Today I had to leave work early, and I got home late!
The need was to visit my consulting company, the one I actually work for, and they are 2 hours from where I actually work. So I hopped on a couple of busses.
First the TVM which is mostly routed on its own bus lanes. Hence the TVM is rarely held up and the frequent service is reliable and quick. Lots of people use it and so, despite being a double-length bus it is often so crowded that you stand cheek-to-cheek (top of leg) with the other passengers.
Then the more conventional 379. I got to sit down on an uncomfortable seat on this one and rode it from the start to the end. I am always impressed how the drivers fight through the traffic so that the bus runs on time (there are exceptions like when my bus was 3 hours late).
What was new was the tramway at the last bus stop. Since I was not sure where it went, I caught it only for the return journey- just 2 stops to the bus. It is the one in the picture.
As you can see, the new tram is a mono-rail, well ok it runs on ordinary tyres with a mono guidance rail. My guess is that the rail is part of the electrical circuit too.
There is no step to get on the tram, the tram-stops are raised and the floors are always level. The interior is open all the length of the tram making it a long tube inside. Being electric it is silent at the stops and quiet otherwise. My tram accelerated away at a surprising speed and it was smooth and impressive. Very soon I have covered my 2 stops, the information board confirming the station and I returned to the bus route, a now much less satisfactory experience!
You see odd things on the Paris transport network. Apart from the many army personnel who are now making themselves obvious all over Paris (and they appear fully armed too), there was an old lady on one bus, cloaked and well wrapped up against the cold. She was fiddling with a mobile phone as she sat near the door. As I watched, suddenly her thick woolly headscarf lit up with a blue light from inside. As I watched it flashed on briefly at about 10 second intervals. I realised that the little old lady was wearing a bluetooth headset under all her warm clothing.
I was aware that Paris ladies stay up with fashion even into their retirement. Clearly they are up with technology too!
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