AarBus (until 2021 ''Busselskabet Aarhus Sporveje'', colloquially known as ''Aarhus Sporveje'') is a bus company operating in

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is the primary bus operator in the city and municipality of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

and the former municipal bus operator of

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

. The company maintains all bus operations in Aarhus Municipality through 3 contracts with the

Central Denmark Region The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

public transit organization Midttrafik. Two contracts were won in bids in 2008 and 2012 and the third, a holdover from when the company was a municipal entity, will be tendered in 2017. Aarhus Sporveje employs about 650 people and daily services 24 routes with 1.268 stops.

History

In 1883 ''Aarhuus Sporvejsselskab'' was founded, and it maintained a horse-drawn tram route from the

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

to the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

until 1895 when it stopped operations. The year after in 1896 an omnibus route opened which operated until 1903 when electrification made electric trams practical. The company ''Aarhus Elektriske Sporvej'' was founded the same year and began running the first trams in 1904 under a 25-year concession. In 1928

took over the company in order to expand services and the new municipal company was named Aarhus Sporveje. In 1944, the Aarhus Sporveje tram depot was bombed in an act of

schalburgtage Schalburgtage was the popular name for the retaliation which Germans and their Danish collaborators carried out as revenge for resistance activity in the last part of the occupation of Denmark between 1944 and 1945. The word is partially a ref ...

during the

occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself Neutral countries in World War II, neutral, but that neutrality did not prevent Nazi Germany from Military occupation, occupying the country soon after the outbreak of ...

and most of the trams were destroyed. The routes were subsequently serviced by buses, and the tram fleet were never fully restored. In 1971 the tram system was abolished and Aarhus has been serviced only by buses ever since. In 2007 Aarhus Sporveje was merged into the regional operator Midttrafik as part of the municipal reform of 2007 and was renamed Busselskabet Aarhus Sporveje. In 2021, the company changed the name from ''Busselskabet Aarhus Sporveje'' to ''AarBus'', citing possible confusion between them and

Aarhus Letbane The Aarhus Letbane (Aarhus light rail) is a light rail system in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. It is operated by the company Midttrafik. The first line opened in December 2017, but the system is under continuous development and expansion. Service ...

External links

Official website

References

{{reflist Transport in Aarhus