CIV-SOTRA

Abidjan has a large semi-public company, SOTRA, which exists since 1961 and is the only survivor of the municipal companies set up as public-private partnerships by Renault in West Africa during the 1960’s/1970’s. The company went through important ups and downs but started modernising its fleet by the end of 2015 and currently (2023) has a modern fleet without any secondhand buses, consisting of over 500 TATA -Marcopolo buses, some 900 lrisbus Crossway LE and IVECO Crealis CNG and a fleet of 71 Hyundai County midibuses. SOTRA also operates some 20 boats (bateau-bus) that ply the lagune.

One can distinguish three periods in SOTRA’s history:
-the period 1961-1994, when the company bought new Renault S105 buses every year, building up a fleet of over 1000 buses.
-the period 1994-2015 with economic decline and civil war, a fleet reduction to less than 400 buses, the purchase of a few hundred new Indian and Iranian buses and fleet renewal with some 1500 secondhand French and Dutch buses that lasted only a few years.
-the period 2015-current with complete fleet renewal to over 2000 new buses and rehabilitation of workshops and garages, making SOTRA a modern and efficient company.