ABSTRACT
The recent energy crisis provides an opportunity to promote best practices in terms of organizing modes of transport of a suffi cient quality to replace private cars. Reconfi guration of urban form, to locate housing and workplaces closer to means of public transport is a logical step forward, although it requires a long lead time, and similarly improving the effi ciency of existing networks has now become essential. The recent growth in public transport ridership is unprecedented, even in countries where the private car plays a dominant role, such as the United States.1 In
the specifi c case of France, the most recent surveys carried out in large cities such as Lyon, Rennes, Rouen and Lille reveal that public transport has begun winning back some market shares following a long decline (Quételard, 2008). Between October 2007 and June 2008, the regions and SNCF (French railways) engaged in a forward-thinking exercise to examine the consequences of quadrupling regional traffi c (TER2 × 4) by 2030. This was a response to the current annual ridership growth rate which was between 7 per cent and 13 per cent in 2007.
