Lyon Flights

The Lyon Public Transports Network is called TCL (Transport en Commun Lyonnais).

It's one of the best I've ever seen. Cleaner than the one in Paris. The Metro consists in four lines named A, B, C and D. The C is used to go up the Croix Rousse hill. The D is entirely automatic.
TO SETTLE ONCE AND FOR ALL THIS ISSUE, you cannot hop onto the metro without paying anymore. There are some barriers in almost every stations now.

The cost of a ticket (one way and valid one hour) is 1.60E which make it almost the most expensive in France (Marseille is more expensive I think but their metro is a big joke). You can get it cheaper (around 1.20E) if you buy a lot of 10 (even cheaper if you're a student).
Then there is the daily ticket, valid all day for appx 4.50E (ticket liberté journée).
The Night ticket (ticket liberté soirée) is the best bet. From 7PM to the end of the night and for 2.20E, it gives access to unlimited travel. Though it is well hidden when buying it from vending machines. Select "autre produits" and there it its ;). Otherwise ask an agency or a local.
For longer stays, you can buy a Tecely card for a month (full fare is 47E for one month, reduced fares for students are around 30E).

The D line has the highest frequency, you shall not wait more than 5 minutes to catch one. The other lines can go up to 10 minutes at late times. Be aware that the metros stop at midnight.

About tramways, there are three of them (T1, T2 and T3). Unlike in Paris, you can use the metro and then the tramway with the same ticket (within the time your ticket is valid of course). The same goes for buses. In Lyon, transport is about combination. Sometimes it's easier to take the tramway for a few stops and then shift to the metro/bus. The main buses lines are the C1 and C3, they are big trolleys. The first one can get you from Part Dieu railway station and mall to the Parc de la tête d'or (great park inside Lyon)/Cité internationale (Museum, casino, cinema and concert hall). The C3 used to get you from eastbound city Villeurbanne to Hotel de Ville but it is cut in two because of an explosion that happenned early 2008.
In Lyon, you have to enter the bus by the driver side and get out by the rear exits. Of course, you can buy tickets by asking the driver.

The free bicycles "Velov's" are available in many areas. You can buy an annual card for 10E (but you'll have to contact an agency or the TCL to add this on your Tecely card) or you can get a weekly temporary card with a credit card (debit cards such as Visa Electron work as well but 150E will be frozen on your account so think about it before you take one). To do so, you have to go to a bay where they are stored and follow the instructions on the screen (english instructions availble). Once it's done, you will get a card on paper support. Then you have 30 minutes before you start paying (enough as Lyon is a compact town). After this period, the bicycle will make a beeping sound. The trick for long trip is to drop one off before it beeps and take another one if you don't want to pay.
A few tricks about Velov's: the people in charge of the network are trying to preserve it but bicycle used by so many people are easly damaged. Always check the brakes, the gear selector, the seat, the chain and the tyres before taking one. If one is damaged but you haven't taken it, flip the seat backwards to indicate it to other users. If you have taken it, return it and go back to the screen to report it.
Also check which velovs are available (they are all tagged with two numbers, the number of where it is in the bay and the serial number (longer one). Use the first one. Sometimes, there is plenty of velov's in a station but only a few availables.
Depending on the time of the day and especially at night, it can be hard to pick a velov or return one. In the Grange Blanche/Garibaldi/Jean Macé area after midnight, you will hardly find a spot to return your Velov on weekends (cuz loads of students live there). After 8PM, it will be the Vieux Lyon/Hotel de ville area that will be crowded and you'll struggle dropping your Velov off. The best bet is to drop it off a bit before you arrive to the station you're supposed to drop it at.
If you cannot find one, search for a small station in a little street, most of the tourists don't know them. Or you can wait til someone returns one but it'll take some time before the velov is made available.
Driving on a velov can be tricky when not used to French traffic. Avoid the big avenues and boulevards, Lyon people are really nice to chat with, but when they are driving, it's not the same anymore. The docks and the cycling alleys are probably the best places to drive.
It's not because you're not driving a car that you don't have to follow the driving rules. Of course doing this can be dangerous but moreover, the French police is sometimes not really understanding and eager to give fines away so be sure to drive safely.

After midnight, there are the night buses. Three of them called "bus pleine lune" (full moon bus) depart from the Opera (just next to the Hotel de Ville metro stop) and go in various directions. The first one takes you to Part Dieu/La Doua (scientific uni/campus) area (it stops at Bellecour first). The second one takes you to Bellecour/Guillotiere/Garibaldi/Grange Blanche/Parilly area (the end of the line is not far away from the hippie campus of Lyon 2, dodgy area though). The third one takes you to the posh town of Ecully, a west town.
Normally you have to buy a ticket but to avoid fights with drunken customers, they don't really check. If you have bought a night ticket, validate it, it's always good to show them that people are paying for it in order to have more buses. The crowd there is mostly students/youngsters with a various level of alcohol running through their veins. If it's definitely not your style, prefer to call a taxi, as Lyon is a small compact town, it's not that expensive.

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