Voguéo
Encyclopedia
Voguéo was a water taxi
service operated on the River Seine
and the River Marne in the Île-de-France
(the area around Paris
).
The Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF) adopted the service in 2007. It started on 28 June 2008 between the Gare d'Austerlitz
in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and the École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort Métro station
. Between the two termini the journey took 38 minutes, and the following year this was reduced to 28.
Unlike the tourist river services in Paris (such as the bateaux-mouches), this new route was different. It was designed for commuters, not tourists, and financed by the STIF, which meant it could be integrated into the existing fare system for the Île-de-France
(see the section on fares and financing, below). For the occasional traveller, a one-time ticket was sold on board (the "Ticket "T+"" was not accepted). The route revived passenger river transport on the Seine, since it disappeared in 1934 from competition with the rail network. Service was provided by the with catamaran
s specially built by Fountaine-Pajot
.
On 5 June 2011 this "experimental service" closed, although there will be a fuller service starting "some time in 2013".
, while others reached out to the suburbs like the railways, such as the Vincennes line. Until 1828, with the creation of horse-drawn buses,Excepting the brief life of Blaise Pascal
's Carrosses à cinq sols between 1662 and 1677. passenger river traffic was the only mode of public transport in the Île-de-France.
Until the 19th century, horse-drawn boat
s and galiot
s served a steady stream of passengers on the river. Until the canal excavations around the river and the creation of locks downstream to Rouen
under the reign of Louis-Philippe I, most of the traffic travelled upstream from Paris. At the end of the 17th century, and in the 18th, boats relayed goods to Montereau
and Sens, in Yonne
. Others served as passinger transport from the Pont Royal
in Paris to the villages of Passy
, Auteuil
, Meudon
, Sèvres
and Saint-Cloud
, downstream, and were particularly frequent on Sundays and holidays after the opening of the public Parc de Saint-Cloud
by Queen Marie Antoinette
, and the establishment of a funfair
in September. An order of 23 March 1735 fixed the fares for river journeys: two French sol
s for Chaillot and Passy, four for Sèvres and Saint-Cloud, and up to two sols for each stop beyond. It took two hours to travel from Paris to Saint-Cloud.
From 1837, river barges were steadily replaced by steamboats with free connexions with the many bus lines, such as the . Under the Second French Empire
, the river navigation was reorganised, and reinforced for the 1867 Éxposition Universelle
, which took place on the Champ de Mars
, Paris.
The was established in 1866. It provided river transport between Charenton
and Suresnes
with a fleet of paddle steamers, similar to those used since 1864 on the river Saône
in Lyon
and built in the Lyon district of La Mouche, from which the name Bateau Mouche comes. The service had a strong reputation with the public, and the Préfecture set the fares, timetables and frequencies.
Several companies swiftly followed: in 1876 the operated eighteen pontoons, twelve of them in Paris. In response, the reduced its fares and increased the number of boats in service. But the fierce competition turned out to be disastrous, and in 1878, the two companies ran operations jointly. A third player appeared in 1885, the , which operated fast boats with lower fares on the Marne between Lagny-sur-Marne
and Charenton, and another line from Charenton to Suresnes. In 1886, the several companies merged under the name .
This company ran three lines: Tuileries–Suresnes, Charenton–Auteuil and Austerlitz-–Auteuil. A fourth opened in 1895 between the Louvre
and Ablon-sur-Seine
. The Charenton–Auteuil line was the busiest, with a flat fare of 20 centimes, more on Sundays and holidays. Traffic was immense, with 25 million annual journeys (around 70 thousand a day) between 1886 and 1900, over a route totalling 39 km (24 mi) from Charenton-le-Pont
to Suresnes
totalling 47 stops. Service was provided by a fleet of 107 boats. River traffic reached its zenith during the Exposition Universelle of 1900
with 42 million passengers, but after 1900 the service quickly declined with the evolution of the electric tramways and the opening of the Paris Métro
dealt a fatal blow. In 1913, there were 13 million passengers, but traffic collapsed during the First World War, and service finished in 1917 from a lack of passengers.
In 1921 the STCRP, the predecessor of the RATP, won the concession for Parisian riverboats. On 4 May, a line opened between Maisons-Alfort
and the Louvre
, then extended to Auteuil, but the traffic numbers anticipated by the of the Seine department, of around seven million passengers a year, turned out to be less than two million. Changes in the fares and routes, aiming to make them more attractive, gave some relief for a while: in 1923, passenger numbers were nearly 5 million. But the decline then continued, and steepened with competition from the quicker railways, and so in 1926 it was decided to suspend winter services, from 1 November to 1 March. In 1933, traffic was less than 1.3 million passengers.
River connections finished on 5 May 1934 by a decision of the , blaming passenger numbers. Since then the Seine, in Paris, saw only merchant traffic, and a few pleasure boats, until the 1950s, when the first private tourist service opened, with old units restored and adapted.
.
The only ostensibly public service was the Batobus
, but this was not convenient from where commuters actually lived, and would not accept the common commuter tickets, its prices were designed for tourists. Prices were too high for Parisiens: the Batobus service introduced an annual season ticket priced at €55, but the daily price stayed at €12. Also, its hours of operation was not suited to commuters, in the morning it started at 10am in the tourist season, and in the winter, the last boat left at 4pm.
