Societatea de Transport București
Societatea de Transport București (STB; English: Bucharest Transit Corporation) is one of the main public transit operators in Bucharest, Romania, owned by the Municipality of Bucharest. From 1990 to 2018, the company had a different legal status and was known as the Regia Autonomă de Transport București (RATB). STB operates a complex network of buses, trolleybuses, light rail and trams – in fact, STB operates all public transport except the Bucharest Metro, which is managed by Metrorex. STB has an average of approximately 1,180,000 daily individual rides of which 540,000 with buses, 520,000 with light rail and trams, and 120,000 with trolleybuses. Overview While owned entirely by the General Council of Bucharest, STB is an autonomous company. On 13 September 2018, it became a public company () and adopted its current name (not to be confused with the pre-World War II name Societatea de Tramvaie București). The Municipality of Bucharest is the company's only shareholder, and it is not publicly traded on a stock market. Within the STB operates URAC (Uzina de Reparații și Atelierele Centrale), a section specialized in the tram production and repair. Routes STB operates 138 regular bus routes on , 15 regular trolleybus routes on , and 23 regular light rail and tram routes on throughout Bucharest and vicinity. An integrated ticket exists, for all modes of transportation around Bucharest; including the metro, bus, tram, light rail, and trolleybus. History The original STB appeared on 14 April 1908, as a 40-year concession that had its goal the electrification of all the tram lines in Bucharest. It inherited a fleet of horse-pulled trams and more recent electric trams. Up to the 1930s, it was the only way of public transportation in Bucharest, only operating trams until the introduction of Leonida-Renault/Chevrolet/Henschel buses. In 1936, STB changes its name to SCTB (Societatea Comunală de Tramvaie București). After World War II, in 1948, it was taken over by the Romanian state and changed its name to ITB (Întreprinderea de Transport București). Despite some achievements in the late 1940s-early 1950s (introduction of the first trolleybus in 1949 and also the introduction of the first post-war tram, V951 Festival), it encountered various problems due to the very low medium speed, overcrowding due to the rapid expansion of the city, which were all put as a justification to build a metro in 1953. Despite this, the metro project was postponed due to the fragile economy of the Romanian state in the 1950s. The 1960s brought an era that would help expand the ITB. The first modern and locally-made trolleybuses were introduced (Rocar TV2E in 1958 and TV20E in 1970) and Karosa, and TV buses were also put into service. Starting with the 1970s, it acquired more modern vehicles, such as the V3A in 1971-1972, the Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster (bodied by Hargaaz and Merkavim in Israel) buses in 1969, in 1973-1974 the Ikarbus Zemun IK4 buses from Yugoslavia, the Tatra T4R trams from Czechoslovakia, and the Ikarus 260 and 280 buses from Hungary