City Guide

The public transport system in Oslo is quite developed and well organised. Busses, trams, trains, metro and boats work according to the same tax scheme and all tickets are valid for all kinds of public transportation. Tickets are cheaper (NOK 22) when purchased in advance. Tickets bought on the transportation itself cost about NOK 30. They are valid for one hour travel. Besides there are daily, weekly and monthly passes which are available at Trafikanten near Oslo Central Station, or any Narvesen, 7-Eleven or Deli de Luca kiosk, as well as on machines on all metro stations and a few of the tram stops. Tickets for elderly (60+) and kids (3 15 Years) are half-price. Children under the age of 3 ride for free. Tickets need to be stamped before boarding any of the public transportation otherwise a fine of about NOK 750 can be expected.

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Busses are complementary to the subway network and can be used with the same tickets. Bus lines cover most of the city and run from 5 am to around 1 am. Nearly all central bus lines run together at Jernbanetorget. The most useful bus lines for visitors are bus 31, 32, 34, 37 and 54, passing by Jernbanetorget and covering parts of the city with no trams or metros. Bus 20 and 21 provide a central ring-line service, while bus 23 and 24 cover the highway ring road further out. Due to construction work at Jernbanetorget will lead to severe re-scheduling in the central area of Oslo until the summer of 2008. Night busses cover Friday and Saturday nights and cost NOK 50. Passes are not valid.

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As busses, trams cover most of the areas of Oslo that are not reachable via metro. All tram lines run at intervals of 10 minutes at the daytime, 20 minutes at night and 30 minutes at weekend mornings. The main, central tram terminals are at Stortorget, Brugata and Jernbanetorget. Tickets purchased for other public transportation can also be used on the trams.

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Oslo''s metro system is known as the Tunnelbane or just T-bane. Stations are marked with a blue and white sign featuring a "T" within a circle. There are 6 metro lines which are integrated into an easy system. All lines merge together to a single tunnel through the city centre, from Majorstuen through Jernbanetorget (Oslo Sentralstasjon) to Tøyen, and then spread out into the suburbs. A loop line is running in a circle from northern Oslo to the centre and back. The loop line is called "Ringen" (the ring) in Norwegian.

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There are local trains that cover some parts of the city and the neighbouring municipalities. Carriages labelled with "Kun Månedskort" and "Season tickets only" are usually not visited by a conductor but need a valid ticket. If you are not sure about the conditions make sure to use an unlabeled carriage. The main train station is Oslo Sentralstasjon, the second important one is Nationaltheateret.

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Boats or ferries are indispensable means of travel which make transportation on the fjords easy and time saving. Boats run from Vippetangen near Akershus fortress to the islands in the Oslofjord, as well as from Aker Brygge to Bygdøy. Schedules can be quite infrequent in winter and during evening hours.

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Taxis are quite expensive and public transportation should be preferred if available. Several companies compete about having the most incomprehensible price structure, with several add-ons for time, passengers and luggage. Getting a taxi from the street or from a taxi stall is cheaper than calling one.

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Oslo-Gardermoen is Oslo’s biggest airport which was built at the beginning of the 1990s when the former airport Oslo-Fornebu got to small to handle all the requests. Gardermoen lies about 50 km north of Oslo and is the biggest airport in Norway and the most modern one in Europe. In 2007 an automatic customs clearance was established where travellers can declare purchased items by themselves. This method is unique worldwide.

The airport is easily reachable by bus, taxi or car by using the motorway. The high speed train Flytoget reaches Oslo within 20 minutes. A ticket usually costs about NOK 160 (NOK 80 with student I.D.).

The smaller airport Torp is officially Oslo’s second airport and can be reached by bus or train. The 120 km trip to Oslo takes about 2 hours. The Torp-Ekspressen operates eight times daily to Oslo and there are hourly trains to Larvik–Tønsberg–Oslo–Hamar–Lillehammer as well as a shuttle bus to and from the airport.

