Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the brand names of Veolia Transportation in North America and Israel, Veolia Transport, Veolia Verkehr in Germany and with the former name Connex preserved in Lebanon and (until it ceased operations on 31 December 2012) Jersey.
The company was established on 1 January 1997 as CGEA Transport, when the public transport divisions of Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE) and its subsidiary Compagnie Générale d'Entreprises Automobiles (CGEA) were merged. The name was changed to Connex in 2000, and in November 2002 Compagnie générale française des transports et entreprises (CGFTE) was incorporated. In 2005, the name became Veolia Transport.
In 2007, the group posted revenues of €5.6 billion in 2007, and sold Veolia Cargo, the rail freight branch of Veolia Transport in 2009 to SNCF and Eurotunnel.
A merger between Veolia Transport and Transdev was announced on 23 July 2009. Transdev was then a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts. The merger was completed in March 2011. Veolia Transdev became the world's private-sector leader in sustainable mobility with more than 110,000 employees in 28 countries.
In July 2011, amid disappointing financial results, Veolia Environnement announced the launch of new restructuring plans and redeployment of assets and businesses. In December 2011, Veolia announced a €5bn divestment program over 2012-2013. As part of this programme, Veolia would divest its participation in Veolia Transdev and exit the transport business altogether.
Until 2011, Veolia had diverse road and rail operations across the globe, employing 72,000 workers worldwide and serving completely or partly about 40 metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants.
The company is the third largest private sector operator of public transport and operates:
7 tramway networks across the country: 5 in service (Bordeaux, Nice, Rouen, Nancy) ; 1 in construction in suburban Lyon, (Lesly) and two in project (Le Havre and Toulon)
77 bus networks (January 1, 2009), especially in Bordeaux, Nice, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Toulon, Le Havre and Nancy
More than 25 suburban networks in suburban Paris : (Seine-St-Denis "TRA", Melun "Tram", Sénart "Sénart Bus", etc.)
4 tourist railways (Petit train de la Rhune, Vapeur du Trieux, Chemin de Fer de La Mure and Chemins de Fer de Provence)
Ferry services in Mediterranéa: Veolia recently bought 28% of the Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée, a previously state-owned ferry company.
Autocars De Polder has been part of the Veolia Group since 1995.
Veolia operates some de Lijn routes under contract.
Veolia Transport Belgium (VTB) was passed on to Veolia Transdev until it was sold to a consortium consisting of Cube Infrastructure and Gimv in March 2014.
Veolia ran half of the transport operations of the privatised Combus especially around Copenhagen.
Copenhagen: Suburban buses.
These operations were sold to Arriva in October 2007.
Finland
Helsinki: Veolia owns Helsinki Metropolitan Area's bus company Veolia Finland, which was previously Linjebuss and operates essentially in Vantaa, a northern suburb of Helsinki.
Tampere: Veolia owns the regional bus company previously known as Alhonen & Lastunen
Seinäjoki: Veolia owns yet another local bus company, now known as Veolia Transport West Oy, operating both local and long-distance routes.
Veolia Transport Finland Oy has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and is now known as Transdev Finland Oy from 5 February 2015.
Veolia Verkehr, former Connex Verkehr, offers train services, several of a regional character such as the Bayerische Oberlandbahn from Munich, and two long-distance services. Veolia owns a number of bus companies, mostly in suburban areas. It also operates tram systems:
Aachen: Suburban buses,
Berlin: Suburban tram line linking to the S Bahn,
Frankfurt: Urban linepacks A&E, Suburban services,
Bad Homburg: Urban & Suburban buses,
Hagen: Urban network,
Pforzheim: Urban network won by Veolia in August 2006. Network included in "Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund GmbH" (KVV) and linked to it by Tram-Train line,
Schwäbisch Hall: Urban network,
Stuttgart: Suburban buses,
...and also into rural areas.
Veolia Verkehr has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and is now known as Transdev GmbH since March 2015.
