Busverkehr Ostwestfalen
German regional bus operator in Ostwestfalen-Lippe, a subsidiary of DB Regio Bus.
Last updated September 26, 2026
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Overview
Busverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH (BVO) is a German bus company headquartered in Münster, formerly based in Bielefeld in the Ostwestfalen region. It is a subsidiary of DB Regio and belongs to the DB Regio Bus business field within the Deutsche Bahn group. The company operates regional and urban bus services across Ostwestfalen-Lippe, including scheduled routes, school transport, and express bus lines, often under contract to local transport authorities. The BVO was founded in 1989 as part of the privatization of Deutsche Bahn, taking over the Ostwestfalen operations of the former Bahnbus division. It began operations on 1 October 1989. Over the following decades, the company expanded through acquisitions and competitive tendering, but also lost routes to competitors such as go.on and Mindener Kreisbahnen. It formed joint ventures including Stadtverkehr Detmold GmbH and Nahverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH (NVO), and in 2008 took over bus services for British Forces Germany. Since 1 November 2008, BVO and its subsidiaries BBH and NVO have operated under the brand name DB Bahn Ostwestfalen-Lippe-Bus. The company has faced ongoing competitive pressures, with route losses leading to the closure of its Lübbecke operating site and the handover of Bielefeld city bus planning to moBiel. Nevertheless, it has also won new contracts, such as the Gütersloh Nord-West route bundle in 2011 and the re-acquisition of the Gütersloh Nord bundle in 2014. BVO remains an active regional bus operator within the Deutsche Bahn group, providing public transport services in North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
Busverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH (BVO) traces its origins to the early bus and small railway operations in Ostwestfalen around 1920. The Oberpostdirektion Minden established a small number of Kraftpost lines, with a route from Kalletal to Vlotho starting in 1921 and a line from Lübbecke to Lemförde in 1923. In the 1950s, the Deutsche Bundesbahn took over the Detmold tram network, and through acquisitions of private bus companies, the Deutsche Bundespost expanded its lead over the railway in Ostwestfalen-Lippe. In the 1970s, calls grew to merge the federal bus services of the railway and post under one roof. The Deutsche Bundesbahn won the decision, and in 1982 and 1983 the business divisions Bahnbus (GBB) and GBB Ostwestfalen were founded. GBB Ostwestfalen was the only division where Postbuses were in the majority. As part of the privatization of Deutsche Bahn, BVO Busverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH was founded in 1989, and the new company began operations on 1 October 1989. In 1993, BVO founded the joint venture Stadtverkehr Detmold GmbH together with Stadtwerke Detmold. In 1999, the bus company Wilhelm Temme & Sohn in Halle/Westf. was acquired with its route concessions as the subsidiary NVO Nahverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH in Halle (Westf.). On 1 January 2002, due to necessary restructuring, bus services in the Paderborn and Höxter districts were spun off into the new subsidiary BahnBus Hochstift GmbH (BBH) based in Paderborn, which took over the Paderborn business area, the Detmold branch in Höxter, and the Brakel office. On 1 September 2008, BVO took over the bus services of British Forces Germany, which had previously been tendered Europe-wide. Mercedes-Benz Integro and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter buses were procured for the operation. Since 1 November 2008, BVO together with its subsidiaries BBH and NVO has operated under the brand name DB Bahn Ostwestfalen-Lippe-Bus. In January 2009, some routes in the northern Gütersloh district were lost to the new competitor go.on Gesellschaft für Bus- und Schienenverkehr. In early October 2009, it was announced that the Minden-Lübbecke district would award the route bundle "A Lübbecke und Umgebung" to Mindener Kreisbahnen (MKB) as an in-house contract effective 1 December 2009. The loss of these routes led BVO to close its Lübbecke operating site. Under a partnership agreement of 2 December 2009, Bielefelder moBiel GmbH took over planning and organization of bus transport within Bielefeld and to neighboring towns, while BVO continued to provide buses, driving staff, and workshop staff. By the end of 2018, the operation was to be gradually transferred entirely to moBiel. In 2010, BVO lost numerous routes in the Lippe district: from 15 July, service in Kalletal, Lemgo, and Bad Salzuflen was handed to go.on. In a Europe-wide tender for route bundle III (Blomberg – Schieder-Schwalenberg – Lügde), long-time BVO contractor Reisedienst Ludwig Vogt from Detmold won against BVO, and the seven affected routes were handed over on 1 September 2010. On 1 January 2011, BVO gained routes by winning the tender for the Gütersloh Nord-West route bundle, including three regional main lines and several school transport routes in the Harsewinkel, Versmold, Borgholzhausen, and Gütersloh areas, including an express bus line for the first time. On 10 January 2011, the company Karl Köhne, Extertal, in which the Lippe district is a shareholder, took over operation of route bundle II Detmold/Horn-Bad Meinberg from BVO. On 26 January 2011, MHV as the responsible authority for the Herford and Minden-Lübbecke districts informed BVO that it had won the Europe-wide tender for services of the insolvent Verkehrsbetriebe Minden-Ravensberg (VMR), with operations taken over on 12 June 2011, reuniting networks including Löhne and Herford. On 1 January 2012, a bidding consortium of bus companies Karl Köhne, Linke, and Wellhausen took over city bus transport in Detmold under the newly founded Stadtbus Detmold GmbH. As a result, BVO lost its last concession in Detmold and gave up its Detmold depot at the end of the year; it was bought by Karl Köhne. In early January 2013, BVO took over routes in the Bad Salzuflen/Lage area, ending cooperation with moBiel for lines 350 and 351. From January 2014, BVO again took over the transport services of the previously lost Gütersloh Nord route bundle, largely due to a newly offered 15-minute interval on the Werther–Bielefeld axis in cooperation with line 21, and introduced a continuous line from Halle via Werther and Großdornberg to Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof, also serving the university campus via a short walk.
- 2014
Re-acquired Gütersloh Nord route bundle; introduced continuous line Halle–Bielefeld.
- 2013
Took over routes in Bad Salzuflen/Lage area.
- 2012
Lost last Detmold concession; Detmold depot given up.
- 2011
Won Gütersloh Nord-West route bundle; took over VMR services on 12 June.
- 2010
Lost numerous routes in Lippe district to go.on and Reisedienst Ludwig Vogt.
- 2009
Lost routes to go.on; Lübbecke operating site closed; moBiel took over Bielefeld bus planning.
- 2008
Took over bus services of British Forces Germany on 1 September; adopted DB Bahn Ostwestfalen-Lippe-Bus brand on 1 November.
- 2002
BahnBus Hochstift GmbH (BBH) spun off for Paderborn and Höxter districts.
- 1999
Bus company Wilhelm Temme & Sohn acquired as subsidiary NVO Nahverkehr Ostwestfalen GmbH.
- 1993
Joint venture Stadtverkehr Detmold GmbH founded with Stadtwerke Detmold.
Products and positioning
Regional public transport operator under the Deutsche Bahn umbrella, serving Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
Regional bus lines
Urban bus services (e.g., Stadtbus Bünde)
School transport
Express bus lines
Sources3 sources
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