Destiantions:
KLM Cityhopper: Amsterdam Schiphol.
Ryanair: Frankfurt-Hahn, London-Stansted, Liverpool, Madrid, Marseille, Mailand-Bergamo, Pisa, Glasgow-Prestwick, Dublin, Barcelona-Girona and Bremen
Widerøe: Bergen, Copenhagen-Kastrup, Stavanger and Trondheim.
Wizz Air: Budapest (from July 2008) Danzig, Kattowitz, Posen and Warsaw

Since driving by car is so immensely expensive in Norway, flying became a good alternative. Especially national flights offered by SAS and Braathens can be a good bargain sometimes. From about 50 national airports nearly every place in Norway is easily reachable. The Scandinavian airline SAS operates between Gardermoen Airport and nearly every other big airport in Europe. SAS and Brathens (Norwegian Airline) have agreements with other big airlines as KLM, British Airways, Air France, Swissair, Lufthansa and Sabena which guarantees that there are daily flights to other European countries.

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There are daily connections between Oslo and Copenhagen as well as Stockholm. Trains are leaving at the Central Station (Oslo Sentralstasjon) which is located at the eastern edge of the city, by the end of Karl Johansgate. The trains leaving for Sweden operate three times to Gothenburg (4 hours travel) and four times to Stockholm (6 hours travel time). There are also night trains which run on Thursday and Sunday night. National trains leave from Oslo to the North of Norway, mainly to Trondheim and Narvik.
The Norwegian State Railways (NSB) is connected to the Interrail system and informs about train connections between Norway and the surrounding countries. The NSB offers a frequent and efficient service.

Norwegian State Railways

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Most of the travellers who visit Norway use their own or hired cars or campers. The international highways E6 (coming from Malmö and Gothenburg) and E18 (coming from St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm) run together in Oslo. Usually travelling by car is more expensive than using trains or airplanes because of the road tax, which is NOK 20 for entering Oslo, and the fee for the fairy.

The E6 is the main north-south road of Norway, and continues north to Trondheim, Alta and Kirkenes, with branches to most Norwegian cities. The E16 runs west to Bergen, the E134 to Haugesund and the E18 run south-west to Drammen, Grenland (Skien/Porsgrunn) and Kristiansand. Other notable roads into Oslo include Rv4 from Gjøvik, Rv2 from Charlottenberg (Sweden) and Kongsvinger and Rv7, an alternative road to Bergen passing Gol and Geilo.

There are two organisations which can help with questions about travelling by car:

Norges Automobil Forbund (NAF)
Storgt. 2
0155 Oslo
Tel.: +47 22 34 14 00
www.naf.no

Kongelig Norsk Automobilklub (KNA)
Drammensv. 20c
P.O. Box 2425 Solli
0255 Oslo
Tel.: +47 22 56 19 00
www.kna.no

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Besides trains and air transportation there us a good bus network which connects Oslo with the rest of Europe. The biggest operators of international buses are Swedish companies Swebus Express and Säfflebussen. Both run inexpensive services to and from Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen several times a day, Säfflebussen even goes to Berlin. Lavprisekspressen also has busses twice a day to Gothenburg and Copenhagen. The Norwegian company Nor-Way Bussekspress runs services to Gothenburg, while Eurolines have connections to a number of countries, most notably Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. Moravia Express runs direct buses to Prague and Brno.

Nor-Way Bussekspress is the biggest operator when it comes to national services. Busses go to Bergen, Trondheim and many other Norwegian cities. Lavprisekspressen operates to Bergen, Trondheim and Kristiansand. Tickets can only be purchases online. Timekspressen’s network covers the area around Oslo, mainly Drammen, Kongsberg and Notodden. Travelling by bus is quite easy since every town and city in Norway is somehow connected to Oslo by busses.

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Visitors, who don’t use airplanes to come to Norway, usually have to use a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea or the Skagerrak. There are a dozen ferry connections. The main routes depart from Hirtshals, Hanstholm and Fredrikshavn (Denmark).at the coast line and from Jutland to Gothenburg, Moss, Oslo, Larvik, Kristiansand and Bergen. Color Line runs services to Frederikshavn (Denmark) and Kiel (Germany) daily. DFDS runs daily services to Helsingborg (Sweden) and Copenhagen (Denmark), while Stena Line runs to Frederikshavn (Denmark).

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