“Everything is more beautiful when you are on the water”: in Sète, the return of water buses is a great success

Le service bateaux bus est accessible pour le moment tous les jours de marché. Midi Libre – Thomas Ancona-Léger

Free and currently available every Wednesday, the bus boats set up by the Agglo de Sète are popular with users.

"That's not a good idea, it's a great idea!&amp ;quot; With her shopping cart fully loaded, Joëlle patiently waits for the arrival of the water bus which will take her back to the Mas Coulet car park, where she parked her car. Like her, there were dozens of them rushing to board the two boats made available free of charge by the Agglopôle de Sète. A popular service, therefore, for the moment only accessible on the day of the city center market, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and which started this Wednesday at 8 a.m. nbsp;may.

There are four of them, in total, two per boat, to ensure this connection between the Paul-Riquet quay and that of Général-Durand, in the city center. Among them, Pascal, who is part of the crew, is an employee of Sète Croisière, the service company which rents the boats to the Agglo. "We carry out approximately three rotations per hour", he estimates, specifying that the frequency can vary widely depending on the ;crowd and type of passenger. "Sometimes there are disabled people who need to be helped up and down, this affects our speed."

It takes around ten minutes to get from Mas Coulet to the city center by boat. Midi Libre – Thomas Ancona-Léger

"Fun and practical"

This Wednesday, you had to wait around a quarter of an hour to take the boat at Mas Coulet. A completely acceptable delay for most users, mainly tourists, who come to take advantage of the Sète market. " Cwe don't mind waiting, nwe're on vacation, we have time!", confides Delphine, a young mother from Belgium who is coming to visit the unique island for the first time. "It’is both practical and fun for little ones, it's a change from everyday life", she assures from the queue. Behind her, Frédérique comes from Montpellier with her husband to buy fish at the market. "What I appreciate most is that this service, like parking, is free. And then it’s nice to let yourself be taken by boat, it feels like Venice !"

A service set to grow in strength

On board, Pascal reminds us that it is a bus boat and not a leisure boat, but he still takes the time to answer passengers when they ask him questions about the city. Especially since on this public holiday, there was plenty to see on the canals. "It's great to be able to observe all these trawlers, we're really lucky", enthuses Nadine, a sixty-year-old from Ain. "We don't have the same vision of the city at all when we are on a boat, and then everything is much more beautiful when we are on the water".

In the coming days, a brand new and completely electric shuttle should join the flotilla. The curious can already admire it on Quai du Général-Durand, where it is currently moored. This service is also expected to increase in strength during the summer season. From July 6 until August 27, it will be available every day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. At the height of the season, five shuttles will rotate.

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