Rodoviária Nacional was the state-owned bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 network in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, resulting from the nationalization, in 1975, of the largest bus operators in the country, basically the criteria used for nationalization was the fleet size : more than 60 vehicles.

Operations

The services were organized in 9 "Centros de Exploração de Passageiros" (CEP), or Passenger Managing Centres, according to the different regions.


In 1979 CEP 10 was created for managing connections between Lisbon and most of the cities of the country (similar to the nowadays' "Rede de Expressos", despite the term "Expresso" only have to be appeared in 1983, on the Rodoviária Nacional services), as well as the Torres Vedras and Vila Franca de Xira corridors, the last two belonged to CEP 6. In 1984, the CEP 5 became the DGRL ("Direcção Regional da Grande Lisboa", or Regional Management of Greater Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

) split in 4 "Centros Operacionais de Passageiros" (COP), Passenger Operational Centres.

A cargo section was also created, operating under different names, such as RNTrans.

Ultrena

This division was created to manage other activities from nationalized companies, such as the floriculture business of Arboricultora (from Caneças), as well as to manage the workshops.

Numbering

The coach fleet was numbered with four digits, corresponding the first to the CEP which the vehicle was affected (if the vehicle belonged to CEP 8, its fleet number would be 8xxx). For CEP 10 fleet, the first digit was a 0 (0xxx), the DGRL was three digit, preceded by the letter L (Lisboa) or CS (Cascais

Cascais

Cascais is a coastal town in Cascais Municipality in Portugal, 30 kilometres west of Lisbon, with about 35,000 residents. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of the Portuguese capital and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal. The former fishing village gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal...

 and Sintra

Sintra

Sintra is a town within the municipality of Sintra in the Grande Lisboa subregion of Portugal. Owing to its 19th century Romantic architecture and landscapes, becoming a major tourist centre, visited by many day-trippers who travel from the urbanized suburbs and capital of Lisbon.In addition to...

) (L-xxx, CS-xxx), with the numbering strictly distributed by chassis manufacturer.

The RNIP

In order to privatize

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 the operator in 1991 RN became RNIP ("Rodoviária Nacional Investimentos e Participações" : RN Investments and Participations), the CEP's were renamed as:

CEP1 - Rodoviária de Entre Douro e Minho (REDM) - managing Northwest of Portugal, from Braga

Braga

Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

.

CEP2 - Rodoviária da Beira Litoral (RBL) - managing the coast side of central Portugal, from Coimbra

Coimbra

Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

.

CEP3 - Rodoviária da Beira Interior (RBI) - managing the inland central Portugal, from Castelo Branco

Castelo Branco, Portugal

The city of Castelo Branco is made up of one parish with a population of 30,649.It is located in Castelo Branco Municipality in Castelo Branco District.-History and landmarks:...

.

CEP4 - Rodoviária do Tejo

Rodoviária do Tejo

Rodoviária do Tejo, S.A. is a regional bus company in Portugal.-History:The company was founded in 1860 as João Clara & Companhia Limitada and later became Claras Transportes S.A.R.L. In 1975, the company was nationalized as part of Rodoviária Nacional and became the 'Passenger Managing Centre' ...

 - managing the regions of middle Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

 (Santarém

Santarém, Portugal

Santarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....

, Torres Novas

Torres Novas

Torres Novas is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 270.0 km² and a total population of 37,155 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 17 parishes, and is located in the district of Santarém. The city of Torres Novas has about 15,000 inhabitants. This city has a castle...

, Abrantes

Abrantes

Abrantes is a municipality in Portugal, with a population of 41,560 inhabitants, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River.-History:...

, Tomar

Tomar

Tomar Municipality has a total area of 351.0 km² and a total population of 43,007 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 16 parishes, and is located in Santarém District...

), Fátima

Fatima

-People:* Fatima , a female given name of Arabic origin* Fatima bint Muhammad, daughter of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad* Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah...

, Leiria

Leiria

Leiria is a city in Leiria Municipality in the Centro Region, Portugal. It is the capital of Leiria District. The city proper has 50,200 inhabitants and the entire municipality has nearly 120,000...

 and West Region (Caldas da Rainha

Caldas da Rainha

Caldas da Rainha is a city in western central Portugal. The city serves as the seat of the larger municipality of the same name and is the seat of the Comunidade Intermunicipal do Oeste...

, Peniche, Alcobaça

Alcobaça

Alcobaça is a city in Alcobaça Municipality in Leiria District and Oeste Subregion, in Portugal, formerly included in the Estremadura Province. The city grew along the valleys of the rivers Alcoa and Baça, from which it derives its name. The municipality has a total population of 55,269...

) from Torres novas.

DGRL (former CEP 5) - Rodoviária de Lisboa (RL) - managing the Lisbon Greater Metropolitan area, the north bank of Tagus (Loures

Loures

Loures Municipality is a municipality to the north of Lisbon. Created on 26 July 1886 by a royal decree, the municipality currently occupies an area of 169 km² and has about 200,000 inhabitants . It borders the municipalities of Odivelas, Sintra, Mafra, Arruda dos Vinhos, Vila Franca de Xira...

