Jointly operated bus routes in other countries.

[stadler]

Jointly operated bus routes in other countries.

Following on from the thread about the jointly operated 30 (Cardiff to Newport) i thought it would be interesting to see how many such routes exist in other countries. So this is bus routes that are jointly operated with different operators running different journeys.

What other jointly operated bus routes exist in other countries? I would be interested if anyone has any examples they can think of?

The only three i can think of are all in the USA here:

• 2X (Salem to Wilsonville) OR
2 Bus Operators:
Cherriots
SMART

• 80X (Bellingham to Mount Vernon) WA
2 Bus Operators:
Skagit County Transit
Whatcom County Transit

• Coastal Link (Milford - Bridgeport - Norwalk) CT
3 Bus Operators:
GBT (Greater Bridgeport Transit)
MTD (Milford Transit District)
NTD (Norwalk Transit District)

I presume there must be some others in the USA too? Or even in Canada perhaps?

Are there any in Mainland Europe anywhere? I have spent a while searching and can not find any but surely Mainland Europe has some such routes somewhere?

 

[HS2isgood]

Much of Flixbus across Europe are joint operations

 

[DanielB]

Already within my province (Utrecht) in the Netherlands a few come to mind:

295 Utrecht - Rotterdam;
- Keolis (provincie Utrecht franchise)
- Qbuzz (Zuid-Holland Noord franchise)

90 Utrecht - Gelkenes;
- Qbuzz (DMG franchise, with green buses)
- Qbuzz/U-OV (Regio Utrecht franchise, with yellow buses)

83 Veenendaal De Klomp - Veenendaal Centrum + 85 Veenendaal - Ede;
- Keolis (provincie Utrecht franchise)
- Transdev/Hermes (Veluwe Zuid franchise)

The latter is a special case as 83 fully belongs to provincie Utrecht and 85 fully belongs to Veluwe Zuid, but they are operated as a through service with integrated ticketing. And therefore both routes have two operators.

 

[johncrossley]

Route 42 between Brugge and Breskens

42 Brugge – Breskens | Grensoverschrijdende treinen en bussen vanuit België

Een actueel overzicht van alle grensoverschrijdende intercity- en lokale treinen vanuit België alsook van alle lijnbussen tussen België en de buurlanden. In woord en beeld.

www.grenstreinbus.be

Lijn 42 wordt gezamenlijk door De Lijn en het Nederlandse Connexxion uitgebaat.

(Route 42 is jointly operated by De Lijn and Connexxion).

 

[nwales58]

Gorizia - Nova Gorica. Operated by the italians in the morning, from memory, and slovenians in the afternoon.

 

[Full Standing]

Bus line 14: Aachen (Germany) - Eupen (Belgium)

Operated jointly by ASEAG (German bus operator based at Aachen running most buses in and around Aachen) and TEC (Belgian bus operator providing most bus/tram services in the Walloon region of Belgium).

The timetable (available at https://avv.de/files/avv/files/fahrplaene/linienfahrplaene/014_avv.pdf) shows which operator runs which service.

 

[DanielB]

Another one in that area: 44 from Aachen (Germany) to Heerlen (Netherlands) is jointly operated by Arriva Netherlands and ASEAG.

Quote a complicated one regarding ticketing, see https://wiki.ovinnederland.nl/wiki/Lijn_44_Heerlen_Station_-_Aachen_Hauptbahnhof

 

[Whisky Papa]

Route 42 between Brugge and Breskens

42 Brugge – Breskens | Grensoverschrijdende treinen en bussen vanuit België

Een actueel overzicht van alle grensoverschrijdende intercity- en lokale treinen vanuit België alsook van alle lijnbussen tussen België en de buurlanden. In woord en beeld.

www.grenstreinbus.be

(Route 42 is jointly operated by De Lijn and Connexxion).

I recall a short return journey from Westkapelle to Sluis back in the early 1990s on this route. We had De Lijn rover tickets, and I wasn't 100% sure they were valid (just) over the Dutch border to Sluis, or valid at all on the Dutch bus that would form our return journey. Not Connexxion then of course - something like ZWN rings a bell - but we didn't have to pay in the end.

I assume the OP is only wanting examples like this, rather than routes covered by a different operator from the daytime at weekends / evenings?

 

[stadler]

I recall a short return journey from Westkapelle to Sluis back in the early 1990s on this route. We had De Lijn rover tickets, and I wasn't 100% sure they were valid (just) over the Dutch border to Sluis, or valid at all on the Dutch bus that would form our return journey. Not Connexxion then of course - something like ZWN rings a bell - but we didn't have to pay in the end.

I assume the OP is only wanting examples like this, rather than routes covered by a different operator from the daytime at weekends / evenings?

I am also very interested in examples of routes that have a different operator in the evenings and on weekends. I would still consider it to be jointly operated if it is the same route. If any such examples of those exist elsewhere than i would be interested to know.

 

[rvdborgt]

Bus line 14: Aachen (Germany) - Eupen (Belgium)

Operated jointly by ASEAG (German bus operator based at Aachen running most buses in and around Aachen) and TEC (Belgian bus operator providing most bus/tram services in the Walloon region of Belgium).

Fun fact: all (or most?) buses on that line are actually from SADAR in Kelmis (now owned by Keolis I believe), who are subcontractor for both TEC and ASEAG.

