The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (abbreviated VRR) is the public transport association covering the area of the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation in Germany. It was founded on 1 January 1980, and is Europe’s largest body of such kind, covering an area of some 5,000 km² with more than seven million inhabitants, spanning as far as Dorsten in the north, Dortmund in the east, Langenfeld in the south, and Mönchengladbach and the Dutch border in the west.
In 2004, roughly 1 billion trips were made by way of the VRR network.
With the introduction of the VRR in 1980 a new line numbering systems for all bus, tram and Stadtbahn lines in the VRR area was introduced. The VRR was dividied into ten sections getting a key number (e.g. 4 for Dortmund), the first number in the three-digit line numbers represents these key numbers. The last two numbers are the actual identifying numbers. These are the key numbers:
1: Essen, Mülheim2: Kreis Recklinghausen, Bottrop3: Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Witten4: Dortmund5: Hagen, Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis6: Wuppertal, Solingen, Remscheid7: Düsseldorf right of the Rhine8: Düsseldorf east of the Rhine and surrounding areas9: Duisburg, Oberhausen0: Mönchengladbach, Krefeldno key number: Kleve (district), Wesel (district)Stadtbahn lines are identified with the prefix "U" followed by the key number and a one-digit identifying. The key numbers 2, 5, 8, 9 and 0 are not used for Stadtbahn lines, but the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn is planning is approaching 10 lines in 2016, all new lines afterwards will get the 8 key number. The Wuppertal Schwebebahn is officially called line 60, but because it does not run underground, the U prefix is not used.
After the integration of the Niederrhein area north of Duisburg, a new section for key numbers was introduced; the buses have a one- or two-digit number with no key number for identification.
There are several exceptions of that system, also, there some extra line numbers e.g. for express buses:
Express buses are called Schnellbus and have the prefix SB followed by a two-digit-number. None of these numbers is a key number.Semi-fast buses are called City-Express and have the prefix CE followed by a two-digit-number. As with the Schnellbusse none of these numbers is a key number.Taxi buses are AST – AnrufSammelTaxi or ALT – AnrufLinienTaxi or TaxibusIn some cities the local buses have an own numbering system, e.g. the buses in Velbert are called Ortsbus, their line number consists of an OV followed by a one- or two-digit number.In some cities the night buses are called NachtExpress – NEAs of 2012, the VRR network consists of 978 lines, of which there are:
in regional rail transit11 S-Bahn lines (see: Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn)15 RegionalExpress lines (see: List of regional railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia)24 RegionalBahn lines (see: List of regional railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia)in local rail transit19 Stadtbahn light rail lines (see: Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn)45 streetcar (Straßenbahn) lines1 Schwebebahn line (in Wuppertal)2 H-Bahn peoplemover systems made up of three lines (two H-Bahn lines in Dortmund, and the Düsseldorf SkyTrain at Düsseldorf airport)in bus transit906 bus lines, including33 express bus lines (Schnellbus, SB)18 semi-fast bus lines (CityExpress, CE)6 trolleybus lines (in Solingen)15,300 km of route network (bus, light rail, and train)11,500 transit stopsSelected cities and parishes in the VRR area
Additionally, the VRR tariff is recognized on the following lines outside the VRR area:
Aachener VerkehrsverbundHeinsberg (district)Wegberg (only bus line 017 from Mönchengladbach)Verkehrsgemeinschaft Münsterland (all lines, but only while traveling from/to the VRR area)Borken (district)BocholtIsselburgRaesfeldVerkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-LippeUnna (district) (all lines, but only if VRL tariff is not possible)BergkamenHolzwickedeKamenLünenSchwerteUnnaMärkischer KreisNachrodt-Wiblingwerde (only bus line 539)the NetherlandsProvince GelderlandMillingen aan de Rijn (only bus line 63)Nijmegen (only bus line SB 58)'s-Heerenberg (only bus line 91)Province LimburgVenlo (only RE 13 and bus line 929)
