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A Verkehrsverbund is a regional association of public agencies for the implementation of a coordinated public transport system. Verkehrsverbund is a German term, and these associations exist primarily in the German-speaking world. However, the concept has also gained prominence in the United States as a model for coordinating public transport agencies in regions with a fragmented public transport governance. Verkehrsverbünde include representatives from both public transportation agencies and local government, who work together to provide a coordinated public transport system to passengers.

Attributes
In the Verkehrsverbund model, separate agencies coordinate schedules, branding, and fares while retaining their individual organisational structures under the surface. This differs from the model of a single regional agency, such as Transport for London, in which most or all regional public transport is run by a single organisation.

At a minimum, a Verkehrsverbund provides the following:
 * A uniform fare system, known as the "Tarif"
 * Tickets that are accepted by all operators within the region
 * Coordinated timetables
 * Issuance of a single schedule
 * Avoidance of duplicate line names
 * Uniform branding on vehicles and stop signs
 * Timed connections between transport modes

For all transport associations it applies that in their area (usually a region) in the local passenger transport all means of transport of all operators can be used at the same tariff, i.e. with only one ticket.

Interregional tariff systems
Some German and all Austrian states have developed statewide transport associations, and Germany has state tariffs in some cases.

Interconnection-like structures are also present in the national tariff system of the Netherlands. The OV-chipkaart, a chip card used to withdraw the fare, is valid on all trains, streetcars, subways, buses and also many ferries. In Israel, Rav-Kav, a similar payment system to that in the Netherlands, also has a nationwide fare system across different providers and modes of transport.

In the United Kingdom, there are related organizations under the term Passenger Transport Executive.

Long-distance traffic
In Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and other countries all trains can be used with federation or national local traffic tickets. However, exceptions are partially international long-distance and high-speed trains. In Germany, long-distance trains are generally not integrated into transport associations, but on some sections IC trains run with an additional train number as RE, so that use is also permitted with association tickets.

Boundaries
As advantageous as transport associations often are for passengers in the association area, this can be disadvantageous if one wants to be mobile with public transport across associations or lives in the border area of an association. Many associations have now concluded cooperation agreements with neighboring associations or other transport companies operating there and offer transition tariffs. Nevertheless, the issue is still often problematic today, because trips often end at the interconnection border (Bestellerprinzip), but the need for mobility does not.

Tariff problems
Many associations offer a uniform and often very elaborate tariff. However, this often becomes a problem for out-of-town visitors, who lack both fare and local knowledge and thus have enormous difficulties in acquiring the appropriate ticket. This is made even more difficult by apparent banalities, since one association always expects purchased tickets to be validated, another association is unfamiliar with the validation process, and the third association offers both tickets that have already been validated and tickets that still need to be validated. Furthermore, the transport associations have not yet succeeded in creating uniform fare characteristics or product names – sometimes the day ticket is valid for 24 hours, sometimes only until the end of operation, there are group or family tickets, occasionally also tickets "plus", which entitle the holder to take along additional persons, etc.

Germany


In Germany, a transport association is a legal and organizational association of a Gebietskörperschaft in the form of a Zweckverband, in Germany thus of administrative districts or independent cities, historically occasionally also with the transport companies of a region, for the joint and coordinated implementation of public passenger transport (ÖPNV). It usually exists in the form of a GmbH, in which the districts or cities and often also the respective federal state are shareholders.

The first German transport association was the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV). It is also the oldest in the world that encompassed all means of local transportation in an area.

Transport association/community
In contrast to a transport association, a transport community is a cooperation of the participating transport companies. Due to legal requirements at the European level, which generally provide for the tendering of public transport services, it is to be expected that there will be no more transport associations in the medium term after the expiration of the existing route concessions.

Tariff association/community
A Tariff association or a tariff community only guarantees a uniform tariff, sometimes only the mutual recognition of tickets. The change in the legal framework conditions will – as with the transport communities – also lead to the fact that pure tariff communities will no longer exist in the medium term.

Tariff structures and problems in Germany
Some German states have developed statewide transportation associations (Berlin/Brandenburg, Hamburg, Saarland). These are fundamentally different from state tariffs, such as those previously established in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia; below the state tariffs, interconnected tariffs may still exist (e.g., the VBN in Bremen and parts of Lower Saxony). Currently, such overarching tariffs are planned in other states. State tariffs have association-like structures and effects. In the case of the NRW tariff, however, it is – apart from flat-rate offers – only a generally levied tariff surcharge for the use of inner-city means of transport in connection with rail transport.

Some associations have different structures for season ticket and single fare. For example, the HVV distinguishes for one-way tickets and day tickets between areas (Großbereich Hamburg) and rings, for season tickets there is a further subdivision into tariff zones. The GVH also has different structures for "tickets" and "cards". In addition to the normal network area (zones Hannover, surrounding area and region), time card fares are also offered for other neighboring districts, some of which are not part of the network. Probably the most significant difference, however, is in the area of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, where, as was already the case with the Frankfurt Transport Association, Frankfurt Airport is not part of fare zone 50 (= Frankfurt city area) for one-way tickets, but it is for weekly, monthly and annual tickets.

Larger fare zones, covering entire urban areas such as Berlin, Hamburg but also Paderborn, may be subdivided by a smaller inner circle (fare zones or rings A and B, inner and outer area at the PaderSprinter).

In Germany, long-distance trains (ICE, IC as well as some other train types) of Deutsche Bahn and other railroad companies are generally not integrated into transport associations, even if one or more consecutive stops are in the association area. As a result, these trains cannot be used with Verbund tickets or, in some cases, only with an additional Extra ticket. Recently, however, there is an increasing number of dual use here (for example, in Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart-Singen) and on the route Bremen – Norddeich Mole), e.g., a train runs as an Intercity and as a RE or IRE, so that the use with Verbund tickets or tickets according to state tariffs is still possible. Exceptions are agreed in individual cases with the local operations management, e.g. in the event of delays or accidents, and are announced locally (by loudspeaker announcements, for example). In addition to this, individual long-distance trains within the respective interconnected area can be released completely at the local transport tariff. As a rule, for such exceptions, local tickets must be purchased and validated in advance, as only the long-distance fare plus on-board fare is offered on the train.

Austria
In Austria is a transport association "a cooperative institution by virtue of private law contracts between the territorial authorities (Grund- and Finanzierungsvertrag between Bund and the relevant State/Municipality) on the one hand, and between the territorial authorities and the individual transport companies on the other." The transport companies participating in the association can be organized in a cooperative association, the transport association organization company serves as an intermediary between the association-financing regional authorities and the participating transport companies, central accounting office and inter-company planning authority. Transport associations are regulated in detail in the Public Local and Regional Transport Act 1999 (ÖPNRV-G).

In Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, there is a joint transport association, while the other provinces each have their own transport association. In some cases, there are overlap zones with or smaller connection areas to another association. Salzburg operates a cross-border association with Bavarian regions. The Vorarlberg transport association offers cross-border fares in cooperation with the Liechtenstein transport association and the Ostwind transport association.

With the completion of the system in 1997, Austria became the first country in the world to have nationwide transport associations.

Switzerland
The first transport association in Switzerland is the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), founded in 1990. Today, regional fare associations exist in large parts of the country, as well as the national direct transport system.

Luxembourg
The Luxembourg Transport Association (Verkéiersverbond) includes 34 public and private transport companies. This includes the Luxembourg State Railways Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois.

Great Britain
Close to the Verkehrsverbund in the German sense are the Passenger Transport Executives in Great Britain, which have joined together for the purpose of political representation of interests in the Urban Transport Group.