The first of the two new 100% electric buses set off at 6:48 a.m. sharp from the Parthenay Trade Campus and the user who was the first to launch it boarded at 6:51 a.m., at the Edgar-stop. Quinet. This is how the new version of Parthenay urban transport service got underway on Thursday January 2, 2025.
“It’s very pleasant and the stops are well suited”
In the rain, on this day of revolution for the Pybus, the old shuttle launched in 1992 with the three daily round trips of a minibus on a single line has definitely been relegated to the distant past compared to the two circuits launched this Thursday . With their fifteen daily rotations back and forth on two lines, from 6:48 a.m. to 8:22 p.m. on weekdays plus Saturdays, the new schedules are incomparable.
Thus, the brand new buses from the operator Alliance Atlantique were finally able to play at home. “This is the culmination of five months of implementation. The drivers were very happy and proud to participate in the deployment of mobility in our stronghold of Parthenay and we felt that there was a real expectation from the public,” rejoiced Benjamin Roze, operations director of Alliance Atlantique.
“Parthenay is our showcase”
“Parthenay is our showcase and we are delighted to launch this great project,” said Yves Merceron, the general director of Alliance Atlantique.
Mickaël Rousseau, in-house trainer at this people transporter based in Parthenay, trained six drivers “by integrating gentle conduct as much as possible”he specifies. Christian and Aurélie are now the drivers that users will encounter the most, out of a trio more dedicated to this service at Alliance Atlantique. “It’s very pleasant and the stops are well suited,” confided Monday December 30, Aurélie, at the wheel of the line 1 bus.
The new plan for the two Pybus lines in Parthenay since January 2, 2025.
© NR Infographic
Among the first users of this new service, which went from seven seats in the old minibus to fifty-two seats with these large buses duly flocked in the Pybus colors, Damien, 41, did not shy away from his pleasure: “I'm a regular user and where I had to go for a long ride with the other, that's now fixed in ten minutes. And the bus was on time. » He took the bus from the station to meet his mother on the other side of town.
These electric buses which require ten hours of recharging for optimal daily service remain accessible free of charge to users, as the Parthenay municipal council decided on November 12, 2024. Free transport for travelers of course, which does not mean that 'it does not have a cost for the taxpayers of Parthenay: €277,559.04 per year payable by the community, or 1.38 million euros over five years to be paid by the City if the market reaches the end of renewals.
Alliance Atlantique hopes to exceed the 75,000 passenger mark in this first year, 2025. Here too, it would be a revolution for Parthenaisian urban transport, now worthy of the name. In 2022, 8,526 people boarded the minibus at the end of the journey.
