DSW21 customer center in Kampstraße, in front of Petri church.Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG is a

municipal services Municipal services or city services refer to basic services that residents of a city expect to the city government to provide in exchange for the taxes which citizens pay. Basic city services may include sanitation (both sewer and refuse), wate ...

and

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

company in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, wholly owned by the city of Dortmund. It is operating under the brand DSW21 since 2005. The number in the acronym refers to the 21st century. The development of the company began on June 19, 1857, when the ''Dortmunder Actien-Gesellschaft für Gasbeleuchtung'' was founded.

Corporate structure

DSW21 holds stakes in a large number of subsidiaries with the business areas of public transportation, energy, telecommunications, information technology (IT), housing and urban development. Together with the City of

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

and Stadtwerke Bochum GmbH, DSW21 is thus, for example, the main shareholder of Gelsenwasser AG. DSW21 is active in the following areas or divisions: The housing division promotes

urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

. The Stadtkrone Ost development project in Schüren, the Hohenbuschei site, the Lake Phoenix recreational area, and the Westfalentor project deserve special mention. However, the housing division also includes DOGEWO21, a municipal

housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

with over 16,000 apartments in Dortmund. The mobility and logistics division includes the transport division of DSW21 with over 1900 employees. However, it also includes the Port of Dortmund and the Dortmund

suspension railway A suspension railway is a form of elevated monorail in which the vehicle is suspended from a fixed track (as opposed to a cable used in aerial tramways), which is built above streets, waterways, or existing railway track. History Experimental d ...

H-Bahn The H-Bahn (abbreviation for , German for 'hanging railway') in Dortmund and Düsseldorf (there known as "Sky train") is a driverless passenger suspension railway system. The system was developed by Siemens, who call the project SIPEM (SIemens ...

. The

Dortmund Airport Dortmund Airport is a minor international airport located east of Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It serves the eastern Rhine-Ruhr area, the largest urban agglomeration in Germany, and is mainly used for low-cost and leisure charter flight ...

is co-owned by the city of Dortmund (26%) and Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG (74%). From 1999 to 2004

Dortmund-Märkische Eisenbahn The Dortmund-Märkische Eisenbahn GmbH (DME) was a German train operating company, that operated the Dortmund– Hagen–Lüdenscheid train service (route RB52) from 30 May 1999 to 11 December 2004. It was a subsidiary of the Dortmunder Stadtw ...

(DME), a subsidiary of Dortmunder Stadtwerke (74%) and Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (26%), operated the Dortmund-Hagen-Lüdenscheid regional rail service. The energy sector includes the energy supplier DEW21 (

Dortmunder Energie- und Wasserversorgung Dortmunder means someone or something from Dortmund, Germany. It may refer to: * John Dortmunder, a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. * Tod Dortmunder, a fictional character from the TV show ''Little House on the Prairie''. * Dortm ...

) with over 1100 employees. The data networks business unit is mainly operated through the telecommunications company DOKOM21. Stadtbahn Dortmund U47 308 Leopoldstraße 190219

Stadtbahn Dortmund U47 308 Leopoldstraße 190219

Mobility division

The mobility division of DSW21 is a partner company in the

Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (), abbreviated VRR, is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers most of the Ruhr area, as well as neighbouring parts of the Lower Rhine region, includ ...

(VRR), responsible for

in the city of Dortmund and the surrounding area. The business area overlaps with neighboring transport companies. Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG (DSW21) operates a total of eight light rail lines (see also:

Dortmund Stadtbahn __NOTOC__ The Dortmund Stadtbahn is a light rail system in the German city of Dortmund and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network. Its network consists of eight lines and is operated by Dortmunder Stadtwerke, which is operating un ...

) and 76 bus lines. In 2018, it transported a total of around 130.3 million passengers on its 1107.6-kilometer network, covering approximately 20,780,000 kilometers. It used 47 streetcar cars, 74 light rail cars and 172 buses for transportation. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the number of passengers dropped by 20% in the first quarter of 2021. The company is a member of the Eastern Ruhr Area Cooperation (''Kooperation östliches Ruhrgebiet'').

References

{{Reflist Dortmund 1857 establishments in Germany Public transport operators of Germany Tram, urban railway and trolley companies