SOCIÉTÉ DES TRANSPORTS DE NORMANDIE

The main interurban bus operator in the département of Manche

                                                  - part of the Tourisme Verney group 

 

   stn logo

For current information and timetables of bus services in Manche please visit the Manéo website

Until 2006 STN operated the majority of the interurban buses in the département of Manche.  The head office was at Granville and there were other depots at Cherbourg, Avranches and Saint-Lô.  My first acquaintance with the STN operation was in 1962 on a visit to Cherbourg, when there were two departure points in the town according to the destination of the buses.  The buses running east and south-east from the town were (and are still) based at the Autogare, an office in the old local railway station (opposite the mainline SNCF rail station) which had been used for many years as the town terminus for the Chemins de Fer Normands standard gauge autorails (originally steam powered) to Barfleur and St Vaast-la-Hougue.  These had finally ceased running in 1950, having been reprieved in part by a shortage of fuel for buses in the war years, and then severely disrupted by the fighting in 1944, and then reintroduced substantively in 1947 for three more years.  
That there were two in-town termini and departure points reflects the development of the various Cherbourg area country routes from two distinct origins.  The easterly route (now STN 1) to St Pierre Eglise, Barfleur and St Vaast-la-Hougue grew out of the CFN local railway which had opened between 1886 and 1911, and nicknamed "Tue-Vaques".  This was later supplemented to a degree over the years by bus operation from the 1930s onwards, including an alternative route from Cherbourg to St Vaast-la-Hougue via the Val de Saire and Le Vast, which last operated in 1973.billet de cherbourg à barfleur
Buses on STN routes 2 and 3 to the west and south-west of Cherbourg departed from another STN office near the town centre at 10, rue de l'Ancien Quai.  Amongst the very earliest bus routes in the département, the Cherbourg - Auderville route was approved in August 1913. This route was second only to the Cherbourg - Flamanville route approved in September 1912.  The Auderville route was operated by the Compagnie des Auto Messageries de la Hague; the Flamanville route originally by Société des Automobiles et Cycles Peugeot, then M. Gros from 1914 and later from 1923 M. Schmidt.  In September 1913 a proposal was put forward for metre-gauge electric trams over these two routes - this was being seriously considered until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, after which there was a period of uncertainty for the bus operation through shortage of fuel and requisitioning of vehicles.  By 1917 a horse drawn carriage was working the Auderville / Jobourg route and it was one of the first motor bus routes to be resumed after the war in 1919. In 1920 a second route towards la Hague is noted as Cherbourg - Omonville, and in 1921 a route is noted Cherbourg - Flamanville - Barneville - Carteret. By this time these western routes (and also a route eastwards to St Vaast) were being operated by Société  des Ateliers Atlas de la Manche.  By 1924, if not before, Atlas became the Société des Automobiles de la Manche and in 1925 they became the local branch of the expansionist national company SGTD - Société Générale des Transports Départementaux. Also known locally as the Transports Départementaux de la Manche.  

By 1928 the French railways were becoming concerned at the extent of road transport competition. As a contra-measure they established SATOS  - Société des Transports de l'Ouest et Sud-ouest to provide bus services complimentary to the rail services. Rather than operate their own network, SATOS made use of existing local operators and their services, so in la Manche that was CFN and SGTD.

SGTD ran the Cherbourg - Auderville, Cherbourg - Omonville, Cherbourg - Barneville - Carteret and Valognes - Bricquebec - Carteret routes until they passed to STN in 1957 when SGTD withdrew from Manche.  The Auderville and Omonville routes were combined as STN route 2, Cherbourg - Carteret became route 3 and Valognes - Carteret route 4 (as below).

     
 
A Verney bus of the STN at Pirou-Plage (Manche) in the 1960s

 
     
   The STN bus station at Cherbourg in 2005, little changed from when it was built in 1911 as the terminal station for the local CFM <Tue-Vaques> rail line to Barfleur
     
   Mont St Michel, with several STN buses in the foreground.  Once served by a local rail line of TN from Pontorson
     
   STN buses outside the Gare SNCF at Granville (Manche) in the 1950s
     (photos de S. Gardie - merci)

 

These were the services ("lignes") that were being operated in the Cherbourg area in the summer of 1962:

Ligne 1      Cherbourg - St Pierre Eglise - Barfleur - St Vaast-la-Hougue

                        (some journeys operated via Val de Saire and Le Vast)

