The RATP Group (French: Groupe RATP), also known as the RATP or Régie autonome des transports parisiens (Template:Lang-en), is a state-ownedpublic transport operator and maintainer headquartered in Paris, France. Formed in 1949, it has its origins as the city's public transport operator. Its logo represents, in a stylised version, the Seine's meandering through the Paris area as the face of a person looking up.
While RATP's Paris-related activities are still a major part of its business, its operations have extended since 2002 to include business around the globe in various modes of urban and regional transportation. RATP Dev, the Group's international operations and maintenance subsidiary, is present in 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
In 2019, the Group's consolidated revenue was €5.704 billion; it employs 64,000 people.[1] The company describes itself as the fourth-largest actor in public transport.[1]
History
RATP headquarters in Paris
The RATP was created on 1 January 1949 by combining the assets of the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris (CMP), which operated the Paris Métro, and the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne (STCRP), which operated the city's bus system.
Earlier, the CMP had absorbed the Nord-Sud Company in 1930 and the Ligne de Sceaux in 1937, which extended commuter rail to the suburbs. The STCRP had been created on 1 January 1921 by the merger of about half a dozen independent bus and streetcar operators in the Paris area. By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.
In the early years of the 21st century, a partnership with the Transdev group resulted in RATP acquiring a minority shareholding in that group, with its many worldwide transport operations. However, in 2009, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, the majority owner of the Transdev group, started negotiations with Veolia Environnement to merge Transdev with Veolia Transport. As part of the resulting agreement, made in May 2010, it was agreed that the RATP Group would take over ownership of some of Transdev's operations in lieu of cash payment for its holdings in Transdev. This had a considerable impact on RATP's international profile.[2][3][4]
In 2009, RATP entered the United States by purchasing transit contractor McDonald Transit Associates.[5] McDonald operated Fort Worth Transportation Authority (now Trinity Metro) in Texas, Votran in Florida, and Waco Transit System in Texas, among others.
RATP started testing EasyMile EZ10 shuttles on regular roads (with an employee on board) in January 2021, taking passengers to Bois de Vincennes on weekends.[7]
The current president and CEO of the RATP, Catherine Guillouard, was nominated on 2 August 2017.[8] The previous RATP CEOs were Élisabeth Borne, Pierre Mongin and Anne-Marie Idrac.
In Paris, RATP operates, under its own name, on behalf of and under contract with Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the Paris region transit authority. RATP's services constitute, in their own right, a multi-mode public transportation infrastructure, but also contribute to a larger multi-mode system extending out into the surrounding Île-de-France communities.
RATP's services in the Greater Paris area include:
The Paris Métro, a system of mostly underground rapid transit lines which run throughout the city, with some lines extending somewhat beyond the city boundaries. The Métro has 16 lines with 225.1 km (139.9 mi) of track and 304 stations.[9][10] Two metro lines are fully automated and driverless: line 1 (since 2012) and line 14 (since its opening in 1998). Line 4 is currently in the process of being converted into a fully automated and driverless line as well.
Parts of the RER, the Paris regional express rail network that runs mostly underground in the centre of Paris and overground in the rest of the region. RATP owns and operates line A (except the Nanterre-Préfecture - Cergy-le-Haut and Nanterre-Préfecture - Poissy branches) and line B (except the part north of Gare du Nord), both together representing approximately 115 km (71 mi) and 66 stations. The rest of the RER network is operated by SNCF.
Paris bus route 341 was RATP's first line equipped with 100% electric full-size buses (starting June 2016).[13] By early 2021, there were over 150 full battery electric buses in the fleet with a target of 1,500 by 2025.[14]
Operations outside Paris
RATP Dev (Dev being a contraction of Développement, French for development[15]), established in 2002 as a 100% subsidiary of the RATP Group, provides operations and maintenance of passenger transport services outside of the "historical" RATP network in the Greater Paris area although it also operates some specialised services within Paris. RATP Dev is present in France as well as in 13 other countries, namely Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, Hong Kong SAR of China, Italy, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Wholly and partly owned operations include the following:[16][17][18]
Agglobus, the urban bus network of Bourges in the Cher department (since 2011, renewed for the 2017-2022 period)[21]
ALPBUS, operating various school, shuttle and coach services as well as fixed routes services including, among others, the bus network serving Cluses and cross-border services between France and Switzerland with routes connecting Annecy, Thonon-les-Bains and Sallanches with Geneva Airport[22]
The Bibus multimodal network in and around Brest including the Brest tramway and Brest cable car, in the Finistère department (for the 2019-2027 period)[23][24]
Cars Jacquemard, a coach operator in the Eure department
Cars Perrier, one of the operators of the Sqybus network serving the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines suburb near Paris
