An exchanger, or transport hub, is a network articulation site aimed at facilitating the intermodality of passenger and freight transportation.

Public interchanges include train stations, rapid transit stations, bus stations, tram stations, airports, and ferry piers.

Load centers (freight hubs, freight hubs, or logistics hubs) include marshalling yards, airports, seaports, and truck terminals, or combinations of these.

For private transportation by car, the parking (or parking lot) functions as a unimodal hub.

Interchanges bring together a wide variety of modes of transport in one place: walking, bus, tram, metro, train, car or even plane.

The main function of the interchange is to guarantee a fluid correspondence between the different connected modes of transport. The objective is to reduce the correspondence time at the breaking point of the trip and thus reduce its total time.

This term has its origin in the Madrid metropolis. The equivalent of interchange abroad is “Interchange station")” in English, “Pôle d’échanges”") in France, “Poli di interchange” in Italy and “shunyu” in China.