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Public Transport in Venice Before Actv
The first experiments with regular public transportation in Venice began in 1881, when, almost simultaneously hand-propelled waterbuses and the first vaporetto, Queen Margherita, began running along the Grand Canal. The Compagnie des Bateaux Omnibus was then set up with French funds, operating eight steamers. In 1880 the CBO was replaced by the Società Veneta Lagunare (Venetian Lagoon Company, SVL), who extended the line by offering routes towards the mainland and outlying islands.
Following a referendum in 1903, the Municipality of Venice took direct ownership of the SVL's inland (Venice-based) vaporetto services and their fleet of 23 boats, founding the Azienda Comunale per la Navigazione Interna (Municipal Company for Inland Navigation, ACNI). In 1930 the ACNI acquired the SVL's services to the outlying islands and renamed itself the Azienda Comunale di Navigazione Interna Lagunare (Municipal Company of Lagoon Waterborne Transport, ACNIL).
When the Ponte della Libertà opened in 1933, alongside a newly constructed car terminal in Piazzale Roma, the ACNIL began operating bus routes between Venice and Mestre (the mainland) under the name 'Tramvie di Mestre.' In 1941, ACNIL was also given clearance to directly manage the land transportation on the Lido Island after the cessation of the tram service by the Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi (CIGA).
During World War II, a large part of the fleet of boats was used by the Italian Army and the Navy for military practice purposes and by the end of the War, many of the vessels had been sunk or seriously damaged. Therefore, throughout the 1950s ANCIL undertook a programme aimed at repairing and replacing damaged boats and updating the ancillary parts of the service (landing points, piers and pontoons).
In 1965, ACNIL acquired the transport service of Mestre and the mainland, taking over from Società Filovie Mestre (SFM). The following year, ANCIL phased out trolleybuses in Mestre in favour of motorbuses.
ACTV (nationalisation and privatisation)
Azienda del Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (Venetian Transport Consortium Company, ACTV) was founded on October 1, 1978. This followed a program of nationalisation which brought Venice's major public transport companies (ANCIL, SVET, and SVA) into public ownership.
Following the Italy-wide decentralisation of public transport in 2001 with Legislative Decree 422/97, ACTV was semi-privatised with 467,632 shares being issued at €100 (193,627 liras). ACTV became a joint-stock company (società per azioni / S.p.A.) with at least 51% of shares to be publicly owned.
Between 2002 and 2004 ACTV was involved in a case referred to the European Court of Justice, regarding the awarding of public transport service contracts in Mestre. The court's ruling laid down guidance on fair methods for attaching weightings to evaluation criteria and sub-criteria after the publication of contract documents.
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In 2006, the ACTV corporate offices were transferred to Tronchetto. While in 2010 ACTV acquired the Cantiere Navale De Poli Spa dockyards and opened the first section of tramway in Mestre. 2012 saw further restructuring of ACTV to closer integrate the formerly independent companies AVM, ACTV, VELA, and PMV under the parent company AVM Holdings and benefit from synergies in reducing overheads. In 2013 the Venezia Unica City Pass was introduced, combining public transport and tourist attraction entrance in one ticket.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, the ACTV was forced to cut services considerably, particularly the vaporetti.
From Wikipedia’s article on Actv, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4