La Poterie, city’s entrance
For these observations of the city in crisis, I chose “La Poterie“ in Rennes.
This is a subway station, the begging of the (for now) only subway line of the city. There’re numerous bus stops, a parking lot, and a drop-off area. It’s close to the ring road and can be considered as the entrance of the city for the south urban area. The bus lines are either going to the city center or the outskirts of Rennes. It seems important to highlight that this place is under construction. The drop-off area has recently been extended, and the parking lot will double its capacity. Around the area, there is a skatepark, football fields, a park, and a high school.
Actual parking lot and the new one under construction, Monday 16th November 2020 © Louise Bothé
I’ve been living in this neighborhood until I was 18 so I saw the evolution of the area and have a bias on observing it. To me, it represents access to the city center (with the subway) and is a place to meet people or hang around as a teenager. Through this observation, I wanted to see how the place is used during the lockdown. I remember the place with a crowd come and go, lots of cars and buses. I expected to see fewer vehicles, but considering the second lockdown was more flexible I didn’t imagine the place to be empty. I wanted to see if, as I recall, it’s a place where people stay and wait. Moreover, with the sports complex and the park near the station, I would’ve imagined that some pedestrians would go through La Poterie during their 1 hour of daily exercise.
I chose my moments of observation according to the rush hours and the frequentation of the subway. Therefore, I observed the city on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday evening between 6 pm and 6:30 pm. After these three observations, I decided I would also observe on a Monday morning, between 8:20 am and 8:50 am, according to the same criteria. I expected to see more people, because of the close high school and workers.
For all four observations, I stayed in the same place, to be able to compare the different moments. This spot enabled me to see the bus stops, one access to the subway station, and the drop-off area.
Subway frequentation, Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 10.43.44
Subway frequentation, Screenshot 2020-11-13 at 18.51.02
How does the city live?
When I arrived for my first observation, it was right before 6 pm on a Friday. I saw a huge group of high school students coming to take the bus. It gave an impression of a crowd. Within less than 15 minutes, almost all the students were gone. They took buses that were going to the urban area. These buses arrived empty and weren’t full despite the groups of students.
Once the students were gone, I didn’t see many people. I stayed at the same place for 30 minutes and saw less than 10 people with a suitcase, 2 bikes, 2 strollers, and 2 joggers. Everyone was either waiting for a bus or a car at the drop-off area, the only exception was a group of two, who was there the entire time of my observation. It felt like they were wandering. In the beginning, around 6 pm, about 50 people would get out of the subway each time but as time went it was less and less people. On the other side, I did see some people get in the subway, but it was nothing based upon the frequentation which was supposed to be at its maximum.
View of the bus-stops from the footbridge, Friday 13th November 2020, 6:40 pm © Louise Bothé
The day after, on Saturday evening, I observed between 5:50 pm and 6:30 pm. It was raining and dark. Because on Friday I mainly saw students and people who seemed to come back from work, I didn’t expect to see many people. When I arrived, I only saw 2 cars at the drop-off area, 10 people waiting for a bus, and 3 young pedestrians who seemed to wander (they were not wearing a mask).
View of the drop-off area and the parking lot from the footbridge, Saturday 14th November 2020, 6:30 pm © Louise Bothé
During my observation, I saw 4 joggers and 5 walkers. Each time, it was less than 5 people getting out of the subway. Within 30 minutes, less than 30 persons entered the subway station. The buses were almost empty and 4 cars dropped-off someone.
I saw a beer can on the floor under a bus stop, which made me think that during the night or the day, some people stayed here and drank. It’s an attitude completely different than what I have observed so far. At the same time, two men drinking a beer were standing next to the elevator and were going to the station. I saw more people with a stroller (2), mostly women, and more children (5) than on Friday.
The last observation I planned was on Sunday evening. I observed at the same time as the previous days. They were more cars in the drop-off area, 7 cars were parked when I arrived and I saw almost 30 cars stop by. Some people had luggage. As of Saturday, 20 people got out of the subway and very few got in. I only saw 3 buses and they were fewer trains as it was Sunday.
