RATP

Infobox Company
company_name = Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP)
company_
company_type = state-owned company
foundation = 1948
location_city = flagicon|France Quai de la Rapée, Paris
location_country = France
area_served = Île-de-France
industry = Metropolitan Infrastructure and Tracks Proprietor, State Administrator
parent = Ministère des Transports
homepage = [http://www.ratp.fr/ www.ratp.fr]

The "Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens" (RATP/Autonomous Operator of Parisian Transports) is the major transit operator responsible for public transportation in Paris and its surroundings. It is under the authority of the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), the Paris region transit authority. Its operational divisions include the Paris Métro system (16 lines), part of the RER, an extensive bus system, and three tram lines. It also operates the Montmartre funicular.

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. 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 By the time the STCRP was merged into the RATP, all of its streetcars had been replaced by bus routes.

Currently, the RATP operate a multi-mode public transportation infrastructure. In Île-de-France, the RATP operates buses, regional trains, trams and Métro services. In Germany, Italy, and the USA, in association with their respective partners, the RATP operates and maintains regional buses and trains. Noctilien is the network of night buses in the Île-de-France region.

Currently there are projects under way to create new light rail lines.

The RATP logo represents, in a stylized version, the Seine's meandering through the Île-de-France region as the face of a woman looking up.

Alternative propulsion

RATP has expressed an interest in the compressed air pollution-free bus.

Image Gallery

See also

* Compressed air vehicle

External links

* [http://www.ratp.info/touristes/index.php?langue=en Official RATP website]
* [http://www.ratp.fr Official RATP website] fr
* [http://www.alstom.com ALSTOM website — French manufacturer of metros and trains]
* [http://busfoto.nl/foto/thumbnails.php?album=search&search=ratp&lang=english Photographs of RATP buses]

References

* Gaillard, M. (1991). "Du Madeleine-Bastille à Météor: Histoire des transports Parisiens," Amiens: Martelle. ISBN 2-87890-013-8. ("French")