In 2025, Alès Agglomération will pave the way for electric buses: “I have ordered four”, announces Christophe Rivenq

L'actualité des mobilités dans Alès et son agglomération est au menu de ce jeudi 19 septembre. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

Developments in bus lines, carpooling and new vehicles are hitting the roads. The latest news on travel for the people of Grand-Alésiens is discussed during Mobility Week.

The ritual is there: every year, during Mobility Week, Alès Agglomération takes stock of its offering in this area. And President Christophe Rivenq immediately mentions “good news”, recalling that “Mobility is the first freedom and an increasingly important expectation”.

Ales’Y à vélo “is taking off"

That said, he begins by reviewing the year's achievements regarding public transport, and even travel in general. He talks about the Ales’Y buses equipped with biofuel which have saved “460 tonnes of CO2 equivalent", the deployment of digital services “as is done in large cities", the new bicycle lockers, “whose results are not up to our expectations, but it is the beginning and we are going to increase communication". Not forgetting the Ales’Y à vélo scheme (a bicycle rental) “which is going to be a hit”.

Seven bus lines have just been reviewed

Of course, public transport, organised by the Syndicat mixte des transports publics du bassin d’Alès (SMTBA), remains at the heart of concerns. “Not a year goes by without us being asked to extend a line, to reinforce it. It's crazy!”, says Christophe Rivenq. “Frequency is an important issue. And we have decided to improve seven new services." After five others last year, lines 11, 30, 77, 83, 110, 710 and 933 were reviewed at the beginning of the month. And in front of the Jean-Baptiste-Dumas high school (JBD), where “a mini bus station has been set up”, the president highlights an “improvement of information”. Of course, the start of the school year was accompanied by a price increase that he “fully assumes”, but the head of the Agglo is quick to point out “that we remain cheaper than other providers”.

And hydrogen buses mentioned from 2021 ?

After buses powered by biofuel, the arrival of electric vehicles has been announced. "I ordered four", says Christophe Rivenq. The first should be delivered in 2025, the others will follow as they are built. However, he is "worried" of a possible sharp increase in the cost of electricity in the medium term. "If that happens, we'll quickly go back to good diesel that stinks", he laughs wryly. And hydrogen envisaged in 2021 ? "It's complicated. We'll see in two or three years", he replies. “We must be there for developments wherever they are”, corroborates Jean-Luc Gibelin, vice-president of the Region, in charge of transport, pointing out a “dependence” on both manufacturers and public authorities.

Parking south of Alès and rail, these touchy subjects!

Between the ring road and the RN 106.The subject has been on the table for four years: the project to create a carpooling parking lot at the entrance to Alès, at the end of the dual carriageway RN 106 and on the edge of the ring road. It is already well thought out, with its access points for vehicles, and even a shuttle bus connection to reach the city center. “A virtuous project”, insists Christophe Rivenq, the president of the Agglo, for a parking lot that could have between 200 and 500 spaces, with charging stations for electric cars and shelters covered with photovoltaic panels. Except that Alès Agglo is facing “administrative difficulties”, mainly due to the fact that the proposed land is liable to flooding. On this point, the State services are not giving up. However, the local authority claims that the car park would be “permeable” to facilitate the evacuation of water and equipped with barriers to prevent access in the event of heavy rain. “The idea is not abandoned, but delayed, and that bothers me”, says the president of the Agglomeration, who, as a result, does not put forward “any deadline”.

Alès-Bessèges line. The vice-president of the Region Jean-Luc Gibelin has a dejected look when the reopening of the Alès-Bessèges railway line is mentioned. Here again, the State services find themselves in the crosshairs: “The interlocutors have no sense of the priority of the subjects.” “It's unbearable!”, balances, in his wake, Christophe Rivenq. The return of trains on this line, already postponed to 2028, therefore seems to have lead in the wing. The questions of water flow are a problematic subject and the work is no longer progressing, even if the line has been cleared … and may have to be again if the file does not progress. "We are not dealing with services that are facilitators", regrets Jean-Luc Gibelin, also pointing out a lack of political will. “There is a difference between the official speeches in Paris and reality.”

As for carpooling and its ambitions, they have not fallen by the wayside, but are being considered. Because “the application has failed”, the president acknowledges. As a result, the Agglomeration now wants to rely on "existing systems" which will also connect users, "thanks to an application that will be implemented in 2025. This will be an Ales’Y." application which will also make it possible to move to "door to door". That is to say, the offer will no longer be limited to the ten carpooling lines that had been defined between 2019 and 2022; it will be more personalized.