In response, from July 2007 a regular service was inaugurated along the Paris canals, the Canal Saint-Martin
and the Canal Saint-Denis
, for commuters who worked in the Parc du Millénaire (on the border of the 19th Arrondissement and Aubervilliers
), a center for newspaper and other media workers. This was all set up by Icade
, the owner of two such presses and also amusement parks. The canal boats were 14.5 metres (47.6 ft) long, made by Alternatives Énergies by a company titled , who later merged with Transdev
. Beyond all expectations, it got 400 passengers a day.
Even so, the cinema multiplex at MK2 Quai de Loire / Quai de Seine had a small halt stop to let their clients alight, crossing the Bassin de la Villette
to the other side of the canal.
But the need for public transport, as opposed to tourist transport, became ever more apparent, and the SCIF proposed a new szstem for the purpose. A referendum of Parisiens voted against it in 2006, but it was pushed through: travelling by river was now the fashion.
In 2000, the Mayor of London
had put in riverboats for commuters along the Thames, connecting with the London Underground
. The boats were quicker than the Tube, and were an immediate success. They accepted the London Oyster card
s and other through ticketing cards for commuters. In France, Nantes
took up the baton in 2003 with its Navibus
service, with a pleasure-boat, which was also immediately successful. So the Parisien authorities started to think whether such systems would also work there.
The report of the STIF of 11 July 2007 called officially for an experimental riverboat system along the Seine, integrated into the Metro and other transport networks. In the October, this service started, with the contract awarded to Batobus for two and a half years. Four catamarans were ordered from the boatbuilder Fountaine-Pajot
. On 22 November 2007 the project got its official name, Voguéo.
So at the end of the December, the service was on its way. Four catamarans had been ordered, to enter service in the January, and the operations base had been set up at Charenton-le-Pont
. In the March, the STIF approved the boats' January design, by Franck Darnet Design. On 7 April, the operational base was in place, and the first experimental trip was made four days later, to test the wake. In the May and June, the piers and signage was put in place, and at the end of June a week's final trials ran without passengers before the service opened at the end of that month.
On Saturday, 28 June 2008 the boats entered service, with five stops between the Gare de Austerlitz and the École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (Paris Métro)
.
At the inauguration day, it got a resounding opening welcome from the public, with long queues at every pier waiting for the first boat, leaving at 4 p.m. Between the following Saturday (from 4 p.m.) to the Sunday (at 8 p.m.) it transported passangers, roughly 30 per boat. Each month the passenger numbers were looked over and tweaks to the service made (travel times, connexions, prices and so on), with questionnaires to the customers about comfort, tidiness, timeliness and so on. The STIF had guaranteed to have at least 800 available places per hour along the route, and agreed standards of punctuality, especially during the morning rush hour.
This experiment, lasting two years and seven months until New Year's Eve of 2010, allowed evaluation of the likely customer demand, tweaks to the service timetablles, and a more ambitious and frequent daily service during the following year.
During the first three months of the experiment, the Voguéo had passengers, about a thousand a day, with plenty of room for them all, but only a punctuality rate of about 64%. Prices were reduced to €1 to drum up trade.
After about a year of the experiment, the Voguéo came under scrutiny into its pricing and customer satisfaction: customer surveys showed 95% satisfaction, and it achieved a certificate of satisfaction from the French standards organisation AFNOR
. All in all, the service was perhaps a little too infrequent and unreliable, especially during the winter, both commuters being put off by the wind and rain, and the boats themselves being slower and less comfortable.
The Voguéo went roughly from the Paris Gare d'Austerlitz
to the Pont Charles-de-Gaulle
, on the left bank of the Seine. The boats took roughly a south-easterly course along the Seine, and stopped at the Pont de Bercy
, crossing over the Paris Métro Line 6
, and then the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir
, where it had its first stop., the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand being within walking distance, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France
, ten minutes farther down.
Continuing its route southeasterly, it then stopped at the Pont de Tolbiac
and the Pont Royal
, then at the Nelson Mandela Bridges
, where it had its second stop, after about fifteen minutes from its base. It then continued, after the confluence of the Seine and River Marne, towards is terminus, the ,at Charenton-le-Pont
, after a thirty minutes' ride.
Going the other way, the boats stopped at the , on the right bank of the river, giving easy access to the Mitterand library. The ferry took thearty minitues from to , but because of the tide flow could still make the ten minutes' time up, not having to battle against the tide.
Pier signage is lit, which serves both for passengers and to give the pilot notice of the headway. In the event of any failure, it lights in another colour to warn the pilot of the fault. The system gives the running times and waiting times for the next boat. These signs are not only at the piers but around and about.
In May 2009, after much tweaking with the timetables, the STIF decided to increase the frequency to 15 minutes during peak times and 20 minutes at other times, 30 during daytime weekends.
When it started, its time from start to finish (from Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort
) was 38 minutes one way and 33 the other, but after tweaking the timings, it came down to respectively 28 and 25 minutes, the difference mostly coming from the ferries not having to double-back at Maisons-Alfort.
But after all, the journey time was limited by the Rules of the River on the Paris Seine: 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in Paris and 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) on its outskirts.
The chosen route went through the western Paris suburbs, , connecting with the RATP bus services 20–99 and Paris Métro
lines 5, 8, 10 and 14, and also the suburban line RER C
.
