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| Image:Paris rer A jms.svg
| line A | Image:Paris rer D jms.svg
| line D
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| line B | Image:Paris rer E jms.svg
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Noctilien is the name of the night bus service in Paris and its agglomeration. It is managed by the STIF (Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France - the Île-de-France regional public transit authority) and operated RATP and Transilien. 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 nighttime transport needs.
In place of the previous hub-and-spoke scheme where all buses terminated at and departed from Châtelet metro station, Noctilien's new service includes buses operating between banlieues (communities surrounding Paris proper) as well as outbound lines running from Paris' four main train 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 35 bus lines from the last bus of the night (0030) until the first bus of the morning (0530) over the whole of Paris and the Île-de-France region. It is made up of two "circular" lines, running between Paris' major train stations, 25 "radial" lines running from major Paris stations outward to the banlieues, and 8 "transversal" lines, running between different banlieues and traversing Paris along the way.
Like Transilien, the name "Noctilien" is formed by analogy with "Francilien" - the French demonym for residents of Île-de-France.
[edit] Noctilien lines
[edit] Line numbering scheme
Each bus line number starts with N 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 St-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
Lines N 120 and N 121 are long distance lines that terminate at "Châtelet" (explaining the 2 as second digit).
These line numbers bear no relationship to the old Noctambus line numbers.
[edit] External links
This article draws heavily on the French Wikipedia page "Noctilien", downloaded 18 February 2006fr:Noctilien