Parisian buses, who is afraid of the competition?

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Elected Parisians or ministers, they talk of postponing the end of the RATP monopoly, scheduled for 2025. All have political ulterior motives.

By Erwan Seznec

IParisians and the inhabitants of the inner suburbs do not necessarily know it, but they should already be able to travel in buses other than those of the RATP. In 2007, the EU adopted a regulation that organized competition, without making it mandatory. A municipality has the right to keep its buses under management, as Nice or Marseille Métropole does. If it decides to outsource them, it must go through a call for tenders.

Paris does not do this, although the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens is not a municipal service. It is a public industrial and commercial establishment, independent of the city, in a monopoly situation. When the European regulation entered into force, France negotiated a derogation, with the aim of extending this legal feature…