Boreal Norge AS (formerly Veolia Transport Norge AS and Connex Norge AS) is a Norwegian

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

operator. Established as a subsidiary of CGEA Transport in 1999, it operates through its subsidiaries

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

and

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

s in the

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

and

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

, primarily through the purchase of former monopolists. The company has 2,500 employees and operates ca 920 buses, 34 ferries/ships and 9 trams.

Operations

Boreal Norge are operating through the following subsidiaries after a 2016 restructure. * Boreal Bane - operates the

Trondheim Tramway The Trondheim Tramway in Trondheim, Norway, is the world's most northerly tramway system, following the closure and dismantling of the Arkhangelsk tramways in Russia. It consists of one line, the Gråkallen Line, running from St. Olav's Gate ...

on contract with the

City of Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and i ...

*Boreal Buss - operates non-commercial bus services on

public service obligation In the context of European Union law, a public service obligation or PSO is an obligation imposed on an organisation by legislation or contract to provide a service of general interest within EU territories. PSOs may operate in any field of publi ...

contracts in

( Snelandia),

( AtB),

( Troms fylkestrafikk),

Tau Tau (; uppercase Τ, lowercase τ or \boldsymbol\tau; ) is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless alveolar plosive, voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300 ...

( Kolumbus), and from 2017 also

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

and the Kristiansand-region from 2018 ( Agder Kollektivtrafikk) * Boreal Sjø - operates road and passenger ferries in Finnmark, Nordland and Troms. The ferries are operated with concession or on PSO contracts with the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications *Boreal Travel - operates tourist coaches in most of Norway, car rental offices for

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in ter ...

in Finnmark, and three intercity coach lines as part of the NOR-WAY Bussekspress network: **''Kystbussen'',

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

Stord Stord is a municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since i ...

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

(in cooperation with Tide Buss) **''Sør-Vestekspressen'',

Flekkefjord Flekkefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the ...

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

**''Trysilekspressen'',

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Elverum Elverum () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Elverum ( ...

Trysil Trysil is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inn ...

History

CGEA Transport first established itself in Norway in 1998 with a minor subsidiary named ''Nordic Bus AS'', winning a PSO contract for bus transport in Sande, Vestfold which commenced at the beginning of 1999. The operations traded as ''Linjebuss'', the name of CGEA Transport's operations in the other

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

. In June 1999, ''CGEA Transport Norge AS'' was established as a holding company for the Norwegian operations with headquarters in

. At the same time they acquired ''Sokndal Bilruter AS'', ''SOT Trafikk AS'' and ''Østerhus Bilruter AS''. The cargo department of Østerhus Bilruter was later that year split into ''Østerhus Transport AS'' and sold off, while the passenger transport was continued as ''Østerhus Buss AS''. In March 2000, CGEA Transport Norge changed its name to ''Connex Norge AS''. Nordic Bus changed its name to ''Connex Øst AS'' in January 2001, and the again to ''Connex Buss AS'' in February 2002. Connex Buss was still responsible for the operations in

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

, but the offices were moved to Stavanger. In January 2003, Sokndal Bilruter and SOT Trafikk were merged to become ''Connex Vest AS'', and on 1 April of the same year Connex Norge bought the ferry and bus operator Finnmark Fylkesrederi og Ruteselskap (FFR) from the Finnmark County Municipality. In February 2005, Connex Norge acquired 15% of the shares in Helgelandske, which operated buses and ferries in

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...

, and in August up to 83%. Also in May 2005 the company expanded with the purchase of 75% of AS Gråkallbanen, the operator of the

, and the rest in July 2006. During 2005, Connex Buss was merged into FFR. On 1 March 2006, Connex Norge changed its name to ''Veolia Transport Norge AS'', and Connex Vest was renamed ''Veolia Transport Sør AS''. In October 2006 the corporation also acquired subsidiaries ''Nordtrafikk Buss AS'' (bus operations in

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

and

) and ''Nordtrafikk Maritim AS'' (ferry operations in Northern Norway) from Nordtrafikk. In spring of 2007, a major restructure of operations was done. First off, Helgelandske was merged into FFR, which was renamed ''Veolia Transport Nord AS''. All operations from Nordtrafikk also ended up there, except the bus operations in Trysil. The Trysil operations and the Eastern Norway operations of FFR were moved to Veolia Transport Sør. Østerhus Buss was also merged into Veolia Transport Sør, but the name was still in use long after this. Gråkallbanen was kept as a single operation unit, but was renamed ''Veolia Transport Bane AS'' in June 2008. On 6 May 2011, Veolia Transport Norge was sold in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

and renamed ''Boreal Transport Norge AS''. The new owners were ''Transport Management AS'' (1.4%) (the management) and ''Cube Norge AS'' (98.6%), a subsidiary of ''Cube Communications Infrastructure S.C.A.'' (Cube Infrastructure Fund) of

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. On 1 January 2015, ''Boreal Travel AS'' took over the operations of intercity coach line ''Sør-Vestekspressen'' ( NOR-WAY Bussekspress) from Setesdal Bilruter and the tourist coach department of their subsidiary Birkeland Busser. From the same date nearly all tourist coach operations were also transferred to Boreal Travel, and so was Boreal's part of the operation of intercity coach line ''Kystbussen'' (in cooperation with Tide Buss). On 1 July 2015 this also happened to ''Trysilekspressen'', as from that date Boreal lost all their local traffic in the Trysil area.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{Bus companies of Norway Bus companies of Rogaland Bus companies of Akershus Companies based in Stavanger Shipping companies of Norway Transport companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in Norway Veolia Nor-Way Bussekspress operators