Blog Post

🚍 Inside RATP's Innovative Bus Center: Lessons for LA's 2028 Olympic Games

Based in Paris, Vianova has had first-hand access to some of the most interesting transportation initiatives happening before, during, and after the 2024 Paris Olympics. This series will explore some of the lessons from Paris that can be applied to cities across the world, including the next host of the Summer Games, the Los Angeles region.

Alexander Pazuchanics

Sep 25, 2024

Introduction

As Paris hosted the 2024 Olympic Games this summer, Vianova joined representatives from the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Metro for an exclusive tour of RATP's modernized Porte d’Orléans Bus Center.

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Originally built in the late 19th century, the bus center has been a critical hub in Paris's public transport network. Recognizing the need to adapt to modern demands, RATP, the public transport operator for the Paris region, has invested €163 million in a comprehensive renovation and expansion of the facility. This modernization initiative has upgraded the historic site into a facility which now combines 24/7 bus operations with eco-friendly parcel logistics.

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During the recent tour of this revamped bus center, Los Angeles representatives gained practical insights that can be applied as the city prepares for its own Olympic Games in 2028.

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Multi-Solving Urban Space

A bus center is a unique piece of real-estate; heavily occupied during the night when bus service is drastically reduced, during the day the cavernous space sits largely empty. And the location of this space, in the dense 14th arrondissement but with ready access to the Peripherique ring road which circles the city, means that space could be repurposed for other needs, especially during peak usage period for buses. Hence the development of an innovative cooperative arrangement with urban logistic needs.

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Bays within the bus center are repurposed to allow for the unloading of delivery trucks in the morning, shortly after the bulk of the buses leave on their first runs. The clearance of the bus center allows for easy access for box trucks and vans, which deposit packages via palette.

After the palettes are dropped, the trucks depart. Shortly thereafter a fleet of electric-assisted cargo bikes arrive to retrieve the packages and deliver them to their final location. The cargo bikes deliver parcels to apartments and businesses within a radius of a few kilometers, providing a more agile distribution strategy in Paris’s winding and narrow streets.

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An Innovative Facility

Even in its primary function as a bus center, the facility includes some innovative elements. The RATP facility houses 200 buses, 90% of which are electric, ensuring efficient operation with a reduced environmental impact. This shift toward electrification is an important step in lowering urban emissions.

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A key feature of the RATP bus center is its 24/7 operation, with the bus repair center running continuously to keep the fleet in top condition. Maintenance, refueling, and repairs are scheduled during off-peak hours, ensuring that the buses are always ready to meet the city’s transport demands, which was particularly important during the recent 2024 Olympic Games.

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Learnings for Other Cities

There are some important lessons for other cities and transit agencies to be learned from such an interesting project.

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Alex Pazuchanics, Vianova’s head of Mobility Innovations, stated: “The thing that is most impressive is that both time and space can be repurposed. The logistics management is a really savvy use of space that otherwise would be empty- but it requires some ingenuity on behalf of the public agency, and willingness to experiment on behalf of the private sector logistics providers.”

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As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games, the insights gained from Paris have sparked key discussions among LA's planners. The RATP facility’s approach to sustainable transport and efficient operations offers valuable lessons that can be adapted to meet LA's unique challenges.

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Tim Frémaux, a Principal Transportation Engineer from LADOT, noted: "Here in Los Angeles and probably throughout most of the world, bus depots and maintenance facilities function as what they are called and nothing else. I was impressed with how the Corentin facility was developed as a true transit-oriented development with apartments and a community garden. I also thought that sharing the facility with cargo bike delivery logistics operations was a creative way to optimize the space and promote climate-friendly objectives of reducing the footprint of private delivery services in Paris."

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About Vianova

Vianova is the data analytics solution to operate the mobility world. Our platform harnesses the power of connected vehicles and IoT data, to provide actionable insights to plan for safer, greener, and more efficient transportation infrastructures.

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From enabling regulation of shared mobility to transforming last-mile deliveries, and mapping road risk hotspots, Vianova serves 150+ cities, fleet operators, and enterprises across the globe to change the way people and goods move.

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Vianova has also benefited from a strong relationship with RATP Capital Innovation (RCI), which, as a minority investor, supports Vianova in its continued development. This partnership has reinforced Vianova’s mission to drive forward innovative mobility solutions globally.

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