Gervais and for its inhabitants?

• What is the future of maintenance and investment work in the municipality?

The Valléen lift station at Le Fayet will be in the UE1 zone: This zone is reserved for economic activities of an industrial nature.

The Local Urban Plan (PLU) regulation in force prohibits any construction for commercial activities as well as activities related to tourism and leisure in the UE1 zone.

It would therefore be necessary to change the regulations of the PLU to authorize the installation of this telecabine departure station in this UE1 zone.

This is the PLU proposed plan.

Logically, the simple addition of the words "Except construction of ski lifts or public transport" would be sufficient. But the town hall plans to integrate several shops in the lower part of the telecabine station, in addition to a ticket office. These additional shops are justified according to the town hall as being "a logical evolution to serve travellers".

The project wants to grant itself the right to simply delete the entire paragraph of prohibitions for this EU1 zone. ( attached the explanatory note from the town hall )

However, the vote of the municipal council in May 2022, which accepted for the seventh consecutive year , to cover the rest of the measures and studies as well as the monitoring of the pocket of the Tête Rousse glacier must bring back to memory "the disaster of the baths of 1892" which remains a potential risk. (wikipedia link )

• In this context, is it reasonable to want to intensify the human presence in this sector?