On Mar 8, 8:45*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 8 Mar 2011 07:21:19 -0800 (PST), Paul
wrote:
Saw a London United bus on route 10 parked at the terminus at Kings
Cross this afternoon. Underneath the "London United " logo was the
logo for the RATP (Regie Autonome Des Transports Parisiens) which runs
the buses, metro, trams and RER in Paris.
The change of ownership only took place late last week. First report
I've heard of the RATP logo appearing on a bus.
This was news to me, at it remains to be seen what difference French
ownership might make.
Very little in the short term I would expect. Even medium to long term I
doubt much will happen with London United. RATP might try to buy out
Epsom Buses as they'd be a logical fit with London United but other than
that I would expect it to be "business as usual".
What is more interesting is that RATP have bought the Bath Bus Company
which runs sightseeing services in Bath. In former times it did compete
for tendered services and the head of the operation used to work for
First Group in the South West! *Whether RATP see it as a springboard for
taking on tendered work again or competing head to head with First
remains to be seen.
RATP also own Yellow Buses in Bournemouth - an operation transformed
under Transdev ownership.
Worth noting that in Paris, two thirds of the buses stop running at
8:30pm, and only about half run on Sundays.
To be fair the Paris bus network is vastly more comprehensive, frequent
and extensive than it used to be. *RATP and STIF realised that the
network could make a far bigger contribution and have funded expansion
for several years. I think they took part of their cue from London's
experience under the early years of Ken.
I would suggest you refresh your understanding of the Paris bus network
via this link.
http://www.ratp.fr/informer/pdf/orie...=reseaux&nompd....
No bus stops at 20.30 M-F - the time is now 22.00 and only two routes
seem to stop. *Many routes are daily and very few adopt the "barre"
system of part route operation on Sundays.
--
Paul C
I think their website must be out of date then,
If you look at
http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/cartebus.php, you
can select "en journee", "en soiree" or "dimanche et fetes". By
switching from one to the other, you can see which routes run in the
day, but do not run in the evenings or on Sundays. If you hover the
mouse pointer over "en soiree", it says "Afficher la carte Bus Paris
circulant apres 20:30."
Taking one example, route 20 between the Gare De Lyon and the Gare St
Lazare does not appear on the "en soiree" map. And yet the timetable
shows it running up to 1am seven days a week.
You live and learn.