The passenger transport competence certificate in France
No public passenger transport company joins the French register without a transport manager who holds this certificate.
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In France, the capacité de transport de personnes is the certificate of professional competence that a company’s transport manager must hold before a public road passenger transport business can be entered on the State register (Transport Code, articles L3113-1 and R3113-38). The regional prefect issues it in two forms. The full certificate covers every vehicle, coaches and buses included, and is obtained through a written exam on the subjects in annex I of EU Regulation 1071/2009 (article R3113-35) or a diploma covering all of them. The limited certificate covers vehicles with no more than 9 seats including the driver; it takes a course at an approved centre followed by a written exam (article R3113-39), or 2 years of continuous management of a passenger transport firm, provided that activity stopped less than 10 years ago (article R3113-40). Taxi and VTC (private hire) drivers do not need it: they fall under a separate part of the code and work with a professional driver card.
Transport competence: which certificate, which route?
Certificate to obtain
vehicles of 9 seats or fewer
| Route open to you | course then written exam, or a listed diploma |
| Refresher course may be required | no |
| Issued by | the regional prefect |
What the certificate is for
Every public passenger transport company established in France must be entered on a register kept by the State, and entry can depend on conditions of establishment, good repute, financial standing and professional competence (article L3113-1 of the Transport Code). Competence is not assessed for the company as a whole: it is carried by one person, the transport manager, who must hold the certificate (article R3113-38). In a small firm that is usually the owner.
The certificate does not entitle anyone to drive; it is a management qualification. A coach driver needs a D licence and the initial driver qualification, covered in the becoming a bus driver guide. One person can hold both roles.
Who needs it and who does not
The certificate concerns public group transport: scheduled routes, school transport, occasional services such as excursions, event shuttles and group transfers, and on-demand transport. The company sells passenger journeys for payment.
Two groups are outside it by the very structure of the code. Taxis and VTCs (voitures de transport avec chauffeur, the French private hire cars) have their own title, covering paid journeys in vehicles with fewer than ten seats and excluding public group transport (article L3120-1): their key document is the professional card obtained after the chamber of trades exam, plus, for VTCs, the VTC register. Private services are the second group: a company or association carrying its own staff or members for its normal needs is not doing public transport (article L3131-1).
Two certificates, two scopes
| Full certificate | Limited to 9 seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicles covered | all, including coaches and buses | 9 seats or fewer, driver included |
| Exam route | written exam on annex I of Regulation 1071/2009 (R3113-35) | course at an approved centre, then a written exam on a ministry syllabus (R3113-39) |
| Diploma route | diploma covering all annex I subjects (R3113-36, 1°) | diploma covering the syllabus, sometimes plus the written exam (R3113-40, 1°) |
| Experience route | continuous management during the 10 years before 4 December 2009 (R3113-36, 2°) | 2 years of continuous, main-activity management, stopped less than 10 years ago (R3113-40, 2°) |
Which one you need depends on the fleet, not on the size of the business. A firm running a single minibus with more than nine seats including the driver needs the full certificate; a firm with ten people carriers of eight passenger seats can manage with the limited one.
The exam for the full certificate
Article R3113-35 requires a compulsory written exam on the subjects listed in annex I of the 2009 EU regulation governing road haulage and passenger operators. The syllabus spans civil, commercial, employment and tax law, business and financial management, market access, technical standards and road safety. The exam is funded by a fee for the service, limited to a single sitting. The national jury brings together officials, trade bodies and training providers; its make-up is set by the order of 2 September 2025.
The articles we read do not set the fee, the session dates or the pass mark: those are published separately by the authorities each year. We will not quote them until we have read them on a dated official source. The exam is in French, which is worth weighing if French is not your first language.
The certificate for light vehicles
Article R3113-39 covers firms that use only vehicles with 9 seats or fewer, driver included. The regional prefect issues the certificate to people who have completed a course ending in a compulsory written exam, on a knowledge syllabus set by the transport minister. Training centres are approved by the regional prefect for up to 5 years and inspected; approval can be suspended or withdrawn (articles R3113-39-1 to R3113-39-6). Someone managing a firm covered by point 6 of article 5 of decree no. 85-891 of 16 August 1985 who applies for the certificate is excused the course.
This is the certificate still called “capacité LOTI” in everyday French, after the domestic transport framework act of 30 December 1982. The nickname stuck; the rules are now those of the Transport Code.
The catch with occasional trips in urban areas
The limited certificate opens passenger transport with light vehicles, but the code restricts how they are used. Since 1 January 2021, article L3112-1 has required that, where an occasional journey starts and ends in the area of a single transport authority obliged to draw up a mobility plan, it is run with a vehicle that has more than 8 seats besides the driver’s. Occasional services in light vehicles are also bound by the prior-booking rules that apply to taxis and VTCs (article L3120-2).
In practice, a light-vehicle operator builds its business on what those rules leave open: journeys leaving the authority’s area, school or contracted transport for a local authority, and scheduled services. Test your business model against your own area before paying for a course.
Experience, refreshers and certificates from abroad
Someone who has not managed a public passenger transport firm in the 5 years before applying may be required to take a knowledge refresher course at an approved centre before being appointed transport manager (article R3113-41). Certificates issued in another EU state count as sufficient proof (article R3113-37), and those issued before 4 December 2011 are treated as equivalent to the EU model (article R3113-42).
After the certificate
The certificate is only one of four conditions for entry on the register. The company must also show an establishment, the good repute of its managers and its financial standing, after which it receives a licence and one certified copy per vehicle. Those steps and the capital required are set out on the transport licence page. Choosing a legal structure, sole trader or company, comes next as for any operator: the driver business structure page sums up the options, and the becoming a VTC driver guide covers the other route, private hire.