To be able to get off the bus between two stops to get as close as possible to your home and avoid crossing paths. This is the principle of on-demand stops that appeared on the Star network in Rennes in January 2021 in order to reduce the risk of aggression or harassment. The system was first tested on lines C1 and 57 before being extended to lines C3, C5, 50, 52 and 61 at the start of the school year in September.
At the start of the next school year, on-demand stops will be generalized on all Star network lines. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Mayor Nathalie Appéré on the occasion of the signing of the European charter for equality of women and men in local life.
On demand but not anywhere
Every evening of the week from 10 p.m. and midnight on weekends, people traveling alone can ask the bus driver to stop between two stops to save them a long walk. The latter, however, remains “judge of the feasibility or not of your request and must ensure that all the conditions are met to make a safe stop”, specifies the Star. People in wheelchairs are also not eligible, due to the lack of suitable facilities outside the stops.
Presented by Matthieu Theurier, vice-president of the metropolis in charge of transport, as a “tool for gender equality”, the stop-on-demand system is encouraged by feminist associations. It must be said that the report is terrible. According to a survey carried out by the association Osez le féminisme in 2019 among 2,300 women, only 1.1% of them had never been victims of violence or aggression in public transport.