Public Commute: Going Around Berlin

Among all the cities I've been in, I must say that Berlin has the best transportation system. I was able to ride in their S-Bahn, U-Bahn (subway), tram, bus, train and taxi, and they were all commuter friendly: being very clean, orderly and convenient.

Of course clean and orderly is expected, we're in Germany after all! But what I liked most about Berlin transportation is that you can get a ticket and have access to the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, tram, bus and ferries. We were able to move around the city in 5 days holding onto just 1 ticket! Easy peasy!

How much is the fare?

Fare depends on where you want to go (tariff zone) and the ticket's validity.

Berlin is divided into tariff zones- AB, BC and ABC. AB is basically the metro urban area, ABC includes Berlin's surrounding area and Potsdam. A single ticket for AB zone is 2.60, BC is 2.90, and ABC is 3.20.

We got the Berlin Welcome Card 5-day ticket and it cost us 32.50, which actually comes out cheaper considering we commute at least 5 times a day. The Berlin Welcome Card also comes with a city map and you can also get discounts from different several restaurants, museums and other establishments.


Where to buy tickets:

It's very easy to get the tickets. You can buy tickets as soon as you arrive, usually at the tourist shop at the airport. You can also look for the Berlin Welcome Card sign.

You can also buy the tickets at the stations.  Some stations have stores/stalls (for those who prefer to talk to a person), but most of them only have ticket vending machines. Problem with the machines though, is that some only have instructions in German.

There are also ticket vending machines on the tram, but they only accept coins and again some might not have English instructions.



How to use the ticket:

Once you've bought your ticket, you need to validate it in the validating machine before using it.

And here's why I love Germany even more: except for the bus where you need to show your ticket to the bus driver before getting in, nobody checks the tickets but people still pay for them. Of course they do random checks once in a while, (we had ours checked on the train from Oranienburg back to Berlin), still you have to commend them for following the rules. Honesty system at its best! Hope we can see this kind of discipline and honesty here.

Now that you know where to get the tickets, the only thing left to figure out is where to go! =)