COB user manual: discovering a bus operations centre
What is a Bus Operations Centre?
On a daily basis, the agents call it the "COB" and under this technical acronym, it is the nerve center of your bus line that comes alive.
Because the Bus Operations Centre is essential to your daily transport: the feeding and cleaning of the buses, their storage and maintenance, but also the reception and administration of staff, the organisation of the service.
The COBs can accommodate from 20 to 300 buses.
Why renew COBs?
Fully committed to the energy transition, Île-de-France Mobilités aims to become the first metropolis in Europe with 100% carbon-free public transport by 2030. An ambitious, but realistic goal, which involves replacing buses and coaches that still run on diesel with electric models or NGV (Natural Gas for Vehicles) with biomethane. Biomethane is a gas obtained through the fermentation of organic compounds (detritus, agricultural waste, garbage, etc.), which gives a second life to our waste.
To date, 1600 buses are hybrid or electric and 660 buses and coaches run on NGV.
And it is to receive, "feed" and maintain these new vehicles that it is necessary to renovate, adapt or even build adapted operational centers.
What does it mean to adapt a bus operations centre?
In concrete terms, this means equipping every bus parking space with a biomethane or electric charging socket. This also requires the support and development of a sector in the Paris region for the production of this famous biomethane.
The conversion of bus operational centres is already underway: 6 have been equipped with biomethane recharges and 4 with electric recharges. By the first half of 2022, 30 operational centres will be involved throughout the Île-de-France region: 4 will switch to electric vehicles, 24 will be adapted to NGV. And the movement will not stop there because new operational centers are under construction.
Who builds these COBs?
With the introduction of competition for bus lines, most of the new operational centres are being built by the delegated operators, under the supervision of Île-de-France Mobilités. Others are being built directly by Île-de-France Mobilités, such as the TZen 4 depot in Corbeil-Essonnes (91), the TZen 5 depot in Choisy-le-Roi (94), a depot in Bondoufle (91) and finally the Vaux-le-Pénil depot (77), which has just been completed.
For its part, RATP, in agreement with Île-de-France Mobilités, has launched an energy conversion plan for all its depots by 2025.
With the opening up to competition, future depots will be made either directly by Île-de-France Mobilités or by transport operators as part of their public service delegation.
Vaux-le-Pénil: the COB of the future
While many new-generation bus operational centres are under construction, the one in Vaux-le-Pénil (77) is very special: it is the first COB under direct project management Île-de-France Mobilités that will be handed over, in July, to the delegate Transdev in charge of operating the Grand Melun bus lines, whose activity will begin in August on this site.
Located on a 2.2-hectare wooded site, this COB will be able to accommodate 100 buses powered by natural gas (NGV). The site's employees will be accommodated in a building that complies with the High Environmental Quality (HQE) criteria with a green roof.
The Vaux-le-Pénil COB consists of a 2500 m2 workshop for the maintenance and repair of buses, a 915m2 building dedicated to operations – this is where most of the site's offices, the drivers' service room, and the reception area for visitors will be located, and a 4,800m2 car park where Transdev employees will be able to park.
In Vaux-le-Pénil, no less than 18 bus lines and 3 on-demand transport services will be operated
The municipalities served are Dammarie-les-Lys, Boissettes, Boissise-la-Bertrand, Boissise-le-Roi, La Rochette, Le Mée-sur-Seine, Limoges-Fourches, Lissy, Livry-sur-Seine, Maincy, Melun, Montereau-sur-le-Jard, Pringy, Rubelles, Vaux-le-Pénil, Voisenon, Villiers en Bière, Saint Fargeau-Ponthierry and Seine-Port.