Ligne 1C    St Vaast-la Hougue - Montebourg - Valognes

Ligne 2      Cherbourg - Beaumont Hague - Auderville - Jobourg (via either Biville or Urville)

Ligne 3      Cherbourg - Bricquebec - Barneville - Carteret

Ligne 4      Carteret - Barneville - Bricquebec - Valognes

Ligne 5      Cherbourg - Valognes - Montebourg - Carentan - Saint Lô

Ligne 10    Cherbourg - Valognes - Carentan - Coutances - Granville

  
SGTD was founded in 1919 and grew from the idea of bus services subsidised by the départements.  It grew into the biggest road transport enterprise in France, with more than 1300 vehicles in 1927. In later years it became part of the VIA-GTI group.

Another important operator was André Citroën (later Transports Citroën) who operated 52 regular routes in many parts of France by the year 1932. This included the Rapides de Normandie, whose routes reached Cherbourg from Caen in the mid-1930s.

Other services run at this time by STN linked Saint-Lô with Coutances and Coutainville / Gouville (8), Saint-Lô with Granville via Percy (11), Granville with Avranches (12), Granville / Avranches with Mont Saint Michel / St Malo (13), Avranches with Domfront (16), Avranches with St Hilaire du Harcouët (17), Pontorson with Mont Saint Michel (15) and Avranches with Saint James (14).  Ligne 6 was a winter-only bus service between Carentan and Carteret, as the route was served by trains in summer.  Ligne 7 was a market day and once a day high summer only service from Coutances via Gouville to Carentan and Ligne 9 was a market day and summer Sunday service from Saint Lô  to Isigny and Grandcamp.  Tickets were usually bought from a local agent, typically a bar or cafe, in most of the towns and villages served, although the driver took fares from passengers boarding at the more remote stops.

STN is part of the large Transports Verney / Tourisme Verney group, with headquarters in Le Mans, and with a dozen or more operating subsidiaries throughout the west of France.  Until 1953, STN was known as CFN (Chemins de Fer Normands), reflecting the autorail and country tramway origins of their services.  Being part of the Verney group, many of the buses operated were manufactured after 1940 by Verney themselves in Le Mans (Société des Automobiles et Matériels Verney).  The Verney group itself grew across France in the 1990s through acquisition of the routes of the former Transports Citroen.  In turn Verney was acquired by the Connex group in 2002.  (This involved 2700 buses and coaches and 3300 staff, with operations principally in the Pays de la Loire, Bretagne and Normandie but also in Rhône-Alpes, the Paris region and Alsace).  By 2006, STN and Connex had become part of the Veolia group.

The long established services previously operated by the private firm Transports Schmidt between Cherbourg - Les Pieux - Siouville and Cherbourg - Les Pieux - Carteret - Portbail became Ligne 7 of the STN in 1978.  Initially the two former Schmidt routes were combined so that the bus coming from Carteret double-ran from Les Pieux to Siouville and back to Les Pieux on the way to Cherbourg but they are now separate once again, although the Carteret route has now virtually disappeared apart from school journeys (there are still regular weekday services on the Cherbourg - Siouville route).		 STN bus stop sign

During the late 1980's a new local depot for STN was opened at rue Jean Bouin, Tourlaville, in the suburbs of Cherbourg.   In 1993 the fleet comprised about seventy vehicles.  The transport of scholars remains an important part of the daily work of STN, and many routes are based primarily around school journeys.  STN has also provided the vehicles for the rail replacement buses for the Cherbourg - Bricquebec - La Haye du Puits - Coutances rail line for some years now.  They were also the operators of the town services (Transports Urbains de Saint Lô et d'Agneaux) in Saint Lô, the préfecture and administrative centre of the Manche département.  This passed to CGFTE from 1st January 2003.  Town services in Cherbourg and the surrounding urban community have always been the responsibility of CTC - Compagnie des Transports de Cherbourg.  These are now operated under the Zephir Bus name.

