Public Transportation

The public transportation in Lyon is incredible! The city has the TCL system, made up of métros, buses, trams, and funiculars (cable cars that go up the hill). There are also non-TCL trains (SNCF, Ouigo) and buses (FlixBus, BlaBlaCar) that can transport you around France for relatively low costs. A monthly TCL pass is only €25 and allows you to access all TCL transports an unlimited amount of times. Renewing the pass takes about three clicks and a credit card at any tram or métro stop. A single use of one of the transports is about €2.

At first, the transportation system was intimidating. My first weekend in Lyon, Bénédicte asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I'd like to go to the Musée des Beaux-Arts. She took me on the bus to Perrache, the main transportation hub on the Presqu'île, and showed me how to get a card with 10 TCL passes on it. Then, we took the métro to get to the museum. While she said she could come get me around 4 p.m., I decided to try to get back to the apartment by myself (and I was done at the museum before 4 p.m. anyway). From memory, more or less, I made it back to the right métro, took it back to Perrache, and then wandered around looking for my bus, either 46 or C21. I went all the way up one bus gallery before realizing that I was in the wrong corner of the station. Eventually, I found the bus and rode it to Luzy, my stop. I made it successfully back to the apartment, earning a "bravo!" from Bénédicte and some extra self-confidence.

After my 10-use card ran out, I went to the TCL agency, which is basically the DMV, and got a monthly pass. It's really nice to be able to scan the card and easily get anywhere in the city. The system is also reliable. In Iowa City, if I ever need to take the bus, I worry about whether it will be on time or even show up, despite the Transit app. (One time, a bus didn't stop at all, and there wasn't going to be another one for an hour, so we had to walk to a different stop, wait for a different bus, and completely change our plans for that afternoon.) In Lyon, Google Maps or the TCL app will tell you exactly when to expect the bus; there are usually electronic signs at the stops that tell you how many minutes until the bus arrives, and they're actually accurate. To get on, you just hold out your hand to signal you want the bus to stop. To get off, you press a button to signal the next stop.

My bus to school in the morning is about 20 minutes. It's the worst when I round the corner of my street and see the bus pulling away from the stop, but the next bus is usually not more than 10 minutes away, if that. The bus is really crowded (as in, you're sandwiched between an electric scooter and a backpack in the aisle with barely anything to hold onto) at rush hour, but if you go at odd times, like before 7 a.m. or mid-afternoon, you can usually snag a seat. It's simple to take the métro a couple of stops to Bellecour, a major pedestrian square and shopping area, or to any other stop. The tram gets you to the other major train station, Gare Part-Dieu, or the climbing gym. While it was nerve-wracking the first few times, using Lyon's public transportation is now second-nature.

It would be amazing to have a public transportation system like this at home. It's much nicer and less stressful than driving; it's fast, efficient, cheap, and environmentally friendly. And you're not limited by how far you can walk! When I return to Iowa City, I anticipate missing the freedom of the TCL.