Not able to read bus schedule in France

score:13

Accepted answer

Métabief is a village in France. Vallorbe is across the border in Switzerland. Vallorbe is not the primary way to reach Métabief: that would be Frasne, in France, even though it's farther from Métabief. The bus schedule you've found gives you a few more options between Frasne and Métabief than between Vallorbe and Métabief.

Some useful translations for this schedule:

  • “Lun à Ven” = Monday to Friday
  • “Sam” = Saturdays
  • “Dim” = Sundays
  • “et fêtes” = and public holidays
  • “sauf” = except
  • “circule” = runs, “ne circule pas” = does not run
  • “Horaire en rouge : circule uniquement en période scolaire” = schedule in red: runs only during school periods.
  • “Horaire en vert : circule uniquement en période de vacances scolaires” = schedule in green: runs only during school holidays (Métabief is in Burgundy, so it's in the académie de Dijon which is in zone A).
  • CAR = bus
  • TER = local train
  • TGV = high-speed train
  • “ville” or “village” in a stop name = in the town center
  • “gare” or “SNCF” = train station (SNCF = French railways; CFF = SBB = Swiss railways)

Métabief is a ski resort. During peak ski season (French winter school holidays), a shuttle bus runs between Frasne and some ski resorts. The rest of the year, there are only a few buses a day.

In a comment, you mention that you're arriving in Geneva on a Sunday. Your best option by public transport would be to take a train to Frasne and then that bus you found. The train trip to Frasne takes a little under 2 hours with a local train to Lausanne and then a TGV to Frasne. Note that you must book in advance on the TGV.

However the connections aren't good: the buses are scheduled to connect to trains from Paris, not from Lausanne. Chances are that the place where you're staying can pick you up, if not in Geneva, then at least in Vallorbe which is served by Swiss local trains (every hour on Sundays). If you can't get a pick-up in Vallorbe, you can get a taxi. It's a small town, so I recommend that you book in advance (maybe from the airport in case your flight is delayed; Swiss trains are very reliable). The local taxi company estimates the fare at 44 CHF, and according to this site they accept cards (in Europe, that means Visa and Mastercard).

Upvote:1

Unless you have a very specific reason to only take the bus you can also get from Vallorbe to Métabief by taking the train (TGV) to Frasne first and then change to a bus there.

enter image description here

Upvote:3

The right bus appears to be 33802, leaving Vallorbe at 5:53 AM and arriving in Métabief at 6:16 AM. (The second page lists buses going in that direction.)

Remember that that bus only operates Monday through Friday ("Lun à Ven", short for "Lundi à Vendedi"), during school term time ("uniquement en période scolaire").

More post

Search Posts

Related post