Paris launch a waterways transit service

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and Jean-Paul Huchon, President of Paris-Ile de France regional Government innaugurated the new waterways transit service Voguéo on Saturday, June 28, 2008.

Operated by RATP, this new service will link Maisons-Alfort in the Val-de-Marne Département to Austerlitz train station inside Paris city (for more details, please see the map attached).

Voguéo Route

Voguéo Route

Source: MétroPole, RATP.

Voguéo will have five stops (five “calls”) that will allow transit riders, up to 70 people in each boat, to transfer to other transport modes. Each Voguéo stop is close either to the metro or the RER, Paris commuter rail, and the full trip from Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort will last 40 minutes. This first service will be experimented until 2010, when the performance will be evaluated before setting up a more complete waterways-transit offer. What the transit authority (Syndicat des Transports d’Ile de France, STIF) needs to evaluate until 2010 is the ridership, the offer, and the regularity.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë clearly showed he wants this first phase to be the beginning of the implementation of a real “waterways metro line” on the Seine river, from eastern to western Paris, eventually in not more than two years.

Voguéo, what does this cost?

Paris city transit smartcards/subscription (Passe Navigo, Intégrales, and Imagin’R) holders can access Voguéo service for free. For a single trip ticket, the cost is fixed at €3, but Mr. Jean-Paul Huchon explained that more than 50% of transit trips in Paris are professionnal ones, and that most people who ride hold a smartcard…

References

  • Article: Paris lance sa navette fluviale, Europe 1, Jun. 28, 2008: here
  • Article: Voguéo, un métro fluvial entre la gare d’Austerlitz et Maisons-Alfort, Le Monde, Jun. 28, 2008: here (subscription needed)
  • Website: Ville de Paris, “Voguéo sur Seine”: here