Reims Métropole is the name of the metropolitan authority responsible for public transport within the Reims urban transport area. It establishes general policy and objectives in the field of urban transport, decides on the creation and modification of lines and services and approves pricing.
Reims Métropole has assigned the work of the transport department to two companies:
- Transports Urbains de Reims (T.U.R.), with which it has signed a public transport service delegation agreement. This ten-year agreement came into effect on 1 January 2000. Its fleet of buses comprises 172 vehicles, which covered 7,699,897 km and made 30,324,568 journeys in 2005. Reims Métropole’s contribution amounted to €27,500,000 including tax. TUR site.
- TREMA. Reims metropolitan authority offers a special service for people with reduced mobility who are unable to use the regular bus network. This is a door-to-door service that operates on the basis of prior reservation. Reims Métropole signed a six-year delegation agreement with ISA TAD, which came into effect on 1 January 2004. 25 vehicles operate under the name of TREMA, which carried out 96,787 trips in its first year with Reims Métropole’s financial contribution amounting to €1,659,400 including tax. TREMA site.
Reims Métropole draws up the city’ urban transport scheme (Plan de Déplacements Urbains or PDU), which outlines the general principles of transport organisation, traffic flow and parking within the urban transport area. It aims principally at a more rational use of cars and at greater importance being given to pedestrians, two-wheeled vehicles and public transport. Reims’ PDU has thus stipulated that the city’s future public transport network should be globally improved for everyone’s benefit. The first tramway line is a central element in these future developments. Those villages and districts that are not served by the tramway will have their bus services reorganised.
Reims tramway site
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The tramway will serve the busiest arteries in the city. However, the whole of Reims’ public transport system is to be improved by 2010.
Improvements in public transport form part of the urban transport scheme (PDU), the aim of which is to minimise the negative impact created by cars and provide a genuine alternative to journeys made in private vehicles.
In the first place: By gearing resources to the number of people to be transported. Thus, when there are more than 2,500 people travelling in the same direction per hour, articulated buses are unable to carry everyone in reasonable conditions. The underground is geared to handling up to 7,500 passengers per hour in one direction. For the north-south artery of the city, trams turn out to be the most suitable form of transport. 45,000 people are expected to use the tramway every day. Other arteries will continue to be served by 150 buses.
In the second place: By increasing the number of kilometres covered, from today’s 7,770,000 km a year to an anticipated 8,200,000 km (an increase of 430,000 km or 5.5%). The new network is organised around the tram line operating with two types of service (Neuchâtel/CHU hospital); Reims Centre TGV station/Champagne-Ardenne TGV station); two major bus lines; seven strategic connecting lines; four ring-road lines; four additional services (Citadines, ZI) and two non-permanent school lines.
In the third place: By improving the quality of services. To be appealing, public transport must be fast, regular, punctual, accessible and comfortable. Clean sites, priority at traffic lights, raising of platforms, etc. will enable significant progress to be made. Modern technology is also appearing progressively in Reims Métropole’s public transport system. Two examples in areas that will soon become familiar to the city’s inhabitants:
The introduction of computer ticketing, which does away with the need to machine-punch tickets. All types of transport voucher, from single tickets to season tickets, will no longer require any contact. Computer ticketing also heralds a mini-revolution – a ticket will no longer be valid for one journey but for an hour of travel. It will therefore be possible to interrupt a journey at any time, do some shopping or make a return journey with the same ticket.
- Thanks to mobile phones, passengers will be able to consult, notably from the comfort of their own homes, the real time of arrival of the next two buses at a particular stop, which will do away with waiting in the cold and rain.
Such a project would be of no value if it did not satisfy a fundamental objective to increase use of a public transport network that has been languishing for years. All these improvements will result in a very marked increase in public transport use and the concessionary company MARS is committed to this end. Currently, 30 million journeys are made a year by public transport; in the future, this is due to increase to 42 million (i.e. an annual increase in use of 40%).
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As an example – changes in the number of departures from each of the municipalities on the outskirts of Reims on a week day:
| Current departures | Departures in the future | |
| Bétheny | 66 | 150 |
| Bezannes | 35 | 87 |
| Cormontreuil | 201 | 249 |
| St Brice Courcelles | 62 | 131 |
| Tinqueux | 228 | 278 |
Reims Métropole, Reims transport authority
Want to take a bus? Look at the TUR Website
People with reduced mobility – get around with TREMA
Find out all there is to know about Reims' future tramway