Real-time positions, delays and departure times on the map.
Open the live map of GroningenGroningen leans heavily on the bus. Qbuzz runs the Q-link network here, easy to spot by the long articulated vehicles shuttling at high frequency between the Hoofdstation, the old town and the Zernike campus. Around that sits a web of regional routes into Drenthe, the Ommelanden and Friesland, with Q-liner expresses taking the motorway to Assen, Emmen and Drachten and calling at almost no villages on the way. Everything Qbuzz runs appears live on OVatlas, current delay included.
The railway here is a matter of two operators. Arriva runs the regional lines to Leeuwarden, Delfzijl, Veendam, Eemshaven and Bad Nieuweschans, while NS handles the intercities and sprinters towards Zwolle and the Randstad. Each train gets its own marker and line number on the map, so it is immediately clear which branch of the Groningen rail network you are looking at. Europapark station on the southern side takes a share of that traffic.
Drivers are meant to stop at the edge: Hoogkerk, Reitdiep, Haren and Kardinge park-and-ride sites each have their own bus into the centre. Open one of those stops on OVatlas and you can see straight away when the next bus heads into town. In the evening the network thins out, and rather than promising a timetable the map simply shows, stop by stop, what is genuinely still leaving.
Q-link is the brand Qbuzz uses for its high-frequency city routes in Groningen, recognisable by the long articulated buses and the coloured line names. On OVatlas they simply carry their line number, and you track them live with whatever delay applies.
Line 15 runs directly from the Hoofdstation to Zernike Noord, and line 9 reaches it from the southern side. Open the stop on OVatlas to see which of the two leaves first and whether it is running to time.
NS runs the intercities and sprinters towards Zwolle and the Randstad, while Arriva operates the regional services to Leeuwarden, Delfzijl, Veendam, Eemshaven and Bad Nieuweschans. Both publish live positions, so the regional trains genuinely move across the map too.
Yes: Hoogkerk, Reitdiep, Haren, Kardinge and Meerstad sit on the approach roads and each has its own bus into the old town. Tap the park-and-ride stop on the map and you will see at once when the next bus heads into the city.