Regional bus Stuttgart

Regional Bus Stuttgart GmbH RBS

Basic information
Company headquarters	Stuttgart / Karlsruhe
Web presence	Web presence
Reference year	2019
owner	DB Regio AG
Managing directors	Manfred Hovenjürgen, Christian Hertel, Norman Einfeld, Heike Schweizer
Transport network	Filsland , HNV , HTV , OstalbMobil , VVS
subsidiary	Friedrich Müller Omnibus Company GmbH (FMO)
Lines
bus	54

Old RBS logo

The Regional Bus Stuttgart GmbH RBS (RBS) is a bus company with legal seat in Stuttgart and operational seat in Karlsruhe . It is a wholly owned subsidiary of DB Regio AG and currently operates 54 regional bus routes in Northern Württemberg .

Since 2008, the RBS buses have been running under the brand name Regiobus Stuttgart .

history

RBS was founded in August 1988 as the successor to the Bahnbus Stuttgart division of the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB).

In April 2001, RBS took over Friedrich Müller Omnibusunternehmen (FMO) in Schwäbisch Hall and transferred its line concessions in the Schwäbisch Hall district and in the northern Ostalb district to its subsidiary.

In addition to the introduction of a new logo with the brand name Regiobus Stuttgart under the umbrella brand DB Bahn , almost the entire vehicle fleet was repainted in traffic red from spring 2008 to the end of 2009 . The change of corporate identity took place at all German regional bus companies of DB in order to achieve a uniform appearance for all means of transport in the group.

The administration of the five bus companies of Deutsche Bahn, which mainly operate in Baden-Württemberg - BRN , FMO, RBS, RVS and SBG - has been in Karlsruhe since 2016 .

Since the wage costs of its own in-house collective bargaining agreement are above the market level, the RBS had no chance in most of the line tenders prescribed by EU law by the municipal authorities and has lost a considerable part of the mileage since 2017. The subsidiary FMO, to which the collective agreement of the private bus companies in Baden-Württemberg applies, is not affected by this and was able to win over former RBS lines as well as open up new transport areas.

In the district of Ludwigsburg, RBS was awarded the contract for line bundles 4 ( Ditzingen ) and 6 ( Marbach / Bottwartal ) from January and August 2019 with its own commercial offers. However, the mileage will be provided entirely by FMO and other subcontractors.

business

RBS currently operates 54 of the 118 bus routes in 18 Baden-Württemberg and four Bavarian districts, primarily in the traffic areas around Aalen , Göppingen and Heilbronn . For around 30 years, RBS was the largest company in the regular bus service in northern Württemberg and had more than 300 buses of its own at its peak. The current number of vehicles is now significantly lower.

Some private bus companies operate on behalf of the RBS. RBS itself also provides services for other concessionaires, for example on the lines of Stadtwerke Heilbronn , the Hohenlohekreis local transport and in the Ostalbkreis on the lines of its subsidiary FMO.

Most of the lines run within the transport and tariff associations Filsland , HNV , HTV and OstalbMobil and to a lesser extent in the area of naldo and VVS . As long as the start and destination stops are within a tariff group, its tariff applies. A separate RBS in-house tariff applies to trips beyond the network (e.g. from Aalen to Heidenheim, i.e. from OstalbMobil to HTV). This is a kilometer-based tariff (kilometer price table) in which the fare between the start and destination is not based on the number of tariff zones traveled, but on the distance actually traveled. The BahnCard is recognized with the RBS tariff , while there are different regulations within the associations.

Locations

In addition to the headquarters in Karlsruhe, there are also three branches - so-called regional or service centers - in Aalen, Göppingen and Heilbronn, which also serve as contact points for customers. Due to performance losses, the regional and service centers in Lauda-Königshofen (as of December 31, 2017), Böblingen (as of December 31, 2018), Backnang (as of December 31, 2018; takeover by FMO) and Ludwigsburg (as of July 31, 2018) were closed 2019) closed. RBS has two depots of its own in Ludwigsburg and Böblingen. However, both depots are no longer used by RBS, but are rented to FMO and competitors. There is a workshop of its own at the depot in Ludwigsburg, which is also used by FMO and competitors. In Aalen, Heilbronn, Heidenheim and Schwäbisch Gmünd the company cooperates with workshops of private or municipal partners. In addition to the former three depots, there were up to 40 regional deployment points for buses, which are managed by the nearest regional or service center. However, today's number is significantly lower.

Vehicle fleet

In the early days, the Regional Bus Stuttgart sat mostly Setra buses of the type SG 219 SL and the Mercedes-Benz -Bustypen O 305 /307 , which for the most part by the German Federal Railways were taken. Then the successor models Mercedes-Benz O 405 , O 405 G , O 407 and a small number of O 408 were purchased until production was discontinued . The last series went entirely to RBS in 2001.

Exotic vehicles in the fleet were two Den Oudsten B96s from Dutch production that were purchased in 2000. From 2002 to 2004, more than 50 high-floor Mercedes-Benz Conecto buses were purchased.

After only a few low-floor buses had previously been used at RBS , from 2004 the fleet was mainly equipped with low-floor and low-entry buses . Until 2018, RBS only used high-floor buses in areas that are not suitable for low-floor buses for topographical or operational reasons. They offer more seats, a level car floor and are easier to maintain.

In 2005 and 2006, RBS only procured buses from the manufacturer MAN , which was awarded the contract in a Europe-wide tender. At the same time, a few Lion's Citys were delivered that did not get the typical RBS paint in melon yellow and patina green, but plain white. The reason for this was that the buses were not purchased with the regular order, but were put into service in addition to the originally planned quota. The manufacturer was unable to achieve a company-adequate paint job at short notice. These are vehicles that not only differ in the paintwork, but also partly in the equipment details such as the seat color. However, the important equipment features such as air conditioning, automatic transmission and destination / stop displays are compatible with the RBS standard.

In 2005 and 2006 three high-floor intercity buses of the type MAN Lion's Regio arrived, which replaced the Mercedes-Benz O 408 and, together with a Mercedes-Benz Integro, were mainly used on the 828 airport route between Tübingen and Stuttgart Airport.

A ten-meter-long Mercedes-Benz Cito midibus in the blue design of the Bad Mergentheim city bus was stationed in Lauda . Many buses in the blue NVH design are stationed in the Heilbronn area . In addition, there were some buses designed by Stadtwerke Heilbronn, which served urban transport routes in Heilbronn on their behalf.

In 2007 and 2008, EvoBus delivered all new vehicles, mostly the Mercedes-Benz Citaro G and Citaro LE models . At the end of 2007, RBS received the first two articulated vehicles, which were painted in traffic red, the color of the new corporate identity, ex works. Almost all vehicles have been in the red color scheme since the beginning of 2009, only older models were still in the original color scheme and have kept this until they were taken out of service.

In the years 2010 to 2012, buses were again purchased from MAN, from 2013 the Crossway LE model from Irisbus / Iveco as well as Lion's City Ü and Lion's City G from MAN and Citaro LE , Citaro LE Ü , Citaro Ü and Citaro G from the brand Mercedes Benz. Two new MAN Lion's Regio were also added in 2015 .

Since 2017, vehicles have been gradually being handed over to FMO and other DB Regio bus companies.