RATP Group

The RATP Group (French: Groupe RATP), also known as the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (English: Autonomous Operator of Parisian Transports) is a state-owned public transport operator headquartered in Paris, France. Formed in 1948, the group has its origins as the public transport operator for the city of Paris. Its logo represents, in a stylized version, the Seine's meandering through the area around Paris as the face of a person looking up.

Today RATP is still responsible for most of the public transport in Paris and its surrounding Île-de-France region, including the Paris Métro, tram and bus services and part of the Réseau Express Régional (RER) network. In the Île-de-France region, RATP carries about 3 billion passengers per year.

Whilst the RATP's Paris operations are still a major part of the business, its operations have now extended to include businesses around the globe. These include involvement in the operation of bus, tram, rapid transit and inter-city rail services, located in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

History
The RATP was created on March 21, 1948, 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 Société du Chemin de Fer Électrique Nord-Sud de Paris in 1930 and the Ligne de Sceaux in 1937, which extended commuter rail to the suburbs. The STCRP had been created on January 1, 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 By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.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.

On August 1, 2011, the RATP Group purchased Stagecoach Metrolink Ltd, the operators of the Metrolink light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. This purchase includes a contract to operate the expanding Metrolink system that runs to July 2017. Two years later, in 2013 RATP purchased the nearby long-established coach company, Selwyns Travel, a National Express operator.

Operations in Paris
In Paris, RATP operates, under its own name, on behalf of the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), 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 include:


 * The Paris Métro 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 214 km (133 mi) of track and 300 stations, of which 62 provide connections between lines.


 * Parts of the RER, the Paris regional express railway network that runs mostly underground in the city and overground in the rest of the region. The RATP owns sections of the infrastructure of lines A and B, and operates trains on the whole of those lines. The remainder of the system is owned by the RFF, the owner of the French national rail network, and the SNCF, the French national rail operator, operates trains on all five lines.


 * The extensive Paris city bus system, including the night buses of the Noctilien network.


 * Six lines of the developing Paris tram system (the T4 is operated by the SNCF).


 * The Montmartre funicular.

In addition to these directly operated services, wholly or partially owned subsidiary companies of the RATP also operate in the Paris region. Most of these provide local and regional bus services in Île-de-France communities outside Paris, but they also include the Orlyval automated airport people mover system, the FlexCité paratransit operator, and the Opentour tourist bus operator. These companies are owned through RATP's RATP Dev subsidiary, covered further below.

Operations outside Paris
Operations outside Paris, along with some subsidiary operations within Paris, are the responsibility of the RATP subsidiary RATP Dev. Wholly and partly owned operations include:

Operations In France
 * Cars Jacquemard, a bus operator in the Eure department of France
 * Cars Perrier and SQYBUS, joint operators of bus services in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France
 * CTVMI, a bus operator in the Yvelines department of France
 * CTY Réseau Impulsyon, a bus operator in La Roche-sur-Yon, France
 * FlexCité, a provider of paratransit services within the Île-de-France
 * GEST, operator of florence tramway.
 * GVO Giraux Val d'Oise, a bus operator in the Val d'Oise department of France
 * Mobicité, a provider of local and on-demand transport services in various parts of France
 * Orlyval, operator of an automated people mover system that connects Paris's Orly Airport from the RER network
 * Paris Opentour, an operator of tourist bus services in Paris
 * STIVO, an urban bus operator in Cergy-Pontoise, France
 * TIM Bus, a rural bus operator in Cergy-Pontoise and Mantes-la-Jolie, France
 * TP2A, an urban bus operator in Annemasse, France

Operations Internationally
 * Bath Bus Company, an operator of City Sightseeing franchises in the English cities of Bath, Eastbourne, Windsor and Cardiff
 * Hong Kong Tramways, a tram operator in Hong Kong, China
 * London United, a bus operator in London, England
 * Manchester Metrolink, light rail operator in Greater Manchester, England
 * Quality Line/Epsom Coaches, a London - based coach and bus operator
 * Yellow Buses, a bus operator in Bournemouth, England
 * Quality line Epsom Coaches a bus operator in Epsom and London