Yellow Buses and London United Nationalised

[starrymarkb]

by the French

BOURNEMOUTH’S iconic Yellow Buses are now owned by the French government.

Transdev, owner of Yellow Buses, is now in the hands of the state-owned company which runs the Paris Metro.

RATP (Regie Autonome des Transports Parisien), which is owned by the French state, previously owned 25 per cent of Yellow Buses’ operator Transdev. It has now exchanged this stake for assets, including the Yellow Buses operation.

Transdev itself is merging with Veolia, the French transport and environmental business.

RATP is a major operator of public transport in Paris and its surroundings and runs the Paris Metro and part of the RER, the train business, as well as 350 bus routes and three tramlines.

“We know about buses,” said a spokesman, adding that RATP also operates in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, South Africa and the USA. “Nothing will change. There are no plans to change the name or to cut routes. We’re not planning to put up prices and want to provide a reliable service to everyone.”

Yellow Buses, which employs 371 staff, carries 13 million passengers and generates just a £16m turnover. It can trace its roots back to 1902 when trams originally started running in Bournemouth. The first buses started to run alongside them four years later when the tram service reached its full potential.

Bournemouth Borough Council sold Yellow Buses to Transdev in 2005 and retained a 10 per cent stake in the business.

RATP, which was founded in 1949, has taken control of London United Busways, a red bus operator in the city, which operates 50 lines in central, west and south west London, from six depots.

It has also acquired two depots from London Sovereign, Twickenham and Park Royal, which operate seven bus lines in central London.

 

[Ivo]

Ha ha. What a joke. Who run the "M" routes in Bournemouth? Do the M1 and M2 still run 16 times an hour?

...And if it's the French Government, would they try to introduce schemes to encourage people visiting England to go to Poole by ferry, as opposed to Dover etc?

 

[bluebottle]

Ha ha. What a joke. Who run the "M" routes in Bournemouth? Do the M1 and M2 still run 16 times an hour?

...And if it's the French Government, would they try to introduce schemes to encourage people visiting England to go to Poole by ferry, as opposed to Dover etc?

Wilts & Dorset do.