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- Report n°6: Urban Public Transport
Report n°6: Urban Public Transport
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Table of contents
- Exclusive right-of-way for bus: from Bogotá to European urban environments
- The Montpellier priority route
- Exclusive right-of-way for bus: from Bogotá to European urban environments
The Montpellier priority route
The bus-based priority route in Montpellier was designed in 1982 and put into service in 1988. The "priority route" as it was named at the time, was to connect the district called Antigone, east of the city centre but contiguous, and a large off-centre district comprising apartment buildings, called La Paillade. The route is 12.5 km in length of which a little over 3 km benefits from exclusive right-of-way in both directions. In particular, a large main road in the centre of Montpellier (Cours Gambetta) was completely renovated with the effect of redistributing the road to privilege public transport and reducing the space allotted to private cars to one lane in either direction. Along the right-of-way trees were planted and pavements renovated. These changes were to serve as a model for later work to install tram lines elsewhere in most cases. Furthermore, from the station to the Antigone district, a new road was built on a platform above existing railway lines, dedicated to both public transport and pedestrians with broad pavements providing new opportunities for walking around the town. Just over 10 years later, trams equipped the priority route.
Along the exclusive right-of-way 25 bus lines now transport 10,000 passengers per day per direction. Commercial speed rose from 10 km/h to 18 km/h. Regularity of passage at stops rose from 40 to 75% of traffic for the most popular lines of the network.