Discounts on travel (Rabattordninger, reiser)

Children, disabled persons, InterRail pass holders, military personnel and seniors are granted discounts on travel within the country:

• Children less than four years old travel free with an adult. Children from four to 15 are given a 50% discount on railway travel and to varying discounts on airline and bus travel. School children living farther than 6 km from school travel free to and from school on public transport using passes issued by the school.
• Disabled persons and blind persons are given a 50% discount on railway travel.
• InterRail pass holders travel free on railways using valid Zone B passes bought in other countries and at a 50% discount on railways using valid passes bought in Norway.
• Military personnel in uniform are given a 90% discount on railway travel, a 50% discount on all buses and a 90% discount on some express bus routes, and discounts on air travel down to the lowest price tickets offered on scheduled flights.
• Seniors over 67 years are given a 50% discount on railway, city public transport, bus, boat and ferry travel, and a 50% discount on a limited number of seats on scheduled flights on routes receiving State support. Regardless of age, the spouse or registered partner of a senior travelling at a discount is entitled to the same discount.
• Students at colleges and universities are given a 25% discount on railway travel down to the lowest price tickets and varying discounts on bus and air travel.

In all cases, the regulations require that you show identification to prove that you are entitled to a discount. Moreover, the airlines, railways, bus lines and boat routes offer various other discounts, some seasonal, particularly in off-peak periods.

Doors and stop signals on transport vehicles (Dører, kollektivtrafikk)

Bus drivers manually control bus doors. Bus or tram passengers signal to alight at the next stop by pulling a cord or pushing a button, most often labelled stopp, which triggers illumination of a red sign near the driver reading stopp or stopper (“will stop”) or on roof-mounted red lamps. If the sign or lamps are lit as you approach a stop, you need not signal. Doors on trams and commuter train carriages are usually controlled at stops from the outside by push buttons beside the door, labelled døråpner (“door opener”); pushing the button opens the door. Many newer vehicles have extra wide doors for prams with pram symbols on their inside and outside activating buttons. From the inside, these doors are usually controlled by pairs of push buttons, one labelled red åpne (open) and one labelled black lukke (close). Some exit doors on older trams in Oslo are opened at stops by pushing handrails fitted on their inner sides. Through-train carriages have a variety of door opening mechanisms. Older carriages have mechanical lever handles that will open the doors of a stopped train. Newer carriages have levers or døråpner push buttons on the outside and pairs of åpne (“open”) and lukke (“close”) push buttons on the inside to control doors.

Duty-free quotas (Toll- og avgiftsfri innførsel)

Upon entering the country from abroad you need not pay duty on limited amounts of goods brought with you, provided that you hand carry the goods, as through the “green channel” at an airport, or have them with you, as in the boot of your car. You cannot send duty-free goods in unaccompanied baggage, unless you claim it before clearing customs. The total value of the goods can be no more than NOK 3,000 if you have been out of the country less than 24 hours, or no more than NOK 6,000 if you have been out of the country longer.

There are several groups of quotas. Those of greatest interest are for liquor, wine and tobacco (brennevin, vin og tobakksvarer), which are highly taxed in the country. If you are 18 or older, you may bring in up to two litres of beer (2.5% or more alcohol) and up to two litres of wine or fortified wine (up to 22% alcohol). You may also bring in up to 200 cigarettes, 250 g of other tobacco products and 200 RYO (roll-your-own) cigarette papers if you are a resident of a European country, or double those amounts if you are a resident of a country outside Europe. If you are 20 or older, you may substitute one litre of liquor (up to but not more than 60% alcohol) for one of the two litres of the wine quota. If you are a resident of Norway, you must have been out of the country for more than 24 hours to bring goods in duty-free, or you must show a receipt to prove that you bought them with full duty paid in Denmark, Finland or Sweden.

For complete details on goods, quotas and duties, see the Customs Regulations for Travellers to and from Norway brochure available at all gateway airports and downloadable from the Customs and Excise website at www.toll.no.

Helicopter services (Helikoptertjenester)

Helicopter services are available across the country. In some cases, as transport between land and North Sea platforms, the only practical way to travel is by helicopter. You can find helicopter services listed under helikoptertjenester in the Yellow Pages as well as online at www.flying.no, click on “helicopter companies”.

The largest helicopter company is CHC Helikopter Services, part of CHC Helicopter Corporation. Its principal activity is helicopter support to the offshore oil and gas industry. It also operates ambulance and rescue services. For further information, contact the head office, PO Box 522, 4055 Stavanger Lufthavn, Tel: 51941000, www.chc.ca/europe_norway.php.

