RAPIDES DE
NORMANDIE
the
Transports Citroën network based on Caen in the 1930s
le réseau Citroën basé sur Caen dans les années 30
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The Rapides name became well
known in many parts of France in the 1930s. Transports Citroën - Réseau
de Caen was
established in October 1932. This was very quickly renamed Rapides de
Normandie - Cars Citroën. It was a commercial competitive
operation promoted by bus and car manufacturer Citroen and it was to
last for
only a few years in consequence of the rationalisation procedures
brought in by legislation at this time. The operation passed under the
control of the SGTD in 1936 and
was
merged into Les Courriers Normands in January 1937. (SGTD - Société
Générale des Transports Départementaux - was a substantial
provincial bus operator across France and already had a presence in 17
départements by 1929 and in 25 départements by 1945).
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The port town of
Cherbourg was served by three of the Rapides de
Normandie routes, two from Caen (one via
Carentan and the other via Saint-Lô),
the third from Granville via Coutances. These routes through the
Cotentin peninsula in the department of Manche were withdrawn by
Rapides de Normandie after operation on Sunday 29th July
1934 as an early consequence of the co-ordination legislation for road
and rail. Their routes
netween
Caen and Saint-Lô passed to Courriers
Normands of Caen, whilst the route from Saintt-Lô to Cherbourg via Carentan and Valognes passed
jointly to SGTD and SCF; on the other route, from Saint-Lô
to Cherbourg via Coutances and Bricquebec, buses were to disappear from
the middle section between Coutances and Bricquebec for many years
until the closure of the parallel Coutances - Cherbourg rail line to
passengers in 1970. There then followed a rail replacement bus service
which declined after a few years to school and college journeys only as
the departmental subsidy was reduced. This was eventually revived in
recent years under the modern day manéo network in Manche, now part of the regional
Nomad operation.
Representative timetable examples from the 1930s operations of Rapides
de Normandie are given below.
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Le
nom "Rapides" allait
devenir
bien connue dans de nombreuses régions de France. Il semble avoir eu
ses origines dans l'évolution de certains des réseaux de Transports
Citroën des années 1930. Ici nous parlons de reseau Bas-Normand
de Caen, avec lignes touchant Cherbourg à l'ouest et Rouen à l'est.
Fondée en 1932, une certaine réduction a eu lieu en 1934 avec la
législation de coordination de transports, et après l'acquisition par
la SGTD l'entreprise Rapides de Normandie a été fusionnée avec les Les
Courriers Normands en 1937.
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Pages from a 1934
timetable booklet for Rapides de Normandie
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Newspaper from Valognes 2nd June 1934 with transport timings given front page prominence
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May
1934 timetables for the Granville - Caen and Vire - Caen routes
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We
would be pleased to learn more about these operators 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 ces autocaristes, je leur en serais reconnaissant!
With grateful acknowledgement to the researches and collections of John
Carman, Malcolm Chase, James Bunting and Clive D'eath |
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