New Navibus line to Chantenay announced

In October 2022 Nantes Métropole opened a public consultation on a new Navibus line between Trentemoult and Bas-Chantenay. For the village, crossing the Loire is not a side issue: it is the everyday way to Nantes.

The plan was a new pier at the old Sablières, 300 metres from the Roquios pier. That pontoon was also meant to serve line N1, which already links Trentemoult to Gare maritime, plus a 140-space park-and-ride. The consultation covered the route, the place of the quay and cars beside the river.

Opening was then announced for the end of 2024. The Trentemoult-Sablières pier was finally opened in November 2025 (see the news item).

The link continues a longer story already told on this site. A first public service crosses here from 1791; the state regulates it in 1804. In 1887 steamers arrive that everyone soon calls Roquios. Shipyard workers from Chantenay took them every day. The service stops in 1958, with the car. In 2005 the crossing returns as the Navibus, two lines to Gare maritime and to Bas-Chantenay. At the end of 2025 the pontoon was moved a little downstream.

The network is now called Naolib: tram, busway, bus and Navibus. From Trentemoult, Navibus N1 crosses the Loire to Gare maritime, close to the city centre. The Pass Nantes includes unlimited travel on this network, plus the airport shuttle and the park-and-ride car parks. The 2022 page is the record of the consultation that led to the new Sablières pier.