Hotels (Hoteller)

Hotels and other lodgings are listed in the Yellow Pages under hoteller og andre ovemattingssteder (“hotels and other overnight lodgings”). Most of the international and Scandinavian hotel chains have hotels and motels in the larger cities, and most chains now have central booking services that you may call at numbers listed in the Yellow Pages.

InterRail

Since InterRail was created in 1972, more than seven million people have travelled on railways in Europe using inexpensive InterRail passes. InterRail divides Europe into eight zones, designated A–H, and there are three types of passes: one zone for 16 days, two zones for 22 days or all of Europe for one month. An InterRail pass is intended primarily for travel abroad, but also entitles the pass holder to a 50% discount on travel on the issuing country’s railways. For instance, a pass bought in Norway for travel in Zone A, comprising Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland, entitles the pass holder to a 50% discount on travel in Norway, which is in Zone B. InterRail began as a discount scheme for young people up to age 21, but since 1998 has been available to people of all ages. Further information is available in the InterRail brochure available at railway stations or online at www.interrail.no. For complete information on InterRail, visit the international website at www.interrailnet.com.

Public transport (Kollektivtrafikk)

Public transport is extensive in all urban areas. All cities have public transport services that operate buses within the city and commuter lines to and fro. Oslo also has trams (trikk) and an underground (T-bane). Train travel includes commuter services (lokaltrafikk), and cities on the coast also have commuter boat services. Most cities have a coordinated transport arrangement whereby tickets and season passes are valid throughout the city and its surroundings on all services. The largest is Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk – SL (“greater Oslo public transport”) which coordinates all bus, boat, commuter train, tram and underground services in the Oslo area. Departure times are posted at all bus and tram stops (holdeplass), at all train and underground stations (stasjoner) and at all ferry and passenger launch terminal quays (kai). Complete schedules are available at ticket booths and at offices of the transport companies, and all cities have travel enquiries; Tel: 177.

Smoking (Røyking)

By law, smoking is not allowed indoors in public places, including all airports, railway stations, ferry terminals and the like, as well as on board all trains, airplanes, buses, and the indoor areas of boats in scheduled service. The ban has been so widely accepted that it is also applied to most international services offered by Norwegian carriers, though smoking is permitted in cabins on ferries in international sailings.

Taxi

Countrywide, there are some 6,500 taxis, most owned by their drivers. In cities and towns, taxis are organised through a dispatcher (sentral), whilst local taxi ranks have their own telephone numbers. In rural areas, taxi owners may list their home or mobile telephone numbers. “Taxi” is the current word, though the older drosje (from the Russian drogi for ‘work vehicle’) is still used in everyday speech and in listings under drosjer in the Pink or Yellow Pages. A proper taxi has a roof lamp with one or more letters, which indicate the county and dispatcher area, and several numerals, which together are the taxi’s medallion number. The lamp is lit when the taxi is free and out when it is engaged or not in service. Beware of pirate taxis without roof lamps; not only are they often more expensive and of lower quality, but they increasingly are involved in assault and other street crime.

You may flag down a taxi (roof lamp lit), provided you are more than 100 metres from the nearest taxi rank; if you are closer, you must go to the rank and wait if there is a queue. You may call a dispatcher or a taxi rank and order immediate service or pick-up at a specific time, provided you call in advance, such as the evening before an early morning departure to an airport. Most taxis are saloon and estate cars, but you may order larger estates (stasjonsvogner) or mini-buses (maxi-taxi) that take between 9 and 15 passengers. Most taxis have safety equipment to fit children. You can order taxis fitted for wheelchairs or cycle racks or taxis guaranteed to be non-smoking (røykfritt) and free of animal hair (astmabiler). Ordinary taxis have five seats, and consequently can take four passengers, which are included in the trip cost shown on the meter. Larger taxis, for five or more passengers, have higher rates, usually less per passenger than hiring two ordinary taxis. Children are regarded as individual passengers, entitled to their seats and counted in the capacity of a vehicle. Traffic regulations require passengers, but not the driver, to wear seat belts when fitted in a vehicle. In addition to Norwegian, most taxi drivers speak English, and some speak other languages, particularly in the larger cities.

For complete information on taxis across the country, contact the Norwegian Taxi Owners Association (Norges Taxiforbund), PO Box 6754 Rod, 0503 Oslo, www.taxiforbundet.no with links to other taxi organisations across Europe.

Ticketless travel (Billetttløs reise)

The airlines, the railways and major bus companies offer varieties of ticketless travel that sort into two categories:

• Completely electronic with no booking: typically, you swipe a magnetic-stripe payment card through a reader before boarding and again after alighting from transport at the destination. The Airport Express Train system, from south of Oslo through the city to the gateway airport at Gardemoen, is implemented with this sort of ticketless travel.
• Electronic tickets (E-tickets), which entail booking: typically, a seat is reserved, either online at the transport company’s website or via a customer service centre. Debiting may be to a payment card or to a customer card issued by the transport company, typically an airline, such as the SAS Group frequent-flyer Bonus card. Usually there is an email confirmation of the reservation that may, but need not be printed out. Upon departure, swiping the same card through a reader will issue a boarding card and permit baggage to be checked in.