, Alverca, Odivelas

Odivelas

Odivelas is a civil parish in Odivelas Municipality in Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal.. The city has a population of 50,846. The municipality is composed of 7 parishes, and is located in the District of Lisbon....

, Amadora

Amadora

Amadora is a city and a municipality in Portugal, in the northwest of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The city and municipality population is 175,872 in eleven freguesias . With an area of 23.77 km², it is the most densely populated municipality of Portugal...

, Oeiras, Sintra and Cascais) from Lisbon (Av. do Brasil).

CEP7 - Rodoviária Sul do Tejo (RST) - managing the south bank of Tagus of Lisbon area (Almada

Almada

Almada is a municipality in Portugal, covering an area of 70.2 km² located on the southern margin of the Tagus River. Its municipal population in 2008 was 164,844 inhabitants; the urbanized center had a population of 102,357.The seat is the city of Almada....

, Seixal) from Laranjeiro

Laranjeiro

Laranjeiro is a Portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Almada. It has a population of 21,175 inhabitants, for a total area of 3.66 km²....

.

CEP8 - Rodviária do Alentejo - managing the whole Alentejo and most of Ribatejo

Ribatejo

The Ribatejo is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus River...

, from Azeitão

Azeitão

Azeitão is a region near Setúbal composed by a cluster of small "aldeias" or small villages, some of those are: Vila Fresca de Azeitão, Vila Nogueira de Azeitão,Brejos de Azeitão, Aldeia de Irmãos, Vendas de Azeitão....

.

CEP9 - Rodoviária do Algarve - managing the Algarve region, from Faro

Faro, Portugal

Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...

.

CEP10 (former CEP 6) - Rodoviária da Estremadura, managing Vila Franca and Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras is a city and a municipality in the district of Lisbon, Portugal, about 50 km north of Lisbon. It belongs to the Oeste subregion and the Centro region.The municipality covers an area of 405.89 km² distributed over 20 freguesias...

 corridors and express services, from Lisboa (Av. Casal Ribeiro).

Privatization

In 1992, the privatization process started, with Rodoviária do Algarve being acquired by Barraqueiro Transportes, REDM by Resende, Caima and Barraqueiro, as well as the cargo sections (that became known as Rodocargo and Transporta).

In 1993, RBL by Barraqueiro, Rodoviária do Tejo by REDM, Joalto and AVIC, RBI by Joalto and Rodoviária do Alentejo by Barraqueiro and Belo family (that recovered their nationalized company).

In 1994, it's the turn of Rodoviária da Estremadura owned by Barraqueiro.

Finally in 1995 Rodoviária Sul do Tejo and RL are privatized, the last one is split in 3 companies: Vimeca (bought by Brazilian capitals) that explore the Amadora and Queluz corridors; Stagecoach takes the Cascais and Sintra area; RL itself (Barraqueiro Tranpostes) manage the Odivelas, Loures, Santa Iria da Azoia corridors. RN and RNIP went into history.

Post Privatization

Rodoviária do Algarve was immediately renamed as EVA, remembering the nationalizad Empresa de Viação Algarvia, belongs to Barraqueiro group.

Rodoviária Sul do Tejo became, in late 90's, TST - Transportes Sul do Tejo. Since 2003 is owned by Arriva

Arriva

Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...

 group, which entered in the Portuguese market in 2000 owning some medium sized operators in the northwest of Portugal.

Rodoviária do Alentejo became Belos Alentejana, Belos Ribatejana and Belos Setubalense, after Belo family left the consorcy with Barraqueiro (in the early 2000s) Belos Alentajana became again Rodoviária do Alentejo (branded on its fleet simply as Rodoviária), Belos Ribatejana became simply Ribatejana and Setubalense operations are now part of TST.

Rodoviária da Estremadura, or simply Estremadura, is now a brand for excursion or hiring services from Barraqueiro group (along with the brand Barraqueiro itself), with some coaches affected to Rede de Expressos. The corridors were renamed as Boa Viagem (Vila Franca de Xira

Vila Franca de Xira

Vila Franca de Xira is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 317.7 km² and a total population of 133,224 inhabitants. Situated on the west bank of the Tagus River, just 32 km north-east of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, Vila Franca de Xira is said to have been founded by French...

, Alenquer, Sobral de Monte Agraço, Arruda dos Vinhos), EVM - Mafrense (Mafra

Mafra

Mafra is a municipality in the district of Lisbon, on the west coast of Portugal, and part of the urban agglomeration of the Greater Lisbon subregion, with its seat in the city of the same name...

 and Ericeira), Barraqueiro Oeste (Torres Vedras, Lourinhã, Cadaval) and Barraqueiro, for Frielas operations.

REDM and RBL operations were took by Transdev

Transdev

Transdev was a major international public transport group based in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France and operating in several countries. Originally created as Société centrale pour l'équipement du territoire in 1955 and developing transportation activities since 1973, Transdev was a subsidiary...

, known respectively as Transdev Norte and Transdev Centro.

RBI brand still exists and is owned by Joalto Group.

Stagecoach sold its operations in early 2000s and a new operator was born, ScottUrb.