Ireland
Dublin: Veolia operates the Luas tramway which started operations in June 2004. Operation of the Luas tramway has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and renamed Transdev Ireland.
Galway: Veolia owned the Nestor Airlink bus company which operates between Galway and Dublin Airport. However Jim Burke & Sons own and run it as of March 2009.
Connex Transport Jersey operated bus services in Jersey between 29 September 2002 and 31 December 2012 under the Mybus brand.
Netherlands
Veolia Transport Nederland consists of:
Veolia Transport Veluwe, operating in "De Veluwe" region in Gelderland,
Veolia Transport Brabant, operating in middle and western Noord-Brabant with 4 urban networks in Breda, Tilburg, Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal,
Veolia Transport Limburg, operating in the whole province of Limburg, including city buses in Maastricht, Parkstad (Heerlen-Kerkrade-Landgraaf-Brunssum), Venlo, and Roermond and the Roermond–Nijmegen and Maastricht–Kerkrade train routes.
Veolia Transport Fast Ferries Zeeland (Westerschelde ferry).
Veolia Transport Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen, in the southern part of Zeeland province.
formerly Veolia Cargo Nederland – freight trains. (Veolia Cargo sold in 2009)
Veolia Transport Nederland has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and in December 2015, was grouped with Connexxion to form Transdev Nederland, but the two subsidiaries remain separated. The plan to operate them under Transdev but as separate companies origin since the global rebranding of Veolia Transport. On December 11, 2016, Veolia's concession in Limburg ended, on the same they the company has handed over Haaglanden operations to other Transdev Company Connexxion and has ceased all operation under the Veolia name in the Netherlands.
Veolia Transport Norge operates:
Trondheim Tramway,
Rogaland buses,
Nordland buses and ferries.
Finnmark buses and ferries.
On 6 May 2011, Veolia Transport Norge was sold in a management buyout and renamed Boreal Transport Norge AS. The new owners were Transport Management AS (1.4%) (the management) and Cube Norge AS (98.6%), a subsidiary of Cube Communications Infrastructure S.C.A. (Cube Infrastructure Fund) of Luxembourg.
Barcelona: Two unlinked tram networks Trambaix and Trambesòs and two networks in the suburbs: Terrassa and Mataró,
Bilbao: Bilbobus urban network, contract won in May 2008, sold in 2012
Jerez: Urban network,
Parla: Tramway in suburban Madrid.
Veolia Transport Sverige AB is the umbrella company of Veolia Transport companies in Sweden:
Gothenburg: Veolia owns the ferry company Styrsöbolaget that operates the cross-river ferries (Älvsnabben) as well as the ferries to the south archipelago. Veolia also operate some local city bus networks or interurban lines on contract to the local authorities (Västtrafik).
Norrköping: Veolia operate the Norrköping tramway on behalf of Östgötatrafiken.
Stockholm: Until April 2012, Veolia Transport (now Transdev) was running three tram networks (Lidingöbanan, Nockebybanan and Tvärbanan) and a local railway (Saltsjöbanan) in the city on behalf of SL.
Metro contracted by the Stockholm County Council until 2009, after which the contract was taken over by Hong Kong's MTR.
Malmö: Veolia runs long distance trains from Malmö to Stockholm and Uppsala, in the winter season going further on to Åre, and the long distance train from Malmö to Berlin with train ferry via Trelleborg to Sassnitz in the summer season.
Veolia Transport Sverige AB has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and is now known as Transdev Sverige AB since February 2015.
Connex South Eastern - A train operator in south-east England that ran from 14 October 1996 to 9 November 2003. The contract was due to run until 2011 but was revoked early due to poor financial management after repeated warnings from Government.
Connex South Central - A train operator in the south of England that ran from 26 May 1996 until 25 August 2001.