The STIF ordered four catamaran
s to serve the route, designed by the Yacht Concept company, although they were delivered six months late . These were named Voguéo I, Voguéo II, Voguéo III, and Voguéo IV.
They were built at La Rochelle
in the naval shipyards of Fountaine-Pajot
, the world leader in ferry catamarans.
The boats kept to the IRIS 37 design, with modifications demanded by STIF, in particular enlargement of the bay windows, changes to the seating and the stern open back. The two naval architects Michel Joubert and Franck Darnet, designed these boats, being 12.3 by and sitting 1.2 m (47.2 in) in the water. These boats could take 75 personnel, 35 in each of the two aisles, the captain and his mate. The boats had doors under the covered, heated, bow station.
The boats were made from composite material
so as not to rust, and had a displacement weight of 9.3 t (9.2 LT). They were powered by two 110 hp diesel engines, but were speed limited to 30 km/h (18.6 mph). At 2000 r.p.m. the engines would consume 7 l (14.8 US pt) an hour, and 13 l (27.5 US pt) at 2500 r.p.m. At 12 km/h (7.5 mph) they were noise rated to 65 dB, and at 18 km/h (11.2 mph) to 72 dB.
The first boat took its maiden voyage from the Charenton-le-Pont
pier on 10 April 2008 for trials, and was due to enter full service on 1 June 2008, although this was postponed until 28 June 2008.
, between the two Nelson Mandela Bridges
. This depot also served as the command and control centre for the service.
") which in 2008 had 38 employees, 28 on the boats themselves and six at the operational base. The Voguéo recruited 14 pilots and 14 second mate
s; the pilots being seconded from the Batobus conpany, and the second mates recruited externally, from press ads. The teams were all put together between November 2007 and February 2008. The second mates looked after wake safety, cleanliness, customer information, and ticket sales.The second mates' monthly wage, on a fixed-term contract, was € per month according to on 23 May 2008
, the monthly or weekly Carte orange
, the Navigo pass and the Carte Imagine'R
, the Carte Améthyste
and the Carte Solidarité Transport.
For one-off journeys a ticket cost €3 and could be purchased on board.
The fact that the terminus at Maisons-Alfort was in Zone 3 came under much criticism from regular commuters: the nearest Métro station was in Zone 2 and could be used on a standard ticket, whereas the Vogu$eo cost €3 a trip. This anomaly perhaps reduced the custom on the Voguéo.
All the same, the Voguéo paid its bills, and in June 2008, to make it more attractive, the STIF reduced ticket prices to €1 and made the Voguéo route into Zones 1 and 2 only.
All this cost €10.5m in investment, with a projected annual running cost of €4.6m before taxes. All of this was underwritten by the Compagnie des Batobus, but because the ticket prices were set by the STIF there as no way it could make a profit or cover its costs. The STIF paid the difference, to the Île-de-France
regional council, and several other local bodies, who had set the terms and conditions for a cross-river ferry service, which it never really was designed to be.
to the south and Suresnes
to the west, with the Autorité de la concurrence making reports and requests to the STIF.
The Communauté d'agglomération Plaine-Commune also proposed another service, to run from Seine-Saint-Denis
to La Défense
(Hauts-de-Seine
). The local council, on 28 January 2008, asked the STIF to start a study of the many different ways this may be possible, on the model of the Voguéo, between Suresnes
and Clichy and the towns southwards of it, via La Défense
. This new route would reduce the congestion on the Paris Métro Line 13
.
Water taxi
A water taxi or water bus, also known as a commuter boat, is a watercraft used to provide public transport, usually but not always in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or on demand to many locations, operating in a similar...
service operated on the River Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
and the River Marne in the Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
(the area around Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
).
The Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF) adopted the service in 2007. It started on 28 June 2008 between the Gare d'Austerlitz
Gare d'Austerlitz
Paris Austerlitz is one of the six large terminus railway stations in Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine in the southeastern part of the city, in the XIIIe arrondissement...
in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and the École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort Métro station
École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (Paris Métro)
École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort is a station on line 8 of the Paris Métro in the commune of Maisons-Alfort, named after the nearby École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, the national veterinary school founded in 1765....
. Between the two termini the journey took 38 minutes, and the following year this was reduced to 28.
Unlike the tourist river services in Paris (such as the bateaux-mouches), this new route was different. It was designed for commuters, not tourists, and financed by the STIF, which meant it could be integrated into the existing fare system for the Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
(see the section on fares and financing, below). For the occasional traveller, a one-time ticket was sold on board (the "Ticket "T+"" was not accepted). The route revived passenger river transport on the Seine, since it disappeared in 1934 from competition with the rail network. Service was provided by the with catamaran
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
s specially built by Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot is a maritime construction company that specialises in catamarans both for leisure and sea use. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean François Fountaine and Yves Pajot, in the town of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis, in Seine-Maritime....
.
On 5 June 2011 this "experimental service" closed, although there will be a fuller service starting "some time in 2013".
Timeline
- 1837: First appearance of steamboatSteamboatA steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s, operated by the - 1866: Reorganisation of passenger riverboat services and formation of the
- 1917: Termination of the river routes because of low passenger numbers
- 1921: Creation of a route operated by the (STCRP)
- 5 May 1934: Termination of river services on the Seine
- 11 July 2007: The STIF launches an experimental water taxi on the eastern reach of the Seine
- October 2007: Operations are contracted to the for two and a half years, four catamarans are ordered from Fountaine-PajotFountaine-PajotFountaine-Pajot is a maritime construction company that specialises in catamarans both for leisure and sea use. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean François Fountaine and Yves Pajot, in the town of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis, in Seine-Maritime....
