FRANCE: Lyon transport authority Sytral Mobilités has awarded the Paris transport operator’s RATP Dev subsidiary the next contract to operate and maintain the city’s metro, tram and funicular services for 10 years from January 1 2025, as well as a future river shuttle service which is to launch in June 2025.
The €2·025bn contract awarded on March 28 includes a high level of performance-based bonuses and penalties; availability of metro Line B is required to reach 99·35% in 2025 and 99·80% in 2035.
RATP Dev said it would assist Sytral Mobilités in achieving its goal of making Lyon’s public transport ‘exemplary, sustainable and inclusive’, supporting the authority with major projects including automation of metro Line A, upgrading of lines C and D, and extension of the tram network with new routes T9 and T10 and extension of T6.
RATP Dev will help provide a clean electricity supply for the network, with priority given to local production, and will also put in place a measuring tool to monitor its environmental impact.
The city’s metro and tram services are currently operated by Keolis, except the Rhônexpress light rail service to the airport which is operated by Transdev but will be included in the new contract.
Around 1 600 workers will be transferred to RATP Dev Lyon with their terms of employment protected.
The metro and tram network carries 2 million passengers per day. Half are carried on the four metro lines totalling 70 km with 102 trainsets, including the fully automated lines B and D. The seven tram routes totalling 71 km have 107 Alstom Citadis trams, with 35 on order, while the Rhônexpress airport line has six Stadler Tango LRVs.
Bus and trolleybus services are operated by Keolis under a separate six-year contract, and measures will be put in place to ensure co-operation on shared infrastructure and when the metro or tramway disruption requires replacement bus services.
Sytral Mobilités will directly manage ticketing, fares and marketing.
