“I had the chance to transport the French Volleyball team”: bus drivers from the Tarbes-Lourdes area returning from the Paris Olympics

On the occasion of the Olympic Games, the Keolis Pyrénées company allowed five of its employees (Mohamed Bouchama, Pascal Ciotta, Julie Gouveia, Khalid Klaoua Khalid and Sylvie Senescau) to go to work in Paris from July 21 to August 11 and then from August 25 to September 9 for the Paralympic Games, with three drivers (Mohamed, Julie and Sylvie).

After having lived this exceptional experience, Sylvie Senescau, from the Lourdes depot, gives us her impressions: “We had a contract to drive the athletes as bus drivers and we thank the managers of the Keolis Pyrénées company who allowed us to to experience these unique moments in a lifetime I had the chance to transport the French Volleyball team, the French handball team, the French Paralympic swimmers with Alex and Kylian Portal and many others in foreign teams, especially during the opening ceremony.”

“The first thing to learn was driving in Paris, with reserved lanes but traffic still difficult, even if in summer, it was quieter, she continues. In September, the Parisians were back and so were the cars We were housed in a hotel and shuttles took us to the Aulnay-sous-Bois depot where all the buses were based. Security was omnipresent with accreditation to enter each site, checking the buses on each trip. on arrival and departure I also took the opportunity to visit the Capital on my days off.

It was still with lots of memories in their heads that the drivers returned to their work on the department’s roads, but it was an unforgettable experience!