According to Thibaud Philipps, vice-president in charge of Transport at the Grand Est Region, the Langres-Dijon connection via bus and TER has found its audience, despite the pitfalls. Ultimately, the Region wishes to transform this connection solely by iron.
On this Tuesday morning, five passengers are waiting for their Fluo bus at 10 a.m., Place Bel'air, to reach Is-sur-Tille and then take the TER to Dijon. The Langres-Dijon connection via bus from Langres to Is-sur-Tille then for a TER connection to reach the ducal capital is taking stock. Established last January, at the request of the PETR du Pays de Langres, this connection did not have an easy start. Without advertising, a launch at the worst time because work was announced on the line after Is-sur-Tille, the announcement was not happy.
Especially since transport user associations had not hidden their skepticism about the success of what was a one-year experiment. Indeed, the bus is not the best means of transport, especially since the journey time to reach Dijon is 1 hour 46 minutes instead of one hour by the TER. Still, the four round trips during the week and the two round trips on Saturday found their audience.
“At the end of October, we had 2,237 travelers, which is completely satisfactory. It is a line that can be compared to Vitry/Saint-Dizier or Nogent-sur-Seine/Romilly. This line has real potential. There is a similar appetite through attendance for lines made up only of trains. We have similar values,” declares Thibaud Philipps, vice-president in charge of Transport in the Grand Est Region.
The latter notes a greater influx in July and August with nearly 300 travelers per month. “From the moment we propose an offer to better serve this area, better connect it to Dijon, it works. There are realities of flow. There is a real need to better serve the Dijon metropolitan area. Our administrative borders are not those of our fellow citizens,” points out Thibaud Philipps.
The Fluo card taken into account in May in the connection with Dijon
Based on this observation, the Grand Est Region has therefore decided to continue the adventure for 2025. And under the same conditions. Except that the Burgundy Region will (finally) make it possible to find a bridge between the Fluo card of the Grand Est Region and Burgundian pricing. “From May 2025, we will finally have price integration for the Fluo card. It is also an important element which did not contribute in favor of this line,” declared the vice-president.
But ultimately, Thibaud Philipps wants to put back trains. “Experimentation has shown that at some point, we need a greater rail offer. Today we are limited by the train paths available at Dijon station. In a fairly short time between the political decision and commissioning, we created this line. But we must discuss with our counterparts in the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region to obtain additional train paths because this territory lives with the neighboring region,” notes Thibaud Philipps.
It had been calculated that around 1,100 Haut-Marnais went to the Côte d'Or per day mainly for work. But also that 800 Côte-d'Oriens were heading in the opposite direction.
Philippe Lagler
