![Freiburg Schwabentor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Freiburg_Schwabentor.jpg)
Freiburger Verkehrs AG, also known as VAG Freiburg or just VAG, is the municipal transport company of the city of
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and is responsible for operating the local
tram network
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
. It is a member of the
Regio-Verkehrsverbund Freiburg (RVF), a transport association that co-ordinates public transport in the city of Freiburg and the neighboring districts of
Emmendingen
Emmendingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Emmedinge'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Emmendingen of Germany. It is located at the Elz River, north of Freiburg im Breisgau. The town contains more than 26,000 residents, which ...
and
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (french: Arrondissement de Brisgau-Haute-Forêt-Noire) is a (district) in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Fifty towns and municipalities with 133 settlements lie within the district. The district itself belon ...
.
Furthermore VAG owns 50% of the shares in the
Breisgau S-Bahn
The Breisgau S-Bahn, branded as Breisgau-S-Bahn 2020, is an S-Bahn network centered on Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Lines
The network comprises six lines, three operated by DB Regio Baden-Württemberg and three by SWE ...
, the other 50% are with
SWEG. The company operates a regional railway network on
DB Netz AG and SWEG owned tracks. The services run on short sections of the Magistrale
Upper Rhine Valley Railway, together with the ''
Elztalbahn'', ''
Kaiserstuhlbahn'' and ''
Breisachbahn'' branch lines.
The VAG is a
public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...
, whose shareholder is the city of Freiburg. In 2010 the overall loss was €7.545 million. This was accomplished by a cover ratio of 88%, which is impressively high by German public transport standards.
History
The predecessor of the VAG was the “Direktion des Elektrizitätswerkes und der Straßenbahn”, which was founded on 1 October 1899.
On 14 October 1901 the horse-drawn omnibuses that had existed since 1891 were replaced by the electric tram. The task of the directorate was to provide a stable electricity supply for the trams as soon as possible. This happened with the commissioning of the electricity plant at Eschholzstraße. The power station was taken off the grid in the 1950s and now houses three schools and a cultural centre.
The Directorate became part of the VAG on 1 January 1974. Today, VAG cooperates with the regional energy supplier badenova, a provider which belongs to the Stadtwerke Freiburg.
In October 1970, the company opened the bus depot on the Haid. In 1992, the administration of the historical depot South also moved there. In 1995, shortly after the opening of the tram line to Munzinger Straße on the Haid, the tram workshop and depot moved in. Since then, the depot has been continuously expanded. In 2021, construction began on a 78-metre-long shelter for electric buses. In the summer of 2022, the fleet of electric buses is to be expanded from two to seventeen.
On 1 January 2009, the electricity supply of the Freiburg tram and the Schauinslandbahn was completely switched to green electricity. In 2013, VAG put into operation the first flywheel generator on the Moosweiher in Landwasser, which stores the braking energy of light rail vehicles and transfers it to accelerating railcars. In 2018, the second flywheel generator in Zähringen was inaugurated.
Network
![Freiburg-tramnetz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Freiburg-tramnetz.png)
VAG operates a network comprising
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
lines,
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
routes, and a
gondola lift
A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...
. The network carries an average of 200,000 passengers a day. The backbone of the network is based on four tram lines. Coordinated with these are 26 bus lines connecting interchange points to surrounding areas. In addition, the
Schauinslandbahn
The Schauinslandbahn is a gondola lift in the Black Forest area of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It links a lower station in the municipality of Horben, near the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, with an upper station near the summit of the Schauinsl ...
provides access to the summit of
Schauinsland
The Schauinsland (literally "look-into-the-country"; near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) is a mountain in the Black Forest with an elevation of 1,284 m (4,213 ft) above sea level. It is a popular destination for day trips. Due to the h ...
mountain.
VAG operates its lines by a fleet of 62 trams and 104 buses. These cover 3.1 and 4.1 million kilometres a year respectively.
Most trams
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
and all buses
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
offer low floor service.
Regular tram intervals are five minutes (line 1) and 7.5 minutes (lines 2,3 and 5) and the bus service intervals depend severely on the line and vary mostly between 10 minutes and 60 minutes.
An extension of tram line 2 (green) of 1.8 km to the border of Gundelfingen
Gundelfingen im Breisgau ( Low Alemannic: ''Gundelfinge im Brisgau'') is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.
Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarz ...
in the north was inaugurated and started service on March 15, 2014.[Gundelfingen]
Public Transport
An extension of the tramline to the Messe was finished in 2015.
The increasing service quality and quantity increased the number of passengers from 46 million in 1990 to 73 million in 2010. This 58% increase is remarkable whilst the population of the city increased by 23%.
file:GT8_VAG_Freiburg_2.jpg, tram type GT8N at Stühling bridge near central station
file:GT8Z VAG Freiburg.jpg, tram type GT8Z at stop Lorettostraße
file:Siemens Combino Tramway de Freiburg.JPG, tram type Combino Advanced at former stop Bertoldsbrunnen
file:831Vorweb.jpg, bus (#831) in Hochdorf
Night Traffic
The night service, known as “Safer Traffic”, was operated by seven night bus lines, which operated on Saturday and Sunday nights and before public holidays. These lines, which were named after planets of the solar system, most recently started at the ZOB at Freiburg Central Station (until 15 March 2014 at the Bertoldsbrunnen) and made it possible to reach the surrounding districts and municipalities almost every hour between 1 and 5 a. m.
Since 14 December 2014, the tram lines (except line 2) are operated every 30 minutes on Saturdays, Sundays and before selected public holidays (from Bertoldsbrunnen from 1 a. m. to 4:30 a. m. ). The night bus lines N46 and N47 supplement the night traffic of the Stadtbahn. Günterstal and more distant villages are additionally reached by taxis, which are available at the transfer stops. The regular RVF fare applies to the Stadtbahn. The night buses N46, N47 and connection taxes cost 4 euros.
In response to the murder of Maria Ladenburger, there has been a women’s night taxi since the end of 2017. Every night from 10 p. m. to 6 a. m. , women can use it for all journeys within the city of Freiburg. It costs 7 euros.
Bibliography
*
Annual report 2010
References
External links
*
Live monitor of all Freiburg trams
{{Coord, 47.9924, N, 7.7971, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Freiburg im Breisgau
Public transport operators of Germany
Transport in Baden-Württemberg
Transport companies established in 1899
German companies established in 1899