Par
Mathieu Charré
Published on
It’s a Facebook group mutual aid and resourcefulnessused on a daily basis by public transport users in the Rouen metropolitan area. Created in May 2022, the “Traffic Info and Rouen Controllers (TransDev)” Group now has more than 26,000 membersgathered for two things: to find out about public transport concerns… and about location of controllers.
A group created by a high school student in financial difficulty
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At the root of this group, created in 2022, is Edward, now a 24-year-old craftsman. “When I created this group, I was a high school student who had to pay rent, his food, the bills and the journey to go to my high school which was a 6-hour drive from Rouen, while earning barely €900 to live on. At the end of each month, I had to choose between paying for food or paying for transportation tickets. And unfortunately like many people, I had to make a choice, which was quite simple to decide. »
Basically, Edward says he wanted to create a traffic information group, nothing more. “Like a Waze, but on Facebook. » Without advertising, the affair quickly grew. Today, approximately 1 000 publications are posted each month. From mid-December to mid-January, the group received more than 150,000 visits. To find out about traffic, but not only that.
A strongly moderate group
Faced with strong demand, Edward finally agreed to modify the offer. “After a few months, I decided toaccept information on the presence of controllersbut with strong moderation”, to avoid sales announcements, spam, etc.
“Where are they please”, “Controller in sight in the metro towards Georges Braque”, “F2 towards Mont-Saint-Aignan”… These messages are multiplying, day after day, to alert on the position of controllers, or ask where they are. “I personally set up the controller information service, because many people from Rouen that I knew asked me for it, and most found that the Transportation had become quite expensive. »
“I was never proud of having accepted this”
A help with fraudSO ? “Honestly, deep down, I was never proud of having accepted this, because I knew that it was somewhat illegal. » But Edward insists: users don’t come just for that. “Many thank us for keeping them informed, use the group to see if there is anything no problem on their line, or ask which bus to take to go from such and such a place. »
I repeat, my goal has never been to destroy the Tip network. I just always wanted to help people, whatever way I could.
Today, Edward is helped by a moderator, plus two others if necessary. And confess to passing a lot of time every day taking care of this group.
How is the group used?
To find out more about the habits of the more than 26,000 members of this Facebook group, we counted and sorted the messages over a week at the start of 2026, from Monday to Sunday, excluding school holidays.
First observation, the group seems particularly active from Monday to Friday, with sometimes anonymous users. In our sample, the vast majority of publications provide information on the position of controllers and/or the police. Then come the location requests (“where are they?”), and some announcements of lost objects.
During the week that we studied, the only message published on Saturday requested information on the circulation of a bus line – the only message to this effect of the week.
Obviously, our sample is not necessarily representative.
Transdev Rouen plans to act
When contacted, Transdev Rouen did not mince words when describing this “illegal group”. The company says it recently reported the group to Facebook, and says it “studies a complaint to have this offense noted and stopped.”
In Île-de-France, the service provider Ile-de-France-Mobilités prosecuted and convicted last year the creator of an application allowing in particular to locate controllers. Does the Rouen Facebook group risk the same fate?
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date: 2026-02-12 19:57:00
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