| Type | State-owned company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Public transport |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | 54 Quai de la Rapée 75012 Paris, France |
| Area served | Worldwide, with significant Île-de-France involvement |
| Website | http://www.ratp.fr |
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.[1]
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.
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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 By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.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.[2][3][4]
On August 1 2011, the RATP Group purchased Stagecoach Metrolink Ltd, the operators of the Metrolink light rail system in the English city of Manchester. This purchase includes a contract to operate the expanding Metrolink system that runs to July 2017.[5]
In Paris, RATP operates, under its own name, on behalf of 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:
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.[7]
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:[7][8]
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