Lyon awards new transport operating contract

In French cities the transport authority does not operate the public transport system itself, but awards an operating contract (through competitive tendering) to one of the private groups that specialise in these. 

 

The country’s second city, Lyon (280km south-east of Paris, with a population of 522 000 in the city, 2.3M in the agglomeration) has Sytral Mobilités as the transport authority for 263 communes with a population of 1.845M; this is the second largest in France after Île-de-France Mobilités covering the Paris region. Its current form dates back to October 1985, though it was enlarged in 2007 and 2011. Its principal financial resources are the versement transport (an employers’ levy) 38%, and fares 30%. 

 

The member authorities contribute 20%. about 2M passengers/day use the metro and tramway network. 

Since 2015 the bus, tram, metro and funiculars in Lyon have been operated by Keolis, apart from the Airport light rail link (Rhônexpress) that is operated by Transdev. 

 

From 1 January 2025 Keolis will retain the operating contract for the buses and trolleybuses, but the operator of rail services (and river boats when introduced in June 2025) will be a subsidiary of RATP Dev under a contract worth EUR 2.025bn. It includes performance-based bonuses and penalties (eg for automated metro 99.35% in 2025 moving up to 99.8% in 2035). Major projects include the automation of metro line A, upgrades to lines C and D, and two new tram lines plus an extension. 

 

Lyon has four metro lines with 102 metro trains, and seven tram lines (73.1km), with 107 Alstom Citadis serving the latter (35 more on order). Rhônexpress (23km) is worked by six Stadler Tango LRVs. There are two funiculars. The Keolis bus and trolleybus contract will run for six years and cover 136 lines (eight of which are trolleybus). 1600 employees will transfer to RATP Dev and 3000 remain with Keolis.