Line T1 connects Noisy-le-Sec station and Asnières-sur-Seine with a suburban alignment running in parallel to the Northern city limits of Paris.

[4] Île-de-France tramway Line 1 marked the return to this type of transportation, having been absent in the region since 1957,[note 1] and was the result of a long battle between the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council and the towns through which it would pass.

In July 1976, the schéma directeur d'aménagement et d'urbanisme de la région parisienne ("Organizing Plan for the Development and Urbanism of the Region of Paris") caused the creation of ring roads to the north and south of the agglomeration to facilitate links between different suburbs for which there was a constantly increasing demand.

In 1977, the Institut d'aménagement et d'urbanisme de la région d'Île-de-France ("Institute for the Management and Urbanism of the Île-de-France Region"; IAURIF) was given a mission by the direction régionale de l'Équipement to study the creation of two structural ring roads in the suburbs, one of which was to connect the business district of La Défense in the west to the capital of Seine-Saint-Denis, Bobigny, in the east.

The Institute proposed that they use a tramway, which has a greater capacity than the bus and has numerous other advantages such as less noise, no pollution, adaptability to future traffic situation and accessibility for the disabled due to its lower platform.

[6] In 1980, the IAURIF studied more specifically the connection between Saint-Denis and Bobigny, the first section of the ring in partnership with the RATP which still had some reservations about using this mode of transportation since the expected ridership seemed like it might not be sufficient to ensure the profitability of a tramway.

The IAURIF boasted its commitment to "intermediate solutions between heavy rail systems and bus networks, victims of overcrowding."

Its effect on urban planning was equally demonstrated with the rehabilitation of the neighbourhoods it served and reduced usage of the highways.

The conservative agenda of the new government put the project in great danger due to their tendency to reduce public spending.

It concluded that it would be possible to replace the tramway with a dedicated bus lane, but this method presented three problems: lower performance in terms of speed and frequency, restarting the whole bureaucratic process over again (which would result in great delays), and finally if the local governments disagreed it could mean they would have to look for new funding.