The 1970 timetable shows an STN Verney bus at Mont Saint Michel   The cover of the 1979 timetable, now with the Verney group title
     
STN 1970 timetable   STN 1980 timetable

 

In the summer of  2001 most of the main Cherbourg routes listed above from 1962 still survived in one form or another but at greatly reduced frequencies.  All services now departed from the Autogare opposite the railway station, and the offices at rue de l'Ancien Quai were long closed.  Ligne 2 completely disappeared around 1995 and there are now no public buses in the Beaumont Hague /  Jobourg area (but there are many workers contract buses morning and evening to and from the COGEMA nuclear establishment on the D901 road to Jobourg).  Ligne 4 has been combined with Ligne 3 to operate Carteret - Bricquebec - Valognes - Cherbourg.  Ligne 10 operates only south of Coutances towards Granville and the link "in the middle" between Carentan and Coutances has been broken for many years.  From Cherbourg there are typically three buses a day each way on Ligne 1 (to Barfleur / St Vaast), one a day on combined Lignes 3/4 (to Carteret) and two a day on Lignes 5 (to Carentan / Saint Lô) and 7 (to Les Pieux / Siouville).  

The winter 2004 timetables show an even greater emphasis on providing school related services. There are no longer any Saturday services at all from Cherbourg (Sunday services went many years ago) and even the Cherbourg - Coutances rail replacement service is now operated only on schooldays.  All non schoolday journeys on ligne 5 (Cherbourg - Saint Lô) require a change of bus at Ste-Mère Eglise.  

Fleet strength for STN in 2005 was 137 buses, operating on a mix of regular interurban services, school services, private hire, tours and excursions. The STN head office, which moved from its long standing original location in Granville to Cherbourg-Tourlaville in 1987, moved again to Saint Lô in January 2006.  The summer 2006 timetable has four routes running to and from Cherbourg (no Sunday services, and only Ligne 1 had a limited Saturday service):

Ligne 1      Cherbourg - St Pierre Eglise - Barfleur - St Vaast-la-Hougue (2 or 3 return journeys a day, also 1 market day return journey Friday morning from Barfleur and St Vaast to Valognes)

Ligne 3      Cherbourg - Valognes - Bricquebec - Barneville - Carteret (1 or 2 return journeys a day)

Ligne 5      Cherbourg - Valognes - Ste-Mère Eglise - Carentan - Saint Lô (3 return journeys a day)

Ligne 7      Cherbourg -  Les Pieux - Flamanville - Siouville (2 return journeys a day plus mid-day market extras on Thursday and Friday).

From 1st January 2007 Veolia Transport rebranded its several interurban operations in Normandie under one name VTNI - Veolia Transport Normandie Interurbain.  As well as STN this includes CNA (Compagnie Normande d’Autobus, Rouen), ADC (Autocars du Calvados), STAO (Société des Transports Automobiles de l’Ouest) and CFTI (Compagnie Française de Transports Interurbains).  The combined fleets total some 1,000 vehicles and there are 1,171 employees.  Group turnover is 69 million euros.

The département of Manche published in the summer of 2006 plans to develop a comprehensive network of bus services in their area, including a proposal for seven main interurban services linking the principal towns, supported by a network of twenty seven feeder services connecting with the main routes.  The new manéo network was introduced on 1st September 2007 and the tender for its operation was gained by VTNI.

Follow this link for the full 2004 list of bus services in the département of Manche, including those operated by STN.

Or follow this link for the Buses of Cotentin 1934  -  a reprise of country and interurban services from 70 plus years ago.
 
A little more history.  There were originally three local rail companies in the département of la Manche: Tramways Normands (TN), Chemins de Fer Départementaux (CFD), and Chemins de Fer de la Manche (CFM).  CFD and CFM were in financial difficulty by 1925 and it was agreed that TN take over all of the local railways. TN became the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer Normands (CFN) in 1928, operating both trains and buses. Many of the local rail lines closed in the 1930s, except the standard gauge lines in the Barfleur area.

The Société des Transports de Normandie (STN) name was set up on 29 June 1943 - but as a road freight company only. (The passenger operations continued under the CFN name). The last local rail service ceased on 30th September 1950 (the famed "Tue-Vaques" from Cherbourg to Barfleur), then it was buses only.  

The STN company expanded into road passenger services too by taking over the CFN buses in 1954.  Then on 28 February 1957 the Société des Transports Départementaux de la Manche (SGTD) merged with the STN, bringing together the two networks based on Cherbourg.  

I would be pleased to learn more about this operator if any French readers of this page have further information !

Si les lecteurs français de cette page pouvaient m’apporter des informations complémentaires à propos de cet autocariste, je leur en serais reconnaissant !


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