Fast and Teor: four new bus lines soon in circulation in the agglomeration of Rouen
Through Adrien filoche
Published on
Major changes are expected at the start of the 2022 school year for the Réseau Astuce, in Rouen (Seine-Maritime). As part of a vast reorganization of its transport offer in common with new bus lines, the Metropolis plans to recruit 140 new bus drivers – with the emphasis on parity between men and women – as well as creation of new lines and improving the frequency of passage on those already existing.
Ambitious, the objective of this new scheme is to unclog the Arts Theater by reading the lines on the outskirts of Rouen. These changes require the setting up of new transversal routes no longer systematically passing through the city center.
New lines and global reorganization
Cyrille Moreau reminds us, the 2022 recomposition plan is only one step, and the objective set for 2050 is to go from 11.5 to 20% in the modal share of bus trips within the Rouen metropolis. . To answer it, it is necessary to reimburse the organization of the transport in its entirety. “Today, the TCAR network is a star-shaped network, that is to say centralized around the Théâtre des Arts. We want to move to a grid system, ”he explains.
In other words, the objective is to improve the transversality of the lines by allowing the inhabitants of the platforms to circulate, without them having to go through Rouen. The route of line 6 (Grand-Couronne) will therefore be modified.
The buses will no longer go back to Rouen. After Petit-Couronne, the F6, which goes into Fast, will fork east to connect the two terminus of the Georges-Braque and Technopôle tramway, before connecting to Oissel station.
In addition, the new Fast F8 line connects Déville-lès-Rouen to Bihorel, offering the possibility of navigating between the municipalities of the northern plateaus. Note also the strengthening of line 13, whose route will be reviewed and the frequency increased by 3.5.
Added to this is a change for all lines: they run until midnight, and their frequency will be increased, with a bus every minute at peak times, compared to 15 minutes previously.
Relieve congestion on line T1
The reorganization of the Rouen bus lines could not be done without tackling the problematic line T1, antise of the students of Mont-Saint-Aignan. “We are going to add eight rotations of T1, that’s the maximum we can do. But that’s not enough, ”insists Cyrille Moreau at first.
From the start of the 2022 school year, a new line, the F7, will link the left bank to the Mont-Saint-Aignan university campus. These buses, which will run on hydrogen, will leave from the town hall of Sotteville-lès-Rouen and will avoid the Théâtre des arts sector, which is particularly congested.
The long awaited T5
These developments will allow, according to the vice-president for transport, to “cope” until 2025 and the start of work on line T5. It will link the University of Mont-Saint-Aignan to the future Saint-Sever station in Rouen. At the beginning of October, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that the State would put three million euros on the table for the creation of this line.
In order to implement this new scheme in its entirety, the Metropolis will increase the resources allocated to the bus network. “The operating cost by lines is estimated at 77 million euros. We will go to 85 million, or 10% more, ”notes Cyrille Moreau.
140 bus driver positions to be filled
To support these in-depth changes to the Rouen bus network, the Metropolis plans to recruit 140 bus drivers by the start of the 2022 school year, with one goal: parity. “It is a political will to increase the share of women in the profession within the TCAR from 15 to 50%,” says Cyrille Moreau, vice-president in charge of transport.
While he acknowledges that the profession of bus driver remains labeled as “masculine”, the “Monsieur transport” of the Metropolis wishes to “lever these brakes with an information campaign that will clearly express that women are welcome. If we already manage to double the existing part, it will be a good chosen one. But we are giving ourselves the means to achieve parity ”.
This more egalitarian recruitment, according to him, makes it possible to fill the shortage of drivers, by opening up the market further. “It is in our interest to bring in new employees,” he concludes.
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