The Société des transports de Tunis or Transtu is the parastatal authority to manage public mass transit in the greater

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

area ( Grand Tunis). It supervises the

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

network, the Métro léger de Tunis (a light railway system) and the TGM light rail link to

La Marsa La Marsa ( aeb, المرسى ') is a coastal town in far north eastern Tunisia near the capital Tunis. The population is estimated as 92,987, as of 2014. The old summer capital of pre-colonial Tunisia, it is today a popular vacation spot for many ...

. Transtu was founded in 2003 when the ''Société nationale des transports'' (SNT) and the ''Société du métro léger de Tunis'' (SMLT) were combined. Annually Transtu handles about 460 million passagers. The longest line is still line 47

History

In 1872 Tunisia's first railway was inaugurated linking Tunis to

La Goulette La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...

. The first trolley, initially horse-drawn, was opened in 1885; electrification of the trams started in 1902. A suburban train between Tunis,

Bab Saadoun Bab Saadoun ( ar, باب سعدون) is one of the gates of the medina of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. First constructed circa 1350 on the edge of the suburb of Bab Souika, it originally had only one narrow arch and it was replaced in 1881 (at ...

and La Manouba was opened in 1903. In 1930 bus service was started. By 1944, the trolleys were replaced by

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

ses. After gaining independence, the transport systems in Tunis were nationalized. The ''Société nationale des transports'' (SNT) was charged to manage transit in the greater Tunis area in 1964. The Metro leger was subsequently created to provide a modern transit system without incurring the cost of building a subterrean metro. First trains on Line 1 began to operate between Tunis and Ben Arous in 1985. In 2003 the SNT and the ''Société du métro léger de Tunis'' were combined.

Network

The authority manages three networks: * The bus system covers 5,836 kilometers in Tunis and surroundings serving a population of about 2 million people. 1,050 buses are covering 206 lines. The yellow buses indicate their terminals in Arabic and French. * The Métro léger de Tunis consists of 5 lines that total 82 km; it will be further expanded. * TGM connects Tunis and

References

* The initial article is based on the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia, accessed 2/13/2003

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe des transports de Tunis Rail transport in Tunisia Tram transport in Tunisia Public transport operators Public transport in Tunisia Transport companies established in 2003 Tunis Government-owned companies of Tunisia

History

Network

See also

References

External links