Train travel (Togreise)

NSB (“Norwegian State Railways”) is to date the sole Train Operating Company (TOC) on tracks, and serving stations operated by the Norwegian National Rail Administration, NNRA (Jernbaneverket) in a network of 4,077 km, of which 2,520 km are electrified and 136 km are high-speed (160 km/h) electrified. The main lines branch out from the 67 km Trunk Line (Hovedbanen) between Oslo and Eidsvoll and run through splendid scenery, which is one of the joys of train travel. Most known is the 471 km Bergen Line (Bergensbanen) over the high plateau between Oslo and Bergen, with more than 100 km of it above timberline. Its highest station, Finse, seems a world apart, in a landscape of glaciers and high year-round snows. Seemingly uninhabitable yet readily accessible, Finse was the setting for the filming of the ice-planet scenes of The Empire Strikes Back, the sequel to the original Star Wars. A branch off the Bergen Line at Myrdal, the 20 km Flåm Line (Flåmsbana) winds downhill to Flåm on the Aurlands Fjord and affords one of the world’s most scenic railway journeys. The 586 km Southern Line (Sørlandsbanen) that links Oslo, Kristiansand and Stavanger offers the maritime scenery of the coast it follows. The 551 km Dovre Line (Dovrebanen) connecting Oslo and Trondheim through the Gudbrandsdal valley provides inland scenery, from farmlands to high mountains. The 114 km Rauma Line (Raumabanen) branches off from the Dovre Line at Dombås and runs north-west to Åndalsnes, through terrain rivalling that of the Flam Line. The 431 km Røros Line (Rørosbanen) is an alternate route between Oslo and Trondheim, through valleys farther east. The 729 km Nordland Line (Nordlandsbanen) between Trondheim and Bodø is the country’s longest and one of the few in the world to cross the Arctic Circle. Shortest and not connected to the other parts of the network, the Ofot Line (Ofotbanen), the world’s northernmost railway, runs eastward from Narvik to the Swedish border, connecting to the Swedish line to Kiruna and on southward to Stockholm. From Oslo, the 169 km Eastern Norway Line (Østfoldbanen) from Oslo and south-east to the Swedish border is the main line to Gothenburg, Copenhagen and continental Europe. An eastern spur of the Trunk Line connects to the Swedish line eastward to Stockholm. The high-speed rail link to the Gardermoen gateway airport (Gardermobanen) stretches from Asker, south-west of Oslo to the airport, 51 km north of the city. It is a separate service with its own trains and, north of Oslo, its own line, but its trains stop and its tickets are sold at NSB stations.

NSB trains are comfortable, clean and punctual. Tickets may be bought at staffed stations, online at www.nsb.no, or on board trains. Train services are divided into local and regional.

Local trains (lokaltog), also called “commuter trains” run in heavily travelled rail networks around the major cities, particularly Oslo. Local trains serve staffed as well as unstaffed stations, and more than half of all local train passengers are commuters who use weekly or monthly season passes. So, more than half of the carriages in most trains have no guards to take tickets and accordingly are marked with yellow signs reserving them for season pass holders.

Regional trains (regiontog), also called “long-distance trains”, provide inter-city services across the country. An abbreviated passenger guide might read:

• Children (barn): most of the principal long-distance trains (Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Stavanger and Oslo–Trondheim) have carriages with seats for parents and playrooms for children 2–12 years old.
• Class: there is only one class of service, though against a surcharge on services to and from Oslo, you may upgrade to a seat in a komfort (“comfort”) carriage that provides free coffee, tea and daily newspapers and is fitted with 220 V mains points for powering computers.
• Food services (mat og drikke) are available on all regional trains. The principal long-distance trains (Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Stavanger and Oslo–Trondheim) have staffed café’s with seats and tables, while the other trains have automats dispensing warm and cold drinks, snacks and chocolate.
• Handicapped (funksjonshemmede): the principal long-distance trains (Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Stavanger and Oslo–Trondheim) have wheelchair ramps and other facilities for accommodating handicapped travellers, as well as seats reserved for blind persons travelling with guide dogs.
• Quiet (stille) carriages are included in most trains. In a quiet carriage, passengers are advised to turn off mobile phones and pocket stereos and to talk only in low tones, so others may relax or sleep.
• Seat reservations (reserverte plass) are required on some departures and recommended on all departures Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Stavanger and Oslo–Trondheim.
• Sleeping carriages (sovevogn) are included in all overnight trains; Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Stavanger, Oslo–Trondheim and Trondheim–Bodø. The carriages are fitted with two or three bunks in a compartment, but you may reserve an entire compartment at a surcharge. Single and two-bunk compartments with a WC and shower are available on some trains.

