Transdev to open new bus lines as France deregulates

* Transdev plans some 40 new coach routes in France

* Government targets 5 mln bus passengers/year, from 110,000

* Deregulation to open intra-regional private bus operators

PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Transdev, a joint venture between utility Veolia and state bank CDC, plans to open some 40 new bus lines in France when the government deregulates bus travel next year.

Transdev plans to link France's secondary cities to each other to fill what it sees as a gap in the market. The SNCF train operator's hub-and-spoke model focuses on connecting cities to Paris.

On Wednesday, Industry Minister Emmanuel Macron presented a deregulation bill that includes opening France's bus market to private operators. The new law, which needs to go through parliament and the senate, is expected to come into force early next year.

"As soon as the law allows it, we will launch a French network that will connect some 40 destinations," Transdev director Laurence Broseta told BFM Business radio on Thursday.

Bus travel in France is a near-total public monopoly of authorities like the state, regional authorities and cities.

Since 2011, bus operators have been allowed to offer French bus routes as part of international routes, but with limits on the number of passengers who only travel within France and on revenue generated from inside the country. Intra-regional bus provision is not allowed.

Partly because of the lack of inter-city buses in France, long-haul car-sharing ventures like BlaBlaCar have grown quickly.

With these rules relaxed, Transdev will develop its international lines, and introduce new routes such as Lyon-Bordeaux or Rennes-Strasbourg.

Transdev, which had 2013 turnover of 6.6 billion euros, owns and operates the French, Belgian, Dutch and Czech operations of Eurolines, a network of coach companies that includes Britain's National Express (LSE: NEX.L - news) and Deutsche Touring.

The government expects that within a year, 5 million travellers will use buses annually for intercity travel, up from just 110,000 in 2013. Bus travel represents 0.0005 percent of French long-distance trips.

In Britain, where the bus market was opened up in 1985, coach travel accounts for 30 million passengers per year and four percent of all long-distance travel, the French ministry said.

In Germany, where the sector was deregulated in 2013, the number of bus operator licences has tripled and the number of passengers rose 180 percent to 8.3 million people in 2013.

The French government expects the bus market deregulation will boost purchasing power by 800 million euros per year and create 10,000 jobs. (Reporting by Gregory Blachier and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Andrew Callus)