The low-carbon RER started from an observation: the Department of Cher (and more broadly the Centre-Val de Loire Region) has unique cultural treasures rooted in rurality; on the other hand, visitors have no choice but to take their cars to discover them. In light of 2028, how can we imagine a connection between a city on a human scale and the surrounding rurality? How to reinvent the mobility of cultural audiences?
The low-carbon RER is a four-hour guided tourist route in the ultra-rurality of the Cher department, with works by contemporary artists in heritage sites far from the city.
In order to organize the course, Bourges 2028 has entered into a partnership with RATP dev. RATP dev has provided the Bourges 2028 association with a driver and a shuttle (55-seat bus) running on biomethane, a gas obtained from household waste. We have designed a route in the South of the Department of Cher:
Departure from Bourges, Avenue Eugène Brisson behind the Jardin de l'Archevêché at 1:45 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the summer of 2022
Park of the Château de Meillant : visitors were able to discover a contemporary work of land art by the artist Vincent Mauger
The Abbaye de Noirlac European Cultural Center for Heritage (CCR), the discovery of a work of land art by the artist Thomas Martin with a visit to its gardens and groves designed by the landscape artist Gille Clément
A snack was offered to visitors during the tour at the agroecological farm of Chateaufer.
The sensitive natural areas (ENS) of the Marais de Contres and the Domaine de la Périsse where a monumental work by Vincent Mauger has also been installed.
Return to Bourges at 6:45 p.m.
→ A cultural mediator was present in the shuttle to guide visitors through all the sites visited.
The shuttle ran from July 2022 until European Heritage Days on September 18, 2022, three days a week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We called on the Cher Tourism and Territories Agency to manage the reservations. The agreed price was €12.90 for the four hours of visits and the snack, the course was free for children under 10 years old. We have entered into various partnerships with retirement homes and officials of the CCAS of the City of Bourges in order to offer the low-carbon RER route to a large group of people.
The low-carbon RER in Noirlac has benefited from the support of the Centre-Val de Loire Region's call for projects: "New Renaissance(s)", as part of the theme "the Garden of France".
