Melun's new bus agency is shaping the future of passenger spaces in Île-de-France
Île-de-France Mobilités is renovating its reception and bus agencies throughout the Île-de-France region. Starting with the bus agency in Melun (77), renovated in the summer of 2024 with a new space combining design, comfort and accessibility.
Beyond a simple point of sale and information, this place has been imagined as a service space that meets the daily needs of travellers. This evolution, in line with the network's design identity, foreshadows the new face of the Ile-de-France agencies.
Discover the backstage of this metamorphosis.
Design: a major tool to improve your transport experience?
Before we go any further, the design... What is it? Design is the point of contact between the sensory and the functional. The shapes, colors, materials that we choose to give to an object, (a subway for example) so that it best responds to its function - in our example of a subway, transport you in the best conditions of comfort and safety.
How is design reflected?
To develop an effective design that is identifiable by all, you have to ask yourself a lot (a lot) of questions.
Put yourself in the users' shoes. Think about the durability of equipment. Remain practical, while being comfortable. Guarantee the feeling of security. Or create timeless spaces designed to resist wear and tear as well as fashion effects. An approach with a thousand and one parameters, where every detail is important.
In Melun, the bus agency puts design at the service of passengers
From the shape of the counters to the choice of colours and accessibility, every detail of the Melun branch has been carefully studied. The objective? To create a welcoming and practical environment that reflects the visual identity of Île-de-France Mobilités.
The Melun agency: the design of Île-de-France Mobilités in application
Simplicity
The sleek, natural and softened forms of the network (with the use of the "carrond" - a rounded square, which you will find everywhere, from the logo of Île-de-France Mobilités, to the validators to the shape of the new metros), are found in those of the ticket offices, the lights and the seats of the Melun agency.
The goal? To offer surfaces that are easy to clean and maintain (no dirt can get stuck in rounded corners), safe (sharp corners are sources of injury) and offer a pleasant and warm environment.
Durability
Every detail has been designed to ensure the overall durability of the spaces, ease of use, minimize environmental impact and stand the test of time : from the floor (a speckled linoleum that reduces the visibility of dirt), to the seat fabrics (the same as those of the metro, resistant and durable) to the contact surfaces (matte to avoid fingerprints and passage).
Inclusiveness
The spaces must meet the different needs of the many passengers. From access to buildings and transport to the readability of information on a screen, everything is meticulously thought out to facilitate users' travel.
In Melun, for example, a screen shows the bus schedules outside the agency, which is accessed via a ramp accessible to people with reduced mobility and wheelchairs.
Coherence
Pictograms that are worth a thousand words, a logo and a name that you know well and colors that you find everywhere on the network: the visual identity reassures and simplifies access to information, by going to the essential.
The colours and brand codes of Île-de-France Mobilités are therefore naturally found in the fabrics of the seats or the logo at the entrance to the agency.
Île-de-France Mobilités' design ambitions
The renovation of the Melun branch is the first of a long list of reception areas that will soon be modernised throughout the region. On the program:
- The renovation of bus agencies such as the one in Melun
- The creation of mobile agencies in the form of a converted truck that stops in the most remote municipalities to provide information on timetables, subscriptions and offer the sale of transport tickets
- or the renovation of PAM agencies
A design revolution that accompanies the revolution in transport and ticketing in the Ile-de-France region, towards ever greater comfort and simplicity!