Autorité organisatrice de transport urbain

Last updated March 12, 2019

In France, an autorité organisatrice de transport urbain (AOTU; urban transport organisation authority) is a type of autorité organisatrice de transports (AOT) for urban areas.

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

In France, an autorité organisatrice de transports, usually abbreviated AOT, is one of the local government bodies implementing the 1982 law for the organisation of transportation in France.

An AOTU provides the co-ordination of the urban public transport network within its area, known as the périmètre de transport urbain (PTU; urban transport perimeter). To do so it receives funds raised via a transport tax on local businesses called the versement transport (VT).

Public transport is transport of passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that charge a posted fee for each trip. Examples of public transport include city buses, trolleybuses, trams and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world.

In France, the versement transport is a hypothecated urban regional payroll tax levied on the total gross salaries of all employees of companies of more than 11 employees, originally intended to raise capital for investment in local public transport infrastructure, but more and more used to cover its operating expenses. The tax is levied on the employer, not the employee directly. The money is directed to the autorité organisatrice de transport urbain, the local government authority responsible for organising public transport.

There are several types of legal structure which these organisations by which AOTUs may be governed Traditionally, urban public transport was organised by the French communes, especially in the south of France. In 1999, commune-based organisations represented over 30% of all AOTUs. Since the 1970s, however, AOTs have tended to combine across communes, with the creation of numerous syndicats intercommunaux à vocation unique (SIVUs; inter-commune single-purpose syndicates) with a remit only for the direction of urban transport. Between the end of the 1970s and 1999, 20% to 30% of AOTUs were SIVUs.

In 2004, some years after the adoption of the 1999 loi relative au renforcement et à la simplification de la coopération intercommunale (law for the improvement and simplification of inter-communal cooperation), usually known as the loi Chevènement, the most common structure for AOTUs were as communautés d’agglomération (agglomeration communities), at 43% of the total, with communautés de communes (communities of communes) making up 12% and communautés urbaines (urban communities) making up 5% of all AOTUs. Additionally, mixed syndicates represented 12% of the total in 2004, when SIVUs (8%) and syndicats intercommunaux à vocation multiples (SIVOMs; inter-commune multi-purpose syndicates) (1%) were being phased out. By 2004, 18% of all AOTUs were communes.

The loi n° 99-586 du 12 juillet 1999 relative au renforcement et à la simplification de la coopération intercommunale, commonly called the loi Chevènement after its proposer Jean-Pierre Chevènement, is one of the principal laws encouraging inter-municipal cooperation in France.

A communauté de communes is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of intercommunality.

Communauté urbaine is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the Metropolis. A communauté urbaine is composed of a city (commune) and its independent suburbs.

An AOTU can run the transport service itself (a régie en droit public français ) or contract it out to another transport operator. Contractual relations between the AOTU and the contractor can also take many different forms: for example as a délégation de service public or a droit des marchés publics en France . According to the Groupement des autorités responsables de transport (GART; Transport Authorities Group), in 2004 91% of public transport networks were implemented under contract and only 9% operated in-house.

The groupement des autorités responsables de transport is a French Association founded in 1980. It is formed of 263 autorités organisatrices de transports, of which 185 are agglomeration communities or urban communities, 59 are general councils and 19 are regional councils. These members have the objective of implementing and improving public transport in France. GART is a platform of exchange and transport matters, representing all political tendencies, and acts as their spokesbody at the national and European level.

This article about transport in France is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

Related Research Articles

Cergy-Pontoise is a new town and an agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise department, northwest of Paris on the river Oise. It owes its name to two of the communes that it covers, Cergy and Pontoise. Its population is 199,143 (2012), in an area of 84.2 km². Created in the 1970s, it became an agglomeration community in 2004.

Val-de-Reuil is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in north-western France. It is located south of Rouen in a loop of the Seine. Created as the new town of Le Vaudreuil in 1972, its name was changed to Val-de-Reuil in 1984 to avoid confusion with its neighbour, Le Vaudreuil.

The Urban Community of Lyon, also known as Grand Lyon or by its former acronym COURLY, is the former intercommunal structure gathering the city of Lyon (France) and some of its suburbs.

The communauté urbaine Caen la Mer is the communauté urbaine, an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Caen. It is located in the Calvados department, in the Normandy region, northwestern France. It was created in January 2017, replacing the previous Communauté d'agglomération Caen la Mer and two communautés de communes. Its population was 265,466 in 2016, of which 109,750 in Caen proper.

Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole is the métropole, an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Montpellier. It is located in the Hérault department, in the Occitanie region, southern France. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previous Communauté d'agglomération de Montpellier. Its population was 457,760 in 2014, of which 279,845 in Montpellier proper.

Water supply and sanitation in France is universal and of good quality. Salient features of the sector compared to other developed countries are the high degree of private sector participation using concession and lease contracts and the existence of basin agencies that levy fees on utilities in order to finance environmental investments. Water losses in France (26%) are high compared to England (19%) and Germany (7%).

The Communauté d'agglomération Amiens Métropole is a communauté d'agglomération in the Somme département and in the Hauts-de-France région of France. Its population was 182,600 in 2015, of which 136,172 in Amiens proper.

The agglomeration community Annemasse - Les Voirons is an intercommunal structure located in Haute-Savoie, France. It consists of the town Annemasse and 11 neighbouring communes. It is located at the Swiss border, east of Geneva, between the mountains Salève and Voirons.

Grenoble metropolitan area as defined by INSEE is a residential area near the city of Grenoble.

The Communauté d'agglomération Paris-Saclay (or CAPS) is an administrative entity in the Essonne département, near Paris. Administrative center: Orsay. It was formed on 1 January 2016 by the merger of the former Communauté d'agglomération du Plateau de Saclay and the Communauté d'agglomération Europ'Essonne.

The Syndicat Mixte des Inforoutes de l’Ardèche is a public institution of cooperation between municipalities. Since 1995, it has worked to help local authorities master new information and communications technologies. It is mainly financed by the general council of the Ardèche department.

The Communauté d'agglomération de Mantes-en-Yvelines is a former administrative entity in the Yvelines département, near Paris. Administrative center: Magnanville. It was merged into the Communauté urbaine Grand Paris Seine et Oise in January 2016.

A métropole is an administrative entity in France, in which several communes cooperate, and which has the right to levy local tax, an établissement public de coopération intercommunale à fiscalité propre. It is the most integrated form of intercommunality in France, more than the communauté urbaine, the communauté d'agglomération and the Communauté de communes. The métropoles were created by a law of January 2014.

Châlons Agglo, formally the communauté d'agglomération de Châlons-en-Champagne, is a communauté d'agglomération around Châlons-en-Champagne in the French department of Marne in the region of Grand Est. It was formed in January 2000 from the previous district de Châlons-en-Champagne, which consisted of 9 communes. In 2014 it was expanded to 38 communes, when it was merged with the three communautés de communes of l'Europort, Jâlons, and la Région de Condé-sur-Marne, except that Pocancy in Jâlons joined the communauté de communes de la Région de Vertus. In January 2017, the 8 communes of the former communauté de communes de la Région de Mourmelon joined the communauté d'agglomération de Châlons-en-Champagne.