Young commuters in the peri-urban environment : Are they specific users of public transportation?

International audienceAround Greater Paris, in the Basin parisien, urban sprawl is now getting into the rural areas. People have moved there to get some housing property. Most of them are families with children. Some of them are teenagers. They live in a periurban environment, an intermediary zone between rural and urban areas and have to go to high school every day. Most of the pupils commute to and from their suburban home, to and from school by the public transportation, which is the only means of transport they can afford.They think about this way as a good way of commuting for them. It is a space which is out of reach of parents. It’s the opportunity for young people to design their own teenage world. They are definitely not prisoners in suburban areas. If some of them do not feel like moving, most of them have the impression they control their way of commuting. They walk a lot once they have arrived in Sens and when they are off school. Going downtown with friends is the way of feeling free. They cope with the territory and network they live in and they juggle and mix with different means of transport. They are a resourceful category of people