Study tour of an Ivorian delegation in France

In the context of the technical cooperation signed between the Authority for Urban Mobility in the Great Abidjan (AMUGA), CODATU and the French Agency for Development (AFD), a technical visit was organised from February 21^st to February 25^th 2022 in Lyon and Paris. The delegation was made up with representatives from AMUGA (General Director, Vice-President of the Strategy Council, Director for Exploitation Monitoring, Director for Contractualisation, Director for Administrative and Financial Affairs, Communication Officer), from AGEROUTE, from the Ministry for Equipment and Road Infrastructure Maintenance (MEER) and the Chief Office at the General Direction of the National Police.

Three main topics made the core of the discussions during the week: intermodality, urban transport financing and Public Transport Authorities’ governance. The delegation tackled all of these topics during site visits in Lyon and Paris, and during meetings with the following French organisations: CODATU, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region, Keolis, Ile-de-France Mobilité, Société du Grand Paris, GART, RATP, several French companies part of CODATU’s network and conducting mobility projects in Abidjan, as well as a pool of researchers.

Public Transport Authorities governance

The delegation was welcomed in Lyon by CODATU’s team in its headquarters in Villeurbanne. During this meeting, AMUGA and CODATU engaged discussions on the urban mobility ecosystem in cities from the Global South. A discussion was opened regarding the issues and challenges AMUGA meets as the Public Transport Authority in the Great Abidjan, followed by a presentation of the Sytral governance by Raymond Descamps (volunteer at CODATU and former Sytral General Director). The delegation also met a representative for the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region who presented the “Oura!” partnership project.

A meeting with Guy le Bras, GART General Director, also allowed the delegation to talk about the structuring of French Public Transport Authorities and compare different types of mobility governance in France.

Intermodality and multimodal exchange terminals

Alongside the study on transport network reorganisation launched in Abidjan on October 2021 and foreseeing the launch of a study on the feasibility of multimodal exchange terminals in the Great Abidjan, the visit in France was an opportunity for the delegation to visit Lyon’s transport network (TCL) with Keolis. During the visit, the delegation visited a multimodal exchange terminal (Vaise station), the bus Control Office in Part-Dieu station and the multimodal exchange terminal next to it. During the site visit, multiple topics were addressed such as security, national and international event management, multimodal interfaces, and transport technologies. The delegation also visited the bus and metro network (lines B and D) and took advantage of the afternoon to visit Maison du Carré de Soie to consider the urbanisation dynamics of a new neighbourhood along the Line 3 of the tramway.

Picture 1: visit of the interexchange terminal in Vaise station / Picture 2: meeting at Maison du Carré de Soie

Intermodality was also brought up in Paris during the meeting with Société du Grand Paris and the presentation of the Grand Paris Express project. This meeting was the occasion to discuss the financing system of this ongoing mega-project, the stations and interexchange terminals design and network planning, but also the political and strategic issues regarding the transformation of the territories crossed by the project in the context of the Olympic Games hosted in Paris in 2024.

Picture: Meeting at la Société du Grand Paris

RATP hosted the delegates and organised a tour of Montrouge bus depot and maintenance site, which provided a complementary enlightening regarding the integration of transport’s infrastructures in the city’s environment. Indeed, the Montrouge bus depot has been turned into a multifunctional site by integrating both the bus fleet management (technical control point, depot) and other diversified activities (social housing, urban garden, underground parking). Thus, RATP offers a model of integration of a technical and industrial terminal in a strategic location in the city.

Pricing system integration

Along with the work currently conducted in Abidjan in the framework of a study « Interoperability and pricing systems integration, and passenger information » and the implementation of an interoperability Charter, the delegation met Ile-de-France Mobilité on Thursday 24^th. This meeting allowed to tackle questions regarding urban transport financing and the specific funding scheme existing in France and called « versement mobilité ». Urban transport financing and pricing system issues were also on the agenda during the meeting with RATP and with GART.

The visit also allowed part of the delegation to meet companies part of CODATU’s members who are conducting mobility and transport projects in Ivory Coast. The visit ended on Friday 25^th with a meeting with researchers from Prodig and LVMT labs to exchange on the elaboration of a future Observatory for the Mobility in the Great Abidjan. These exchanges lead the delegation to identify the strategic role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyse and visualise data on mobility and more generally issues related to collecting and analysing data in cities from the Global South.