The main public transport in the Netherlands for longer distances is by train. Long-distance buses are limited to a few missing railway connections. Regional and local public transport is by bus and in some cities by metro and tram. There are also ferries.
There are 18 public transport authorities in the Netherlands: the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, OV-bureau Groningen Drenthe (OVBGD), each of the 10 other provinces, Regio Twente, Stadsregio Arnhem Nijmegen, Bestuur Regio Utrecht (BRU), Vervoerregio Amsterdam (formerly Stadsregio Amsterdam), Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag (MRDH), and Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE).
They issue concessions for regions or specific lines.[1]
The main operators are Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), Arriva, Connexxion, Transdev, Syntus, Qbuzz and the local operators GVB, HTM, RET. Qbuzz operates public transport in Utrecht on behalf of Bestuur Regio Utrecht using the trademark U-OV.[2]
Public transport translates as openbaar vervoer in Dutch, which is abbreviated as ov. The abbreviation appears in names related to public transport.
BRU-org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).