(mini blog) Nice To Cannes

We dou know that the buses are actually run by mega French transport company Keolis. 

Keolis is a French transportation company that operates public transport systems all over the world. It manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus, and funicular services. Based in Paris, France, the company is 70% owned by SNCF and 30% owned by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

To all intents and purposes, Keolis is a trading arm of the French Government, So buses in the greater Nice area (not he town) are run by the French Government working under franchise from the French (Local) Government.

Fishy, but it all appears to work.

ZOU appears to be a franchise operation under the aegis of the Alpes Maritime Departement (with an acute accent on the first e!). fbb has failed to discover what, if anything, the “ZOU” means. 

The network is quite widespread …

… including three express services in the coastal area.

80, 81 and 82 provide express links with the airport. No 3 Son photographed information on the departure stand.

Route 80, we are told, has moved to a nearby stand …

… with a very clear poster!

On one of the posters is a departure list for the half hourly 81 …

… accompanied by the inevitable news of an App and a QR code. Alongside it is another poster extolling the dubious benefits of using the QR code system.

ZOU has published a video all about M-tickets.

Not wishing to appear stupid or a sort of techie dinosaur; fbb wonders whether it wasn’t easier when the passenger gave the driver money and he gave you a ticket?

The on-line stuff for ZOU is generally good. There is a timetable for the 81 …

… complete with fbb’s “bete noir”, namely acres and acres of blank space. It is there because the table is computer generated and idiot programed to include a non standard evening journey at the close of play.

Also on-line, however, is an obvious PDF of a timetable leaflet. There is no way of knowing whether such a “fiche horaire” appears for real in printed form.

The PDF also includes a route diagram …

The only stop on the 81 (apart from the 2200 exception) is Place Benidorm, Le Cannet. Le Cannet is historically a separate town contiguous with Cannes, but now part of the one locality. The outbound stop has a layby and a shelter …