The RATP Group (
French: Groupe RATP), is a French
state-owned enterprise (
EPIC) that operates
public transport systems. It is headquartered in
Paris, France, and originally operated under the name Régie autonome des transports parisiens (English: Parisian Autonomous Transport Administration). Its logo represents, in a stylized version, the
Seine's meandering through the Paris area as the face of a person looking up. The company had described itself as the fourth-largest presence in public transport.[1]
RATP Group was established in 1949 with the express purpose of operating Paris' public transport system. During the twentieth century, it focused solely on the provision of the capital's various forms of transit, from the
Paris Métro,
Île-de-France tram, and the
RATP bus network, as well as part of the
regional express rail (RER) network. However, since 2002, RATP Group's operations have no longer been geographically restricted; it has competitively pursued contracts to operate transit systems around the world. It also had a partnership with, and a minority shareholding in,
Transdev, which has further involved RATP Group in various global transport operations. During 2002,
RATP Dev was created as the Group's dedicated international operations and maintenance subsidiary; it is present in 16 countries across
Africa,
Asia,
Australia,
Europe and
North America.
RATP Group's Paris-related activities are still a major part of its business through to the present day; in 2019, it was recorded that, in the
Île-de-France region, it carried roughly 3.3 billion passengers per year.[1] In 2019, RAPT Group's consolidated revenue was €5.704 billion; it employed 64,000 people at that time.[1] In recent decades, the company has operated on an increasingly competitive basis as a result of legislative changes.
History
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.
Prior to this, the CMP had absorbed the
Nord-Sud Company in 1930 and the
Ligne de Sceaux in 1937, which operated commuter rail to the suburbs.[citation needed] 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 By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.[citation needed]
Shift towards competitive operations
A major change in French law came on 3 November 2009, when article 5 of the ARAF (French rail regulatory body) law came into effect. This law opens public transport operation to competition. The law was part of a broader push by the European Union to open all passenger transport operation to competition. Under this law, the RATP Group lost the exclusive right to operate all new public transport lines immediately. The company's exclusive operation rights for existing lines would expire over time, with the bus network going out to bid 15 years later in 2024, the tram network (Lines T1, T2 & T3) going out to bid 20 years later in 2029, and the Metro and RER lines out to bid 30 years later in 2039.[2]
With the RATP anticipating this shift to a competitive environment, the company began to reorganize itself.
In the early years of the 21st century, a partnership with
Transdev 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, started negotiations with
Veolia to merge Transdev with
Veolia Transport. As part of the resulting agreement, made in May 2010, it was agreed that RATP would take over ownership of some of Transdev's operations in lieu of cash payment for its holdings in Transdev. This gave RATP a considerable number of international operations.[3][4][5]
In 2009, RATP entered the United States by purchasing transit contractor McDonald Transit Associates.[6] McDonald operated Fort Worth Transportation Authority (now
Trinity Metro) in Texas,
Votran in Florida, and
Waco Transit System in Texas, among others. On 1 August 2011, the RATP Group purchased
Stagecoach Metrolink's contract to operate the
Metrolink light rail system in
Greater Manchester, England until July 2017.[7] Two years later, in 2013, RATP purchased the nearby long-established coach company,
Selwyns Travel, a
National Express operator.
The current president and
CEO of the RATP,
Jean Castex, is in office since 28 November 2022.[8]
Operations in Paris
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 226.9 km (141.0 mi) of track and 308 stations.[9][10] Two metro lines are
fully automated and driverless:
Line 1 (since 2012),
Line 4 (since 2023) and
Line 14 (since its opening in 1998).
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 most of lines
A and
B, 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).[15] By early 2021, there were over 150 full battery electric buses in the fleet with a target of 1,500 by 2025.[16]
Operations outside Paris
RATP Dev (Dev being a contraction of Développement, French for development[17]), 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 15 other countries, namely Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Hong Kong, Italy, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Wholly and partly owned operations include the following:[18][19][20]
Agglobus, the network of
Bourges in the
Cher department (since 2011, renewed for the 2017–2022 period, and again renewed for the 2023-2030 period)[23][24]
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[25]
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)[26][27]
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
Transports de l'agglomération de Charleville-Mézières (TAC), the network of
Charleville-Mézières and
Sedan in the
Ardennes department (since 2012, renewed for the 2017–2024 period)[40]
TBK bus and coach network covering
Quimperlé and surroundings in the
Finistère department (for the 2020-2028 period)[41]
Transports urbains laonnois (TUL), the network of
Laon in the
Aisne department (since 2016, renewed for the 2023–2029)[42][43]
Transports urbains lavallois (TUL), the network of
Laval in the
Mayenne department (for the 2023-2031 period)[44]
Tuscany regional bus network including 4,800 employees, 2,700 vehicles and 57 depots, via the
Autolinee Toscane subsidiary (since 1 November 2021, for a duration of 11 years)[70][71][72]
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.[74][75] Early 2021, RATP Dev announced that it is to close its Quality Line subsidiary and Epsom depot.[76] The closure was effective as of July 2021.[77]
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.[78]
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%.[79] The incorporation of the joint venture was finalised on 11 December 2021.[80] Tower Transit's Lea Interchange garage, located in East London, was not part of the joint venture and remained unaffected[79][81] until sold off separately to
Stagecoach London.[82]
All of
Riyadh's urban bus network which will progressively grow to about 100 lines and 1,000 vehicles over three depots.[106][107][108] RATP Dev and its Saudi Arabian partner SAPTCO have established the network since 2014 and launched revenue service in March 2023[109]
Tootbus Brussels (since November 2021 with up to 12 fully battery-electric vehicles, as part of an eight-year concession granted by
STIB)[115][116]
Other
Since 2013, RATP Dev, in a consortium with
TPG and
Pomagalski, manages the
Salève cable car, in the
French Alps.[117] 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.[118] The contract of the RATP Dev-led consortium has been renewed in 2019 for 12 additional years, until 2031.[118]
RATP Dev established in 2018 a "regional office" in
Singapore for
Asia-Pacific albeit not having any operational activity in the city-state.[119] In December 2020, RATP Dev and
SBS Transit announced a partnership for future rail projects in Singapore, without referencing specific commercial targets.[120] RATP Dev and SBS Transit are expected to bid for operations and maintenance of the future
Jurong Region MRT line and the future
Cross Island MRT line.[121]
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.[122]
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[125][126]
^The figure of "308" (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 309 stations and not 308.
^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 25 December 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.