The BVG was—like most other Berlin institutions—split into two different companies on 1 August 1949. Two separate companies were formed, the "BVG West" in the three western sections (with 36 tram lines) and the "BVG Ost" (Berlin Public Transit Authority East) (with 13 lines) in the Soviet sector. The latter became in 1969 the "VEB Kombinat Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe" (BVB). On 14 October 1950, traffic on the lines from West Berlin to the Brandenburgian suburbs Kleinmachnow and Schönefeld ceased; on 15 January 1953, traffic over the downtown sector border followed.