Further information and booking are available at NSB railway stations, listed under NSB in the Pink Pages. Or you may call the NSB customer helpline (kundetelefon) Tel: 81500888 where the operators will speak Norwegian, English and sometimes other languages, or view the NSB website www.nsb.no.

Transport interchanges (Knutepunkt)

Public transport interchanges are places where different modes of public transport, usually rail, bus and taxi services but sometimes also including boat services meet and often have coordinated schedules to suit the needs of travellers. Interchanges have long been part of public transport, though they only recently have gone under that name. Their predecessors were agreements made between the railways and local bus and boat services in rural districts. If, for instance, you arrive at a smaller station by train to travel onward by bus or boat, a local bus (TogBuss) or boat (TogBåt) will be waiting. If the train is late, the bus or boat waits for its arrival. On your return journey, the bus or boat will arrive a few minutes before the scheduled train departure.

Modern interchanges in larger towns and cities are not as obviously coordinated as the small railway station with a single connecting bus or boat service, but the fundamental principle remains unchanged. Any traveller, familiar or unfamiliar with the interchange, can find an ongoing service easily and quickly. For instance, at Asker, the southern terminus of the Airport Express train line to the gateway airport at Gardermoen north of Oslo, buses arrive and depart from angled bus bays just across a platform from the train station track one. The taxi rank is between that platform and the railway station, and there are two car parks for park-and-ride travellers, both within five minutes’ walk of the station. It’s just as easy at the country’s largest transport interchange, the Oslo S railway station. Standing at the departure board in the concourse, the tracks for local, regional and Airport Express trains are straight ahead, the indoor taxi rank down an escalator and the central bus station at the same level, via a pedestrian overpass over an adjoining street.

Travel bureaux (Reisebyråer)

Some 500 travel bureaux deal with flights, hotel bookings, package holidays and of course the business market; you can find them listed under reisebyråer in the Yellow Pages. If you seek or wish to verify the integrity of a travel bureau, you may contact The Norwegian Travel Forum (Norsk Reiselivsforum, NRF), PO Box 2924 Solli, 0230 Oslo, Tel: 22546000, Fax: 22546001, www.norskreiselivsforum.no. Travel bureaux charge for their services at varying rates, which a bureau is obliged to state when you enquire about prices for specific types of bookings.

Travel directory (Rutebok)

Founded in the late 19th century, Rutebok for Norge (“public transport in Norway”) long was the country’s standard single-source printed annual reference on travel. Since 1995, it has been released on CD-ROM, and from 2003 it has been available online at www.rutebok.no. Some parts of the directory are provided free, whilst others are provided on subscription. For further information, contact Norsk Reiseinformasjon AS, Karl Johans gt 12A, 0154 Oslo, nri@reiseinfo.no.

Travel enquiries (Ruteopplysningen)

The countrywide travel enquiries services provide departure, arrival and other information on public transport at Tel: 177 and the same information as well as downloadable schedules and brochures from the website at www.ruteopplysningen.no. The counties of the country are grouped into four telephone enquires regions. Within each, dial 177, but from another region, dial an eight-digit number:

• Akershus, Oslo, Østfold, Vestfold, Buskerud, Telemark, Oppland, Buskerud and Hedemark counties: Tel: 81500184, or for Akershus and Oslo only Tel: 81500176.
• Aust Agder og Vest Agder counties: Tel: 81500194.
• Hordaland, Rogaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties: Tel: 81500182.
• Møre og Romsdal, Sør-Trøndelag, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland, Troms and Finnmark counties: Tel: 81500178.

The centres that support the enquiries are called Trafikanten, literally “one who travels”. The Trafikanten under the tower at the plaza in front of the Oslo S railway station is the country’s largest and busiest, serving nearly three million customers a year. In addition to full enquiries services, the centre sells public transport tickets, operates a lost and found service and has a small Internet café. For further information, contact Trafikkanten, PO Box 623 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Tel: 177 or 81500176 from outside Oslo and Akershus counties, www.trafikanten.no.

Travel taxes (Skatter og avgifter)

Travel on public transport is taxed. A value-added-tax, called MVA (Chapter 43), of 7% is charged on all travel within the country, but not on journeys originating in Norway to destinations abroad. Moreover, for each flight on a domestic or foreign route, airlines must pay various taxes and charges, including government taxes, airport fees, duties on passenger services, insurance charges and sometimes security charges. These costs are passed on to passengers in the form of a fixed skatter og avgifter surcharge that may be included in or may be in addition to stated ticket prices.