Strasbourg Tramway - Schedules

Schedules

The volume of service is identical on all lines. Service first starts at the terminuses closest to the depot, between 0404 and 0434, picking up at the other end of the line between 0436 and 0457. In this way, stations closest to the depots (Rotonde for lines A and D, Elsau for lines B and F, Martin Schongauer for line B headed to Ostwald, Kibitzenau for line C and Landsberg for line E). On Sundays and public holidays, service starts an hour later than usual. Service ends at the same time every day; the last departures from terminuses take place between 0002 and 0015 (except for line C, where the last tram leaves Gare Centrale at 0035). After this, trams are stored empty in the depots; there is no reduced night-time service.

The service is equally frequent across all lines except line F, which has much lower frequency. All lines have an enhanced service period, from around 0600 to 2000. During this period, tram frequencies on lines A, B, C, D and E are one every 6 minutes on Mondays - Fridays, one every 7 minutes on Saturdays and every 12–15 minutes on Sundays. On line F, tram frequency is one every 10 minutes Monday - Friday, one every 13.5 minutes on Saturdays and one every 20 minutes on Sundays and public holidays.

Outside the enhanced service period, trams follow published timetables on all lines except line A. Depending on the time of day, tram frequency is one every 10–15 minutes on lines B, C, D and E. On line A, it is possible that trams run only every 20 minutes in the early mornings and late evenings, while the frequency on line F is only one every 20–30 minutes at these times. This is not problematic for users, since its purpose is to reinforce service on other lines (aside the final 600m, Observatoire - Place d’Islande).

Stations served by two different lines will have a tram stop every 3 minutes on weekdays, according to the schedules described above. On Saturdays, this gap grows to 3.5 minutes, while frequency averages one tram every 6 - 7.5 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. There are some exceptions: Elsau - Homme de Fer is served less often, since only lines B and F travel this route. On the other hand, the two sections served by three lines (Homme de Fer - République and République-Observatoire) are travelled by 26 trams every hour in each direction, Monday to Friday. The network as a whole boasts one of the highest transit frequencies of all French urban areas with over 250 000 inhabitants.

What is unique about the Strasbourg service is the fact that service at morning and evening rush hours is not more frequent than other services throughout the day. This is particularly noticeable in the early mornings, where service is reduced in most large cities; this is not the case in Strasbourg. The trams have no separate evening timetable, while bus schedules are modified only slightly. Both modes of transport have their timetables co-ordinated as to ensure transfers are always possible, even in the late evenings.

From the beginning of July to the end of August, the CTS uses a summer timetable, with slightly lower tram frequencies. Details of this are however not published, only arrival and departure times at major stations. Journey times are not identical across all services, varying by up to 3–4 minutes on line A, regardless of the time of day. Overall, the trams recorded an average service speed of 19 km/h in 2010.