ATAF
ATAF, acronym for Azienda Trasporti dell'Area Fiorentina.
ATAF was established on 25 October 1945 on the initiative of the City Council of Florence with the name Azienda Tranviaria Automobilistica e Filoviaria to take over the management of the local public transport management service in the Florence area, consisting of buses, trolleybuses and trams, which until then had been managed under concession by the Società Trasporti Urbani, of the FIAT group. The new company began operations on 1 January 1946, mainly dealing with the reconstruction and repair of systems and vehicles damaged during the Second World War.
During the 1950s, the network was expanded by renovating the depots and replacing obsolete vehicles and equipment; in this regard, the projected costs of replacing rail vehicles pushed ATAF to opt mostly for rubber vehicles, starting the decommissioning of the tram network, which ended on 20 January 1958. With the closure of the latter, the company changed its name to Azienda Trasporti Automobilistici Filoviari.
In the 1960s, the transport network was extended outside the urban area of Florence, creating the first connections to some municipal districts. The flood in Florence on 4 November 1966 damaged numerous vehicles as well as the depot on Via Aretina and three electrical substations supplying the trolleybus network. During the following year, the trolleybus service was restored, but was definitively abolished in 1973. On that occasion, the company changed its name again to Azienda Trasporti Automobilistici Fiorentini. The last name change occurred in 2000 in Azienda Trasporti dell'Area Fiorentina, keeping the acronym ATAF unchanged over the years.
In 2004, together with the French company RATP Dev, it participated in the establishment of the company GEST, responsible for managing the tramway network under construction, which was then inaugurated in 2010. In 2005, following the decision of the Tuscany region to assign local public transport to a single manager for each of the 14 lots established, ATAF formed a consortium with the company Li-nea called ATAF&Li-nea.
In 2012, the municipality of Florence chose to split off the operational branch of the company, relating to the management of the Florence bus network, by establishing the company ATAF Gestioni, assigned through a tender to a temporary association of companies composed of: Busitalia - Sita Nord, part of the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane group, (70%), CAP Autolinee (25%) and Autoguidovie (5%); at the same time, RATP Dev acquired the usufruct of the shares held by ATAF in GEST, leaving the bare ownership to the company, while ATAF Gestioni took over the shares until then managed by ATAF.
