One of the two main country bus operators in the Indre-et-Loire of yesteryear
In 1964 Les Rapides de Touraine had a fleet of nearly forty buses, including thirty Chausson with seating capacities between 41 and 45 passengers. There were also nine smaller buses seating 27 from Floirat-Saviem. Livery was yellow with black waistband. In common with many French country bus operators there was a significant parcels traffic ('messageries') accommodated in the external roof rack. Additionally there were ten coaches in the fleet at the time. In contrast the STAO vehicles from Tours were mainly in a light blue livery with dark blue waistband. As befits a Verney subsidiary company their vehicles were of that same manufacture. Many of the STAO routes were based on the former local light railways in the area.
There was little overlap between the routes of the two companies, and both operator's routes departed from the Gare Routière in the Place de la Gare at Tours railway station. From the 1967 timetable illustrated the routes with the higher levels of service were lignes 1, 4, 5 and 10.
Other 'independent' operators working regular bus routes into Tours in 1964 included Cars Coudert from Loches, some twenty five miles to the south. From the north came Société Grosbois et Cie of Savigny-sur-Lathan and Transports I. Pivoin of Chateau-la-Vallière.
Les Rapides de Touraine (along with Rapides de Poitou, Rapides de Sud-Est and Rapides de Bourgogne) are originally thought to have been part of the Transports Citroën group in pre-war years. It is known that the nearby Poitiers-based operation changed from Transports Citroën de Poitou to Rapides de Poitou in April 1933. The Rapides companies were acquired by the Progécar group in 1975.
1990 saw the creation of the Transdev holding with 99% of its capital belonging to the C3D (Caisse des Dépôts). Transdev manages the passenger transportation department of the C3D and thus merged all the activities of the Transcet SA and Progécar SA companies and their subsidiaries. Now in 2010 there is a comprehensive bus network Touraine Fil Vert supported by the Conseil-Général serving Indre-et-Loire. The Tours urban network is now Fil Bleu. What happened in later years to Rapides de Touraine is not known and any information would be welcomed.
