Plan your visit

Opening times

Open each 3rd Saturday of month from April to October

10:00 – 18:00

The museum is also open for special events: the European Heritage Days in September and La nuit des musées (Night of Museums) in May.

How to come to the museum

By Rail: Chelles – Gournay SNCF Stations

  • RER E line (25 minute from Magenta station)
  • SNCF Line P (13 minutes from Gare de l’Est / Paris East)

By Bus: stop Dispensaire

  • Line 113, RATP, to Terre Ciel
  • Line 1 of Apolo 7, to Rond-Point des Sciences

1 rue Gabriel de Mortillet 77500 Chelles

Our association

On March 3rd, 1957, the Versailles tramway network closed permanently but a group of young transport enthusiasts decided to buy one of the trams to preserve it for posterity. The AMTUIR association was born. After 50 years of trying to find a permanent home, we moved to the town of Chelles (in the east of Paris) in 2008 with the aim of establishing a national urban transport museum there. We are a non-profit organisation recognised as being in the public interest and have the label “Musée de France”.

Motrice no 1 de Versailles
Versailles tram going to the Museum in 1957
Visite guidée à Chelles
Guided visit in the museum

Our collection: a unique heritage

Our collection consists of 137 vehicles from 1863 to the current day, representative of the evolution of urban transport in France. In our permanent exhibition in Chelles, you can discover a selection of 70 of these historic buses (from horse drawn to engine powered), trolleybuses and steam, compressed air and electric trams. We also have a working repair shop on the site.

The archives

Over the years we have collected thousands of books, documents, pictures, videos and other items related to French urban transport’s past. They are used in our exhibits and they are also available for research purposes or for loan to other temporary exhibitions.

2 générations de membres aux commandes de la motrice no 1728 de Marseille pendant les journées du patrimoine de 2005
2 generations of volunteers driving the Marseille tram for the European Heritage Days in 2005

Other events

If you would like to privatise the museum for your company for a special event or rent one of our vintage buses for making a film or to participate in a cultural, historical or social event, you can email us at amtuir@orange.fr or call +33 1 60 20 45 50 for terms and conditions.

Our museum is above all a human adventure. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and all ages, each one bringing their own special talents to help preserve our heritage. Vehicle mechanics, archiving, bus driving, taking groups on guided tours, making videos, administration (accounting, computer systems, etc.)… The activities are as varied as the people making up our organisation.