Sporveisbussene

AS Sporveisbussene

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Transport
Founded	1997
Headquarters	Oslo, Norway
Area served	Oslo, Norway
Key people	Tore Berg (CEO)
Revenue	NOK 643 million (2005)
Number of employees	977 (2005)
Parent	Kollektivtransportproduksjon
Subsidiaries	Nexus Trafikk Lavprisekspressen
Website	www.sporveien.no
Footnotes / references

AS Sporveisbussene is a bus company that operates about 75% of the routes in Oslo, Norway. The company was created in 1997 when the then Oslo Sporveier was reorganised. It is now a subsidiary of Kollektivtransportproduksjon, a municipal company responsible for operating public transport in Oslo. In 2003 the Oslo City Council decided that bus transport in Oslo was to be based on public service obligation contracts, and Sporveisbussene has steadily lost its routes to these contracts. Instead, Sporveisbussene has established a subsidiary, Nexus Trafikk, that can compete in the competitions, and has won many of them. The company also operates the express coaches branded Lavprisekspressen.

Between them the two companies operate 413 buses, have 977 employees and have the headquarters at Alnabru in Oslo. As of 2005 the bus fleet consisted of:

By the 1920s, the Oslo Tramway had grown to a series of lines spanning from the city center to new neighborhoods. While this allowed excellent transport from the city center to the residential areas, it did not permit easy transport between the neighborhoods. This gave rooms for bus transport, as a supplement to the tramway. On 13 November 1927, Oslo Sporveier, who operated the city trams, started Line 18 between Alexander Kiellands plass and Loelvdalen. The route ran every ten minutes, and the tickets cost NOK 0.25. The company had bought ten buses from Strømmens Værksted, each with room for 23 seated and 17 standing passengers. They had Hall Scott gasoline engines with a power output of 48 kilowatts (64 hp), and stationed at Vålerenga Depot. Five buses were needed to operate the route.

The next route was Line 19, which opened on 3 January 1928. It ran from Lille Tøyen Hageby to Grønlands torg. After a week, the line was further extended to Storgata, which was served by the tramway, thus allowing passengers to transfer. Most of the route ran parallel to the Kampen Line of the tramway, and the route was as such not diagonal. The first circular route was Line 20, which opened between Majorstuen and Carl Berners plass on 15 May 1928. From June, the route was extended from Majorstuen to Tordenskiolds plass via Neuberggata, Tidemandsgate, Magnus Bergs gate, Thomas Heftyes gate, Bygdøy allé, Drammensveien and Karl Johans gate. Line 21 opened on 25 June, running from Dælenengate and Colbjørsens gate to Waldemar Thranes gate, Bislett and Josefines gate. The new routes required 18 more similar buses from Strømmens Værksted.