RATP bus network

The RATP bus network covers the entire territory of the city of Paris and the vast majority of its near suburbs. Operated by the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP), this constitutes a dense bus network complementary to other public transport networks, all organized and financed by Île-de-France Mobilités.

Other suburban bus lines are managed by private operators grouped in a consortium known as Optile (Organisation professionnelle des transports d'Île-de-France), an association of 80 private bus operators holding exclusive rights on their lines. There are approximately 9500 buses serving public transportation across the Paris region, all operators included.^[1]

RATP operates:

• 70 lines with a route exclusively or mainly on the territory of the city of Paris including:
  • 64 lines numbered from  20  to  96 
  • the  PC  line completing (with ) a circular transport service surrounding Paris's borders along the Boulevards des Maréchaux
  • 4 out of the 5 specially identified parisian circular bus lines designated as "Lignes Traverse":  501 ,  513 ,  518  and  519 
• 194 lines with a route exclusively or mainly in the near suburbs of Paris including:
  • 89 lines numbered from  101  to  199 
  • 57 lines numbered from  201  to  299 
  • 49 lines numbered from  301  to  399 
• a dozen lines (numbered in the 400 series) subcontracted by local public transport companies belonging to the Optile group
• several "urban" line services numbered in the 500 series but generally designated by a trade name, covering small suburban shuttle services and often subsidized by covered cities
• a direct bus lines from Paris to CDG airport:  Roissybus 
• the "Tootbus" tourist lines
• the lines of the "Titus" and "Valouette" networks
• several temporary lines created to cover passenger shifts along a future subway or tram line extension (such as line  512  before northern extension of towards the town hall of Aubervilliers or now-former line  528  before northern extension of from Saint Lazare train station to the town hall of Saint Ouen
• several lines kept in service to cover passenger shifts prior to subway or tram line extensions or creations (such as line  285  before southern extension of from Orly Airport to Juvisy train station, or  183  before extension of towards said airport)
• Some routes only run during rushing hours (ex.  247   278 ) or during school days ( 355  only)
• 32 night shift lines (including two subcontracted) grouped in the Noctilien night bus network

RATP bus lines operating mainly in the city proper of Paris, are named with a two-digit code number called "indice". Bus lines operated mainly in the suburbs are named with a three-digit number code.

RATP uses the numbers 20 to 96 for lines operated mainly in the city proper (1 to 19 are unused to avoid confusion with Metro lines); along with  PC  bus line (line 100) which runs along the Boulevard des Maréchaux section that is not yet covered by (Tramway lines 3a & 3b) . All this according to an organized scheme used since public transportation reorganization post-WWII.

The first digit represents the sector in Paris where the line's starting point is located:

• 2x representing Gare Saint-Lazare
• 3x representing Gare de l'Est
• 4x representing Gare du Nord
• 5x representing Opéra and overall Rive Droite
• 6x representing Austerlitz or Gare de Lyon train stations
• 7x represents Châtelet and overall Center of Paris (along Rivoli Street)
• 8x represents Quartier Latin and overall Rive Gauche
• 9x represents Gare Montparnasse.

The digit number represents the outermost arrondissement the line finishes (or crosses Paris' borders) in:

• x2 represents the 16th arrondissement (from Pont du Garigliano to Porte Maillot)
• x3 and x4 represent the 17th arrondissement (from Porte Maillot to Porte d'Asnières for lines ending in 3, from Porte de Clichy to Porte des Poissonniers for lines ending in 4)
• x5 represents the 18th arrondissement and the 19th arrondissement (from Porte de la Chapelle to Porte des Lilas)
• x6 represents the 20th arrondissement and the 12th arrondissement (from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton)
• x7 represents the 13th arrondissement (from Quai d'Ivry to Cité Universitaire)
• x8 represents the 14th arrondissement (from Montsouris to Porte de Vanves)
• x9 represents the 15th arrondissement (from Porte de Vanves to Pont du Garigliano)

0 and 1 are used as "wildcards" for lines whose rightful indice is already taken, or for lines ending inside of Paris (40 or 91 for example).

A deep reorganization of the Paris bus network took place on April the 20th 2019. Although it didn't change the overall scheme mentioned above, it brought several irregularities, such as lines  20   21  &  24  no longer starting from Saint Lazare train station while brand new line  25  doesn't even approach it, line  30  now cut long before the Gare de l'Est, line  40  that doesn't even approach the Gare du Nord, or lines  71  &  77  that do not start from the center of Paris.

RATP operates 70 bus lines within the city of Paris proper, and a little over 200 bus lines in Paris suburbs.

In 2017, 1.15 billion journeys were made on RATP bus lines, including 382 million journeys on Paris lines and 768 million journeys on suburbs lines.^[2]

• RATP Web site with complete maps
• KML map showing stop locations
• Grand Paris des Bus