- End of November 2007: The Voguéo name and logo are unveiled
- 11 April 2008: The first boat is launched on the Seine
- 28 June 2008: Opening of the first five-stop route
- 1 June 2009: Increase of service frequency
- 5 June 2011: Closure of the experimental service
Paris water taxis
Water taxis on the Seine operated for many years, but were rapidly made redundant at the start of the 20th century with the development of rail transport. Some were local to the inner city like the Paris MétroParis Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
, while others reached out to the suburbs like the railways, such as the Vincennes line. Until 1828, with the creation of horse-drawn buses,Excepting the brief life of Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
's Carrosses à cinq sols between 1662 and 1677. passenger river traffic was the only mode of public transport in the Île-de-France.
Until the 19th century, horse-drawn boat
Horse-drawn boat
A horse-drawn boat or tow-boat is a historic boat operating on a canal, pulled by a horse walking on a special road along the canal, the towpath.-United Kingdom:...
s and galiot
Galiot
Galiots were types of ships from the Age of Sail.In the Mediterranean, galiots were a type of small galley, with one or two masts and about twenty oars, using both sails and oars for propulsion...
s served a steady stream of passengers on the river. Until the canal excavations around the river and the creation of locks downstream to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
under the reign of Louis-Philippe I, most of the traffic travelled upstream from Paris. At the end of the 17th century, and in the 18th, boats relayed goods to Montereau
Montereau-Fault-Yonne
Montereau-Fault-Yonne, or simply Montereau, is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-Name:...
and Sens, in Yonne
Yonne
Yonne is a French department named after the Yonne River. It is one of the four constituent departments of Burgundy in eastern France and its prefecture is Auxerre. Its official number is 89....
. Others served as passinger transport from the Pont Royal
Pont Royal
The Pont Royal is a bridge crossing the river Seine in Paris. It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after the Pont Neuf and the Pont Marie.-Location:...
in Paris to the villages of Passy
Passy
Passy is an area of Paris, France, located in the XVIe arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is traditionally home to many of the city's wealthiest residents.Passy was formerly a commune...
, Auteuil
Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy
Auteuil and Passy are part of the 16th arrondissement of Paris. They are located near the Bois de Boulogne and the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine too....
, Meudon
Meudon
Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:...
, Sèvres
Sèvres
Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.The town is known for its porcelain manufacture, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, making the famous Sèvres porcelain, as well as being the location of the International Bureau of Weights...
and Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
, downstream, and were particularly frequent on Sundays and holidays after the opening of the public Parc de Saint-Cloud
Parc de Saint-Cloud
The Parc de Saint-Cloud, officially the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, is a domaine national , located mostly within Saint-Cloud, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, near Paris, France....
by Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, and the establishment of a funfair
Funfair
A funfair or simply "fair" is a small to medium sized travelling show primarily composed of stalls and other amusements. Larger fairs such as the permanent fairs of cities and seaside resorts might be called a fairground, although technically this should refer to the land where a fair is...
in September. An order of 23 March 1735 fixed the fares for river journeys: two French sol
French sol
The sol was a coin in use in Ancien Regime France, valued at a 20th of a livre tournois. The sol itself was subdivided into 12 deniers.Over the 17th century the term sol was, apart from in a few instances, progressively replaced by sou, reflecting its pronunciation. In 1787 a sol's buying power was...
s for Chaillot and Passy, four for Sèvres and Saint-Cloud, and up to two sols for each stop beyond. It took two hours to travel from Paris to Saint-Cloud.
From 1837, river barges were steadily replaced by steamboats with free connexions with the many bus lines, such as the . Under the Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, the river navigation was reorganised, and reinforced for the 1867 Éxposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1867)
The Exposition Universelle of 1867 was a World Exposition held in Paris, France, in 1867.-Conception:In 1864, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction...
, which took place on the Champ de Mars
Champ de Mars
The Champ de Mars is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh arrondissement, between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius in Rome, a tribute to the Roman god of war...
, Paris.
The was established in 1866. It provided river transport between Charenton
Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
and Suresnes
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
with a fleet of paddle steamers, similar to those used since 1864 on the river Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and built in the Lyon district of La Mouche, from which the name Bateau Mouche comes. The service had a strong reputation with the public, and the Préfecture set the fares, timetables and frequencies.
Several companies swiftly followed: in 1876 the operated eighteen pontoons, twelve of them in Paris. In response, the reduced its fares and increased the number of boats in service. But the fierce competition turned out to be disastrous, and in 1878, the two companies ran operations jointly. A third player appeared in 1885, the , which operated fast boats with lower fares on the Marne between Lagny-sur-Marne
Lagny-sur-Marne
Lagny-sur-Marne is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France from the center of Paris....
and Charenton, and another line from Charenton to Suresnes. In 1886, the several companies merged under the name .
This company ran three lines: Tuileries–Suresnes, Charenton–Auteuil and Austerlitz-–Auteuil. A fourth opened in 1895 between the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
and Ablon-sur-Seine
Ablon-sur-Seine
Ablon-sur-Seine is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.The neighboring communes are: Villeneuve-le-Roi, Athis Mons, and Vigneux-sur-Seine .-Twin towns:...
