Transports

In order to efficiently adapt road traffic to pedestrians, cyclists and cars, the urban Community of Dunkerque has drawn up a sustainable urban transport strategy which determines the main objectives for improving urban transport.

In only a few years, over 140 km of cycle lanes and secure pedestrian foot paths and crossings have been put into service. As for public transport, over 15 million trips are made each year on the town network. The urban Community which is responsible for organizing this local public service has included this strategy in its scheme for sustainable development.

In this perspective, the urban Community has:

• developed services adapted to the needs of users (Etoile line, Handibus, Illico…)
• Implemented new public transport fares designed to be affordable for people with low incomes and offering reduced fares for school children, the elderly and the disabled, plus bus passes with fees charged according to income.
• opted for alternative fuels. The objective consisting of 50% of buses running on natural gas was attained in 2004.
• experimented with hydrogen fuel as part of the Althytude project. This project, launched in partnership with different industrial firms, consists in enriching natural gas (GNV), used by buses, with hydrogen, and subsequently carrying out a large scale evaluation of the technical and environmental performances of this mixed fuel.