Keolis Norge is the Norwegian subsidiary of

Keolis Keolis is a French transportation company that operates public transport systems all over the world. It manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus, and funicular services. B ...

, holding the contract to operate the

Bergen Light Rail Bergen Light Rail () is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project was a twenty-station stretch between the city center and Lagunen Storsenter, Nesttun, where the first 15 stations comprising a stretch opened in 2010, ...

and the Bergen Sentrum bus contract for Skyss.

History

The company was established in 2008 as ''Fjord1 Partner AS'', a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Fjord1 Nordvestlandske (49%) and ''Keolis Nordic AB'' (51%), a

holding company for its Nordic operations, with the goal of bidding for the Bergen Light Rail contract and other PSO contracts for bus transport in the Bergen area. The contract was announced on 2 April 2009, after Fjord1 Partner had beaten NSB, Tide Bane (

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

with HTM Personenvervoer) and Veolia Transport Bane for the contract. The infrastructure and the Variobahn vehicles are owned by Vestland Fylkeskommune, while the operation subsidies are managed by Skyss, a county agency responsible for all public transport subsidies in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

. In 2014, Fjord1 sold their shares to Keolis, and the company changed its name to ''Keolis Norge AS''. In June 2019, the company was awarded the tender for driving buses in the route area Bergen Sentrum, starting on 1 December 2020. This includes driving amongst other vehicles 112 electric buses, of which 102 battery buses from

Yutong Yutong (officially Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese manufacturer of commercial vehicles, especially electric buses, headquartered in Zhengzhou, Henan. Yutong also has businesses in construction machinery, real estate, and other in ...

and ten trolley buses from

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

. On September 6, 2022, DSD AS, the owner of Tide Buss, announced they would buy out all shares and take over the running of all their contracts, leaving Keolis Norge defunct.

References

{{- Bergen Light Rail Railway companies of Norway Fjord1 Keolis Norwegian companies established in 2008 Railway companies established in 2008