| Tide ASA | |
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| Type | Public |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters |  Bergen, Norway |
| Area served | Norway |
| Industry | Transport |
| Services | Bus transport Car ferry transport Fast ferry transport |
| Revenue |  NOK 2 billion (2005) |
| Employees | 3,000 (2007) |
| Website | www.tide.no |
Tide ASA (OSE: TIDE) is a transportation company in Hordaland, Norway which resulted from the merger of Gaia Trafikk and Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap (HSD). The company provides the public transit network in Bergen, and most of the rural bus service in Hordaland. The company also operates the passenger- and car ferry routes previously operated by HSD and Stavangerske. The company has four divisions, Tide Buss that operates the scheduled busses, Tide Reiser that operates charter buses and ferries, as well as the airport buses, Tide Sjø that operates the ferries in Hordaland and Stavangerske that operates the ferries in Rogaland. The largest owners are Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap (40%) and the City of Bergen (11%). The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with head offices in Bergen.
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Assets
At the time of the merger, Tide had a total of
- 1040 buses
- 30 car ferries
- 10 boats
The company has about 3000 employees. The total value of the company was estimated at NOK 800 million. The company has 39 million passengers per year, of which 25 million are in Bergen. [1] The company operates the only trolleybus service in Scandinavia, Line 2 in Bergen, with eight trolleybuses.
The merger process
Plans for mergers and takeovers in Hordaland's public transport business came forth in September 2005 when Connex reported interest in purchasing Gaia. On November 8 Gaia and HSD suggested a merger between the two companies instead, but the city cabinet leader of Bergen, Monica Mæland and the mayor of Os opposed the idea. The employess of both companies openly supported the idea in June 2006. Two other companies, Arriva and Nettbuss, a subsidiary the Norwegian State Railways also showed interest in a takeover. The city council in Bergen approved the HSD-Gaia merger on June 19, 2006, and the name "Tide" was presented on June 27. Just a day before the Extraordinary General Meetings in both companies, Arriva put in a bid of NOK 380-400 million and the representative of Bergen's cabinet, Henning Warloe, voted against the fusion at Gaia's meeting on June 29. As this was against the council's resolution a motion no confidence was proposed. This motion failed on November 20 2006[2] A new general meeting was called for Gaia and on July 17, the merger was approved in that company as well. The Norwegian Competition Authority approved the merger on October 25[3]. Initially, the buses in the new company retained their old colors, yellow for Gaia, red and white for HSD, with only the logo being changed. New buses will have a white livery.[4] On May 2, 2007 the boards of Tide and Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap (DSD) approved the merger between Tide Sjø (the ferry operating division) and Stavangerske, the ferry operating subsidiary of DSD. The new company will retain the Tide brand. At the same time there was a equity issue in the company aimed at new owners, but it failed and DSD ended up with about a 40% ownership in the Tide corporation after the merger. Prior to this Stavangerske and HSD had the joint venture Norferger that had operated public service obligation ferry routes outside Rogaland and Hordaland, as well as Haugaland Buss that had operated the scheduled bus services in Haugaland on contract with Kolumbus.
References
- ^ Bergens Tidende (2006-06-17). Transportfusjonen vedtatt (Norwegian).
- ^ Bergens Tidende (2006-11-20). Mistillit mot byrådet nedstemt (Norwegian).
- ^ Bergens Tidende (2006-10-25). En lang reise er slutt (Norwegian).
- ^ Bergens Tidende (2006-10-26). Her er Tide-bussen (Norwegian).
External links
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Borg Buss · Bussen · Finnmark Fylkesrederi · Firda Billag · Fjord1 · Nettbuss · Nexus Trafikk · Norgesbuss · Ofotens Bilruter · SB Nordlandsbuss · Schøyens · Sporveisbussene · Team Trafikk · Telemark Bilruter · Telemark Kollektivtrafikk · TIRB · Tromsbuss · TrønderBilene · Tide · Veolia |
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