Dunn-Line – A National Express contractor. Veolia sold its Nottingham bus and private hire coach operations to Premiere Travel from 31 January 2011; on 6 January 2011, its National Express coach work from the city passed to Yourbus.
Veolia Transport Cymru, which purchased the following (ceased by December 2012):
Pullman Coaches
Bebb Travel – A National Express contractor
Shamrock Coaches
Hawkes
Longs
Astons Coaches (Kempsey, Worcester)
Paul James Coaches (Taken over by Centrebus in October 2011)
Veolia Transport – Running a number of local services in Tyne & Wear. Veolia local and sightseeing services in York were taken over by Transdev York in August 2008.
As a result, Veolia Transport had no more operations in UK by the time of Veolia Transdev's rebranding in 2013. However, since the services in York were taken over by Transdev York (part of the old Transdev), they still eventually became part of Veolia Transdev and the current Transdev.
Veolia Transport Central Europe is a daughter company for Central Europe. It was later passed on to Veolia Transdev and then sold to Arriva in the spring of 2013.
Veolia Transport is one of the largest bus operators, operates also one regional railway line and one trolleybus network. Main acquisitions carried out (as Connex) in 2002–2004 (ČSAD Ostrava, Třinec, Praha-Vršovice, Příbram, DP Teplice), smaller in 2005 (MAD Kolín), 2008 (Nerabus), 2010 (Spojbus) etc. In summer 2008, it changed its trademark from Connex to Veolia Transport. In 2004–2007, several times competed or offered for passenger railway transport, however have got no new job yet.
Veolia Transport Česká republika a. s. (since 2006 a daughter of German company VEOLIA Transport Central Europe GmbH) has 4 operator subcompanies:
Veolia Transport Morava a. s. (based on former companies ČSAD BUS Ostrava→Connex Morava and ČSAD Třinec→BUS Slezsko), operates regional bus transport in Moravian-Silesian Region and Olomouc Region, urban bus networks in 7 cities, e. g. Třinec, Český Těšín, Šumperk and Krnov, many long-distance bus lines, some skibus and cyclobus lines etc. Operates the local railway line 293 (Desná Railway).
Veolia Transport Východní Čechy a. s. (based on the former companies ČSAD AUTOBUSY CZ Chrudim→Connex Východní Čechy and Městská autobusová doprava Kolín, s. r. o.), operates regional bus transport in the east Bohemia (east part of Central Bohemian Region, Pardubice Region, Hradec Králové Region etc.), urban bus networks in Chrudim, Kutná Hora and Kolín and some long-distance bus, skibus and cyclobus lines.
Veolia Transport Praha s. r. o. (based on the former companies ČSAD Praha-Vršovice→Connex Praha, ČSAD Příbram→Connex Příbram, NERABUS s. r. o. and SPOJBUS s. r. o.), operates regional bus transport mostly south and south-east of Prague, including several bus lines of Prague city transport and urban bus networks in Příbram, Neratovice, Roudnice nad Labem, Říčany etc.
Veolia Transport Teplice s. r. o. (based on the former city enterprise DP Teplice), operates urban network of bus and trolleybus lines in Teplice.
Nitra: Urban network and bus station.
Poland
Veolia owns a number of bus companies and operates an urban network:
Tczew: Urban city network.
Veolia owns a number of bus companies and operates 2 urban networks:
Belgrade: Urban city network
Požarevac: Urban, suburban and intercity network
Veolia Transport's operations in East Asia were operated as a joint venture with RATP Group, known as Veolia Transport RATP Asia (VTRA). It has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev.
Huaibei : Bus network operated as a joint venture into a city of 2 040 000 inhabitants (932 185 hab. urban in 2006) in Anhui province,
Huainan : Bus network operated as a joint venture into a city of 1 076 000 inhabitants (1 075 754 hab. urban in 2006) in Anhui province,
Hong Kong Island : Veolia acquired 50% of Hong Kong Tramways and took over the daily operations from The Wharf on April 7, 2009, wholly owned on February 17, 2010.
