Road transport networks of the Verney Group
Compagnie Armoricaine de Transport (CAT) was founded in 1933 as the Company Armoricaine de Transports Citroën - CATC . It became CAT in 1944 and developed parcels services in the 1960s before becoming part of the Verney group following the arrival of the new investment by Michelin.
Compagnie Armoricaine de Transport Finistère started through activities in local rail services dating from 1891 (FVIL) and later involvement with SATOS. During the 1950s and 1960s CAT turned increasingly to road transport as the local railways were closed for economic reasons. The Verney group was joined in 1962, alongside fellow member CAT of St Brieuc (22 – Côtes-d'Armor).
Compagnie de Transports du Morbihan (CTM) was developed through the construction and operation of railways of the Compagnie des Chemins du Fer du Morbihan (CM). It was associated with Verney-Baert since 1898. In 1939 the rail network was closed to be replaced by road transport. CM introduced a network of regular bus routes. In 1968, the company became CTM following a majority involvement of Transports Verney in its business activities. In 1994, the head office was established in new premises in Vannes.
Compagnie des Transports de l’Atlantique (CTA) grew from erstwhile Transports Citroën: their Nantes network started in 1932 with strong development of routes by Citroen. The company joined the Verney group in 1977 following the separation of the bus routes from the travel agency activities of Transports Citroën and became CFIT (creation of the Peugeot group SA). In 1990 CFIT was legally restructured and CFIT 44 became CTA 44.
Société des Transports Automobiles de l’Ouest (STAO) was founded under the leadership of Louis Verney in the 1930s. It developed networks of routes in the departments of Sarthe, Mayenne, Orne and Vienne and became the the flagship of the Verney group, including at Le Mans the factory of the manufacturer Verney and the transport operations. The origins of the Verney group derive in part from the creation of STAO. Today it is called simply Société des Transports de l’Ouest. Since 2007 only STAO 72 (Sarthe), 53 (Mayenne) and 86 (Vienne) are still in existence. STAO 61 (Orne) was merged with Autocars du Calvados (ADC) and the Société des Transports de Normandie (STN) as VTNI (Veolia Transport Normandie Interurbains).
Société des Transports de Normandie (STN) grew from predecessor Chemins de Fer Normands (CFN), which was launched in 1928 to operate both local railways and buses. STN appeared in June 1943 in the area of freight transport. Both CFN and STN were part of the Verney group. Local rail operations ceased in 1950 which allowed the STN to expand its business to include the operation of the CFN buses. In 1957, the Société des Transports Départementaux de la Manche (SGTD) merged with STN. STN was the first operator of the St-Lô town bus network (TUSA) in the 1980s and transported employees of the COGEMA nuclear industrial site in La Hague. STN continued its activities after the demise of the Verney group until its integration into VTNI in 2007.
Transports d'Ille-et-Vilaine (TIV) commenced in 1896 with local railways. TIV was integrated into the Verney group following the acquisition of SAFTA (Société Anonyme Fougeraise de Transport Automobile) and Cars Bleus (a Saint-Malo company) in 1958. They celebrated their centenary in Rennes in 1996 in the company of the CEO of the Verney group.
Transports Verney Rhone-Alpes (TVRA) grew out of the former Citroën networks. They joined the Verney group in 1977 under the CFIT banner. In 1978, CFIT included:
. Garage Poids Lourds Estressinois (GPLE) (heavy goods)
. Cars du Lyonnais
. Les Rapides Rouges
In May 1979 a lease-management agreement was created between Vienne Voyages, Cars Lyonnais and CFIT. January 1, 1980, everything was merged into "Les Cars Lyonnais" (CDL). On 12 December 1990 the company Transports Verney Rhone-Alpes (TVRA) was created by merger between CDL, Cars Burtin (St Genis-Laval, 69) and their subsidiary Lyon Cars, bought shortly before. In 1994, the Verney group acquired Cars Favier of Millery (69), which remained a wholly owned subsidiary for 10 years. This whole business became Connex Rhodalia in 2004.
Other networks have their story to tell with Verney, and they will appear soon on our website ...
Autocars du Calvados (ADC)
Autocars d’ Auvergne (AA)
Compagnie des Autocars de Touraine (CAT)
Compagnie des Autocars d’Anjou (CAA)
Compagnie des Transports de l’Est (CTE)
Kunegel (subsumed in 1999 by the Verney group)
Transports Val de Seine (TVS)
Transport et Tourisme du Territoire (TTT) ......