Paris commuters take to the Seine with new public transport by boat
September 24, 2008
New Paris boat service is latest effort in the city’s green campaign for getting around Paris
Summer may be over but France is still getting greener. First, last summer there were the new bicycles in Paris, Velib, that could be rented by the hour and returned at points all over the city. That idea was a wild success. Then Paris Mayor Delanoe, who had shepherded the Velib project, proposed a similar service using cars (still in the planning stages).
Now, Paris’ green transportation idea has taken to the water.
Voguéo, Paris’ new shuttle boat service, effectively makes the Seine Paris’ latest metro line. Voguéo is Paris’ latest “green” transportation experiment to help people get around the east end of Paris, running from the Gare d’Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort in the Val-de-Marne with stops including the Bibliothque Francois Mitterand and Parc de Bercy. While barges such as the Bateaux-Mouches have long been a fixture in Pairs and part of nearly every visitors’ itinerary, Voguéo boats, seating up to 70 passengers, are designed for everday transport for Parisians rather than for tourism. A ticket costs 3 Euros, but since the boats are part of the Paris transit system, they are included for Carte Orange holders just as if they were buses or metro trains.
So far, like the Velib bikes, the new boats appear to be making a big splash with Paris commuters. The full trip from Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort lasts 40 minutes, and boats arrive at each of the five stations along the route every 30 minutes. The service is set to run 365 days a year, but unlike the Paris metro, which runs from 5AM until 1 AM, Voguéo boats run from 7am to 8:30pm on weekdays and from 10am to 8pm on weekends and holidays.
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