TRANSPORTS CITROEN

TRANSPORTS CITROEN
*The great French bus and coach network of yesteryear, 1931 to 1977*

Founded in November 1931 by the well known car manufacturing company during difficult times, Transports Citroën was established as a bus and coach operator. As well as providing a ready market for the parent company's passenger transport vehicles - and an opportunity to showcase them to others - the new enterprise set about developing both local and long distance services in several parts of France. Growth was rapid and eight hundred steel-bodied 22 seater Citroën model C6G1 were delivered between 1931 and 1933. Some of the networks established around the country were directly owned subsidiaries whilst others were operated by concessionaires associated with Citroën (an example of the latter being CTAC, Compagnie Armoricaine de Transports Citroën, in Bretagne, withCitroën involved from formation in 1933 to 1941). A larger vehicle with 29 seats (type 45) followed at the end of 1933 and was used principally for the long distance routes from Paris. The majority of these routes did not last long however because of their withdrawal as part of the government's road-rail co-ordination imposed on bus and coach operators in the late 1930s.
The first network had been meant to operate in the Paris area, but there were delays because of objections from RATP (the Paris transport authority), and operations did not start until August 1932. So it was that the first route started in Lyon in April 1932, followed by the networks at Bordeaux, Nantes and Strasbourg as the year progressed. The rival Renault company also started routes in the Paris area about this time. The following year saw the networks of Angers, Lille and Mulhouse commence running. By June 1933 there were 126 different routes totalling nearly 25,000 kilometres, of which over 9,700 kilometres were directly operated by subsidiaries, the balance by concessionaires. Operations were inevitably difficult during the war years, some networks being in the occupied zone, others in the part governed by the Vichy regime. By 1948 the type 45 was becoming the standard vehicle across the networks, reaching a level of 850 vehicles. The model 45 was diesel-engined but still with 29 seats. The model 47 of 1959 with forward control enabled an uplift to a seating capacity of 36.
Some of the associated regional networks left the Citroën fold over the years, including the Bordeaux and Rennes networks, and others such as Rapides de Touraine, Rapides de Poitou, Rapides de Bourgogne. Bordeaux had in fact been ceded to Citram after only a few months of operation by Citroën, in exchange for an agreement to provide a thousand vehicles over a ten year period. The year 1951 saw 141 routes in total in the thirteen different subsidiary networks. However as the 1950s progressed the vehicles operated by Transports Citroën were becoming more and more old fashioned, being still direct descendents of the original pre-war models. These outdated coaches with their hard suspension contributed to a loss of passengers, who compared them unfavourably with the more comfortable models of other operators and manufacturers. By 1965 there were 182 routes in operation, and it was not until 1965 that the model T60 arrived, offering a greater deal of comfort and better suspension. With a six cylinder diesel-engine and bodywork by Heuliez, the model T60 became the emblem of the company, appearing on publicity and in timetables, proudly declaring the 18,000 kilometres of routes and the 8,000 communities served. In 1967 Citroën (by then owned by the Michelin group) was merged with Berliet, and the last T60 was delivered to the Strasbourg network in 1970.
A network of travel agencies was set up under the CITER name. Reductions in bus and coach operations took place in the 1970s. The Lille and Mulhouse networks were disposed of and there were cutbacks in the Paris area too, with the Charenton network based on Paris-Bastille passing to Cars Verts about 1970 (compare the two Paris area network maps below, the newer one showing only the two remaining networks based on Paris-Villette and Paris-Maillot). At the time the latter still included three hour long routes to Rouen, Elbeuf, Evreux and Senonches. In 1977 Transports Citroën was taken over by CFIT - Compagnie Française et Industrielle de Transports. CFIT was jointly owned by the Michelin company and the Verney group. The Citroën networks were co-ordinated and integrated with those of Verney, which latter found the Nantes (retitled Compagnie des Transports de l'Atlantique) and Angers (retitled Compagnie des Autocars d'Anjou) networks useful additions to its substantial operations in the west of France, neatly filling gaps in the network. Replacement vehicles were now Verney's own products rather than Citroën or Berliet. CITER was integrated with Tourisme Verney. In 1990 the Verney family bought out the Michelin interest and became fully independent again, although in later years they were to become part of Connex, and later Veolia.

During 1971 I obtained timetables for all of the then existing Transports Citroën networks in France with the exception of Vesoul and Moulins, although I did have a 1970 example for the latter. The Mulhouse network included routes to Bâle in Switzerland. It is interesting to note the change in timetable format from 1970 to 1971 both in cover and size, the earlier format from Moulins being 6 inches by 5 inches, the later blue covered format 8 inches by 5 inches. Thus illustrated below are:

✦ Réseau de Moulins, 1970 - 15 routes
✦ Réseau de Nantes et d'Angers, 1971 - 16 routes Nantes + 14 routes Angers
✦ Réseau de Mulhouse et de Strasbourg, 1971 - 13 routes Mulhouse + 21 routes Strasbourg
✦ Réseau de Lyon - Macon - Chalon - Dijon, 1971 - 14 routes Lyon - 5 routes Macon - 5 routes Chalon - 16 routes Dijon
✦ Réseau de Clermont-Ferrand, 1971 - 21 routes
✦ Réseau de Lille, 1971 - 24 routes
✦ Réseau de Vesoul - no contemporary information - 13 routes in 1965
✦ Réseau de Paris, 1971 - 27 routes (14 Villette + 13 Maillot)





















	See also below the 1950 timetable and maps for the Strasbourg and Mulhouse networks

























Paris network 1971 (two terminals)


Paris network 1968 (three terminals)

The 13 Transports Citroën networks of France (from the maps in the 1971 timetables). These are the same thirteen networks as listed in the 1950 timetable below.



The more detailed map from the 1970 Moulins timetable showing the 13 post-war networks.



Transports Citroen - the Paris network in 1933







And these are illustrations from the 1950 timetable for the Strasbourg and Mulhouse networks






A leaflet from the Auxerre area, dating from 1934