SNCF Timetable leaflets

[fandroid]

I was in Nice last Tuesday. I picked up a printed TER timetable leaflet for the local trains along the Cote D'Azur. Whilst munching my pizza in a local restaurant, I spotted that (apparently) the last local train west out of Nice Ville was at 20.33. I duly curtailed my wanderings to get to the station only to find that the indicators and the timetables there suggested several later trains up to midnight. Is this bit of misinformation a one-off? Or should travellers beware the limited info available on similar leaflets?

 

[87015]

Which timetable did you pick up? They can be downloaded here by route https://www.ter.sncf.com/paca/depliant/recherche

Timetable 3 with the last train at 2033 says you need to refer to timetable 4 for full service between Nice and Cannes which is the local rather than longer distance TER book and does show the later trains.

 

[fandroid]

It was leaflet 3 that I picked up. I have since looked at timetable 4 online and see what you mean. Looking again at leaflet 3 it does seem to be very asymmetrical. The eastbound services show all trains up to an arrival at Nice Ville at 23.37, whereas the westbound ones only go as far as that 20.33 departure. Another page would have covered the later trains, possibly by ditching the page dedicated to 'ZOU!'. The note about also referring to fiche d'horaires no 4 is really only visible if you read all the small print.

Anyway, I have now learnt what la desserte means!

 

[Greenback]

I've always found the SNCF timetables difficult to read, although my French is quite good. I find I need a lot of concentration to work them out. I was on the Cote D'Azur back in 2008 when I had exactly the same problem!

 

[CC 72100]

I've always found the SNCF timetables difficult to read, although my French is quite good. I find I need a lot of concentration to work them out. I was on the Cote D'Azur back in 2008 when I had exactly the same problem!

They're not the easiest to work with (I say that as someone who in a few months time will have a degree in French).

They also have a habit of producing the timetable on a given line in each direction, meaning that no one timetable leaflet covers the line, as all the journeys in the other direction will be on the other leaflet.

They also do not seem keen on separating it into week, Saturday and Sunday, instead preferring to have 37376 different notes which refer to when the train runs (ie. trains runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays but not on the 3rd of July or the 26th October)

And finally, there is always the risk with TER of reading the timetable wrong and ending up with a 'train' that is operated by 'Autocar'

 

[Greenback]

I agree, AdamW! These days I try and work it out by myself in a quiet place and then ask my wife for a second opinion in case she spots something I missed.

 

[Sindicat]

Current FH_04 isn't too bad, there's only 7 codes on it. The day abbreviations are above each trip.
The overall service is fairly poor though. We travel to a stop midway between Nice & Cannes. Most nights the last train from Nice or Cannes is too early to get back from events. Even Fri & Sat are an hour earlier than a few years back.
The late service was decimated when they started work on the 3rd track between Antibes and Cagnes. I thought it might be restored with their 'Omnibus' service, when the work was complete.
Further east there has also been strengthening work on the Monaco tunnel.
They seem to be waiting for the new Regio2N stock now, which may have been partly delayed by the need to shave off platform edges.
It's claimed they should start deployment in summer, so hopefully next December's timetable should be an improvement.
The lack of a decent evening bus service doesn't help either.

 

[Taunton]

Public transport across France, with the exception of the TGV if it suits, and the Metro within urban Paris, is universally poor.

We visit people in Grasse and would sometimes take the train down to the sea (visible in the distance from the house window) if it weren't for the fact that the hourly service, from a casual glance at the timetable, actually has a 2-hour gap midday because one of the times is, in small type, Sat/Sun only.

All that money paid out for reopening and electrifying the Cannes to Grasse branch, which like half the SNCF network was closed in 1938, but was reopened just a few years ago, much spent on stations, track and electrification, but so few trains.

Incidentally I always laugh at the little café at Grasse station, a sufficiently minor terminus that it doesn't even have taxis waiting, which has for lunch "Formule TGV" up on the boards outside

 

[Busaholic]

Public transport across France, with the exception of the TGV if it suits, and the Metro within urban Paris, is universally poor.

We visit people in Grasse and would sometimes take the train down to the sea (visible in the distance from the house window) if it weren't for the fact that the hourly service, from a casual glance at the timetable, actually has a 2-hour gap midday because one of the times is, in small type, Sat/Sun only.

All that money paid out for reopening and electrifying the Cannes to Grasse branch, which like half the SNCF network was closed in 1938, but was reopened just a few years ago, much spent on stations, track and electrification, but so few trains.

Incidentally I always laugh at the little café at Grasse station, a sufficiently minor terminus that it doesn't even have taxis waiting, which has for lunch "Formule TGV" up on the boards outside

I think you're being a little unfair about transport in France - what about the excellent tram services in Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg,etc? Even somewhere like Brest, the equivalent of Plymouth. Not to mention that fares will barely ever be more than half ours are for equivalent distances.

As for wanting to travel at midday, when in France....just get down to that cafe and get stuck in to that cheap menu, at a third of English prices.

 

[leytongabriel]

Yes READ WITH CARE. SNCF tiemtable leaflets can be a real pain with several trains at the same time and a variety of codes for the different days they run. Often with a one or two minute difference soemwhere down the line. Is is because they are trying to print pretty much the operating timetable?