. The Charenton–Auteuil line was the busiest, with a flat fare of 20 centimes, more on Sundays and holidays. Traffic was immense, with 25 million annual journeys (around 70 thousand a day) between 1886 and 1900, over a route totalling 39 km (24 mi) from Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
to Suresnes
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
totalling 47 stops. Service was provided by a fleet of 107 boats. River traffic reached its zenith during the Exposition Universelle of 1900
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
with 42 million passengers, but after 1900 the service quickly declined with the evolution of the electric tramways and the opening of the Paris Métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
dealt a fatal blow. In 1913, there were 13 million passengers, but traffic collapsed during the First World War, and service finished in 1917 from a lack of passengers.
In 1921 the STCRP, the predecessor of the RATP, won the concession for Parisian riverboats. On 4 May, a line opened between Maisons-Alfort
Maisons-Alfort
Maisons-Alfort is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort, the most renowned veterinary medical school in France...
and the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, then extended to Auteuil, but the traffic numbers anticipated by the of the Seine department, of around seven million passengers a year, turned out to be less than two million. Changes in the fares and routes, aiming to make them more attractive, gave some relief for a while: in 1923, passenger numbers were nearly 5 million. But the decline then continued, and steepened with competition from the quicker railways, and so in 1926 it was decided to suspend winter services, from 1 November to 1 March. In 1933, traffic was less than 1.3 million passengers.
River connections finished on 5 May 1934 by a decision of the , blaming passenger numbers. Since then the Seine, in Paris, saw only merchant traffic, and a few pleasure boats, until the 1950s, when the first private tourist service opened, with old units restored and adapted.
Birth of the Voguéo
Before 2008, boat services were run only by the Bateau mouche companies, who catered more for tourists than commuters. Not being a public service, the fares were not restricted by the regional Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (Paris region transport commission), and were much higher than other public tranmsport fares, the highest in the region. The bateaux-mouches also did not accept public transport tickets such as the Paris T or the Carte OrangeCarte orange
The Carte orange was a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region. A holder of the pass is entitled to unlimited use of the public transit system within a given period of time, with Cartes oranges being available for durations of one week or one month...
.
The only ostensibly public service was the Batobus
Batobus
The Batobus was a boat service along the River Seine in the Paris region, with eight stops. The name is a trademark of Bateaux Parisiens. In 2006 –2007, it carried 843,000 passengers...
, but this was not convenient from where commuters actually lived, and would not accept the common commuter tickets, its prices were designed for tourists. Prices were too high for Parisiens: the Batobus service introduced an annual season ticket priced at €55, but the daily price stayed at €12. Also, its hours of operation was not suited to commuters, in the morning it started at 10am in the tourist season, and in the winter, the last boat left at 4pm.
In response, from July 2007 a regular service was inaugurated along the Paris canals, the Canal Saint-Martin
Canal Saint-Martin
Canal Saint-Martin is a 4.5 km long canal in Paris. It connects the Canal de l'Ourcq to the river Seine.-Geography:The entrance of the canal is a double lock near Place de Stalingrad. Then, towards the river Seine, the canal is bordered by the quai de Valmy on one side and the quai de Jemmapes on...
and the Canal Saint-Denis
Canal Saint-Denis
The Canal Saint-Denis is a canal in Paris that is in length. The canal connects the Canal de l'Ourcq, at a point north-northwest of the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement, with the suburban municipalities of Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis...
, for commuters who worked in the Parc du Millénaire (on the border of the 19th Arrondissement and Aubervilliers
Aubervilliers
Aubervilliers is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:In medieval times the name Aubervilliers was recorded as Alberti Villare, meaning "estate of Adalbert"...
), a center for newspaper and other media workers. This was all set up by Icade
Icade
Icade SA is a multinational investment company that is also a leader in property development services. It invests in various types of properties including both public and private...
, the owner of two such presses and also amusement parks. The canal boats were 14.5 metres (47.6 ft) long, made by Alternatives Énergies by a company titled , who later merged with Transdev
Transdev
Transdev was a major international public transport group based in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France and operating in several countries. Originally created as Société centrale pour l'équipement du territoire in 1955 and developing transportation activities since 1973, Transdev was a subsidiary...
. Beyond all expectations, it got 400 passengers a day.
Even so, the cinema multiplex at MK2 Quai de Loire / Quai de Seine had a small halt stop to let their clients alight, crossing the Bassin de la Villette
Bassin de la Villette
The Bassin de la Villette is the largest artificial lake in Paris. It was filled with water on 2 December 1808. Located in the 19th arrondissement of the capital, it links the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Canal Saint-Martin, and it represents one of the elements of the Réseau des Canaux Parisiens , a...
to the other side of the canal.
But the need for public transport, as opposed to tourist transport, became ever more apparent, and the SCIF proposed a new szstem for the purpose. A referendum of Parisiens voted against it in 2006, but it was pushed through: travelling by river was now the fashion.
In 2000, the Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
had put in riverboats for commuters along the Thames, connecting with the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
. The boats were quicker than the Tube, and were an immediate success. They accepted the London Oyster card
Oyster card
The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands...
s and other through ticketing cards for commuters. In France, Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
took up the baton in 2003 with its Navibus
Navibus
Navibus is a group of water bus routes in the French city of Nantes, operated as part of the Tan urban transit network that also includes buses and trams. Routes operate on both the River Loire and the River Erdre, and accept the full range of standard Tan tickets.The current services date back to...
service, with a pleasure-boat, which was also immediately successful. So the Parisien authorities started to think whether such systems would also work there.
