Buses to and from Tours Airport (TUF)

Tours Airport is found in the Central region of France, and is a small airport serving just over a hundred thousand passengers per year. It is nearby the cities of Le Mans, Angers, Poitiers and Châteauroux, and in the Loire Valley area of the country, famous for it’s wines. The airport is also therefore known as the Tours Val de Loire Airport, and has the IATA code of TUF. It is served by the airline companies of Ryanair and Flybe. Tours Airport buses are available for the transport of passengers, and are quite convenient for reaching the city of Tours. Airport buses are also often considered the cheapest form of onward transport.

Tours Airport has a single terminal building that is easy to navigate, and arriving passengers will find a taxi rank and bus stops outside of the airport building. Although taxis may be a quicker option, many passengers like the bus services as well, and find them to be a useful form of transport. Since that Tours Airport is not very large, there are not extensive bus services available, but the one used by passengers travels to the city centre of Tours, from where further bus and train connections can be found. There is no train station on the airport grounds, as not many airports of this size are able to support the cost of running a direct train service. Buses can also be used to move around the city of Tours, and are very cheap way to reach many popular destinations.

The Tours Airport Buses

Ryanair is the important airline company of the airport, and therefore many of the services at the airport operate in accordance to the flight schedules of this air carrier. For example, the car rental companies are mainly open at hours which are convenient for Ryanair passenger arrivals. The same is true for the airport buses, as they depart from the airport bus stop approximately twenty minutes after the arrival of Ryanair flights. They can, however, be used by passengers on any other airline carrier. The buses travel to the Tours Bus Station in the city centre, which is also the location of the Tours Train Station. The journey is about twenty minutes, since that Tours is just 6km, or 3.2 miles from the airport, and bus tickets are available for purchase from the bus driver. Small change or the exact amount for a single ticket is preferable. The ticket is valid for an hour and fifteen minutes after it has been stamped for the first time.

In the alternative direction, passengers can reach Tours Airport by bus from the Tours Bus Station. The buses depart for the airport two hours before Ryanair flights are due for departure. Passengers will therefore arrive at the airport about an hour and a half before their flight departs, which is an adequate amount of time for check-in and passing the security checks.

There are two train stations in Tours, located approximately three kilometres apart. One is the station to where the airport bus travels (Tours Train Station), and the other is the St Pierre Des Corps Station. This station is where the fast TGV train services to the Paris Montparnasse Station are available. Although the Tours Airport buses do not serve this station, passengers can easily make the transfer by a shuttle bus that runs between them. It is a free service for passengers who hold a railway ticket.

The bus services of Tours are known as ‘Blue wire’, and the airport buses are part of this network as well. They transport approximately 26 million passengers every year, and travel in excess of 8 million kilometres. The company owns 236 buses in total, including 84 articulated buses and 152 standard buses. An electric bus and coaches are part of the company’s services as well. In 2010 thirty-six new buses were acquired, of which seventeen where standard and nineteen were articulated. There are around thirty bus lines available which serve the entire city, and many of which begin or end their journeys at Place Jean Jaures, or the Palace Square.

A few varieties of tickets are available for the Tours city buses. The right one will depend on how frequently you plan to use public transport in Tours. A single ticket for any journey will cost 1.35 Euro, and is valid for an hour and fifteen minutes. It can be purchased from the bus drivers, and is convenient for a once-off trip. Persons who would like to use the buses more frequently can purchase a day ticket, a weekly pass or even a monthly pass.

Additional services in Tours include the Urban buses connecting the neighbourhoods of Beaujardin, St Paul, Febvotte, Prébendes, Les Halles, Tonnellé, Botany and Maryse Bastie, amongst others, and Electron is a mini bus that circulates the centre area of Tours city. It is operational from Monday to Saturday, between the hours of 10:00 and 19:00, and a trip will cost just 0.30 Euro. At certain times of the year, carriages travel through the historic centre of Tours, and Velociti is a bike rental service offering bicycles for just two Euro a month until the new tram system for the city has been completed.

Tours Airport bus information can be found online from the website of the bus transport operators at http://www.filbleu.fr. Staff at the airport information desk may also be contacted in regards to airport bus services. The airport’s number is +33 (0)2 47493700.