Mohn S.L.

Mohn S.L. is a Spanish bus-transport company founded on 22 November 1939 in Viladecans, in the Baix Llobregat comarca of Catalonia, by the German-born businessman Ferran Walter Mohn. It traces its origins to earlier bus concessions in the area: the Enrich family's tartana and later bus service between Gavà and Barcelona, and the IMPEX (Importaciones y Exportaciones S.A.) concession granted in 1924 for a Gavà–Viladecans–Barcelona route. Walter Mohn, who had joined IMPEX and become its manager, acquired the bus concession after the Spanish Civil War and created Mohn S.L. to operate it, starting services between Castelldefels, Gavà and Barcelona on 1 January 1940 with six buses and a share capital of 200,000 pesetas. The company grew from those interurban beginnings into a regional public-transport operator. It extended its network to municipalities including Begues, Olesa de Bonesvalls and Castelldefels, and today operates urban and suburban bus lines in the Baix Llobregat comarca and between that area and the city of Barcelona. It runs a network of about 30 lines and some 200 buses which, together with two other companies of its industrial group, operate under the commercial brand Baixbus. The group's parent company is Cinfromas S.L., an industrial group active in transport and the automotive sector. In ownership and branding terms, Mohn S.L. is a private company within the Cinfromas group. Its public-facing identity has evolved: the Baixbus brand unites the group's bus operations, and from 26 December 2021 the lines in the Barcelona metropolitan area have been operated by Grupo Avanza under the name Avanza Baix. The company's website is hosted at baixbus.cat. Its history reflects the broader development of road passenger transport in the Barcelona metropolitan region, from early twentieth-century concessions and family-run services to modern branded metropolitan bus networks.

The origins of Mohn S.L. lie in early bus services in the Baix Llobregat. When the railway reached Gavà in 1881, the Enrich family, already active in transport, began running a tartana (horse-drawn carriage) service between the railway station and the towns of Viladecans and San Clemente de Llobregat. On 21 September 1918 one of its members, Jaume Enrich Amat, obtained from the Ministry of Fomento the concession to convert this service into one operated with buses. In the early 1920s he put a bus line between Gavà and Barcelona into service, though he did so through a relative, Pere Bruach Santfeliu, to avoid conflict with the MZA railway company, since the line competed directly with the trains. He acquired four Hispano-Suiza buses, painted red. A second concession for the same Gavà–Barcelona service was requested by Pere Juvé Puig in 1923; it is unclear whether Juvé's buses ran simultaneously with or replaced those of Enrich/Bruach, as on 18 January 1923 the Viladecans town council accepted Juvé's application to provide the service 'exclusively'. Ferran Walter Mohn (1891–1966), known as Walter Mohn, was born in 1891 in the German town of Metzingen, in Baden-Württemberg. In 1899 the Mohn-Flamm family moved to Casablanca, Morocco, where a growing German colony had settled from 1873. His father worked there for Mannesmann, a company engaged in the import and export of mining and agricultural products. Around 1904, after his father's death, the eldest son replaced him at Mannesmann and became a partner; Walter began working at the company around that time. After the Agadir Crisis of 1911 and the outbreak of the First World War, the German colony's position in Morocco became difficult. In August 1914, aged 23, Walter Mohn left Morocco, moving first to Cádiz and then, in the early 1920s, to Barcelona, continuing to work for Mannesmann. In September 1920 the American businessman of German descent Franz Mawick, together with partners (at least the Swiss Piet Meyer), founded IMPEX (Importaciones y Exportaciones S.A.). Mawick dealt in the purchase and sale of land and agricultural holdings linked to Mannesmann. IMPEX, among other businesses, imported and sold cars and trucks. In 1921 Paula Mohn, Walter's sister, married Franz Mawick. Shortly afterwards Mawick hired his brother-in-law, and Walter Mohn began working at the Marlo company, around the same time as he obtained Spanish nationality. Probably as a consequence of the vehicle-import business, and attracted by various Swiss- and German-origin firms established in the Baix Llobregat, in early 1924 IMPEX applied for the concession to provide a bus service between Gavà, Viladecans and Barcelona, which was granted on 24 May. IMPEX may have absorbed Juvé's concession in 1924 and, after a brief period of competition, in spring 1925 it also absorbed the concession previously obtained by Enrich/Bruach for the Gavà–Barcelona line, ending their service. In July of that year the company started a yeast factory, which remained in operation until 1999, though run by another company. In 1928 the Gavà line was extended to Castelldefels. At the end of 1931 IMPEX appointed Walter Mohn as its agent (apoderado), and he rose to manager in 1934. During the Civil War the company was seized by the workers, continuing to provide the same services as far as the war situation allowed; at the start of the war the company had ten buses. After the conflict, the bus concession was separated from the company and acquired by Walter Mohn, who created Mohn S.L. on 22 November 1939 to operate it. IMPEX continued its vehicle-import and yeast-factory activities, though on 30 October 1940 an extraordinary general meeting resolved to dissolve the company. Mohn was incorporated with a share capital of 200,000 pesetas, with most shares held by Walter Mohn. At that time it had six buses, with which it began the service between Castelldefels, Gavà and Barcelona from 1 January 1940. The hardships of the post-war period led the Ministry of Finance to issue an order on 26 July of that year obliging it to... [source text truncated]. Over the following decades Mohn S.L. expanded its network, extending to municipalities such as Begues, Olesa de Bonesvalls and Castelldefels. It became part of an industrial group active in transport and the automotive sector whose parent company is Cinfromas S.L. Today it operates urban and suburban bus lines in the Baix Llobregat comarca and between that area and Barcelona, running a network of about 30 lines and some 200 buses which, together with two other group companies, operate under the commercial brand Baixbus. From 26 December 2021, the lines of the Barcelona metropolitan area have been operated by Grupo Avanza under the name Avanza Baix.

• 2021

  From 26 December, Barcelona metropolitan area lines are operated by Grupo Avanza under the name Avanza Baix.

• 1940

  Bus service between Castelldefels, Gavà and Barcelona begins on 1 January with six buses; IMPEX is dissolved on 30 October.

• 1939

  Mohn S.L. is created on 22 November with a share capital of 200,000 pesetas.

• 1934

  Walter Mohn becomes manager of IMPEX.

• 1931

  IMPEX appoints Walter Mohn as its agent (apoderado).

• 1928

  The Gavà line is extended to Castelldefels.

• 1925

  IMPEX absorbs the Enrich/Bruach Gavà–Barcelona concession; a yeast factory is started in July.

• 1924

  IMPEX is granted the concession for a Gavà–Viladecans–Barcelona bus service (24 May).

• 1918

  Jaume Enrich Amat obtains the concession to convert the service into bus operation (21 September).

• 1881

  Railway reaches Gavà; the Enrich family begins a tartana service between the station and Viladecans and San Clemente de Llobregat.

Regional public-transport operator serving the Baix Llobregat comarca and connections to Barcelona, operating within the Cinfromas industrial group and under the Baixbus and Avanza Baix brands.

• Urban and suburban bus lines in Baix Llobregat and to Barcelona

• Baixbus-branded network (about 30 lines, some 200 buses)

• Avanza Baix metropolitan lines

1. 1Mohn S.L. — Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Avanza Baix — Wikipedia (Spanish)es.wikipedia.org
3. 3Baixbus official websitebaixbus.cat