Qbuzz is a public transport company in the Netherlands that operates services in

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Ne ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of th ...

. Founded in 2008, it was a 100% subsidiary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch National Railway Operator) between 2013 and 2017. It is currently owned by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (the Italian National Railway Operator).

History

Qbuzz was founded in 2008 by former

Connexxion Connexxion is a large public transport company in the Netherlands, operating in the west, middle, east and southwest parts of the country. It is owned by Transdev and Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Netherlands. His ...

directors Rob van Holten and Leon Struijk.Connexxion, Arriva and Qbuzz
''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on ...

'' 2 September 2011 (Dutch) Having initially had a 49% shareholding,

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

purchased the remaining 51% in April 2013. In March 2015, Qbuzz was awarded a 15-year concession to operate services in the Limburg region from December 2016. However, after the discovery of irregularities during the tender process, the contract was awarded to

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Busitalia Sita Nord Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

(subsidiary of

Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate ...

) purchased the company.

Operations

In December 2008, Qbuzz started operating bus services in

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of F ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. Upon being re-tendered, the Friesland services passed to Arriva in December 2016.Qbuzz loses ground in the north
RTV Drenthe 11 August 2016 (Dutch) In December 2009, Qbuzz won the concession to operate bus services in

and

until December 2019. In December 2011, Qbuzz began operating the bus and sneltram services in

trading as U-OV until December 2023. In January 2018 Qbuzz was selected by the province of South Holland as preferred bidder for a contract which combines the operation of

MerwedeLingelijn MerwedeLingelijn is the name of the train service in the Netherlands between Geldermalsen and Dordrecht, on the western part of the Elst–Dordrecht railway. Train services were operated by Arriva until 8 Dec 2018, when Qbuzz took over. Since ...

train service on the Geldermalsen –

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after ...

route with the provision of local bus services. On 9 December 2018, Qbuzz officially took over services from Arriva on the MerwedeLingeLijn.

Fleet

As at March 2016, Qbuzz operated 686 buses and 27 trams.Abellio facts & figures
Abellio 29 March 2016

References

External links

{{Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, state=collapsed Amersfoort Bus companies of the Netherlands Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Nederlandse Spoorwegen Companies based in Utrecht (province) Railway companies of the Netherlands Transport companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in the Netherlands