Transports Bordeaux Métropole
| Transports Bordeaux Métropole | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Company headquarters | Bordeaux |
| Web presence | infotbm.com |
| owner | Bordeaux metropolis |
| founding | April 16, 2016 |
| Lines | |
| Gauge | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| tram | 3 |
| bus | 80 |
| Other lines | 2 shipping lines |
| number of vehicles | |
| Tram cars | 100 |
| Omnibuses | 398 |
| other vehicles | 2 catamarans |
| Tram lines | 58 km |
Transports Bordeaux Métropole , TBM for short , is a public transport company in the metropolitan area of the French city of Bordeaux . The company is run by Keolis Bordeaux Métropole on behalf of the Bordeaux Métropole municipal association (until 2015: Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux ). The company operates three tram lines and dozen of bus routes in Bordeaux and the suburbs.
history
First phase
The history of the tram in the city dates back to 1880. On May 4th of this year, the first horse-drawn tram line opened in Bordeaux . By 1891, the network of these lines grew to 39 kilometers. Added to this were from December 17, 1893, when the Société du tramway de Bordeaux au Bouscat et Vigean started operating. In the following years numerous private suburban railways were added. In contrast to the regular-gauge trams in the city center, the suburban railways ran on tracks in meter gauge . Since these trains ended before the city center, passengers were usually forced to change trains.
The success of the electric suburban railways led to the idea of electrifying the railways in the city center as well. Since the overhead lines would impair the cityscape , the idea of the underline was taken up. On February 17, 1900, a two-kilometer test track went into operation. Despite a number of difficulties due to the technical immaturity of the system, the railway held up into the 1950s.
In the 1920s, the two tram networks began to be aligned and bundled under the umbrella of Tramways Électriques et Omnibus de Bordeaux (TEOB). By 1939, all suburban railways had been converted to standard gauge and a 38-line network with a length of more than 200 kilometers was possible. 25 lines ran in the city and 13 to the suburbs. By 1946 the number of passengers could be increased to 160 million. However, this led to severe wear and tear on the wagons, tracks and overhead lines.
In 1947, with the election of Jacques Chaban-Delmas as mayor, there was a radical change in the city's transport policy. Immediately after his election, he began to systematically shut down the trams in Bordeaux. In 1952 the business of TEOB was transferred to the Compagnie générale française de transport et d'entreprise (CGFTE). The last tram was discontinued on December 7, 1958. This downsizing went hand in hand with massive job cuts. Of the 2,500 remaining employees in 1950, only 1,200 were in service at the time.
Tramless time
In 1968 the Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux (CUB) was founded, to which the city of Bordeaux and its suburbs belong and which operates the public transport. In 1975 the French state began to promote local rail transport due to the increasing problems in urban traffic in large cities. Introduction was also considered in Bordeaux. However, the construction of a meter-gauge metro modeled on Lille was planned , since Chaban-Delmas did not want to introduce a light rail system in Bordeaux after he had freed the city from the tram. But the sandy subsoil thwarted these plans. In order to get the problem under control, articulated buses were first introduced, but this only improved the situation for a short time.
Second phase
In 1995 Chaban-Delmas resigned and Alain Juppé was his successor. With it came a change of direction in transport policy. On February 18, 1997, the Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux decided to introduce a tram in and around Bordeaux. On January 26, 2000, the public benefit of the measure was confirmed and construction could begin. The construction of the network was delayed due to problems with the award of the construction project. The first line opened on December 21, 2003. The remaining sections of the first construction phase were opened to traffic by July 2004. At the same time, the entire bus network was restructured and aligned with the tram. On July 3, 2004, the transport company was renamed from CGFTE to TBC (Tram et bus de la Cub). In 2006, expansion continued into the suburbs of Carbon-Blanc , Le Bouscat and Mérignac .
In 2010, the VCUB bicycle rental service with 174 stations with 1700 bicycles went into operation. Since the Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux had meanwhile been renamed Bordeaux Métropole, the transport company was also renamed Transports Bordeaux Métropole on April 18, 2016.
Technology and operation
The network is 43 kilometers long and consists of lines A, B and C, which intersect in the city center. The tram runs not only in Bordeaux itself, but also in the suburbs of Cenon , Lormont , Pessac , Talence , Carbon-Blanc, Le Bouscat and Mérignac.
Not only in the city center, 14 km are equipped with the new Alimentation par le sol (APS) system, it is also used between outer stops. This system is designed in such a way that the busbars are only live when the train travels over an eight-meter-long section and the circuit is closed. Between these sections there are sections that cannot be energized. This means that it is safe to touch this third rail in the middle of the route.
74 low-floor vehicles of the types Citadis 402 and 302 from Alstom are used . In addition to the pantographs, the trains have batteries so that the power supply in the sections without catenary is guaranteed even if the APS system fails. Due to massive problems with the introduction of the new type of system, the first route could only be opened several months later.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bordeaux: Moving unobtrusively without disturbing urban space ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Information from Alstom (English)
- ↑ Information from Alstom on Citadis and APS in Bordeaux ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 552 kB)
