MANmagazine Bus edition 2/2016 International

2/2016
15 years of experience: Bus
driver Jean LePeuvedic has
extra praise for the braking
properties of the buses.
Quick connection: The 55 new
MAN Lion’s City GL CNG buses
cross Bordeaux every 10 minutes.
Parisian in Bordeaux:
Camille Miro appreciates
the spaciousness of the
new MAN buses.
32
Pedestrians strolling through the
streets of Bordeaux these days
enjoy the view of a cityscape
both historical and highly innovative.
Townhouses shining in
their original splendour, façades
free of rust, modern trams and natural gasconsuming
buses humming along the trafficcalmed
streets. The entire city centre is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, yet there’s
nothing antiquated about it. Quite the
contrary, there’s a feeling of optimism permeating
the narrow lanes, as Bordeaux is
booming: Entire neighbourhoods and the
harbour have been completely renovated,
more than 50,000 students populate the
brand-new campus, while world-class
vineyards and world-class technologies thrive
just outside the city. The metropolitan region
has been attracting a range of innovative
companies and start-ups for several years.
It is no coincidence that Bordeaux has
evolved into the symbol for French progress:
“Our success story is proof of the structural
power exuded by public transportation,”
explains Jean-Marc Rouffet, Head of the
Public Transport Network for the Greater
Bordeaux Metropolitan Region. “For decades,
the city sought its progress entirely in cars,
until a total traffic collapse loomed in the late
1990s. The decision to build new tram lines
and connect them to a sustainable network of
buses was made back in 1996.” Today, 275 of
the city’s 400 buses run on natural gas,
including 55 MAN Lion’s City GL CNG. The
low-emission natural gas engine and the sophisticated
vehicle concept with five doors
contributed to the articulated bus already
winning the title of “Bus of the Year 2015”.
“When the first tram lines went into operation
15 years ago, we were almost exclusively
deploying buses as feeders from the suburbs.
That didn’t work very well. In 2010, the
operating company Keolis reorganised the
lines, so buses are now covering the gaps in
the tram network. Together, trams and buses
form a public transportation network with
terrific coverage,” states Rouffet.
Mobile thanks to accessibility: Pensioner
Julie Pornin is very happy about the
high level of service offered by the buses.
© Arnaud Février
THIS DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT is also
partially owed to the acquisition of the
newest MAN CNG buses. In addition to
managing the steadily increasing user
volume, the city of Bordeaux strives to offer
passengers a higher level of service, including
passenger information systems, greater
frequency and express lines, for example. “To
accomplish this, we depend on our new CNG
buses. They’re quiet, reliable and don’t cost
much more than regular buses. Moreover,
vehicles that consume regenerative energies
are far more popular in political terms these
days,” states transport expert Rouffet.
“The buses are quiet, reliable and
particularly efficient.”
Jean-Marc Rouffet, Head of Fleet for the Greater Bordeaux Metropolitan Region
Last stop is the airport:
A one-way trip from the
city centre to the airport
costs less than €2.
33