The report of the STIF of 11 July 2007 called officially for an experimental riverboat system along the Seine, integrated into the Metro and other transport networks. In the October, this service started, with the contract awarded to Batobus for two and a half years. Four catamarans were ordered from the boatbuilder Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot is a maritime construction company that specialises in catamarans both for leisure and sea use. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean François Fountaine and Yves Pajot, in the town of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis, in Seine-Maritime....
. On 22 November 2007 the project got its official name, Voguéo.
So at the end of the December, the service was on its way. Four catamarans had been ordered, to enter service in the January, and the operations base had been set up at Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
. In the March, the STIF approved the boats' January design, by Franck Darnet Design. On 7 April, the operational base was in place, and the first experimental trip was made four days later, to test the wake. In the May and June, the piers and signage was put in place, and at the end of June a week's final trials ran without passengers before the service opened at the end of that month.
On Saturday, 28 June 2008 the boats entered service, with five stops between the Gare de Austerlitz and the École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (Paris Métro)
École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (Paris Métro)
École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort is a station on line 8 of the Paris Métro in the commune of Maisons-Alfort, named after the nearby École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, the national veterinary school founded in 1765....
.
At the inauguration day, it got a resounding opening welcome from the public, with long queues at every pier waiting for the first boat, leaving at 4 p.m. Between the following Saturday (from 4 p.m.) to the Sunday (at 8 p.m.) it transported passangers, roughly 30 per boat. Each month the passenger numbers were looked over and tweaks to the service made (travel times, connexions, prices and so on), with questionnaires to the customers about comfort, tidiness, timeliness and so on. The STIF had guaranteed to have at least 800 available places per hour along the route, and agreed standards of punctuality, especially during the morning rush hour.
This experiment, lasting two years and seven months until New Year's Eve of 2010, allowed evaluation of the likely customer demand, tweaks to the service timetablles, and a more ambitious and frequent daily service during the following year.
During the first three months of the experiment, the Voguéo had passengers, about a thousand a day, with plenty of room for them all, but only a punctuality rate of about 64%. Prices were reduced to €1 to drum up trade.
After about a year of the experiment, the Voguéo came under scrutiny into its pricing and customer satisfaction: customer surveys showed 95% satisfaction, and it achieved a certificate of satisfaction from the French standards organisation AFNOR
AFNOR
Association française de Normalisation is the French national organization for standardization and its International Organization for Standardization member body....
. All in all, the service was perhaps a little too infrequent and unreliable, especially during the winter, both commuters being put off by the wind and rain, and the boats themselves being slower and less comfortable.
Route
Gare d'Austerlitz
Paris Austerlitz is one of the six large terminus railway stations in Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine in the southeastern part of the city, in the XIIIe arrondissement...
to the Pont Charles-de-Gaulle
Pont Charles-de-Gaulle
The Pont Charles-de-Gaulle is a steel-reinforced concrete girder bridge straddling the river Seine in the eastern part of Paris. It is a one-way bridge carrying road traffic from the 13th arrondissement to the 12th arrondissement...
, on the left bank of the Seine. The boats took roughly a south-easterly course along the Seine, and stopped at the Pont de Bercy
Pont de Bercy
The Pont de Bercy is a bridge over the Seine in Paris, France.The structure links the 12th and 13th arrondissements of Paris by extending the Boulevard de Bercy and the Boulevard Vincent-Auriol...
, crossing over the Paris Métro Line 6
Paris Metro Line 6
Line 6 is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro rapid transit system. Following a semi-circular route around the southern half of the city above boulevards formed by ancient city walls , it runs from Charles de Gaulle – Étoile in the west and Nation in the east.Opened between 1900 and 1906...
, and then the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir
Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir
The Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir is a bridge solely for pedestrians and cyclists across the Seine River in Paris. It is the 37th bridge on the Seine to Paris. It is located between the bridges of Pont de Bercy and Pont de Tolbiac and links up the 12th and 13th arrondissements of Paris...
, where it had its first stop., the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand being within walking distance, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
, ten minutes farther down.
Continuing its route southeasterly, it then stopped at the Pont de Tolbiac
Pont de Tolbiac
The pont de Tolbiac is a bridge across the Seine in Paris built between 1879 and 1882 by H.P. Bernard, and J.D.A. Pérouse. It crosses from the 12th to the 13th arrondissement, linking quai de Bercy to rue Neuve Tolbiac...
and the Pont Royal
Pont Royal
The Pont Royal is a bridge crossing the river Seine in Paris. It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after the Pont Neuf and the Pont Marie.-Location:...
, then at the Nelson Mandela Bridges
Nelson Mandela Bridges
The are two twin bridges in France, along the River Seine, between Ivry-sur-Seine and Charenton-le-Pont,where the Seine and the River Marne have their confluence....
, where it had its second stop, after about fifteen minutes from its base. It then continued, after the confluence of the Seine and River Marne, towards is terminus, the ,at Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
, after a thirty minutes' ride.
Going the other way, the boats stopped at the , on the right bank of the river, giving easy access to the Mitterand library. The ferry took thearty minitues from to , but because of the tide flow could still make the ten minutes' time up, not having to battle against the tide.
