In order to provide passengers with reliable, high-quality bus services, La Rochelle made the decision to introduce dedicated bus lanes in the city.
As part of the general restructuring of the city's bus network, additional bus lanes were created at traffic hotspots in the urban community to optimise bus times and ensure service reliability.
The Beaulieu area in the east of La Rochelle was considered to be a priority due to the important flows of cars coming from the city and the ring road, especially at peak hours and on Saturdays. Buses were often delayed due to having to share road space with cars. Introducing dedicated bus lanes enabled buses to avoid traffic jams.
The Urban Community took advantage of new real-estate developments in the commercial area to introduce a dedicated bus lane, avoiding congestion from the RN11. The bus route was redesigned and new, accessible bus stops were built.
The work was completed for implementation in September 2006. In order to restrict access exclusively to buses and cyclists, automated rising bollards were installed.
Following measure implementation, 90 percent of regular users of this particular bus line in La Rochelle expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the dedicated bus lane. Although expected gains in travel times were too limited to offset the consequences of increased route length and the addition of new stops, 24 percent of passengers said that they would change their mode of transport from car to bus.
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