Mumbai: Veolia is part of a consortium which is led by Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, together with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA); a joint venture known as Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd. They will build the first corridor of the Mumbai Metro on the 11.4 km stretch between Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar on the east-west corridor. The project is expected to begin by end of 2006, to be completed by March 2011. It is projected that the line will serve about 600,000 people during weekdays.
Macau: Veolia invested in a joint venture with RATP Asia and created Reolian Public Transport Co.. Services began August 1, 2011 and is operating two of five groupings of routes, also to be the more important arterial routes of the city. The joint venture announced filing for bankruptcy on Oct 1, 2013. The operation was finally terminated in July 2014 and passed on to another operator.
Seoul: Metro 9 is a joint venture of Veolia (80%) and Hyundai Rotem (20%). Metro 9 operates Line 9 of Seoul's Metro .
Jerusalem: Veolia won a $500 million contract in 2003 to build and maintain the Jerusalem Light Rail system, which will comprise eight lines running across the city. It is expected to be completed by 2020. The first line, from Pisgat Ze'ev to Beit HaKerem, began operation in 2011. Due to the controversial nature of the project, Veolia became a target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. In September 2009, the company considering selling its share in the project to the Dan Bus Company for $15–20 million. In October 2010, it agreed to sell its stake to Egged instead. As a result, Dan sued Veolia. After the operation was passed on to Veolia Transdev, the sale to Egged was finally approved in August 2015.
In 2012, Denis Gasquet, Veolia's senior executive vice president, visited Israel, where the company has reached a turnover of 1.5 billion shekels a year. After 20 years of investment in the country, Gasquet said the company had never lost a tender due to its commitment to Israel. Despite operational hitches, Veolia stated that there were no political problems with the Arabs or the Jews, and the company was "not ashamed to say that we make money in Israel."
Modi'in: Intercity and urban buses in a city located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Formerly run by Margalit.
Ashdod: Intercity buses to Tel Aviv and Gush Dan, and to Ashkelon. Formerly run by Egged Bus Cooperative.
Tiberias: Urban and regional buses. Formerly run by Egged Bus Cooperative.
Yavne: Urban buses. Formerly run by Egged Bus Cooperative.
Lod: Urban buses and intercity buses to Tel Aviv. Formerly run by Egged Bus Cooperative.
Bnei Brak: Intercity buses to Jerusalem. Formerly run by Dan Bus Company.
After these operations was passed on to Veolia Transdev, the buses in Modi'in were sold to Kavim in July 2013, while the rest were sold to Afikim in September 2013.
Around a 40 km radius from Beirut : Connex operates school bus services for the Grand Lycée Franco-Libanais in Achrafieh, Beirut using a fleet of TEMSA Prestij buses, Nissan Civilian buses and Nissan Urvan vans.
Connex changed its name to the same as its French parent company's, Veolia, in January 2006. Branding on buses and trains was changed to reflect this position, with the exception of Connex Melbourne. Turnover for Australia was over A$635 million.
Brisbane, Queensland: Veolia operated as Veolia Transport Brisbane after purchasing National Bus Company's business in September 2004.
Melbourne, Victoria: Connex Melbourne operated the franchise for operating half of Melbourne's suburban rail system, later extending to the entire network in 2004. The contract expired on 30 November 2009.
Perth, Western Australia: Veolia purchased Southern Coast Transit from National Bus Company in 2004.
Sydney, New South Wales: Veolia operated a commuter bus services in south and south-western Sydney as Connex Southtrans and Connex NSW later Veolia Transport NSW after purchasing Southtrans in September 1999. Veolia has recently started operating region 4 buses on the upper north shore. Veolia also operated the Sydney Monorail and light rail network on behalf on Metro Transport Sydney.
With the exception of Connex Melbourne, the other Veolia Transport operations have since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and grouped to form its Australasian subsidiary Transdev Australasia (together with Veolia Auckland and old Transdev).
