Autorité organisatrice de transport urbain


In France, an autorité organisatrice de transport urbain is a type of autorité organisatrice de transports for urban areas.
An AOTU provides the co-ordination of the urban public transport network within its area, known as the périmètre de transport urbain. To do so it receives funds raised via a transport tax on local businesses called the versement 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 Syndicat intercommunal à vocation unique 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, usually known as the loi Chevènement, the most common structure for AOTUs were as or a droit des marchés publics en France. According to the Groupement des autorités responsables de transport, in 2004 91% of public transport networks were implemented under contract and only 9% operated in-house.