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written by MikeP , 10 June 2009

"Nice?s gare routière is a bit of a slum. Mayor Estrosi calls it ?a wart on the face of our city?, and plans to tear it down and build a new terminus further out of central Nice to the east or west."

I was frankly shocked the first time I went to Nice's Gare Routière. I'm used to it now, but it's ugly, dirty, disorganised, and unbelievably, the roof leaks when it rains. It's also not a place I'd care to find myself in at night.

This sordid terminus may be one reason that more people don't use the buses.

Let's hope that the authorities will have the sense to build the new terminus close to either the airport or the new TGV station. Or how about making a rail/air/bus interchange where passengers could seamlessly change from one mode to another? It works in Zurich and Amsterdam so why not Nice?

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written by Richard Wilson , 16 June 2009

It would be better if the buses were 'baggage friendly'- there is rarely anywhere you can put bags if you are travelling to the airport by bus - unless there is a dedicated baggage space any luggage not held onto will get thrown all over the place as the buses drive around corners and bends.

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written by Mike Meade , 16 June 2009

Hmmm, accommodating baggage properly seems the least one could ask of an airport bus service. Send us some destinations and times of travel as examples and the Reporter will write a few letters to the companies on behalf of all our readers. Your name will not be mentioned.

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written by MikeP , 16 June 2009

I use the 230 Sophia Express a lot, 3 times today in fact. Whenever I have to go to Nice or the airport, I leave my car in Sophia Antipolis and take the bus.

On the plus side, they've at last realised that it has to run to a regular service interval, and it now departs every 30 minutes throughout most of the day. Hallelujah! Also time keeping has improved. And of course it's cheap, ?1 each way being less than the toll, and the tickets, if you ask for the 'ticket Azur' are valid for the local connections as well. It would be a more useful service if it ran later at night to allow people to use it to go into Nice for the evening, and connect with late flights back. The last service out of Nice is 2020. There is also no service on weekends, and I'm sure a limited service, particularly in summer, would be useful.

Most of the drivers are friendly or at least civil. A small minority are the opposite.

The operators would probably argue that it is not a dedicated airport bus, it's a service that happens to call at the airport, but it's not very user friendly for airport passengers, the problem really being that the buses used are simply not appropriate for the service.

Large items of luggage have to be stowed in a hold under the passenger compartment. Some of the drivers are very gallant and get out to help people with this, most don't. It's a large and awkward 'flap' and I've seen people open it and hit themselves in the face with it. The hold area is not compartmentalised and the luggage can slide around in transit, meaning that retrieving it can be cumbersome in the extreme. Getting buses with remote controlled hold doors would surely not have been too difficult, nor would putting down a rubberized lining in the hold to stop bags from sliding.

There should be a luggage area inside the bus for baggage at least up to the size of a standard carry on. There isn't - and I've seen people taking up seats with their bags, causing arguments amongst passengers. The luggage then gets put into the aisle with causes an obstruction.

I have more than once seen these bus drivers using handheld cellphones whilst driving - on the motorway today. Whilst I am not convinced that this is such a terrible crime, it is highly irresponsible and against the law. I 'phoned the company once when one of their buses came wide round a corner in Sophia and nearly wiped me out - I saw the driver using a 'phone. 'Non ce n'est pas possible, le loi ne le permet pas'. So that's alright then, I'm a liar and the guy wasn't using his 'phone because it's not allowed. And I suppose today I'd been dreaming too when I saw the driver of my bus doing so (and yes I do know which service it was and could identify the man).

Then there's the driver who keeps up an almost constant stream of abuse about other road users! If you don't want to share the road with idiots 8 hours a day, don't be a bus driver.

All in all, it's a good service, but like most public transport in the area, not good enough.

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written by Riviera Reporter , 16 June 2009

There's probably a camera in your mobile phone. Next time a driver phones while driving, snap him doing so, note the time and route and number plate of the bus and we'll take it from there.

I've been caught phoning while driving as I deserved to be. But a bus driver is taking things to a level that is not acceptable. It's a question of safety, not law.

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written by MikeP , 05 January 2010

I had, unfortunately, reason to spend some time today at Nice's Gare Routiere. On a grey wet January day, the place seems even worse, more deeply depressing, than in summer. The roof drips, the floors are a mass of soggy litter and cigarette ends, the office seems to be a hangout for the local ne'eer-do-wells, the timetables are out of date, dog eared, and hanging out of filthy display cabinets. Two of the sets of doors to the office were broken, the only 'catering' is a machine which was 'hors service' ... and so it goes on. I was propositioned by an aging prostitute sitting on the wall, and a group of young men seemed to be inappropriately interested in the contents of my backpack, until I turned and confronted them.

The person I went to meet, who had arrived on a bus from Romania, a country often considered underdeveloped, via Italy, was horrified at this, her first sight of France, the sophisticated Cote D'Azur.

I was glad to get onto the bus out of that place. To paraphrase John Betjeman words about Slough : "come friendly bombs, and fall upon the Gare Routiere in Nice".

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written by Peter , 14 February 2010

I've used bus and train stations all over the world and although the Nice Gare Routiere is lurid but not even nearly as bad as most. The surrounbding area isn't bad so "deliverance" is only 50 metres away. Most bus stations are not only lurid, they'(re alsoi situated ib very grotty areas. You donb't want to hang around the Greyhound terminal in NYC, that's for sure. Knifings and muggings are daily occurances there.

I find that the Scandinavian countries have the best terminals and America and the UK are amongst the worst. Unless, of course, you want to include much of Africa and the Indian subcontinent in the mix. Not only are they filthy, they are also very dangerous.

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written by Peter , 14 February 2010

I have been told that some regional buses from Nice Airport T1 do not allow passengers to bring suitcases on board and point them to the taxi queue instead. My wife usually picks me up but next trip I will have to take the bus to Grasse. Has anyone experienced baggage problems on the buses?