The Mobilien network upgrades existing bus lines in Île-de-France into Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Built with 150 lines and 150 multi-modal public transport hubs, Mobilien was designed as a fully-fledged network, being between the buses and the metro, in words of performance. One of the key ideas of this network is that it is a structuring, complete and fully meshed network. The public transport hubs play a particularly important role because they make it possible to link up these different networks. Mobilien is easy to understand. Travellers can identify Mobilien without difficulty. Mobilien increases the avarage speed of the services and the regularity of the lines.
Mobilien network as part of the PDU Île-de-France
Faced with growing congestion due to motorised travel, the French legislative framework has evolved: the law on air and the rational use of energy of December 1996, especially, require all conurbations with populations greater than 100,000 to draft an urban development plan (PDU). The goal of these texts is to propose appropriate measures to each area so as to reduce the number of cars on the road as well as to develop public transport and encourage soft means of transport (such as going by foot, bike or pedelec). Some other aspects have been developed in these texts such as the transport of merchandise, river transport and parking management. In the Ile-de-France, the PDU was signed at the end of the year 2000 for a five year period.
Mobilien is carried out as part of the PDUIF project. It is therefore not only piloted by the State but also by the Île-de-France region and STIF, the Île-de-France Transport trade union, which have the role of bringing the project to a successful conclusion within the time frame established and with the subsidies provided.
With a view to concertation with the local population, work committees were set up. The committees are made up, among others, of local authority representatives and public transport operators. These committees have as their objective to see through to a successful conclusion the line or pole project for which they are responsible. Several stages make up a project: the elaboration of a diagnosis to define a charter of objectives, the leading on to a joint project involving the different parties, the implementation of works and then the evaluation of the project to know its effects.
Mobilien dedicated traffic lane
The improvements which are the most visible for travellers are changes to the roadworks which are designed to share the highway with a view to facilitating the circulation of buses. These changes mainly involve the creation of protected bus corridors. With a dedicated lane, buses avoid the congestion of general traffic. On the 91 bus line in Paris, the separated right of way has been positioned at the centre of the highway, a position which is the most favourable to operating. These changes are generally coupled with an optimised management of crossroads which are where buses lose the most time.
Other physical changes have been made such as rendering the stops accessible since urban transport has to be accessible to everyone. At public transport hubs, lifts are an obligation, if they have not already been provided. On bus lines, new rolling stock with a low platform has been financed to permit a better access to the vehicle.
The Mobilien project, includes, other than organising the way in which public space is shared out, measures for operating lines: to be in service from 6.30 am to 12.30 pm, to have a frequency with a maximum interval of 5 minutes during the rush hour and 10 minutes, to operate at the weekend and on bank holidays. The goal of these operating constraints is to ensure that the traveller is guaranteed, whatever the day or time, of getting quickly a bus.
Mobilien information display: SIEL
Finally, all these measures are accompanied by permanent access in real time to information on the Mobilien network (the SIEL system), an integral aspect of the quality of travel. One of the bits of information most appreciated by travellers is the estimated arrival time for the bus. Finally, particular care is given to signage at bus stops to facilitate connections and finding one's bearings in the area.
For the last five years, the Mobilien project has been moving forward. Of the 150 lines planned by the PDUIF at the outset, only a dozen have come to fruition and are in operation; around about thirty more are being worked on and should be inaugurated before the French municipal elections of 2008. As far as the poles are concerned, for which the projects have been much slower getting off the ground, only five poles will be in service at the end of the year and twenty or so more should be ready as of the end of 2008.
The first point to stress in the appraisal of the project is that it has experienced severe delays due to notably the concertation which is longer than initially planned, thanks to the infatuation of local population for this project. The complexity of allocating responsibilities has also had as an effect to slow the project down. Given that one of the main ideas of the PDUIF was concertation, these delays have been tolerated.
But these delays did not prevent line 38 in Paris, the first Mobilien line, being brought into service as of mid 2004. The feedback shows that travellers are sensitive to these changes and that they want the results obtained on this one line to be extended to all the others. These results thus augur well for all the other line and pole projects which will be got up and running over the next few months since this project permits to appreciably improve the public transport network with controlled costs.
Le Mobilien Déplacements - Mairie de Paris
PDUIF Plan de Déplacement Urbains en Île de France
STIF Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France
The Mobilien bus network, article Nova Terra 2006/1 pdf, 1.2 Mb
