[Focus] Just the ticket for players too!

Here at Keolis France, we have a strong track record of providing transport to top-flight sports teams. In 2019, we drove the sides competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This year will see us chauffeuring squads around the country for the Rugby World Cup. And then for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games we’ll be providing 30 coaches for events held in Lyon, Nantes, Marseille and Nice amongst other locations. Transport plans for events staged in the Paris region are still being finalised.

When entering into this kind of contract, we’re taking on responsibility for the most essential components: if a team doesn’t make it to the stadium, the game doesn’t happen! Organisers come to us because we’re present in all parts of France and so have the structures, vehicle fleets and human resources required. That is what it all comes down to: guaranteeing – and I mean 100% guaranteeing – vehicles and drivers are available at the agreed service level.

For this year’s Rugby World Cup, for instance, we’ll be servicing 20 base camps for the teams, providing transfers to and from hotels, training grounds and the stadiums. Both for safety reasons and to help players feel at home, each team gets a dedicated vehicle and two drivers, and the vehicles have to be as comfortable (and as environmentally-friendly) as possible.

So before we sign agreements, we go through all of these detailed requirements with a fine toothcomb to make sure we can deliver without fail. We plan backup vehicles and have standby drivers available in case of a hitch, and of course the coach livery is designed to incorporate the organisers’ logos.

Despite the unique challenges in providing team transport, we’re always delighted to do it. It’s not primarily a commercial decision, either. It’s part of our broader societal role as a public transport operator that, when the country plays host to the best sportspeople from around the world, we’re on hand to help. And obviously, it doesn’t do our corporate image any harm to be driving the world’s top athletes!

Crowd movers: Groupama Stadium, Lyon, France

Le Groupama Stadium, Star of Lyon

Opened in 2016 just ahead of the Euros football tournament, Lyon’s Groupama Stadium is a key venue and adds much to the city’s appeal. The complex includes the stadium with a nearly 60,000-seat capacity plus a retail & leisure park with restaurant, gym, theatre and more. Every year, it hosts some 40 large-scale events. And for Keolis, a major gathering means moving thousands of people. For this reason, the stadium’s design had to take full account of the issues around how to best serve such a vast hub of activity. SYTRAL Mobilités (the public transport authority), the City of Lyon, the Rhône department prefecture and Keolis worked together on the public transport arrangements for the complex.

Smart crowd transportation by Keolis

To move visitors to and from the Groupama Stadium as quickly and efficiently as possible, Keolis set up a system that can be readily adapted to each event, depending on the numbers of spectators and where they arrive from. The Keolis system cleverly combines different modes of transport — trams from Lyon’s main rail hub (Part-Dieu station) and articulated (bendy) shuttle buses from the Eurexpo convention centre carpark, Vaulx-en-Velin La Soie metro station and the Meyzieu Panettes parking facility. The operation begins two and a half hours before an event starts to ensure everyone arrives safely, comfortably and in plenty of time. Hundreds of drivers, security staff and other personnel are brought in to handle the volumes, assist everyone and manage the flows of passengers.