Bus stop opens on French motorway near Strasbourg
It will link to tram stop and cut travel times for people in city suburbs
The bus stop will help people wanting to reach the city’s western suburbs. Photo for illustrative purposes only
Pack-Shot/Shutterstock
A bus stop has opened on a French motorway near Strasbourg, the first of its kind in France.
The stop is located on the M351, an offshoot of the A35 motorway that goes to the heart of the city centre.
Passengers can get off the bus at this stop and walk directly to a nearby tram stop that crosses the motorway via an overpass.
This tram line – D – serves the western suburbs and Hautepierre district of the city and its hospital, as well as a nearby commercial centre and sports complex.
By descending at the new bus stop and using the tram, passengers can access these areas without having to enter the city centre via the bus and then double back on themselves using the tram, which was the previous method.
Over 200 buses per day
The new stop – named Paul Eluard after the nearby tram stop it is linked to – is on a reserved bus lane on the motorway, meaning passengers can safely descend and do not have to cross the road to enter a pedestrian area.
Four main buses will serve the stop, seeing over 30 buses per hour during rush hour, and 200 per day overall.
Using dedicated bus lanes means schedules should be more accurate, said Frédéric Voegel, head of operations at Transport en site propre de l'ouest strasbourgeois to French media outlet BFMTV.
“It's a big challenge for all the teams, but there's been a huge amount of work with the regional transport authorities,” he added.
Rare public transport system
Strasbourg’s public transport and tram service has the rarity of serving two countries, as it has stops across the Rhine river in Kehl (Germany) - although this is something found elsewhere in France.
Multiple border towns between France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg have bus services going between the two countries.
In Switzerland, Geneva’s tramway serves Annemasse in France, and the metro system in San Sebastián (Spain) serves the French SNCF station in Hendaye.
Basel’s tramway has stops in three countries – Switzerland, Germany, and France – the most served by a single public transport system.
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