Lyon’s public transportation runs on a single network with a single ticket: TCL, operated by SYTRAL Mobilités, covers the metro, trams, funiculars, trolleybuses, buses, and even a river shuttle across the whole metropolitan area. Tap a contactless card almost anywhere and you’re covered — there’s no separate pass to figure out for most trips.
The basics
TCL’s network includes:
- Metro — 4 lines, the backbone of the system.
- Tram — 7 lines criss-crossing the city and suburbs.
- Funicular — 2 lines climbing to Fourvière and Saint-Just, in the hilly west of the city.
- Trolleybus and bus — more than 120 routes covering the rest.
- Navigône — a river shuttle on the Saône, TCL’s newest addition.
As of September 2025, three previously separate networks (TCL, Cars du Rhône, and Libellule) merged into one unified TCL brand covering 262 communes across the Lyon metro area and the Rhône department — one ticket now works everywhere. For trips further afield, the TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional trains connect from Lyon’s two main stations, Part-Dieu and Perrache.
How to pay
TCL has rolled out contactless bank-card payment: more than 4,000 validators at bus and tram doors and at metro and funicular station entrances let you tap a contactless card, phone, or smartwatch to pay and validate your ride in a few seconds — no ticket machine required. This currently covers trips within zones 1–2 (central Lyon and its inner suburbs); for trips further out, buy a TCL ticket instead.
You can also buy and load tickets through the TCL app or at vending machines and ticket agencies. On buses, you can pay the driver directly in cash — a ticket bought this way costs a bit more and is valid for one hour.
Fares
A standard single TCL ticket costs €2.10 (€2.50 if you pay cash on board a bus). The network is split into fare zones, with separate ticket ranges depending on how many zones you cross and whether your trip touches the dense central zone 1.
Reduced and solidarity pricing is built into the system:
| Group | Monthly subscription |
|---|---|
| Under 10 | Free |
| Ages 11–17 | €24.30 |
| Ages 18–25 (and students 26–27) | €25.00 |
| Seniors 60+ / 65+ | €36.30 |
| Families with 3+ children under 18 | €50.80 |
Riders with very low incomes (minimum-income benefits, disability or old-age allowances, and similar) qualify for a free or 85%-reduced solidarity subscription. A few quirky fares round things out: a €1 ticket for traveling with your dog, a €3 all-day “Tick’Air” ticket sold on pollution-alert days, and a €3.60 evening ticket valid from 4pm to the end of service on big event nights like the Fête des Lumières.
Getting from the airport
Lyon–Saint Exupéry (LYS) has two official public-transportation options:
Rhônexpress is the express tram-train, running non-stop between the airport and Lyon Part-Dieu (with stops at Vaulx-en-Velin La Soie, which connects to metro line A, and Meyzieu Z.I.).
- Time: under 30 minutes.
- Cost: a single ticket is €16.30 bought online (€17.40 at the station machine); round trip is €28.50 online. Riders aged 12–25 pay €10.70 one-way. Kids under 12 ride free.
- How often: every 15 minutes through most of the day.
- Hours: runs from about 4:25am to midnight.
It’s one of the pricier airport links in Europe, so budget travelers often take the TCL bus instead:
- Line C200 and Line 248 both serve the airport’s bus station, for the price of a regular TCL ticket (€2.10).
- Line C200 runs daily from about 4:50am to midnight; on weekdays roughly 1 in 3 buses continues to the airport, and about 1 in 2 does on weekends.
- Line 248 runs weekdays from about 5:30am to 10pm, and weekends/holidays from about 5:20am to 9:25pm.
- Both are slower than Rhônexpress but a fraction of the cost — a reasonable trade if you’re not in a hurry.
Apps to download
- TCL — the official app for the whole network: schedules, live traffic alerts, trip planning, and buying or loading tickets.
- Rhônexpress — buy airport tram-train tickets and check live departures.
When it runs
Exact first and last departures vary by line — check the TCL app or tcl.fr for live schedules. The Rhônexpress airport train runs daily from about 4:25am to midnight (see Getting from the airport, above).
Accessibility
TCL’s entire bus fleet — more than 1,000 vehicles — is wheelchair accessible, with low floors and retractable ramps, and 74% of bus stops (over 6,000) are accessible. The metro and tram network has 112 elevators and 130 escalators, with a target 98% uptime.
Optibus offers door-to-door paratransit for riders with visual or motor disabilities, running more than 100,000 trips a year. It requires registration in advance.
For safety after dark, TCL lets any rider request a stop anywhere along the route after 10pm, not just at marked stops — ask the driver.
Etiquette & local quirks
- Tap in every time, including transfers — contactless validators are at every door and station entrance.
- Bikes are welcome on trams. SYTRAL has made bike-carrying on trams a permanent feature, alongside a growing network of secure bike parking.
- The funiculars up to Fourvière and Saint-Just are a handy (and fun) shortcut up Lyon’s hills — your regular TCL ticket covers them.
- If something feels wrong, you can report incidents, harassment, or safety concerns directly through the TCL app or website.
Good to know
- The network merged in September 2025. If you see older references to “Cars du Rhône” or “Libellule,” those networks are now simply TCL — same app, same ticket.
- Rhônexpress is separate. It keeps its own fare system and isn’t covered by a regular TCL ticket or pass.
- Traveling with a dog? A €1 ticket covers it.