Nantes Busway

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This article is about the guided busway line located in Nantes, France. For other similar systems, see bus rapid transit.
Busway
Background
Locale Nantes, Pays de la Loire
Transit type Bus rapid transit
Number of lines 1
Number of stations 15
Daily ridership 28.000/day, 7 million/year[1]
Operation
Began operation 2006
Operator(s) Semitan
Technical
System length 7 km

The Nantes Busway (line 4) is a bus rapid transit line operating in the city of Nantes, France. The service was inaugurated on November 6, 2006 and is operated by Semitan. The line runs from Place Foch to Porte de Vertou on dedicated way, and interconnects with line 1 of the Nantes Tramway at Duchesse Anne Château station. Four park & ride facilities have been built along the construction of the line to encourage passengers to use public transports. Nantes Busway line 4 is NF certified (NF stands for French Norm). Victim of its success, Busway line 4 benefits higher ridership above Semitan's expectations pushing the system to saturation and overcrowded buses at peak times and nearly full off peak. Semitan has been testing the Hess LighTram on November 23 and 24 2009 to eventually increase capacity of the system and relieve the transit at peak times. Though that solution hasn't been retained, Semitan decided to increase passage frequencies to less than 3 minutes at peak times. If saturation recurs, Busway line 4 may be converted into a Tramway line in the future.[2]

Circle shaped Duchesse Anne Château Station

Operation

The network is operated by Semitan, known as TAN for short. Semitan is responsible for the whole public transport network throughout the Nantes Metropole (Greater Nantes), and the Metropole has a majority shareholding in the company.

Stations equipment

Ile De Nantes station

All stations are built with all the services that a Tramway station has. All have real time passenger information LED displays showing real time estimated passage of the next bus, automatic ticket machines which sells a wide range, seating and large unified made of glass shelters.

Hours of operation

Nantes' Busway does not run 24 hours a day. Service starts at 5am to 0.30am on week days and Sundays, and from 5am to 2.30am on Saturdays. Delays are rare and service generally runs smoothly.

Fares

The TAN network in Nantes uses paper tickets and passes, though in the near future contactless smartcards will replace it. There are no travel zones on the network in Greater Nantes. Tickets and passes allow free transfer and are universally valid on the Tramway, Busway, Nantes buses, Navibus, and suburban trains within Nantes Métropole. Tickets are not sold inside the trams, but ticket machines (which accept cash and credit cards) are present at every Tramway and Busway stations. Tickets must be validated inside the trams when boarding. There are also some staffed ticket offices opened for limited periods only.

Single trip and day tickets

Semitan issues singles trip tickets (Ticket 1 h) valid for one hour, a 10x saver ticket booklet (Carnet de 10 tickets 1h) valid one hour each, a discounted 10x saver ticket booklet (Carnet de 10 tickets 1h - Tarif réduit) valid one hour each, an airport transit ticket (Ticket navette aéroport), a 24 hours ticket (Ticket 24h) valid an entire day for one traveller and a 24 hours ticket valid an entire day for up to four persons (Ticket 24h/4 personnes).

Semitan also sells Lila and Métrocéane tickets.

Lila: Single trip tickets (Ticket unité Lila) valid two hours on the Lila network (departemental buses in Loire-Atlantique) and one hour on the TAN or STRAN (Saint-Nazaire buses) networks when transiting from Lila, a 10x saver ticket booklet (Carnet de 10 tickets Lila) valid two hours each on the Lila network and one hour on the TAN or STRAN networks when transiting from Lila.

Monthly and annual passes

Semitan issues a wide range of monthly and annual passes for different categories of travellers depending of their age and working conditions. Free transportation is granted to travellers with low revenues.

Semitan also sells monthly, termly and annual Lila, Métrocéane and Pratik+ passes, for several categories of persons depending of their age and working conditions.

Rolling stock

Citaro G bus approaching Place Foch

Citaro G

20 Mercedes-Benz Citaro G are running on Busway's line 4 on dedicated way. Those articulated buses are 18 meters long, 2.55 meters wide and are natural gas powered only. The driver is isolated from the rest of the bus in a separate cabin. Each bus features:

  • 4 sliding doors all with manual opening
  • Double glazed windows
  • Dynamic maps (LED display) showing stations
  • Colored floor pattern, and wall colored LED lightning (additional to basic lightning)
  • Four information flat screens showing connexions with buses and the Tramway
  • Vocal station announcement
  • Seats with better comfort than those found on conventional buses.

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.tan.fr/jsp/fiche_pagelibre.jsp?CODE=18076193&LANGUE=0&RH=ET-LA-SEMITAN&RF=1228218051028
  2. ↑ http://www.bhns.fr/IMG/pdf/BHNS_Nantes.pdf

External links

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