Skånetrafiken is the regional public

transit district A transit district or transit authority is a government agency or a public-benefit corporation created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. A transit district may operate bus, rail or other types of tra ...

Skåne län Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

, in the south of Sweden. Skånetrafiken was founded in 1999 when the two counties Kristianstads län and Malmöhus län were merged into one region, causing the two respective transport authorities for each previous county to be amalgamated. Presently, Skånetrafiken is a part of the regional government of Region Skåne. The main office is located in

Hässleholm Hässleholm (older da, Hasselholm) is a locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the ...

with a second office in Lund. The managing director of Skånetrafiken is Magnus Hedin.

Public transport services

Skånetrafiken organise train services on several lines within Skåne, called Pågatåg, which are currently delivered under contract by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Öresundståg, regional train services managed by Skånetrafikken, which cross into

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and neighbouring counties in Sweden. The Öresundståg network in both Denmark and Sweden is from 11. December 2022 operated by

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

. Before the 11. December 2022, the Öresundståg was operated by DSB and

SJ Öresund SJ Öresund was a division of SJ AB responsible for the operations of Øresundståg in Sweden. Øresundståg is a passenger train network in the transnational Øresund Region of Denmark and Sweden. On 13 December 2020 SJ Öresund replaced the pr ...

in cooperation Urban bus services are available in 10 cities and towns in Skåne with the majority of services in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

and Lund. Regional buses routes that connect cities and town operate throughout Skåne. A colour scheme is used to distinguish urban from regional/inter-urban buse: the former are green whereas the latter are yellow. On a similar principle, Pågatåg trains are painted mauve with a red stripe, while Öresundståg vehicles are primarily silver-grey. Depending on the results of the bidding process, different bus companies are awarded contracts for bus lines. The principal bus companies running bus services for Skånetrafiken are

Veolia Transport Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the ...

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Nobina Sverige, and Bergkvarabuss. Some services for transportation of handicapped people are also run by Skånetrafiken under the name of Serviceresor. Additionally, Skånetrafiken operates a boat service between

Landskrona Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...

harbour and the island of

Ven Ven may refer to: Places * Ven, Heeze-Leende, a hamlet in the Netherlands * Ven (Sweden), an island * Ven, Tajikistan, a town * VEN or Venezuela Other uses * von Economo neurons, also called ''spindle neurons'' * '' Vên'', an EP by Eluveiti ...

. Buses to/from airports are not formally a part of Skånetrafiken at this time. Some train and bus services between Skåne and the adjoining counties of

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's secon ...

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömseb ...

and

Kronoberg Kronoberg County (; sv, Kronobergs län) is a county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. Kronoberg is one of three counties in the province of Småland. It borders the counties of Skåne, Halland, Jönköping, Kalmar, and Blekinge. Its capital is t ...

are organised in conjunction with corresponding regional transit authorities in the respective counties. Skånetrafiken is also the brand used for the Lund tramway.

Tickets, prices and ticketing system

Since Skånetrafiken manages all public transport in Skåne, tickets are valid on all local trains and buses. Furthermore, a passenger can buy a ticket on an urban bus in one city for a combined ride by bus – train – bus to a final destination in another city. This ease of ticketing may have been a contributing factor to the positive development in patronage since the inception of Skånetrafiken in 1999. Within the city bus systems tickets are sold at a fixed price for the entire city. For journeys which fall outside these zones pricing is based on the distance of the journey, with prices increasing along with the distance. Tickets can be purchased as single or all-day journeys, or in different forms of pre-paid passes. All tickets are sold within the app. On regional buses tickets for single journeys can also be bought from the driver, while city buses accept tap-to-pay debit and credit cards. On trains, passengers must buy a ticket before boarding from machines on or near the platform or within the Skånetrafiken app. Those with a fixed-term ticket can board the train directly. For those who do not wish to buy single-journey tickets and who cannot use the app Skånetrafiken also provides a contactless travel card. The travel card can be filled with tickets at Skånetrafiken Customer Centres, online on the Skånetrafiken webpage or at an affiliated organization. For travel to and from Denmark, tickets can be purchased directly with Skånetrafiken, either within the app or on the travel card. Fares that include a border crossing will include unlimited use of local public transit on each side within the validity period of the ticket (a paper receipt needs to be printed if using a Skånetrafiken travel card as the card is incompatible with the Danish Rejsekort system; app users can just show the electronic ticket when boarding buses and if asked while on trains).

Criticism

The entire ticketing system in Skåne was switched in 2009 when the debit card and 30-day commuter cards have been merged into a common smart card system. Originally, this conversion was planned to be operational by 2007. Skånetrafiken has been criticised, particularly in 2007, for not being sufficiently quick and decisive in response to increases in patronage. The success of some routes has been so good that overcrowding has plagued some train and bus services for months with no response on the part of Skånetrafiken; this has been particularly the case for rush-hour train service to and from Denmark. There was more criticism during 2009/2010Examples:

/ref> for crowding in the Malmö station which was being rebuilt. Skånetrafiken claims to have made changes in internal decision procedures to catch these problems more quickly in the future. The Malmö Central station has no room for more trains until a new tunnel is opened in the winter 2010–2011. It is not possible to rent or buy any old train for the traffic to Denmark, since both rail authorities have many requirements meaning custom made trains must be bought. New trains have now been ordered.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skanetrafiken Public transport authorities of Sweden Railway companies of Sweden Transport in Skåne County Swedish companies established in 1999

Public transport services

Tickets, prices and ticketing system

Criticism

See also

References

External links