Piers
Starting at the northwest terminus, the line:| |Pier | Zone Public transport fares in the Île-de-France Public transport fares in the Île-de-France are set using a system of concentric fare zones radiating from central Paris, and are implemented with a mixture of paper and electronic tickets... | |Communes served | |Interchange | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gare d'Austerlitz Gare d'Austerlitz (Paris Metro) The gare d'Austerlitz is a station on the Paris Métro, serving line 5 and forming the eastern terminus of line 10 in the 5th and the 13th arrondissements. The Line 5 station is open to the exterior though under the roof of the mainline Gare d'Austerlitz... |
Zone 1 | 5th arr. 13th arr. |
TER Centre TER Centre TER Centre is the regional rail network serving Centre région of France.- Rail:-Road:* Tours - Loches - Châteauroux* Bourges - Issoudun - Châteauroux* Vendôme-TGV - Château-Renault* Chartres - Brou - Courtalain - Droué* Dreux - Chartres - Orléans... Main line trains |
|||||
| ⇃ | Parc de Bercy | Zone 1 | 12th arr. | |||||
| ↾ | Bibliothèque F. Mitterrand | Zone 1 | 13th arr. | |
||||
| Ivry Pont Mandela | Zone 2 | Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.... |
||||||
| École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (Paris Métro) École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort is a station on line 8 of the Paris Métro in the commune of Maisons-Alfort, named after the nearby École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, the national veterinary school founded in 1765.... |
Zone 3 | Maisons-Alfort Maisons-Alfort Maisons-Alfort is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort, the most renowned veterinary medical school in France... |
Pier facilities
The piers were built by Abribus, and a signalling system was designed for their specific use.Pier signage is lit, which serves both for passengers and to give the pilot notice of the headway. In the event of any failure, it lights in another colour to warn the pilot of the fault. The system gives the running times and waiting times for the next boat. These signs are not only at the piers but around and about.
Service
During its experiment, the Voguéo ran every twenty minutes between 7 a.m. and 8.30 p.m., tweny-five minutes during off-peak daytimes, and half hourly at the weekends.In May 2009, after much tweaking with the timetables, the STIF decided to increase the frequency to 15 minutes during peak times and 20 minutes at other times, 30 during daytime weekends.
When it started, its time from start to finish (from Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort
Maisons-Alfort
Maisons-Alfort is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort, the most renowned veterinary medical school in France...
) was 38 minutes one way and 33 the other, but after tweaking the timings, it came down to respectively 28 and 25 minutes, the difference mostly coming from the ferries not having to double-back at Maisons-Alfort.
But after all, the journey time was limited by the Rules of the River on the Paris Seine: 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in Paris and 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) on its outskirts.
The chosen route went through the western Paris suburbs, , connecting with the RATP bus services 20–99 and Paris Métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
lines 5, 8, 10 and 14, and also the suburban line RER C
RER C
The RER C is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving :Paris, France. It is operated by SNCF.The line runs from the northwestern terminuses Pontoise , Versailles – Rive Gauche and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to the southeastern terminuses Massy-Palaiseau , Dourdan-la-Forêt , ...
.
Infrastructure
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
s to serve the route, designed by the Yacht Concept company, although they were delivered six months late . These were named Voguéo I, Voguéo II, Voguéo III, and Voguéo IV.
They were built at La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
in the naval shipyards of Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot
Fountaine-Pajot is a maritime construction company that specialises in catamarans both for leisure and sea use. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean François Fountaine and Yves Pajot, in the town of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis, in Seine-Maritime....
, the world leader in ferry catamarans.
The boats kept to the IRIS 37 design, with modifications demanded by STIF, in particular enlargement of the bay windows, changes to the seating and the stern open back. The two naval architects Michel Joubert and Franck Darnet, designed these boats, being 12.3 by and sitting 1.2 m (47.2 in) in the water. These boats could take 75 personnel, 35 in each of the two aisles, the captain and his mate. The boats had doors under the covered, heated, bow station.
The boats were made from composite material
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
so as not to rust, and had a displacement weight of 9.3 t (9.2 LT). They were powered by two 110 hp diesel engines, but were speed limited to 30 km/h (18.6 mph). At 2000 r.p.m. the engines would consume 7 l (14.8 US pt) an hour, and 13 l (27.5 US pt) at 2500 r.p.m. At 12 km/h (7.5 mph) they were noise rated to 65 dB, and at 18 km/h (11.2 mph) to 72 dB.
The first boat took its maiden voyage from the Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
pier on 10 April 2008 for trials, and was due to enter full service on 1 June 2008, although this was postponed until 28 June 2008.
Facilities
The fleet of four catamarans had their operational and maintenance base at Charenton-le-PontCharenton-le-Pont
Charenton-le-Pont is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
, between the two Nelson Mandela Bridges
Nelson Mandela Bridges
The are two twin bridges in France, along the River Seine, between Ivry-sur-Seine and Charenton-le-Pont,where the Seine and the River Marne have their confluence....
. This depot also served as the command and control centre for the service.
Franchise
The service was franchised by the STIF to the ("BatobusBatobus
The Batobus was a boat service along the River Seine in the Paris region, with eight stops. The name is a trademark of Bateaux Parisiens. In 2006 –2007, it carried 843,000 passengers...
