Getting around the future Paris-Saclay urban campus Ten years from now, the creation of Paris-Saclay s urban campus will multiply by three the trips made on campus. In general, access to the Plateau is a central issue. Amongst the elements of the solution: the automated subway of Greater Paris, of which three stations will serve the campus at Palaiseau, Osay-Gif and at Saclay, at the CEA level. Beyond this new structuring transportation, the implementation of an all-encompassing transportation management strategy for trips within, to and from the Plateau is a sine qua non condition of the success of the future campus. 1. Mobility at Paris-Saclay Today 1.1 Means of Transportation for Specific Users Multiple types of users frequent the campus every day. These are workers (researchers, doctoral students, administrative personnel and salaried workers), students (who live on campus or not), and finally the families that live on the territory. Workers commute mainly by car (75 to 80%). At peak times, there is congestion on the large transportation axes: the infrastructure is not up to the level of the traffic. At peak times, public transit is the main means of access to the campus for students. They mainly use the train stations of the RER B situated in the valley of Yvette, as well as the MOBICAPS bus network, in particular the two North-South and East-West lines. Outside of peak hours, public transit, notably by bus, is often difficult: the low frequency and irregularity of buses, lack of real-time information and sometimes even the absence of bus shelters punish bus use. The mobility needs of these different users are unforeseeable and many consider that the car is the most competitive means of transportation. 1.2 An Environment not Favourable to Soft Means of Transportation 1 The lack of secure pathways for soft means of transportation is a major drawback to campus access via bicycle, and even more so when it comes to moving around. In an environment dominated by cars, soft means of transportation are considered relatively unsafe and not pleasant. 1 A soft transportation method: non-polluting means of transportation, which rely on human energy, such as walking, biking, scooter, skateboarding, etc.
2. Getting Around Campus Tomorrow 2.1 Towards a Tripling of Trips Using a perimeter going from HEC to Polytechnique on the east and to CEA on the west, it is estimated that 24,000 people frequent the site each day. Five years from now, campus development plans to reach almost 48,000 users. 10 years later, the territory will welcome 40,000 workers, 10,000 students living on camps, 8,000 students not living on campus and 8,900 habitants, which makes around 67,000 users. This increase in numbers will be accompanied by a profound change in the nature of the campus, which will also welcome families, businesses, stores and public services. This will have the consequence of doubling, or even eventually tripling the number of trips made.
2.2 Towards a Decrease in Car Use Although the reconstruction of principal access routes will diminish bottlenecks, the capacity of these routes remains limited. It will therefore be necessary to convert a certain number of trips to other means of transportation. Studies have modeled the increase in trips in accordance with the development of the campus, and show that individual car trips which constitute today 80% should go down to 60% in the years to come. 2.3 Foreseen Public Transit The Greater Paris Subway System and Multi-Modality 2 Starting in 2023, Line 18 of the Greater Paris Express will be at the heart of the transportation possibilities at Paris-Saclay. To facilitate trips from the train station to establishments, lodging and workplaces, the new subway stations propose, for example: - A long term bike rental service - Bicycle maintenance and repair services - Preferential parking for carpool or car-sharing services - Subsidized park-and-go lots - Dynamic information to commuters to ensure efficient connections with other means of transportation. An Optimized Public Transit Site Even before the arrival of the subway, the bus lane from the Massy RER station will ensure commuters have faster and more confortable transportation, thanks to a reserved traffic lane. The improvement of this line will also include the addition of a larger quality service highcapacity bus and real-time information for commuters. Other RER stations in the proximity of the Paris-Saclay campus are also destined to become bus entrance points, like, for example, Guichet, Orsay-ville and even Gif-sur-Yvette stations. 2 Multi-Modality: the use of multiple means of transportation to make a trip
3. Thinking up a Coherent Transportation System The analysis of current and future situations gives evidence of a double challenge: - Bottlenecks make accessing the Paris-Saclay campus difficult during peak hours; - Other than by car, the means of accessing, moving around and leaving the campus are limited and inefficient outside of peak hours. These two difficulties are interdependent: without an attractive alternative transportation system, users will depend entirely on cars. Your challenge is therefore to imagine proposals to control at the same time trips to/from/on the campus, during and outside of peak hours. This means thinking up alternatives to the singleoccupant car, integrating different solutions depending on the time of day and the type of trips taken into account. The success of the system in its entirety will depend entirely on its coherence, its readability and the accessibility of solutions implemented. Multi-modality in the Massy train station
4. Innovative Solutions to Imagine for Tomorrow A few examples of solutions that can be though up for the future campus 4.1 During Off-Peak Hours An Escalator and a Cable Car to Access the Saclay Plateau? Escalators could constitute an interesting complement to bus service, to serve precise purposes from the RER stations situated in the valley. These devices would be of real value at off-peak times and for certain uses, notably for trips between the university facilities which will be spread between the Plateau and the Valley, or between the Lozère RER station and L École Polytechnique (example: San Sebastian). The implementation of a cable car between the valley and the plateau would cause a transit link between the two with the same capacity of a bus line but with a small implementation cost, and would be a physical symbol of the urban link between the valley and the plateau. (example: New York Roosevelt Island)
4.2 Transportation Solutions Within the Plateau - Propose Initiatives for Car-Sharing An analysis of usage has revealed the existence of multiple situations of resourcefulness put into effect on the plateau via car-sharing, a situation which should be framed and encouraged via attractive parking options for car-sharing participants, access to transportation services during the day for people arriving as passengers, with for example a price guarantee for the night time return trip (via taxi vouchers, etc.) of car-sharing passengers and the construction of car-sharing stations on the large access corridors of the plateau. - Proposing a car-sharing plan An inter-enterprise and inter-university vehicle fleet, subsidized and open to the variety of passengers, could constitute a proposal which would be progressively deployed starting with local public and private initiatives. Implementing a shared vehicle reservation platform common to all the campus installations and connecting it to a digital platform would permit knowledge of availability in real time. - Encouraging Cycling While the topography of the Valley Plateau makes bicycles seem like an unappealing alternative for Plateau access, they are still nonetheless a pertinent means of transportation within the campus. The presence of a large number of students, the absence of hills, very rideable distances on bicycle (up to 10km) and separated pathways are also convincing arguments. The Agglomeration of the Plateau of Saclay Committee has implemented a development plan of which the largest part consists of soft means of transportation. - An adapted services plan favouring bicycles (maintenance, repair, rental ) could be smartly developed - A bicycle rental system could be proposed, including both classic and electric bicycles for example - Bicycle points proposing different services that prove useful to cyclists: maintenance, repair, accessory sales, etc. - An attractive and ambitious bicycle parking plan All of the abovementioned solutions, and also all of those that can still be imagined, will constitute a global transportation system: because it s most of all the coherence of the entirety that will determine the development of an efficient and comfortable transportation system at Paris-Saclay.
This is also why notions of temporality and phasing will provoke particular attention. All the solutions won t be viable at the same time, and it is necessary that their implementation coincide with the urban development of the campus. For more information on the urban campus programing and in general on Paris-Saclay, don t hesitate to consult the following websites: www.epps.fr www.media-paris-saclay.fr http://www.campus-paris-saclay.fr/
Annexes: