Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) (), is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers large parts of the Ruhr area, the Lower Rhine region including Düsseldorf and the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation. It was founded on , and is Europe’s largest public Transport association, covering an area of some with around 7.8 million inhabitants, spanning as far as Dorsten in the north, Dortmund in the east, Langenfeld in the south, and the Dutch border in the west and northwest.
Structure and responsibilities The VRR is tasked with coordinating public transport in its area. This means the following:
setting and developing the fare system (VRR tariff) redistributing ticket revenue onto the transport companies coordinating local train services (Schienenpersonennahverkehr, SPNV) within its area as public service obligations (PSO) integrating the public transport system setting standards and guidelines for passenger information and bus/tram stop facilities coordination between transport companies, local authorities and Land authorities financing partial subsidies for bus and tram companies according to § 11 (2) and § 11a ÖPNVG NRW coordinating Land subsidies to transport companies and local authorities according to § 12 and § 13 ÖPNVG NRW
Governance The member cities and districts of the public transport association VRR are: cities Bochum Bottrop Dortmund Duisburg Düsseldorf Essen Gelsenkirchen Hagen Herne Krefeld Mönchengladbach Mülheim (Ruhr) Oberhausen Remscheid Solingen Wuppertaldistricts Ennepe-Ruhr Kleve Mettmann Recklinghausen Rhine-District Neuss Viersen Wesel
The municipal and district councils send representatives to the two special purpose associations’ councils, which in turn elect the main decision making corporations, the administrative council of the VRR, and other committees. The administrative council elects the administrative board of the VRR, currently Oliver Wittke who also is their speaker.
In addition, there are departments within the VRR dealing with different matters, such as marketing or law. Two Land institutions are located within the VRR structure: Kompetenzcenter Digitalisierung NRW (KCD) and Kompetenzcenter Sicherheit (KCS).
Through the ZV VRR Eigenbetrieb Fahrzeuge und Infrastruktur (ZV VRR FaIn-EB), the VRR also buys and/or owns the rolling stock for some, but not all, of its PSO rail operations.
Former governance Before 2026, two spare subsidiaries named Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (ZV VRR) and Nahverkehrs-Zweckverband Niederrhein (ZV NVN) formed the public transport association VRR shared responsibility for public transport related tasks. ZV NVN was responsible for the districts Kleve and Wesel while ZV VRR was commissioned for all other municipals.
Transport companies These above mentioned cities’ and districts’ and other associated transport companies thus operate under the VRR fare scheme: Bahnen der Stadt Monheim GmbH Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Straßenbahnen AG BVR Busverkehr Rheinland GmbH DB Regio AG „Der vom Niederrhein“ – Omnibusreisen DSW21 (Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG) Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft AG Eurobahn GmbH & Co. KG Ruhrbahn GmbH Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH Hagener Straßenbahn AG Keolis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG Kreisverkehrsgesellschaft Mettmann mbH National Express Rail GmbH Niederrheinische Verkehrsbetriebe Aktiengesellschaft NIAG Niederrheinische Versorgung und Verkehr AG Niederrheinwerke Viersen mobil GmbH NordWestBahn GmbH Regiobahn Fahrbetriebsgesellschaft mbH Rheinbahn AG RVN Regionalverkehr Niederrhein GmbH StadtBus Dormagen GmbH Stadtwerke Goch GmbH Stadtwerke Kevelaer Stadtwerke Neuss GmbH Stadtwerke Oberhausen AG Stadtwerke Remscheid GmbH Stadtwerke Solingen GmbH – Verkehrsbetrieb Städtische Dienste Geldern – Verkehrsvertrieb Straßenbahn Herne-Castrop-Rauxel GmbH SWK MOBIL GmbH Transdev Rhein-Ruhr (Rhein-Ruhr-Bahn) Train Rental GmbH Verkehrsgesellschaft Ennepe-Ruhr mbH Verkehrsgesellschaft Hilden GmbH Verkehrsgesellschaft der Stadt Velbert mbH Versorgungs- und Verkehrsbetrieb der Stadt Straelen Vestische Straßenbahnen GmbH Verkehrsbetrieb Wachtendonk VIAS Rail GmbH WSW mobil GmbH
Additionally, there are several districts and cities outside the area of VRR which tariff applies for, but only while travelling with a transport vehicle from/to the area of VRR. Unless specified separately, this regulation counts for all lines.
Line numbering scheme With the introduction of the VRR in 1980 a new line numbering system for all bus, tram and Stadtbahn (underground) lines in the VRR area was introduced. The VRR has been divided into ten three-digit numbering sheme regions, the first digit in the line number representing that numbering sheme Region (key number). The last two digits form the individual line number. These are the existing key numbers: 1: Essen and Mülheim 2: Kreis Recklinghausen, Bottrop and northern Gelsenkirchen 3: Bochum, southern Gelsenkirchen, parts of the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis and Herne 4: Dortmund 5: Hagen and main part of the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis 6: Wuppertal, Solingen and Remscheid 7: Düsseldorf and Kreis Mettmann 8: Düsseldorf and Rhein-Kreis Neuss 9: Duisburg and Oberhausen 0: Mönchengladbach, Krefeld and Kreis Viersen no key number: Kreis Kleve and Kreis Wesel
Stadtbahn lines are identified with the prefix “U” followed by the key number and a one-digit identifiers. Wuppertal's suspension railway line is officially line 60, but because it does not run underground, the prefix U is not used.
After the integration of the former Verkehrsgemeinschaft Niederrhein (VGN) area consisting of Kleve and Wesel, route numbers were unchanged, i.e. representing no key number. Express buses are called Schnellbus and have the prefix SB followed by two digits. None of these digits is a key number. Semi-fast buses are called City-Express and have the prefix CE followed by two digits. As with the express buses none of the digits is a key number. On demand buses (and also Taxis) have the prefixes ALT, AST or TB. In some cities the local buses have an own numbering system, e.g. the buses in Velbert, whose line number consists of the prefix OV, followed by one or two digits. In some cities the night buses are called NachtExpress (NE).
Pricing Fare sheme The VRR is divided into two-digit fare zones and sells tickets based on the three different fare levels represented by their three letters A, B and C.