Transport in Norway is highly influenced by Norway's low population density, narrow shape and long coastline. Norway has old water transport traditions, but road, rail and air transport have increased in importance during the 20th century. Due to the low population density, public transport is somewhat less built out in rural areas of Norway, however public transport in, and around cities is well developed.
The Oslo Metro is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Sporveien T-banen on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of five lines that all run through the city centre, with a total length of 85 kilometres (53 mi), serving 101 stations of which 17 are underground or indoors. In addition to serving 14 out of the 15 boroughs of Oslo, two lines run to Kolsås and Østerås, in the neighboring municipality of Bærum. In 2016, the system had an annual ridership of 118 million.
Sporveien Oslo AS is a municipally owned public transport operator in Oslo, Norway. It operates the trackage and maintains the stock of the Oslo Metro and Oslo Tramway, as well as owning eight operating subsidiaries. In 2005, its 2,365 employees transported 160 million passengers 710 million kilometers, and since 2008 it has operated on contract with the public transport authority Ruter.
Jernbanetorget is both a rapid transit station on the Oslo Metro and a tram stop of the Oslo Tramway. The metro station is in the Common Tunnel used by all lines under the city centre. It is located between Stortinget to the west and Grønland to the east. Until the construction of the station at Stortinget, Jernbanetorget was the end station for the eastern lines in downtown. Along with the Oslo Central Station, Oslo Bus Terminal and the tram and bus station above ground, Jernbanetorget is the largest transport hub in Norway.
The Sognsvann Line is a rapid transit line on the Oslo Metro of Norway. It branches from the Common Tunnel at Majorstuen and runs 6.0 kilometers (3.7 mi) to Sognsvann. After Ullevål stadion, the Ring Line branches off. The Sognsvann Line serves the northwestern and northern neighborhoods of Oslo, mostly within the borough of Nordre Aker. The line is owned and maintained by Kollektivtransportproduksjon and has nine stations. The western end of line 5 serves the entire line. Line 4 and the eastern end of line 5 serve the southern part of the line up to Ullevål stadion before branching off and continuing along the Ring Line. This gives an average five-minute headway on the southern part and an average fifteen-minute headway on the northern part of the line.
The Ring Line is the newest rapid transit loop line of the Oslo Metro of Oslo, Norway. It connects to the Sognsvann Line in the west and the Grorud Line in the east; along with these two lines and the Common Tunnel, the Ring Line creates a loop serving both the city centre and Nordre Aker borough. The 5.0 kilometres (3.1 mi)-long line has three stations: Nydalen, Storo and Sinsen. Four-fifths of the line runs within two tunnels, with the 1.0-kilometer (0.62 mi) section between Storo and Sinsen, including both stations, being the only at-grade part. The line connects to the Grorud Line north of Carl Berners plass and with the Sognsvann Line north of Ullevål stadion.
Boreal Norge AS is a Norwegian public transport operator. Established as a subsidiary of CGEA Transport in 1999, it operates through its subsidiaries buses, ferries and trams in the counties of Finnmark, Nordland, Rogaland, Sør-Trøndelag and Troms, primarily through the purchase of former monopolists. The company has 2,500 employees and operates ca 920 buses, 34 ferries/ships and 9 trams.
AS Oslo Sporveier is a defunct municipal owned company responsible for public transport in Oslo, Norway. It was created in 1924 to take over the city's two private tram companies. In 1927 its started with bus transport, including from 1940 to 1968 trolleybuses. Since 1966 rapid transit and from 1985 water buses have also been operated by the company. It was split into two separate companies in 2006; Kollektivtransportproduksjon took over the operation while Oslo Public Transport Administration was responsible for buying the services, fare regulation and marketing. The latter merged into Ruter in 2008, when the Oslo Sporveier brand was discontinued.