The Impulsyon urban bus network of La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée department (since 2010, renewed for the 2017-2023 period)[26]
The Irigo multimodal in and around Angers including the Angers tramway (for the 2019-2025 period)[27]
The Kicéo urban bus network of Vannes in the Morbihan department (for the 2017-2023 period)[28]
Lignes de Vienne et agglomération (L'va) in and around Vienne in the Isère department (since 2011)[29]
Le Vib in Vierzon in the Cher department (since 2011, renewed in 2015 for 8 more years)[30]
The Marinéo urban bus network of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas-de-Calais department (since 2013, renewed in 2021 for another 6 years)[31]
Mouvéo, the urban bus network of Épernay in the Marne department (since 2016)[32]
Ondéa, the urban bus network of Aix-les-Bains and its surroundings in the Savoie department (since 2014, renewed in 2021 for another 7 years)[22][33]
Bus network serving the Western area of the "Grand Paris Seine et Oise" and "Portes de l’Île-de-France" communities in the Yvelines department (64 fixed route lines including two express coach routes using the A14 motorway, two night lines and on-demand transport, for the 2021-2029 period)[34][35][36]
PAM 91, paratransit in the Essonne department (since 2011, renewed for the 2017-2022 period)[37]
Transports de l'agglomération de Charleville-Mézières (TAC), urban bus network of Charleville-Mézières and Sedan in the Ardennes department (since 2012, renewed for the 2017–2024 period)[39]
Tuscany regional bus network including 5,300 employees, 3,000 vehicles and 90 depots, via the Autolinee Toscane subsidiary (since 1 November 2021, for a duration of 11 years)[66][67][68]
RATP Dev's presence in the United Kingdom is mainly concentrated in London with its portfolio of bus services on behalf of Transport for London. Through its three subsidiaries London United, Quality Line (acquired as Epsom Coaches in April 2012) and London Sovereign (acquired in April 2014), RATP Dev manages 1129 vehicles on 96 routes out of 10 garages, and has 3387 employees, as of 2020.[70][71] Early 2021, RATP Dev announced that it is to close its Quality Line subsidiary and Epsom depot.[72] The closure was effective as of July 2021.[73]
On 16 June 2021, the firm announced it had placed an order for 195 electric buses for its London operations to be delivered jointly by Alexander Dennis and BYD Auto, the by then largest ever full battery electric bus order in the UK.[74]
On 22 September 2021, RATP Dev and SeaLink Travel Group (now Kelsian Group) announced that their respective West London bus operations (including London United, London Sovereign and Tower Transit's Westbourne Park garage) would merge into a new joint venture called RATP Dev Transit London, with RATP Dev holding 87.5% of shares and SeaLink 12.5%.[75] The incorporation of the joint venture was finalised on 11 December 2021.[76] Tower Transit's Lea Interchange garage, located in East London, was not part of the joint venture and remained unaffected[75][77] until sold off separately to Stagecoach London.[78]
Riyadh (since 2014 set-up of the capital's future urban bus network with approximately 1,000 vehicles over three depots, and operations and maintenance for a duration of 10 years starting 2016, 20% share of a consortium with SAPTCO)[97][98][99]
in Brussels, Belgium (since November 2021 with up to 12 fully battery-electric vehicles, as part of an eight-year concession granted by STIB).[104][105]
Other
"Slide Ealing" is a ride sharing minibus service (microtransit) launched 12 November 2019 in London, in partnership with MOIA.[106]
Since 2013, RATP Dev, in a consortium with TPG and Pomagalski, manages the Salève cable car, in the French Alps.[107] Ridership of the cable car has increased by 50% since 2013, notably after the introduction of shuttle buses from Annemasse and Saint-Julien-en-Genevois.[108] The contract of the RATP Dev-led consortium has been renewed in 2019 for 12 additional years, until 2031.[108]
RATP Dev established in 2018 a "regional office" in Singapore for Asia-Pacific albeit not having any operational activity in the city-state.[109] In December 2020, RATP Dev and SBS Transit announced a partnership for future rail projects in Singapore, without referencing specific commercial targets.[110]
In September 2020, RATP Dev announces a partnership with Getlink to jointly bid under the "Régionéo" brand name for regional rail services in France which will gradually opened to competitive tendering.[111] Régionéo is bidding for tenders in the Grand Est region in a consortium with Meridiam and Colas and has also expressed interest in tenders in the Hauts-de-France region.[112][113]
São Paulo Metro Line 4: technical assistance for start-up and the launch of commercial operations in 2010 and 1% share in the concessionnaire ViaQuatro until 2015[115][116]
^The figure of "302" (stations) does not include the fictional Montmartre funicular station. The latter is indeed considered as a metro station by RATP and statistically attached to line 2, which explains why RATP announces 305 stations and not 303.
^Orlyval is part of the "historic" RATP network but operated by RATP Dev, on behalf of RATP.
^From 2009 to 2020, this operation was managed by RATP Dev Transdev Asia (RDTA), a 50/50 joint venture with Transdev; since 2020 RATP Dev assumes sole control of the Hong Kong tramway operation.
^ ab"RDTA website". Archived from the original on December 25, 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Gaillard, Marc (1991). Du Madeleine-Bastille à Météor: histoire des transports Parisiens (in French). Amiens: Martelle. ISBN978-2-87890-013-2. OCLC25657685.
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