ZOU! Intermétropole

ZOU! is the public transport brand of the Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, covering regional trains and buses across the region. Most ZOU! trains are run by SNCF, but since 29 June 2025 the Marseille to Nice corridor has operated separately, still under the ZOU! brand, through a Transdev delegation called Transdev Rail Sud Inter-métropoles. It was France's first regional rail line opened to competition, and the distinction matters for a traveller: the ZOU! brand and ticket system stay the same, but the company running the Marseille-Nice trains is Transdev, not SNCF.

The Région Sud stays in charge of the line regardless of who operates it. As the transport authority, the region sets the service level, fares and investment, and Transdev delivers the day-to-day service under contract, with SNCF Réseau still managing and maintaining the tracks. From July 2025 the line runs 16 round trips a day between 6:00 and 21:00, more at weekends, calling at Marseille St Charles, Toulon, Les Arcs, St Raphaël, Cannes, Antibes, Nice St Augustin and Nice Ville. Around 163 former SNCF rail staff moved to the new operation on a voluntary basis when the contract began.

Tickets and season passes are not affected by the change of operator. A Zou! subscription bought for the region's SNCF-run trains is also valid on the Transdev Marseille-Nice service, sold through the same channels: online, at station ticket machines, ZOU! sales offices and ZOU! partners. The trains themselves are new Alstom double-deck units, introduced for the June 2025 contract, fitted with wifi, power sockets and dedicated space for bikes and pushchairs.

ZOU! covers considerably more than this one corridor. Across the wider region, the network runs about 550 trains a day, 150 of them on the main regional lines, serving nine strategically placed stations, and carries close to 40 million passengers a year on its regional trains. It also includes the separate Chemins de Fer de Provence, the narrow-gauge Train des Pignes line running 151 kilometres from Nice to Digne-les-Bains through about thirty towns and villages, part of the ZOU! network since 2018 and carrying roughly 400,000 passengers of its own each year; a heritage steam service on part of that line, the Train des Pignes Historique à vapeur, runs between Puget-Théniers and Annot from 3 May to 7 November 2026.

For customer service across the ZOU! network, including the Marseille-Nice line, the regional contact number is +33 (0)4 13 94 30 50, staffed daily from 7:00 to 20:00 at the local call rate.