The problem with Berlin is than there are many operators for public transport by train:
* U-Bahn, for the subways (underground & aerial)
* S-Bahn, for sub-urban lines (mostly aerial)
* Traway in est-Berlin
A map, live or not need at least to combine the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn, (and if possible the tramway too), because you generally need to use both networks (with the same ticket) to travel. Staying in only one of the network is just not practical.
It's such a shame that the official Tram network map [1] almost fits the U-Bahn/S-Bahn map [2], but not exactly.
My assumption is that, when BVG designed these, they had separate maps in mind already early in the process, because including all station names on a tiny printed map is not feasible. With those transparent maps at the trams' windows though, or especially with a digital zoomable map, this would be completely feasible.
According to a BVG email from a few years ago, there isn't even a machine-readable version of this map, which is why I hand-digitised it. [3] So sad because the creativeness of the internet combined with a "remixabe" [4] (or at least forkable) version would likely kick off cool projects!
If anyone wants to attempt merging them, please open an Issue in [5] to let me know!
PS: Do you know about the (experimental) BVG bus map? [6]
Berlin has 26 subway lines. Some of them (S-Bahn) interconnect with intercity rail, so there are times when you can transfer from a subway to a train on the same platform.
I would really like to know what makes you think Berlin public transit is "pitiful"...
- click upper right corner "Livekarte"
- click on the menu again "Livekarte"
- select means of transport: radio buttons for subway, railway etc
- zoom in to see subway
I've spend a lot of time in Berlin, and I find it hard to read. Mostly in that sometimes it's relatively annoying to determine what lines will get me from Station A to Station B.
For example, let's say you're a tourist and you arrive at Hauptbahnhof, and you need to get to get to Alexanderplatz - what lines will get you there?
There's a whole bunch, and it's very hard to figure that out quickly. Or you might see that the S9 does what you need and you'll just wait for that, so you'll go there and wait, while the S3,S5,S7 pass you by.
On a tangent, buying a ticket for a tourist is a real pain on the Berlin system. You have to know what a zone is, what specific station etc. would be great to have a standard fare like in NYC.
Yep, the Vienna map only includes the U-Bahn, not the S-Bahn, even though some of the tracks of both U-Bahn and S-Bahn were built for the "Stadtbahn". (e.g. U4, U6, S45) But then the U2 used to be a tram line, so it's difficult to draw the line.
> were you can use all of Germany's public transit for ~4.200 € / year.
Well, you can't. You can use Railway and S-Bahn because S-Bahn is traditionally owned by the DB. You can also use other public transport in the specific regions that the DB negotiated for, the ones that are included as "city" on a long distance railway ticket. These regions do not even always align with the regions for public transport, for example "City" in Berlin is not aligned with the A,B or C regions for local tickets, it's mostly A plus some.
It's not quite obvious what the point here is. Many of the cities listed (at least Amsterdam, Munich and Paris) have lightrail lines which can be used seamlessly from the subway. In the case of Amsterdam, the lightrail lines are what you'd actually use to move within the city.
On the larger scale, you get Paris' RER lines or Hamburg's S-Bahn and, for most European cities also a comprehensive train network that makes it possible to commute from larger cities that are as far away as 100km (e.g., from Maastricht, Den Haag or other Dutch cities to Amsterdam) - probably also for the (relatively large) Cologne/Düsseldorf area, which comprises as many people as Berlin, but has many local governments instead of one.
Not sure how to visualize this, though. (Ideally, you'd provide maps based on (i) actual scale, (ii) commute time, and (iii) commute cost.
Berlin and Brandenburg in Germany: https://www.vbb.de/fahrinfo/ (need to enable it in the top right corner). Includes ICE, regional, suburban trains, subway, trams, buses and ferries.
wait for winter and watch the s-bahn. Actually, it's not the BVG (City owned) that has major problems but the S-Bahn which belongs to the Deutsche Bahn. There was a major collapse in summer 2009(?) when the authorities realized the the S-Bahn had been saving money and cutting corners on maintenance for trains and basically compelled them to take 2/3 of their trains out of service for emergency maintenance. They still have not recovered fully, some lines are still serviced with under length trains or on a schedule that's half as often than actually planned. Whole lines getting shut down due to lack of personal or trains. Berlins public transport used to be outstanding, now it's sub-par.
Even worse: here in Hamburg, a major German city with very high Google Maps usage, The S-Bahn line S1 is closed through the tunnel right in the centre of the city an entire month, and yet it has not been updated at all. Same thing occurred when the S1 from the airport to HBF was closed last month. These are very high capacity lines and it is tourist season. Anyone trying to use Google Maps is going to be very confused. Closures are only taken into account like 50% of the time.
Hamburg has almost half the population of Berlin, yet Google can't keep up with major scheduled line closures.
Berlin's public transport was perfectly fine for me just like a large city such as Amsterdam is (which is where I live). If it adds anything of substance: when we were in Berlin we were on babymoon, my partner was 6 months pregnant at that time. Also, I've been in Berlin on several occasions. As a Dutch person, I find German people rather friendly, with a near-excellent detail to service and hospitality.
Actually, the worst part of the whole travel was the way back with the ICE. The part in Germany went great (apart from having terrible LTE connectivity but I also saw loads of forests and such so that makes sense). It just stopped at the middle of nowhere, in Bad Bentheim, in December, with snow and all. The train wouldn't go further in The Netherlands. The DB allowed us to remain in the train with the heating on while NS (Dutch Railways) got another train instead which took an hour to arrive, was less luxurious as ICE, and was full. At the same time I caught a flu on the last day which was setting on during the train travel. Together with all our baggage, and a 6 months pregnant partner who I don't want to carry much. Fun times...
OK, one more point to make: German people are attached to cash money instead of cards. So sometimes I could not even pay with card. I like it, in a way, because it adds to privacy, and there's a nostalgia feeling, too. But if I'm used to card, it also feels like a step backwards.
You should travel more. You would never complain again. Berlin public transport is amazingly consistent compared to anywhere else I have lived (bar Singapore).
Not sure what you're talking about. Here in Berlin I can buy a monthly ticket to go anywhere in the city limits. If I want to also travel in the small part of the network which is outside the official city limits, that costs a bit extra.
If you think that Berlin's zone system is complex, you haven't seen the public transport in many other cities like Munich which has 6 zones or Japanese cities where trains are operated by different companies.
Berlin's system is rather simple and comparably cheap.
If transportation is good enough, it isn’t that unreasonable. While I am impressed by Berlin’s public transport, that’s by comparison with the UK — Berlin shares one problem with the UK, however, and that is that high speed intercity trains feom nearish cities take an hour, but so to do internal trams, trains, S-Bahns and U-Bahns coming from the inside edge of the city.
* U-Bahn, for the subways (underground & aerial)
* S-Bahn, for sub-urban lines (mostly aerial)
* Traway in est-Berlin
A map, live or not need at least to combine the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn, (and if possible the tramway too), because you generally need to use both networks (with the same ticket) to travel. Staying in only one of the network is just not practical.
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