Nouméa: Veolia created and ran the Noumea suburban bus network.
New Zealand
Auckland: Veolia Transport Auckland operated the commuter rail services in partnership with Auckland Transport. It changed its name from Connex to Veolia on 1 March 2006.
Veolia Transport Auckland has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and grouped with Veolia Transport and old Transdev's Australian operations to form Transdev Australasia.
Veolia Transportation is the North American business unit of Veolia Transport It has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and renamed Transdev North America in 2014.
In April 2005 Veolia were awarded the contract in York Region in suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada running the bus rapid transit (BRT) naming the routes VIVA and joining with York Region Transit (YRT) as a one fare transit system.
Veolia also operates transit services in the Greater Montreal Area
CIT Chambly-Richelieu-Carignan
Ville de Sainte-Julie Transit
Ville de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Transit
Connex arrived in the United States in 2001, with the acquisition of Yellow Transportation in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 1, 2005, Connex acquired ATC from National Express, making Connex-ATC the largest privately owned public transportation company in North America. ATC was formed in 1951 and originally owned bus companies before becoming a contractor. In 2006, Connex-ATC changed its name to Veolia Transportation, acquired ShuttlePort, and won several contracts in the USA, including:
Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Los Angeles County, California,
Atlanta : In suburban Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett County Transit operates bus routes within as well as Xpress Bus routes to Atlanta.
Austin : Capital MetroRail and bus routes throughout Austin and surrounding communities. In March 2009, employees of Veolia Transportation were said to have tested trains on rail sections without prior approval and hence the Capital MetroRail was delayed.
Boston : Veolia operated the MBTA's regional commuter rail operations (until 2014) in conjunction with Bombardier Transportation and Alternate Concepts, Inc. as the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad.
Charleston : Veolia operates buses for CARTA
Charm City Circulator operates service throughout Downtown Baltimore. It began service in 2010.
Denver, CO : Regional Transportation District (RTD) routes throughout the metro-wide District.
Greensboro, NC : operates buses for Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA)
Las Vegas: RTC Transit in Las Vegas including The Deuce & MAX (Contract expires July 7, 2013)
Los Angeles : Metrolink, 2005-2010. A Connex/Veolia engineer texting on-duty was responsible for a head-on collision causing 26 deaths and 135 injuries, the deadliest incident in Metrolink history, leading the Metrolink board to return to the previous contractor, Amtrak.
Miami : Tri-Rail, a train system won in 2007 in the Miami metropolitan area of Florida.
Napa County, California : Operates Vine Transit system.
Nassau County, New York: Veolia won a contract to operate Long Island Bus (renamed Nassau Inter-County Express) in place of the MTA effective January 1, 2012.
New Jersey : Certain bus routes in Monmouth County as part of New Jersey Transit Bus Operations.
New Orleans : New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, won in 2008
Phoenix : the Valley Metro bus system serving the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona with contracts in Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe,
Redding: Redding Area Bus Authority
Sacramento : In suburban Yolo County, California, Yolobus provides public transportation.
San Diego : San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus routes and the SPRINTER DMU rail system in San Diego County, California,
Victor Valley: Victor Valley Transit Authority serving the Victorville, California area.
Veolia now employs over 16,000 employees with 6,500 vehicles and a revenue of over $1 billion. in 2005 in North America. Its executive team includes Mark Joseph (CEO of VTNA). It is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Veolia also owns the Supershuttle shared-ride airport shuttle service, as well as the ExecuCar black car/sedan service. Veolia also operates taxicab services across the country under various brands.
Santiago: Veolia owns Redbus Urbano, which operates feeder services to the Metro and "Troncales" in northern suburban Santiago. This operation has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev.
Bogotá: Veolia, in conjunction with three other operators, runs a 90 km right-of-way bus line called the TransMilenio system used by more than 1,400,000 persons a day. This has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev.