 

[zero]

In Hong Kong, the majority of "cross-harbour" routes are jointly operated by the two main operators, Citybus and Kowloon Motor Bus. A quick search on the relevant wikipedia article shows 93 such routes. Also according to that article, routes S1 and X1 which run near the airport are jointly operated by Citybus and Long Win Bus (itself owned by KMB and is effectively a sub-brand for airport routes).

Traditionally, franchised routes on HK Island were operated by China Motor Bus, and routes in Kowloon and the New Territories were operated by KMB. So when tunnels (of which there are now three) were opened between HK Island and Kowloon, the new bus routes were shared.

In the 1990s Citybus, a private operator, started taking over some franchised routes from CMB. In 1998 CMB lost its franchises which were mostly transferred to New World First Bus. From then on some of the cross-harbour routes were jointly operated by Citybus and KMB, while others were jointly operated by NWFB and KMB.

In July 2023, as the owners of Citybus and NWFB were now the same, the NWFB brand was retired, leading to the situation in my first sentence.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

SB38 Hattingen - Wetter - Gevelsberg - Ennepetal is operated jointly by VER and DB Regio Bus (Rheinlandbus), on weekends it's joined with 552 Gevelsberg Hbf - Gevelsberg-Silschede - Wetter where buses change numbers in Silschede Mitte. 552 is VER-only during the week.

Buses 511, 523 and 529 between Hagen, Ennepetal and Breckerfeld are on a joint concession by Hagener Strassenbahn and VER, but actual operations are VER only.

Bus 608 between Ennepetal and Wuppertal ist jointly operated by WSW and VER with I believe VER running the through buses that go the entire route (every 30 mins), and WSW running those that up this to a 10 minute frequency between Wuppertal-Oberbarmen and Dieselstraße.

 

[Full Standing]

Fun fact: all (or most?) buses on that line are actually from SADAR in Kelmis (now owned by Keolis I believe), who are subcontractor for both TEC and ASEAG.

That's interesting indeed. In fact, I have never seen an ASEAG operated bus on this line that was not run by SADAR on behalf of ASEAG. I'm not sure about the TEC services though. But still, ASEAG and TEC services (even if run by SADAR) have completely different liveries and interiors (all ASEAG ones are red/white from the outside and the TEC ones are yellow/red).

Another similar service is the bus route 30 between Saarbrücken (Germany) and Forbach (France). Operated jointly by Saarbahn and Forbus. Ticketing is different from the 14/44 services around Aachen in the sense that for journeys within Germany the Germany ticket and the other tickets of the respective Verkehrsverbund are not valid, while they are for the 14/44 services.

 

[Whisky Papa]

I am also very interested in examples of routes that have a different operator in the evenings and on weekends. I would still consider it to be jointly operated if it is the same route. If any such examples of those exist elsewhere than i would be interested to know.

In that case, I recalled spotting a timetable for one of the 'suburban' bus lines on pid.cz, the website for Prague's transport authority that had a different weekend operator - unfortunately I couldn't recall which route! 'Suburban' here is a misnomer to my eyes, it basically means they cross the city boundary, and some are quite lengthy interurban routes.

A brief trawl has uncovered the 390 Praha,Smíchovské nádraží - Rabyně is one such route, and as I don't think this was the one I was originally looking at, I guess there might be more. The 390 is operated Mon-Fri by Martin Uher of Mníšek pod Brdy, but at weekends by ČSAD Benešov. Oddly, their Vlašim depot is quoted on the timetable, which is even further away from the route than Benešov is!

A screenshot of part of the outward timetable is attached.

 

[JonasB]

In Sweden, buses that cross a county border are often jointly operated by the two regional transit agencies, so there are many examples. Including the famous routes 45 (Östersund-Gällivare, 690 km) and 100 (Umeå-Haparanda, 380 km).

 

[dutchflyer]

I think you should define more clearly what is meant by ´joint operation´. As you likely also know, here on the continent most buslines are organised by whatever local entity (in DE=Germany most often the Verkehrsverbund, in BElgium /Flemish deLIJN en Wallon TEC, etc.) and these contract out the routes and/or trips. Those companies who won are not really interested much in who gets what in the revenue-often, as I understand, the major stumbleblock in UK/GB. Plus that sales for tickets ON bus are often so rare that some hardly bother much for it.
Besides that it is even for those knowing a little more about it hard to even find out who is the actual operator, as the livery is often of that organising entity.
IN DE=Germany it is even fairly common for the operator that won the contract-to have some trips contract out to a local smaller opeartor-that may even vary by day or time of day. It may even be the case for a sudden reported illness and operator 1 not having any spare driver to fill in.
In the area of Germany close by the dutch border near Arnhem-Nijmegen-all in the big VRR Verbund, but being a local smaller Verbund before- the major Operator is NIAG, but this is closely associated/linked with LOOK (say lohk in /en/) and its mostly a surprise which one will turn up on a certain trip.
An example that may surprise you: Rail replacement BUS on a large contract (a longer line, with otherwise very frequent train service-so needing dozens or more of such buses- here in NL=Nederland may even have more as 10 different companies providing buses-and recently coming from as far away as Croatia/Slovenija.

 

[WideRanger]

Most frequent intercity bus routes in Japan are joint operations between the two companies with bases at the 2 ends of the route, with each company providing the first buses from their home areas.

 

[DanielB]

Another one that just came to mind today: route 38 from Basel Bachgraben (CH) to Wyhlen Siedlung (D) is jointly operated by DB Südbadenbus and Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB).

 

[jpl]

OnniBus and Lux Express operate jointly some routes in Finland.