A method is proposed to calculate in one step the residence time of a particle by advection-dispersion and matrix diffusion in a bond of a fracture network. The calculation is very rapid and avoids the discretization of Eulerian methods or the multiple leaps of classical Lagrangian approaches. The method is accurate in most flow conditions prevailing in fracture networks. Therefore, the method will be useful to evaluate the conditions in which the different transport mechanisms are of influence at the scale of the entire network. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union