RATP Group


The RATP Group, best known as the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, is a state-owned public 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.
Today, the RATP is still responsible for most of the public transport in the Parisian region, including the Paris Métro, Île-de-France tram and RATP Bus Network, as well as part of the Réseau Express Régional network. In the Île-de-France region, the RATP carries about 3.389 billion passengers per year. The RATP's Paris operations are still a major part of its business, but its operations have now extended to include businesses around the globe. They include involvement in the operation of bus, tram, rapid transit and inter-city rail services in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The RATP Group is currently the world's fifth largest operator in the public transport sector.

History

The RATP was created on 1 January 1949 by combining the assets of the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris, which operated the Paris Métro, and the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne, 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 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 By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.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.
In 2009, RATP entered the United States by purchasing transit contractor McDonald Transit Associates. McDonald operated Fort Worth Transportation Authority 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. Two years later, in 2013, RATP purchased the nearby long-established coach company, Selwyns Travel, a National Express operator.

Presidents

The last CEOs of the RATP were Anne-Marie Idrac, Pierre Mongin and Élisabeth Borne. The current president of the RATP, Catherine Guillouard, was nominated on 2 August 2017.

Operations in Paris

In Paris, RATP operates, under its own name, on behalf of the Île-de-France Mobilités, 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:
Paris bus route 341 was RATP's first line equipped with 100% electric full-size buses.

Operations outside Paris

RATP Dev, a 100% subsidiary of the RATP Group created in 2002, 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 12 countries, namely Algeria, China, France, 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:

Operations in France

Heavy rail

UK
RATP operates various transportation systems in the United States under the name RATP Dev USA: