On a trip to Vannes on 7 September, Laurence Batlle, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, confirmed RATP Dev’s ambitions in Brittany
“We are in a period of strong growth. We started by focusing on smaller towns, before aiming for larger areas. We have the clear intention to conquer Brittany!” This is how Laurence Batlle recently confirmed the strategic ambitions set out by the company’s current position. RATP Dev has been operating in Brittany since 2012 with EMS Rennes. In 2017 it won Vannes, and went on to take Lorient in 2018. The Chairwoman of the Board has not hidden her intentions to extend the company’s reach further, by offering cities new network initiatives including optimised services, new modes of transport and passenger services. Having taken over 35 networks since 2011, RATP Dev has strengthened its expertise, which ranges from land (city, intercity and school routes) to sea shuttle services, and even the air (cable cars). This diversity of know-how is seen as a significant advantage and could give Brest more confidence in RATP Dev, which is hoping to take over the city’s Bibus service in 2019.
Energy expertise
RATP Dev’s experience in the hot topic of energy transition is also undoubtedly a factor to be considered. The President of GMVA (the Morbihan Gulf - Vannes region), Pierre Le Bodo, emphasised this point during Batlle’s visit to the Morbihan town. As an applicant for the “energy-positive regions for green growth” initiative, Vannes has asked RATP Dev to identify technical solutions. Hoping to enter the “Tepos” (energy-positive region) ranking in the coming years, local representatives wanted to find out about the different solutions trialled by the RATP group. Since 2014, the group has been committed to major technological and ecological change, and has begun converting two-thirds of its Paris bus depots to electric vehicles and a third to natural gas vehicles by 2025. In Bourges, the entire city bus fleet is being converted to natural gas, while two electric routes are about to be launched in London.
French law demands that at least 50% of new vehicles acquired must run on clean energy by 2020, but the President of the Vannes region has already stated his wish to go further. “We want to be 100% clean energy, either liquefied natural gas or electric,” he announced publicly. “I have asked RATP Dev to meet us in Paris and tell us about their experience. A study is under way, and GMVA will make its informed choices in the coming months.” This confidence in RATP Dev’s expertise consolidates its recognition. “GMVA representatives can count on our advice to choose the best energy solutions and on our support in fulfilling their major ambition,” confirmed Batlle. Supported by its detailed studies into all aspects of the system (experiments with all types of fuel and rolling stock, training employees in new energies, proven experience of converting bus depots and adapting sites, etc.), RATP Dev is ready to help take energy transition of the Kicéo bus network to a successful outcome which, as it knows, is also the best way to win.