Everything you need to know about ÜSTRA
ÜSTRA Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG is the local transport company for the city and region of Hanover. It transports approximately 162 million passengers per year with its trams and buses.
ÜSTRA is a long-established company. It has been inextricably linked with the city of Hanover for more than 130 years. It was founded in 1892 under the name Straßenbahn Hannover AG. In 1921, it was renamed ‘Überlandwerke und Straßenbahn’ – ÜSTRA for short. In 1970, the previously private transport company was municipalised and has been publicly owned ever since.
With over 44 million vehicle kilometres per year (rail and bus) and more than 2,500 employees, ÜSTRA transports Hanover's residents in the city centre every 10 minutes during the day. It cooperates in the ÜSTRA transport association with the transport companies regiobus Hannover GmbH, Transdev Hannover GmbH, metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH, erixx GmbH, Start Niedersachsen Mitte and WestfalenBahn GmbH. The Hanover region – the local transport authority – coordinates a coordinated transport network and a uniform fare system in the GVH.
Its modern tram and bus fleet ensures environmentally friendly mobility. The trams are real climate heroes: their CO₂ emissions are zero. This is because the trams generate some of the energy they use themselves – from converted braking energy – and the rest has been CO₂-free electricity since 2015. The ÜSTRA bus fleet also protects the environment: with the hybrid buses purchased in recent years and the numerous electric buses, the CO₂ balance is continuing to improve.
ÜSTRA is thus making an important contribution to achieving the climate protection and environmental goals of the region and city of Hanover.
Three in one – the ÜSTRA network
The three companies ÜSTRA, regiobus and GVH have been working more closely together since April 2024 and now communicate externally under one name and one brand image. ‘Ümo’ is thus the face of ÜSTRA.
The previous company brands were examined in a market research study, which concluded that the ÜSTRA brand and name have the potential to represent forward-looking, reliable and high-performance public transport. The three brands have therefore been combined under the name ÜSTRA and given a uniform appearance.
Despite their joint brand identity, the three companies ÜSTRA, regiobus and GVH will continue to exist. However, the joint operation of the transport companies ÜSTRA and regiobus makes the step towards joint communication under a uniform brand even more obvious – and local transport in the Hanover region will become even easier for passengers.