Hamburger Verkehrsverbund

Hamburger Verkehrsverbund

The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) (English: Hamburg Transport Association) is a company coordinating the public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide the user with a unified fare system, requiring only a single ticket for journeys with transfers between different operating companies, and to further facilitate and speed up travel by harmonising the individual companies' schedules. At its inception in 1965, HVV was the first organisation of this kind worldwide.

In 2010 HVV provides rail, bus and ferry transportation for an area of 8,616 square kilometres with approximately 3.6 million inhabitants in the states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony. HVV has approximately 1.95 million customers on an average working day.

HVV acts as an overall coordinating body for transport in the Hamburg conurbation, with representation by the Hamburger Hochbahn (Hamburg elevated railway); Deutsche Bahn (German Federal Railroads); AKN railway company (Altona—Kaltenkirchen—Neumünster Railway); HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst A. G. (HADAG sea-tourism and ferry service plc); VHH (Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein A.G./ Transporting enterprises Hamburg Holstein Ltd); PVG (Pinneberger Verkehrsgesellschaft, mbH/ Pinneberger public transport company, Ltd); and KVG (Kraftverkehrgesellschaft, GmbH/ Motor Traffic Company, LLC).

With an average of 50,000 commuters per day the HVV bus line Metrobus 5 is the busiest line in Europe. In the city centre, stops are served without a specific schedule every two to three minutes and since December 2005, the world's longest, double-articulated buses are used.