üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG is the operator of

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, typi ...

in the city of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The company is a member of the

Großraum-Verkehr Hannover Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH; English: Greater Hanover Transport) is a transport association in Germany, operating in the Region Hannover metropolitan area in the state of Lower Saxony. It was founded on March 4, 1970 and is the second oldest ...

(GVH) transport association. From 2003 to 2006, it had outsourced its operations, but officially resumed as a service provider on January 1, 2007.

History

Üstra was originally the abbreviation for ''Überlandwerke und Straßenbahnen Hannover AG''. The company also provided electricity to private customers as well as operating

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

and

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

services - not only in the city of Hannover but also to the outlying villages and small towns. This field was spun off in 1929 (becoming the ''HASTRA''). In 1960, the company changed its name to ''Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe (ÜSTRA) AG'', then to ''ÜSTRA Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG'' in 1980, changing the word üstra to lowercase in 1996. The rural tram lines which were mostly singletrack brought coal (from Barsinghausen), milk and farm produce to the city but this business dwindled down with the motorisation in the 1950s and 1960s. In 2001, ownership of the rail network, tunnels and stations of the

Hanover Stadtbahn The Hanover Stadtbahn is a Stadtbahn (light rail) system in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany. The Stadtbahn opened on 29 September 1975, gradually replacing the city's tramway network over the course of the following 25 years. Current ...

was transferred to ''Infrastrukturgesellschaft Region Hannover GmbH''.

Company structure

From 2004 to New Year's Eve 2006, the operative business was handled by intalliance AG. üstra had transferred more than 1900 employees to intalliance and acted as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, having owned significant shares in intalliance AG, the TransTec holdings (providing technical services) and the protective service GmbH (the former

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

branch of üstra). Its shares in htp GmbH, a local

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

provider, were sold off in 2004.

External links

üstra corporate web siteTram Travels: Üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe
Companies based in Hanover Public transport operators of Germany {{Germany-rail-transport-stub