In Lyon, a river public transport line will see the light of day

While Lyon should see the creation of a semi-buried Tram Express in western Lyon by 2031, the capital of Gaul plans to launch a new public transport from 2025: the river shuttle.

Indeed, the Lyon transport authority has unveiled a project to link Vaise to Bellecour (about 3.4 km), all while sailing on the Saône and for the price of a Lyon public transport ticket. This project, which was voted on February 2 at the Sytral Mobilités board meeting, could subsequently be extended to Confluence. It required several studies and negotiation of a speed increased to 20 km/h instead of 12 with Voies navigables de France (VNF). “The objective is to offer residents a new attractive and environmentally friendly mobility solution, fully integrated into the TCL network (Lyon public transport, editor’s note) combining quality of service and the pleasure of navigating.“, underlined the president of Sytral Mobilités.

The boats, whose capacity could be 70 to 90 people, should eventually circulate every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Development work for boats

What about the work to accommodate this line? The existing stop at Vaise will have to be improved and fitted out in order to accommodate boarding and disembarking, and a station should be built on Quai Saint-Vincent. Regarding the Quai Saint-Antoine, a project already underway already contains the idea of ​​a stopover. As for the Confluence dock, a station is to be defined.

Sytral wants this operation to be taken over by a private operator via a public service delegation contract to carry out nearly 560,000 trips per year. The budget for the project is around 26 million euros, including more than 12 million euros for the acquisition of four boats – at the rate of 3 million each – and the development of the halts.

It can be noted that a system of river shuttles covering almost the same route already exists in Lyon. Called Vaporetto, it has 4 stops on the Saône including a drop-off point at the Confluence. However, the frequency of this is less strong, especially outside of July and August, and its cost rises to around 5 euros per trip.