") which in 2008 had 38 employees, 28 on the boats themselves and six at the operational base. The Voguéo recruited 14 pilots and 14 second mate
Second Mate
A second mate or second officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The second mate is the third in command and a watchkeeping officer, customarily the ship's navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate is often the medical officer and in charge of maintaining...
s; the pilots being seconded from the Batobus conpany, and the second mates recruited externally, from press ads. The teams were all put together between November 2007 and February 2008. The second mates looked after wake safety, cleanliness, customer information, and ticket sales.The second mates' monthly wage, on a fixed-term contract, was € per month according to on 23 May 2008
Fares and funding
Parisiens could use a wide variety of tickets valid for Paris Zones 1, 2 and 3, the Carte IntégraleCarte Intégrale
The carte Intégrale is a travel pass for one year, making it possible for its owner to freely travel in the Paris Île-de-France region in the zones of its subscription .The subscription can begin each 1st month of the year...
, the monthly or weekly Carte orange
Carte orange
The Carte orange was a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region. A holder of the pass is entitled to unlimited use of the public transit system within a given period of time, with Cartes oranges being available for durations of one week or one month...
, the Navigo pass and the Carte Imagine'R
Carte Imagine'R
The Carte Imagine'R is a travel pass for student and young people between the ages of 12 and 25 years to travel in the Paris Île-de-France region.Valid for one year, it allows travel on public transport such as Metro, buses, or the RER....
, the Carte Améthyste
Carte Améthyste
The is an annual season ticket for the elderly and disabled . It allows free second-class transport in the Île-de-France on all services provided by the RATP and the SNCF .- Eligibility :The card is provided to:* Those over 65 years of age, or 60 who are recognised as unfit for work* Those...
and the Carte Solidarité Transport.
For one-off journeys a ticket cost €3 and could be purchased on board.
The fact that the terminus at Maisons-Alfort was in Zone 3 came under much criticism from regular commuters: the nearest Métro station was in Zone 2 and could be used on a standard ticket, whereas the Vogu$eo cost €3 a trip. This anomaly perhaps reduced the custom on the Voguéo.
All the same, the Voguéo paid its bills, and in June 2008, to make it more attractive, the STIF reduced ticket prices to €1 and made the Voguéo route into Zones 1 and 2 only.
All this cost €10.5m in investment, with a projected annual running cost of €4.6m before taxes. All of this was underwritten by the Compagnie des Batobus, but because the ticket prices were set by the STIF there as no way it could make a profit or cover its costs. The STIF paid the difference, to the Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
regional council, and several other local bodies, who had set the terms and conditions for a cross-river ferry service, which it never really was designed to be.
The future
The Voguéo experiment was deemed a success, but even before it had started extensions were proposed as far as Vitry-sur-SeineVitry-sur-Seine
Vitry-sur-Seine is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:Vitry-sur-Seine was originally called simply Vitry. The name Vitry comes from Medieval Latin Vitriacum, and before that Victoriacum, meaning "estate of Victorius", a...
to the south and Suresnes
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
to the west, with the Autorité de la concurrence making reports and requests to the STIF.
The Communauté d'agglomération Plaine-Commune also proposed another service, to run from Seine-Saint-Denis
Seine-Saint-Denis
- Culture :A number of hip hop artists come from the Seine-Saint-Denis, including one of the first major hip-hop groups in France, NTM, as well as Lord Kossity, or more recent acts such as Tandem or Sefyu.- Miscellaneous topics :...
to La Défense
La Défense
La Défense is a major business district of the Paris aire urbaine. With a population of 20,000, it is centered in an orbital motorway straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux...
(Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...
). The local council, on 28 January 2008, asked the STIF to start a study of the many different ways this may be possible, on the model of the Voguéo, between Suresnes
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
and Clichy and the towns southwards of it, via La Défense
La Défense
La Défense is a major business district of the Paris aire urbaine. With a population of 20,000, it is centered in an orbital motorway straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux...
. This new route would reduce the congestion on the Paris Métro Line 13
Paris Metro Line 13
Line 13 is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro rapid transit system. The result of the fusion of the now-extinct Line B of the Nord-Sud Company and the old Line 14 of the CMP. Their creation was destined to be replaced by a north-south RER line before the reorganisation of the...
.
Tourism
Sources
("Heritage of the RATP")|publisher=Flohic|year=1996|isbn=2-84234-007-8|ref=|language=French}} ("From Madeleine-Bastille to Meteor, a history of Paris transport")|publisher=Martelle|year=1991|isbn=|language=French|ref=harv}}See also
- Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF)
- NavibusNavibusNavibus is a group of water bus routes in the French city of Nantes, operated as part of the Tan urban transit network that also includes buses and trams. Routes operate on both the River Loire and the River Erdre, and accept the full range of standard Tan tickets.The current services date back to...
, water taxis developed at NantesNantesNantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants.... - Namourette, water taxis developed at NamurNamurNamur may refer to:*Namur in Belgian context:**Namur , a municipality and a city of Belgium, the capital of Wallonia**Namur , a province in Wallonia, Belgium, named after the provincial capital city...
- London River ServicesLondon River ServicesLondon River Services is a division of Transport for London , which manages passenger transport on the River Thames in London, UK. They do not own or operate any boats but license the services of other operators...
Further reading
External links
Official website Route map- Documents from the STIF:
- , p. 5
- Travel on www.paris.fr