Trondheim Trafikkselskap or TT was the city

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 A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

for

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

between 1974 and 2001. It operated both the city buses, and the

Trondheim Tramway The Trondheim Tramway in Trondheim, Norway, is the world's most northerly tramway system, following the closure and dismantling of the Arkhangelsk tramways in Russia. It consists of one 8.8-km-long line, the Gråkallen Line, running from St. Ol ...

until 1988. The company was owned by the city council. TT was founded in 1972 as a merger between the municipal-owned tramway companies

Trondheim Sporvei Trondheim Sporvei was a municipally owned tram operator in Trondheim, Norway that existed between 1936 and 1974. The company operated the municipal parts of the Trondheim Tramway until it was merged with A/S Graakalbanen and Trondheim Bilruter ...

and

Graakalbanen A/S Graakalbanen was a private company that built and operated the Gråkallen Line of the Trondheim Tramway between 1924 and 1972. Established in 1916, it bought large land areas in Byåsen, and built a tramway through these to reach the recreatio ...

, and the bus company Bynesruten. In 1974, the company was reorganized as a municipal agency, and also took over the private bus operator Trondheim Bilruter, along with the city bus lines of

Klæburuten Klæburuten was a Norwegian bus company located in Trondheim. It operated the regional buses in Klæbu and to Trondheim in addition to the Airport Bus from Trondheim to Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The bus company operated 26 daily buses between ...

and NSB Bilruter. In 2001, the company merged with

Hemne og Orkladal Billag Hemne Orkladal Billag or HOB was a Norway, Norwegian transport company based in Kyrksæterøra, Sør-Trøndelag. HOB was founded in 1937 and mergers and acquisitions, merged with Trondheim Trafikkselskap in 2001 to form Team Trafikk. History Hem ...

to create

Team Trafikk Team Trafikk AS was the bus company in Trondheim, Norway, since 2002 owned by Nettbuss. The company had 225 buses, 600 employees, a revenue of NOK 270 million and a daily ridership of ca 70,000 passengers in 2005. The company received subsidies ...

, that was later sold to

Nettbuss Vy Buss, formerly branded as Nettbuss, is the largest bus company in Norway, owned by Vy. It was established on 10 February 2000 as the continuation of the bus operations from former NSB Biltrafikk. In addition to bus services in major parts of N ...

History

Establishment

Since 1966, the City of Trondheim had owned two tramway companies, Trondheim Sporvei and Graakalbanen. It also owned the majority of the bus company Bynesruten. In 1969, the city council decided to merge the three companies into Trondheim Trafikkselskap, and to organize it as a limited company to limit bureaucratization, and realize efficiency through simpler decision making. The company was formally founded on 28 July 1971, and took over the three other companies on 1 January 1972.

Odd Hovdenak Odd A. Hovdenak (January 13, 1917 – November 20 1982) was a Norwegian civil servant. Between 1959 and 1974 he was director of the Trondheim Tramway. Educated in business administration, Hovdenak worked in the city administration in Trondheim from ...

, former director of Trondheim Sporvei, was appointed CEO. During fall 1972, TT had had to ask the city council for a total of in loans to cover operational expenses. The time when public transport in Trondheim could operate with a profit was over. The company lost NOK 3.5 million in its first operative year.Kjenstad, 2005: 262 On 30 November 1972, the city council voted to buy Trondheim Bilruter (TBR) as well as the Trondheim division of

NSB Biltrafikk NSB Biltrafikk was the former road transport division of the Norwegian State Railways from the first bus routes in 1925, as a subsidiary of NSB BA from 1 December 1996, until it was divided into bus operator Nettbuss and truck operator Nettlast o ...

, a division of the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach se ...

. Also, the routes operated by

within the city limits were to be taken over. There had been no effictivizations due to the limited company model, and instead ,the new TT would be organized as a municipal agency. In 1973, the last year Trondheim Bilruter operated on itself, it lost NOK 880,000. The city had also granted that company a loan. Both it and TT transported about nine million passengers that year. The city paid NOK 9.5 million for TRB, and received 59

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

CR 76, CR 110 and CR 111 buses bought after 1966, in addition to 25 older models. TRB had eleven routes. From both NSB and Klæburuten the city had agreed to take over eleven buses. However, the city forgot to specify which buses were to be taken over, and they received the oldest buses from each of the companies. None of the buses from NSB, that were handed over on 25 July 1974, were in usable condition. The part of Klæburuten was taken over for NOK 1.1. million. Until 1979, 33 new Scania CR111 and 31

MAN SL200 The MAN SL200 was a transit bus manufactured by MAN between 1973 and 1988, and was based on the first generation German VöV-Standard-Bus body design. More than 5500 units were built of the standard left-hand drive version. There were also severa ...

buses were bought. This required the depot at

Sorgenfri Sorgenfri (lit. "free of sorrow", like Sans Souci) is a neighbourhood in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in Greater Copenhagen lying just north of Kongens Lyngby. The neighbourhood is enclosed between the landmarks of a forest with Lyngby Åmose, M ...

to be expanded. Arne Watle, since 1951 CEO of Trondheim Bilruter, was appointed CEO of the new company. Hovdenak became CFO. The two administrations were merged, but not reduced, creating 52 administrative positions. In the beginning there were also problems with two very different corporate cultures. TT established itself at Sorgenfri,after the administration of the former companies had been scattered around town. The former buses used by Trondheim Sporvei were moved to Sorgenfri, and the disabled transport took over their location at Dalsenget Depot.Kjenstad, 2005: 263–64 Ticket prices increased from NOK 1.40 to 1.50, and a new logo, that combined the wings of TBR and the city's coat of arms used by the tramway. From May the buses and trams were repainted in a new colour scheme. The former two-colour trams (with blue tops and yellow bottoms) and red buses were instead painted two-colour with yellow tops and blue bottoms. In 1975, pensioners and welfare recipients received half price, after having fought for this since 1957. From 1 October, monthly passes were also introduced. The zones were extended, so the entire Gråkall Line was within a single fare. In 1976, public transport ridership increased by 12%, including an 8.9% increase for the trams; TT transport 20.3 million passengers that year, of which 6 million were by tram. The municipality subsidies with NOK 24.6 million, and the county with NOK 3.5 million. However, county subsidies were not available for the tram routes, which also had to cover the cost of infrastructure.Kjenstad, 2005: 269

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Bus companies of Trøndelag Companies based in Trondheim Companies formerly owned by municipalities of Norway Defunct bus companies of Norway Defunct railway companies of Norway Trondheim Tramway operators Railway companies established in 1971 Railway companies disestablished in 2001 Norwegian companies established in 1971 Companies disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Norway