French regional bus operator offers cross-border trips to Spain for 1 euro

And that, in times of rising energy prices, seems like an even better deal

Almost two years ago the French Autocars liO regional bus operator launched a trial service to connect several communities located on both sides of the Spanish-French border at the price of 1 euro (3 euros if originating from Spain). Due to the rolling COVID restrictions in that period, no definite valuable conclusions could be made about the experiment.

Nevertheless, the management of the company has decided that the interest shown is strong enough to merit making the 5 inter-communal lines permanent.

Thus, residents living near the border in the French Occitanie Region (more specifically in the departmental council of Pyrénées-Orientales) and in Catalonia (Spain) can enjoy regular and accessible public transport without having to worry about rising fuel prices.

With support from the European Union

The trial run was meant to conclude at the end of May, and it counted on support from the European Union, which chipped in with some 1.6 million euros to make it a reality. However, the conditions of the past two years have to a certain extent invalidated the possibility to make definite quantitative conclusions. Still, residents have shown strong enthusiasm for the low-priced mode of transportation that has helped to further erase the idea of a border between the two countries.

“We feel that these five lines are very useful for the populations, in particular, to serve the cross-border hospital of Puigcerdà," explained Jean-Luc Gibelin, vice-president of the Occitanie region, in charge of transport issues. He was quoted by BFM Business.

And here are the five lines that he referred to and the communities that they serve:

• Porté-Puymorens-Puigcerdà-Mont-Louis (2 round trips per day on weekdays, 1 on weekends)
• Formiguères-Puigcerdà-Err (2 round trips from Monday to Saturday)
• Figueres-La Jonquera-Le Boulou (5 return trips per day from Monday to Saturday, 3 on Sunday)
• Figueres-Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans (2 round trips per day from Monday to Saturday)
• Camprodon-Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste (3 return trips per day, every day)