Noctilien

Noctilien is the night bus service in Paris and its agglomeration. It is managed by the Île-de-France Mobilités (formerly the STIF), the Île-de-France regional public transit authority, and operated by RATP (with 32 lines) and Transilien SNCF (with 16 lines).

It replaced the previous '' Noctambus'' service on the night of 20/21 September 2005, providing for a larger number of lines than before and claiming to be better adapted to night-time transport needs.

In place of the previous hub-and-spoke scheme where all buses terminated at and departed from the heart of Paris: Châtelet , Noctilien's new service includes buses operating between ''banlieues'' (communes surrounding Paris proper) as well as outbound lines running from Paris' four main railway stations: Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse and Gare Saint-Lazare. In addition, these four stations are also connected to each other by a regular night bus service.

All in all, Noctilien operates 48 bus lines, from the end of the rail network and day bus service (around 00:30) until their resumption early in the morning (around 05:30), over the whole of Paris and the Île-de-France region.

It is made up of:
* 2 ''circular lines'': & running between Paris' major train stations ;
* 6 ''transversal lines'': from to running between different suburbs of Paris via its center at Châtelet ;
* 21 ''radial lines'' (the other 2 digits lines, except N71) running between major Paris stations and more or less its near suburbs ;
* 2 ''radial long distance lines'': & (subcontracted by the RATP) running between Paris and its remote suburbs ;
* 15 ''radial long distance lines'' (the other 3 digits lines, except N135) running between Paris and its remote suburbs (with often a partly motorway route) and managed by the Transilien SNCF ;
* 2 ''ring lines'' in the suburbs: by RATP & by Transilien SNCF.

Like Transilien, the name ''"Noctilien"'' is formed by analogy with ''"Francilien"'' — the French demonym for residents of Île-de-France.

Noctilien lines

* - Inner (''clockwise'') circle line from and to Gare de l'Est
''via'' Gare de Lyon → Gare Montparnasse → Gare Saint-Lazare
* - Outer (''counterclockwise'') circle line from and to Gare Montparnasse
''via'' Gare de Lyon → Gare de l'Est → Gare Saint-Lazare
* - Pont de Neuilly ↔ Château de Vincennes
* - Pont de Sèvres ↔ Romainville - Carnot
* - Mairie d'Issy ↔ Bobigny - Pablo Picasso
* - Mairie de Saint-Ouen ↔ La Croix de Berny
* - Asnières − Gennevilliers - Gabriel Péri ↔ Villejuif - Louis Aragon
* - Pont de Levallois ↔ Mairie de Montreuil
* - Châtelet ↔ Longjumeau - Hôpital
* - Châtelet ↔ Juvisy
* - Châtelet ↔ Chelles-Gournay
* - Châtelet ↔ Sartrouville
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Paris Orly Airport (''South Terminal'')
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Boissy-Saint-Léger
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Villiers-sur-Marne (''via'' Vincennes & Nogent-sur-Marne)
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Torcy
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Villiers-sur-Marne (''via'' Maisons-Alfort & Saint-Maur-des-Fossés)
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Villeparisis – Mitry-le-Neuf
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Aulnay-sous-Bois - Garonor
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Gare de Sarcelles-Saint-Brice
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Garges-Sarcelles
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Montfermeil - Hôpital
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Gare d'Enghien
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Gare de Cormeilles-en-Parisis
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Nanterre - Anatole France
* - Gare Montparnasse ↔ Clamart - Georges Pompidou
* - Gare Montparnasse ↔ Rungis International Market
* - Gare Montparnasse ↔ École Polytechnique - Vauve
* - Gare Montparnasse ↔ Gare de Chaville-Rive-Droite
* - Rungis International Market ↔ Val de Fontenay
* - Châtelet ↔ Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy (''Disneyland Paris'')
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Brétigny
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Melun
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Juvisy
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Combs-la-Ville - Quincy
* - Villeneuve-Saint-Georges ↔ Corbeil-Essonnes
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport (''All Terminals'')
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Gare de Meaux
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Tournan
* - Gare de l'Est ↔ Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport (''Semi-direct link to all Terminals'')
* - Gare de Lyon ↔ Corbeil-Essonnes
* - Gare Montparnasse ↔ Gare de La Verrière ( Gare de Rambouillet ''On week-end nights'')
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Cergy Le Haut
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Gare de Mantes-la-Jolie
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Cergy Le Haut
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Saint Germain-en-Laye
* - Gare Saint-Lazare ↔ Montigny – Beauchamp

Line numbering scheme

Each bus line number starts with for ''Noctilien'' followed by a two or three digit number:

*2 digits starting with "N0" for the two "circular" routes
*2 digits starting with "N1" for the "transversal" routes
*2 digits starting with "N2" for buses running from Châtelet
*2 digits starting with "N3" for buses running from Gare de Lyon
*2 digits starting with "N4" for buses running from Gare de l'Est
*2 digits starting with "N5" for buses running from Gare Saint-Lazare
*2 digits starting with "N6" for buses running from Gare Montparnasse
*3 digits starting with "N1" for the long distance buses running to the outer suburbs.

References

*''This article draws heavily on the French Wikipedia page "Noctilien", downloaded 18 February 2006.''

External links

Official website

{{RATP Group, state=collapsed

Transport in Île-de-France
RATP Group
Transport in Paris
Transport in Hauts-de-Seine
Night bus service
Bus transport in France