RATP Group

The RATP Group is a French state-owned enterprise (EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France, with growing presence internationally. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under the name Régie autonome des transports parisiens. Its logo represents the Seine's meandering path through the Paris Region stylised as the face of a person looking up.

Describing itself as the third largest actor in public transport worldwide, in 2024, RATP Group consolidates a total revenue of 7.1 billion euros, employs over 73,500 people, and provides for over 4 billion passenger journeys annually.[1]

RATP Group was established in 1949 with the express purpose of operating Paris's 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.[2] In 2019, RATP Group's consolidated revenue was €5.704 billion; it employed 64,000 people at that time.[2] 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. 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.

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:

Paris bus route 341 was RATP's first line equipped with 100% electric full-size buses (starting June 2016).[20] By early 2021, there were over 150 full battery electric buses in the fleet with a target of 1,500 by 2025.[21]

With regard to the future Grand Paris Express orbital metro network of which all lines will be fully automated and driverless, RATP will act as the infrastructure manager for lines 15, 16, 17 and 18, and operate Paris Métro Line 15 through the ORA consortium led by RATP Dev with minority partners ComfortDelGro and Alstom.[22]

Operations outside Paris

RATP Dev (Dev being a contraction of Développement, French for development[23]), 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.

RATP Dev is currently present in 16 countries, namely Australia, Belgium, Canada, China's SAR Hong Kong, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. Wholly and partly owned operations include the following:[24][25][26]

External links

• – official site
• – official site
• Paris tourist information
• Tram Travels: Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP)