A bus marked “M1” advances through the Marseille night swept by a warm southerly wind. “Is this the relay bus? », asks Tarik, 37 years old, cotton jacket and computer bag under his arm. It’s 10 p.m. and I’m getting off work. And like all evening workers or night owls in Marseille, Tarik will have to get used to it: the city’s metros will no longer run on weekdays from 9:30 p.m. for at least two years, except for “events”. That is to say essentially OM’s European Cup matches on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
“I was getting ready to walk home”
To avoid leaving residents without transport, the RTM (Régie des transports marseillais) has set up free replacement buses with a frequency of around ten minutes. Tarik gets on the bus at the Estrangin-Préfecture metro stop, in the center of the city. “I was getting ready to go home on foot,” he whispers. In it, about ten people are seated. The vehicle speeds off, the screen which usually announces the stops scrolls through the names of the metro stations and locates the bus on its route.
“It wasn’t easy to find,” sighs Rachel, a thirty-year-old Englishwoman who has lived in Marseille for three years. “I installed the RTM application but it was not clear. I ended up asking someone where the bus stop was,” she expresses in awkward French. To guide users, small signs with a map indicating the relay bus stop have been added around the metro stations. Those disappointed with this closure, which should allow the modernization and automation of the lines, have also put up their posters. “No to closing the metro at 9:30 p.m. for two years”, headlines an A4 sheet, taped to the entrance to metro entrances.
Traffic is smooth this Monday evening. On the bus which replaces line 2, Eloïse, 24 years old and a hospital intern, is relieved: “I was very scared. In Marseille, transport has always been problematic, and I take it every day. That’s why. But as long as the buses are smooth, it’s fine.” The young woman will be able to join her friends at the Old Port without any worries. “If it lasts two years that’s fine, but some are starting to talk about four years, I find that a long time,” adds the medical student. *
The metropolis expected at the turning point
At the end of line 1, at the Timone stop – another bus takes over to the usual metro terminus – two RTM employees note the bus rotation times to refine the service. Twenty-six were deployed to compensate for the two metro lines and as of 11 p.m., there were no discrepancies according to their records. The RTM, and even more so the metropolis of Aix-Marseille, which is responsible for transport and which decided on the project, knows that it is expected to be around the corner.
“I expect it to take three times as long,” anticipates a fire safety officer heading home as he boards the bus. Three metro stations separate his workplace from his apartment. A journey that the bus completes in ten minutes, watch in hand. The fact remains that he still finds “the metro more practical” and overall the transport offer in Marseille “expensive for the service. I pay 500 euros per year,” he explains.
For a first and for the time of this report, the substitute bus service seems to operate on a par with the metros. The journeys are quick. The timing seems to be maintained. Has a ready subtlety: you must not forget to ask for a stop, at the risk of ending up at the next one.