Saint-Etienne renews its contrat with Veolia Transdev

The intermunicipal partnership comprising 43 districts and 380,000 people has set new goals for Veolia Transdev under the new contract, including continued growth in ridership throughout the period, sound management of the system to control costs and optimize taxpayer funds, as well as efforts to help achieve the targets of the Saint-Etienne Metropolitan Area’s Climate Plan.

The major changes in the delegated management contract will involve:

Introducing a new, more attractive fare structure, including:

• A single zone for the entire area, instead of the current two, and open travel for all from Firminy to Rive de Gier using the same 1.5-hour STAS ticket.
• More flexible use of single-fare tickets with an unlimited option to reload the OùrA! contactless card and the addition of a post-payment service.
• The introduction of discount fares for CMU recipients and a student fare.
• Rolling out a transportation service for people with special needs/disabilities across the metropolitan area, with new vehicles adapted to meet their needs that operate on demand.
• Increasing light rail service through the acquisition of three additional light rail cars slated to go into service in 2015.
• Improved rider information and ticket sales, with real-time information available by mobile phone, a new central information center and the creation of a virtual agency on the Web.
• Reduced water and energy use (recovery of heat, automated lighting and heating control, recovery of roof water to wash buses).
• Implementing the ISO 14001 environmental standard.