HTM Personenvervoer

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HTM Personenvervoer NV (HTM, from the former name Haagsche Tramweg Maatschappij) is a public transport company in the Netherlands operating trams, lightrail and buses in The Hague, Rijswijk, Leidschendam, Voorburg, Delft, Zoetermeer, Wateringen, Pijnacker and Nootdorp, the so-called Conurbation Haaglanden. The lightrail connection (called RandstadRail, RR) to Zoetermeer is operated in cooperation with RET, the Rotterdam-public transport company, which operates the connection between The Hague Central Station and Slinge in the south of Rotterdam, thus giving a fast and easy connection between the two city-centres. Regional transports are serviced by Connexxion, Arriva and RET.

In September 2012 it was announced that Dutch Railways (NS) wanted to acquire a 49% stake in HTM. The initiative came from HTM and was received positively by the (then) sole shareholder in HTM, the municipality of The Hague. The House of Representatives was less positive, VVD parliament member Aukje de Vries, for example, felt that "a state-owned company should not step further into a market where it has been agreed that the market must do its job." On 5 April 2013, the city council of The Hague approved the proposal, with NS paying €45 million for the shares.

Because on 15 October 2013 the NS took a 49% stake in HTM, and was 100% shareholder of Qbuzz, the HTMbuzz shares were once again fully owned by HTM. The NS remained co-owner of HTMbuzz, through HTM, for almost half of this shift in shares.

On 6 July 2016 it was announced that the municipality of The Hague wanted to buy back the shares of HTM from NS, which announced that it would continue to work together with the municipality and HTM on better traffic.

Since 7 December 2016, the HTM shares have been held by the municipality of The Hague again and MRDH has a share with special rights.

On this date, HTM also obtained the rail concession for public transport in the region of The Hague for the period from 2016 to 2026. On 17 May 2017, the Metropolitan Region of Rotterdam The Hague announced that it would give HTM the allocation of bus transport in the Hague region. On 8 December 2019, the bus concession officially takes effect and applies for the period 2019 - 2034.

From 9 December 2012 till 9 December 2018, citybus-services were, as mentioned, run by HTMbuzz, a joint-venture of HTM and Qbuzz, regional transports being serviced by Veolia, Arriva and RET. Fares on the network fall under the National Tariff System. Since 9 December 2018 HTMbuzz changed the name in HTM, as it used to be till 9 December 2012.

Since 2004 there is a tram tunnel with two underground tramstations (Spui and Grote Markt) in The Hague city centre; it is shared by tramline 6 and RR-lines 2, 3 and 4.

Trams & LRVs:

• 600 volt DC-series: 70 GTL8-trams and 40 Avenio-trams;
• 600 & 750 volt DC-series: 72 LRVs called RegioCitadis.

HTM once owned shares in SVD, the city bus company of Dordrecht. However, HTM has sold its shares because the ministry of transport and public works opposed the company competing for public transport concessions in tenders. In addition to this Arriva took over the service as of January 1, 2007, due to a better offer.