The entire passenger line was guided, and in normal service the vehicles were powered by electricity drawn from an overhead wire through a pantograph.

The use of pantographs for current collection meant the Caen vehicles could not move laterally away from the overhead wire when operating in electric mode, and for this reason they were not considered to be trolleybuses, under the English language meaning of that word,[3][4] and the system is sometimes referred to as a "rubber-tyred tramway".

However, the opening of the bus system was not without problems as well as lack of interest in the system by the population with only 23% backing the project[6][failed verification], in 1994, Viacités, one of the guided bus' network partners closed a contract with the consortium STVR (Société the transport sur Voie Réservée), existing construction company Spie Batignolles and Bombardier Transportation proceeded with infrastructure and vehicle construction.

[citation needed] The total network was 15.7 kilometres long and comprised two lines, A and B, with a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) common section running north–south in central Caen.

The system had been plagued with faults, due to design and operation;[6] on 21 October 2004 a young boy named Nathan was run over and killed by a TVR vehicle in Rue Roger-Bastion.