Kolumbus AS, formerly Rogaland Kollektivtrafikk FKF, is the public transportation administration in Rogaland, Norway and organised as a county agency. The agency is responsible for planning, marketing and organising the public transport in Rogaland, including buses and passenger ferries, but does not perform any transport itself. Instead it awards public service obligation (PSO) contracts to independent operators. The agency was created on January 1, 2002 and has 35 employees and offices at Byterminalen in Stavanger. All buses operated in Rogaland are branded as Kolumbus and painted green. Before Kolumbus was created, there was several smaller companies who was responsible for the transport in the different parts of Rogaland. However, because of complications with bus lines not overlapping with each other, the bus companies finally decided to unite and become Kolumbus, or Rogaland Kollektivtrafikk as it is also known as.
Sporveien T-banen AS is a limited company that is responsible for operating Oslo Metro, the rapid transit in Oslo, Norway. The company is owned by Sporveien, which is owned by the city council. Sporveien operates on a contract with Ruter, the public transport administration in Oslo and Akershus.
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.
Unibuss, formerly known as AS Sporveisbussene and Nexus Trafikk, is a Norwegian bus company based in Oslo, Norway. It is a subsidiary of the municipal public transport group Sporveien, and was created in 2003 to allow the company to compete for the public service obligation (PSO) contracts through which Oslo was to operate its bus system. In 2017 Unibuss carried 98 million passengers on 759 buses operating on 203 routes and covering a total annual road distance of almost 41.4 million kilometres. With 1860 employees, the company had an operating income in that year of NOK 1684 million.
Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk AS or SL was the public transport administration for bus and ferry transport in Akershus, Norway from 1973 to 2007. SL was organised as a limited company owned by the Akershus county municipality, the City of Oslo, and the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, with a third each. The company planned, marketed and organised the public transport in Akershus but did not operate any buses or ferries. Instead, it issued contracts to operating companies based on public service obligations (OPS).
The Norwegian National Rail Administration was a government agency responsible for owning, maintaining, operating and developing the Norwegian railway network, including the track, stations, classification yards, traffic management and timetables. Safety oversight was the duty of the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate, while numerous operating companies run trains on the lines; the largest being the state owned passenger company Vy and the freight company CargoNet.
Ruter AS is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus counties in Norway. Formally a limited company – 60% of its shares are owned by the Oslo county municipality and 40% by that of Akershus – it is responsible for the administration, funding, and marketing of public transport in the two counties, including buses, the Oslo Metro, Oslo Trams, and ferry services. Ruter also holds agreements with Entur concerning the regulation of fares on local and regional train services operated within the two counties.
The Ullevål Hageby Line is a light rail section of the Oslo Tramway. It runs from Stortorvet in the city center of Oslo, Norway to Rikshospitalet. It passes through the areas of St. Hanshaugen, Ullevål Hageby and Blindern before reaching Gaustad. It serves major institutions such as Oslo University College, Bislett Stadion, Ullevål University Hospital, the University of Oslo and Rikshospitalet. The line is served by route 17 and 18 by Oslo Sporvognsdrift using SL95 trams, while the tracks are owned by Kollektivtransportproduksjon.
The Oslo Package 2 or O2 is a political agreement for financing investments in public transport in Oslo and Akershus, Norway. The program ran from 2001 to 2011, and includes many large and small investments in railways, the Oslo Tramway, the Oslo Metro and infrastructure for buses. Total budget is 15.6 billion kr. The project is a cooperation between the transit authorities Oslo Sporveier and Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk, Oslo Municipality and Akershus County Municipality, and the government agencies of the Norwegian National Rail Administration and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
The Vika Line is a light rail section of the Oslo Tramway in Oslo, Norway. It runs between Wessels plass, through the neighborhood of Vika and Aker Brygge, before arriving at Solli. The section is served by SL79 trams on line 12. The line is owned by the municipal company Kollektivtransportproduksjon, and operated by its subsidiary Oslo Sporvognsdrift.
The history of the Oslo Tramway and Oslo Metro in Oslo, Norway, starts in 1875, when Kristiania Sporveisselskab (KSS) opened two horsecar lines through the city centre. In 1894, Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei (KES) built the first electric street tramways, which ran west from the city centre. Within six years, all tramways were electric. The city council established Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie (KKS) in 1899, which built three lines before it was sold to KSS six years later. Both KSS and KES were taken over by the municipality in 1924, becoming Oslo Sporveier. The company gradually expanded the city tram network, which reached its peak length in 1939.
