St Malo, France

The city of St Malo lies on the coast of Brittany, the north-westernmost region of France.

A network of local bus services in and around St Malo provided by Keolis St Malo (website only in French), under contract to the local authority.




























Some of the buses had two sets of doors, others had three. 











 
Low floors and retractable ramps have made bus services accessible to people using wheelchairs.  Wheelchair-friendly buses also provide benefits to other passengers.

In this image, a passenger with a walking frame makes use of the wheelchair ramp.




All the buses I saw in St Malo were conventional single-deckers.

As well as full-size vehicles, I noted this smaller one.







St Malo lies at the end of a branch line, served by local trains as well as the occasional TGV to/from Paris.  A bus interchange has been built outside the station.

Although most Keolis St Malo local services use on-street bus stops nearby, I found this one in the interchange.

 

The interchange outside the railway station is also St Malo's hub for longer-distance bus service.

St Malo is located within the administrative area of Ille-et-Vilaine.  Longer-distance inter-urban services within Ille-et-Vilaine are provided under the Illenoo brand.



Two routes serve St Malo, one running west to the neighbouring coastal towns of Dinard and St Briac while the other heads south to the city of Rennes.  A third service runs eastwards along the coast during summer only.







 
Tibus (website only in French) operate two infrequent services into St Malo from the neighbouring admistrative area.  One of these is numbered 10, a number also used by Keolis on an unrelated local service within the St Malo area.






For visitors arriving in St Malo by car, an out-of-town park-and-ride site operates during the summer months to reduce the impact of traffic on the city.  Buses connecting the park-and-ride site with the city operate free of charge.

 









 


The railway track in this image connects St Malo's docks with the French national railway network.

St Malo has had a small tram system, which used to run on-street to nearby settlements.  It has long since closed.





A tourist train provides a 30-minute tour of the streets within the city walls from around the beginning of April until early November.

Conventional bus services don't venture into the historic walled part of the city.





The tour starts close to the tourist information centre, just outside the city walls.










The town of Dinard lies across the estuary from St Malo.  Although the Illenoo network provides a bus connection, St Malo is also linked to Dinard by a ferry service.  This is provided by Compagnie Corsaire, from a slipway alongside the city walls.

 






As well as the regular shuttle to Dinard, Corsaire also operate less frequently to other points along the coast, in some cases as day excursions.

The port of St Malo is also a terminal for ferries to the Channel Islands, and cross-channel ferries to the south coast of England.  Condor Ferries sail from St Malo to the islands of Jersey and Guernsey.






Brittany Ferries operate a direct ferry between St Malo and Portsmouth on the English coast.  It is also possible to reach England using Condor Ferries, with a change of vessel in the Channel Islands.

Buses are used within the port, to transfer passengers between the terminal building and the quayside.










Images in this post were taken in June 2014.  The Keolis St Malo network has since been restructured.

The "Transports Malouins" website (in French only) covers St Malo's transport system, from its origins to the present day, in greater detail.