About us
Since 1946, we have been transporting travellers from the Azergues Valley on their school trips, on regular lines and for all types of group transport by coach.
- The Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® offer and organise trips for individuals and groups, and transport for associations, works councils, sports clubs, seniors, schools during school outings, discovery classes, or language stays…
- The society also provides school services for the colleges of Lamure, Claveisolles, Monsols, le Bois d’Oingt and Amplepuis and for the Lycées of L’Arbresle and Tarare. Approximately 1,450 students are transported every day.
- The company operates on behalf of the SNCF (TER contract – AURA region) 29 daily services between Lamure-sur-Azergues (or Poule-les-Echarmeaux) and Lozanne serving the various communes in the Azergues Valley, 1 return trip to Paray-le-Monial; and Lozanne/Lyon-Gorge-de-Loup with additional services during the school holidays. Between 50,000 and 60,000 passengers per year are transported for 485,000 km travelled. An essential partnership for a local service.
- And for more distant escapes, the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® operates a travel agency for tours, stays, cruises, a la carte travels…
Our story
1946
The company was founded in 1946 by Paul Desmure under the ‘Cars de la Montagne’ in Saint-Just-d’Avray in the Rhône. At that time, the main activity was the transport of the main towns to the markets and the courier services carried out on behalf of Lyon weavers.
Tourist transport also began at this time, with services provided for the Havas group.
1956
In January 1956, Paul Desmure bought the Perrin coaches from the commune of Grandris to become the ‘Cars de la Vallée d’Azergues’. The commune of Grandris will become the seat and fief of the ‘Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues’ with the operation of the regular line between Grandris and Lyon.
Mr. Paul Desmure continues to expand by taking over the transporters of neighbouring municipalities: Saint-Clément-sur-Valsonne, Châtillon d’Azergues…
1969
In 1969, the expansion continued with the takeover of the ‘Cars Auplat’ from Propières and the start of school transport with the service to the Lamure secondary school, closely followed by that of Bois d’Oingt.
1980
In the early 1980s, it was the turn of the company ‘Cars Descroux’ of Saint-Clément-de-Vers to join the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues®. It is also the beginning of the partnership with the National Company of French Railways SNCF and the first charter between Lamure and Lozanne.
1983
After the death of Mr. Desmure in 1983, two drivers, Emile MARTIN and Hubert MILLET, founded the company Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues®.
1998
Their respective children took over the management of the company.
2004
The Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® is committed to quality and was the first coach operator in the Rhône to be certified ISO 900, a commitment that has been maintained ever since.
2009
In 2009, the travel agency Vallée d’Azergues Voyages was founded. Its office is located at the Bridges-Tarrets (the commune of Légny). As part of their business, the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® decided to expand their range to new means of transport, new horizons, and new customers.
2012
In 2012, work was carried out. In July 2013, all the offices and garages were grouped in the same place in Chambost-Allières, a beautiful showcase on the edge of the departmental 485 (which follows the Valley of Azergues).
About our logo
The rabbit featured on the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues logo is also that of the Buissonière route, which was the relief route of the Nationale 6 between Paris and Lyon. Vincent Loupot designed this rabbit in 1958, and its use was granted to the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues as part of the promotion of this route.
Human resources
30 employees all trained in driving, including
- 6 in the offices
- 2 in the workshop/maintenance
- 22 permanent drivers
Vehicle fleet
(average age: 6 years)
- 6 minibuses for occasional transport, school and airport transfers
- 8 coaches for tourists with high comfort (air conditioning, WC, video, refrigerator…)
- 15 coaches for school services, including 1 on gas and 4 with disabled people
- 5 regional coaches for the regular line in the Azergues Valley
Quality Commitment
To meet the client’s needs even better and offer them the best possible services, The Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® is committed to quality voluntarily and became the first coach in the Rhône to be certified ISO 9001 in 2004.
In addition to ensuring the quality of our service to our clients, the system allows the company to be part of a continuous improvement process.
The implementation of this system resulted in our company’s ISO 9001 version 2000 certification in 2005, and since then renewed every year.
The new ISO 9001 version 2015 standard was awarded to the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® in October 2017 and renewed in 2019.
Eco-labelling
To consider ecological factors, the Autocars de la Vallée d’Azergues® embarked in 2011 on an environmental approach, committing to reduce its CO2 emissions. It is a member of the ‘Objective CO2’ club, a scheme to improve the environmental performance of road transport (waiting for a label).
The Autocars Vallée d'Azergues®
Located in the North-West of Lyon, the Azergues Valley (Vallée d’Azergues) extends from the Col des Echarmeaux to the Saône Valley.
In the heart of the ‘UNESCO World Geopark’, the Valley offers an exceptional geological wealth and its hilly landscapes of coniferous forests and vineyards (production of ‘Beaujolais’ AOC wines) host here and there the pretty perched villages.
In the south of the Valley, the yellow-ochre coloured stone that was used to build houses, churches, castles, wash-houses gives a unique character to this region, more precisely called THE COUNTRY OF GOLDEN STONES (LE PAYS DES PIERRES DOREES).
