Noctilien

Noctilien

Noctilien

Bus service in Paris, France

Noctilien is the night bus service in Paris and its agglomeration. It is managed by the Île-de-France Mobilités (formerly the STIF), the Île-de-France regional public transit authority, and operated by RATP (with 32 lines) and Transilien SNCF (with 20 lines).

Quick Facts Parent, Commenced operation ...

It replaced the previous Noctambus service on the night of 20/21 September 2005, providing for a larger number of lines than before and claiming to be better adapted to night-time transport needs.

In place of the previous hub-and-spoke scheme where all buses terminated at and departed from the heart of Paris: Châtelet Paris Métro, Noctilien's new service includes buses operating between banlieues (communes surrounding Paris proper) as well as outbound lines running from Paris' four main railway stations: Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse and Gare Saint-Lazare. In addition, these four stations are also connected to each other by a regular night bus service.

All in all, Noctilien operates 52 bus lines, from the end of the rail network and day bus service (around 00:30) until their resumption early in the morning (around 05:30), over the whole of Paris and the Île-de-France region.[2]

It is made up of:

  • 2 circular lines: N01 & N02 running between Paris' major train stations ;
  • 6 transversal lines: from N11 to N16 running between different suburbs of Paris via its center at Châtelet  ;
  • 21 radial lines (the other 2 digits lines, except N71) running between major Paris stations and more or less its near suburbs ;
  • 2 radial long distance lines: N122 & N153 (subcontracted by the RATP) running between Paris and its remote suburbs ;
  • 19 radial long distance lines (the other 3 digits lines, except N135) running between Paris and its remote suburbs (with often a partly motorway route) and managed by the Transilien SNCF ;
  • 2 ring lines in the suburbs: N71 by RATP & N135 by Transilien SNCF.
Several Noctilien Buses at Paris-Gare de Lyon hub bus station (Rue de Bercy)

Like Transilien, the name "Noctilien" is formed by analogy with "Francilien" — the French demonym for residents of Île-de-France.

Noctilien lines

The time intervals indicated here may depend on the day of week -- service is reinforced on Friday and Saturday nights and on days that precede bank holidays.

Line numbering scheme

Noctilien Bus N02 at Vavin near Paris-Gare Montparnasse

Each bus line number starts with Noctilien for Noctilien followed by a two or three digit number:

  • 2 digits starting with "N0" for the two "circular" routes
  • 2 digits starting with "N1" for the "transversal" routes
  • 2 digits starting with "N2" for buses running from Châtelet Paris Métro RER
  • 2 digits starting with "N3" for buses running from Gare de Lyon Paris Métro RER Transilien
  • 2 digits starting with "N4" for buses running from Gare de l'Est Paris Métro Transilien
  • 2 digits starting with "N5" for buses running from Gare Saint-Lazare Paris Métro RER Transilien
  • 2 digits starting with "N6" for buses running from Gare Montparnasse Paris Métro RER Transilien
  • 3 digits starting with "N1" for the long distance buses running to the outer suburbs.

References

  1. [1]
    Lambert, Bertrand (18 December 2017). "La galère des transports nocturnes" [The real hassle of night transports] (TV report). Parigo. Episode 13 (in French). YouTube. Event occurs from 01'30" to 01'37". France 3. Paris Île-de-France. Retrieved 27 February 2019. Magazine of the Paris France 3-TV editorial dedicated to mobility in the Île-de-France region.
  2. [2]
    Region. https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/en/the-network
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Noctilien, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.