One of the two major shareholders of TTK is PTV AG. PTV (Planung Transport Verkehr) was founded in Karlsruhe in 1979 and is Germany's largest private, industry-independent consulting and software company in the transport sector. Over the years, several companies have been set up under the banner of PTV Holding to cover different activity areas. On the first of January 1999, the company re-organised its activities with the founding of PTV AG. At present, PTV has a staff of more than 300. It is active in the fields of transport planning, traffic and transport telematics, transport logistics, geomarketing and research.
The second major shareholder of TTK is Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH (AVG) of Karlsruhe. This makes AVG the formal link between TTK and the three Karlsruhe local public transport companies, VBK, AVG and KVV, which work very closely together.
Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe GmbH (VBK) is Karlsruhe's tram operator, which turned one hundred in the year 2000.
AVG is the operator of regional urban rail transport in the Karlsruhe area, partly on its own infrastructure and partly on that of the DB (German national railways). AVG, in person of its former managing director Dr.-Ing. E.h. Dieter Ludwig, was the essential driving force in the development of the tracksharing of light and heavy rail which, since the mid-80's, has become known as the "Karlsruher Modell". After Dr. Ludwig's retirement his successor Dr. Walter Casazza has taken over all commitments, not only operationally but towards a further development of the tramtrain idea.
Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund GmbH (KVV) is the passenger transport authority for the Karlsruhe area, founded in 1994, and responsible for the organisation and co-ordination of the range of local public transport as well as for tariffs and ticketing. KVV is also where all of the two operators' PR activities are concentrated, which is why VBK and AVG do not have their own websites. KVV's website hence contains all relevant information on Karlsruhe's local public transport.