On the other hand, I witnessed 3 skaters passing-by, 8 joggers, and a lot of walkers. They were couples, families, or walking their dog. For the first time, I noticed a disabled person in a wheelchair. The atmosphere was different than the other days, I felt like more people were taking a walk whereas the other day they were mainly here to take the bus or the subway.
View of the bus-stops, Sunday 15th November 2020, 6 pm © Louise Bothé
I felt a bit frustrated in my observation because I was expecting to see more people, so I decided I would do one last observation on the next Monday morning, between 8:20 am and 8:50 am. I directly noticed the newspaper rack close to the elevator and a man giving out newspapers. Unlike the other days, children were going to school, in addition to the students and adults. The other days, the buses were arriving empty and many people were getting in to go to the urban area of Rennes. On Monday morning, the buses were pretty crowded and people were waiting for buses going to the city center. From 8:45 am the stream of people had passed and the man took the newspaper ranks and left.
People go up to the subway station, Monday 16th November 2020, 9:25 am © Louise Bothé
Everyone wore their mask well, even when they were just a few people and a physical distancing.
Schoolchild taking a bus to the city center, Monday 16th November 2020, 9:30 am © Louise Bothé
Weight of restrictions
This area is only used as a transit zone, from one means of transport to another. In some cases, people can wait for a while, but they never will be there to stay. I hypothesize that there were more people on Friday because it was a working day. On the weekend, fewer people are working, there’re no students and most shops are closed. In a way, people had no reason to be there, especially because there’s a park if people want to take a walk. It was also a bit late in the afternoon, it was dark and raining, we can assume that if people walked by it was earlier during the daytime. My theory was confirmed on Monday. There were a lot of people and students taking buses or the subway, but once the rush hour was over, there were very few people.
The atmosphere was completely different than what I remembered. In my memories, on Friday and Sunday evenings, it was also chaos with buses and cars trying to enter the area, traffic jams, and people trying to regulate the traffic. Because of the drop-off, many students were carsharing on Friday and Sunday evenings. During the lockdown, it was impossible to carshare and ride without a certificate.
Concerning the layout, the new parking lot is under construction and the drop-off area has double its capacity. That it’s because in “normal“ times it’s full. During the time of my observation, the parking lot was never full, it might be because many people were working from home. Another explanation could be that people were trying to avoid public transport and drove directly to their office. To go to the city center it’s usually an articulated bus but I did not see any during my observation. The transport network probably adapted to the attendance.
The only changes related to the pandemic are new signage and hydroalcoholic gel dispensers at the entrances of the subway station. These dispensers are not on the street level, but at the entrance of the station. There is no dispenser at the bus stop nor near the elevator to reach the station. I would think that the hydroalcoholic gel dispenser can be useful everywhere, for everyone, and so be placed somewhere accessible.
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Examples of new signage related to COVID-19 crisis © Louise Bothé
Conclusion
Although I only saw one entrance and exit (they’s another one I couldn’t see from my spot), the lockdown had an impact on the frequentation of transports which was reduced in general and almost nothing during the weekend. Even if we consider there were the same amount of people getting in and out on the other side I couldn’t see, it would still not be a lot of travelers. As mentioned, the area is mostly a transit zone for people using the transport network and when the transports are not needed (or the use is restricted) then the number of passer-by drops. It could have been interesting to observe the same area when shops reopened and the limit was extended to 3 hours and 20km. I imagine that, with Christmas coming, people would start shopping and I would see more people on Saturday for example.
The urban landscape also changed with new signs and rules concerning the health protocol. As it is related to the pandemic there are just stickers on the floor and the panes. I assume it is not meant to be durable. However, the gel dispensers could be kept. We would have to observe it in months to see how it evolves.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
louisebothe (14 décembre 2020). People’s use of public transports when under a lockdown. Comment voit-on la ville ? Consulté le 7 juillet 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/v7p8