How to use Public Transport in BERLIN, GERMANY

so you've just landed in berlin or you're going to land in berlin and you're thinking about how confusing it might be to navigate through the rather extensive network of german public transport here well it can actually be quite simple if you know where you want to go so in this video i am going to be trying to cover everything that you need to know so that you can get around the city without moving around like a headless chicken so keep in mind that this is catered more towards the first time in berlin tourists so if you've already been here or even live here then you'll probably know most of the things that i will be covering in this video so let's get into it by covering the berlin public transport zones in berlin there are three transport zone areas a b and c with a being the center-most part of the city berlin is a fairly big city and most of its liveliness and attractions are within the ab zone anyway i'll talk more about this later on but you can find berlin's public transport zone map in the description box down below so this leads me up to the next point which is what kind of ticket do i actually need to buy okay so before i go into the ordinary ticket stuff there is something called the berlin welcome card what it is is essentially a special ticket that grants you access to berlin's public transportation system for a set amount of time with that you get pretty nice additional discounts on a range of berlin's tourist attractions for example museums bus tours even restaurants things like that i'll leave a link to the berlin wacom card page below as well as a link to their list of participating partners but essentially what i'll say is it could be an affordable option for you if you plan on visiting berlin's many touristic attractions in the first place so what i mean by that is if you are planning to do many other things in berlin that don't involve the participating partners then it's probably not going to be worth it you're better off just getting the normal tickers and then you won't have to stress over getting as many things as possible done in a day just for the sake of getting your money's worth so what do you do when you just want a ticket despite many options the simplest would be to buy one from any one of these machines in any station including the airport you might see a red one or a yellow one since berlin's public transportation network is owned by two providers but don't worry the tickets and prices are exactly the same you can also switch the language to them to english you can also look for ticket offices if you prefer to speak to someone but i never do prefer that option for individual anti-social reasons and if you want things on your phone there is an app that you can download for you to purchase your tickets through if you search for bvg on the apple store or the google play store you will find three apps with a yellow icon that you can download from bvg i don't really know why they love producing apps so much but essentially you can purchase tickets through all those apps i personally find bvg tickets to be the simplest for what a tourist needs but jell-b is okay too if you want a navigational aspect to your app however i find google maps or similar applications to do just fine in terms of navigating through berlin and most people are used to that sort of interface anyway so generally if you're planning to explore the main attractions and you don't plan to go to potsdam i recommend getting an a b ticket as opposed to an abc ticket despite how tempting it might seem to have a worry-free experience when you purchase the abc ticket you'll probably end up saving a lot of money on something that you would otherwise not even use but one thing to keep in mind is that if you do have a ticket for two zones and you want to visit the third zone you will need to buy what's called an extension ticket this extension ticket basically gives you a one-off ride to the destination of your choice in the third zone if you have a two zone ticket currently the price of this ticket is one euro 70 and will be valid for one direction for example if you are coming into the a b zone from the schunerfeld airport or the berlin brandenburg airport which are both in zone c by the way then you will need an extension ticket that covers zone c for the duration of your ride into the a b zone along with your a b zone ticket if you are traveling with your family or a group however then i do suggest having a look at the bvg group ticketing options which might work out better for you i'll leave a link to the general ticket fares in the description box below so you can consider what's best for you okay so now that we've covered tickets what can you ride in berlin well assuming that we're still talking about public transport berlin's network is made up of subways city trains trams and buses and actually also the ferry which i've never actually taken and here i am making a public transport video for you guys you really can't trust anyone nowadays in all honesty you probably won't take the ferry 2 because it's a bit out of the city but if you do i heard it's quite peaceful the underground train stations or in german the uban are marked amongst the city by a blue backgrounded yew like this they come quite frequently every three to ten minutes or so depending on the time of day usually run underground but sometimes run above ground the city trains or in german the espan are marked amongst the city by a green backgrounded s like this they come quite frequently too normally run above ground but sometimes run below ground how does that even make any sense right weird directions to tram stations are marked by a red box that says tram in it and directions to bus stations are marked by a purple circle that says bus in it and generally even germany wide you'll know you're at a bus or tram station because it'll have a sign like this which stands for heiltisteller or stop you also might see signs like this at some stops in berlin those are also trams and buses and you can take them too there are also buses that begin with the letter n those are night buses and they come approximately every 30 minutes after midnight in fact there's no public transportation that you can't really take as long as you start and end in the zones that you bought your ticket for you can even take the bigger and faster regional trains that go between main stations across berlin as long as you make sure they stop where you want them to to distinguish them they should have an re or an rb at the front of their line numbers with public transport tickets you should avoid the ic ec and ice interstate trains good to knows so there aren't any turn stars or gates or anything like that for berlin's public transport system you simply walk in the door if you have a ticket but if you walk in without a ticket there is a chance you run into a sneaky squirrel on the inside and a very normal looking dude on the outside trying to catch schwarzwagger or essentially people who ride trains without paying if you do get caught by a conductor i think it's around 60 euros that you'll need to pay for being a low-key cheapskate you do need to validate your ticket to begin the time that you bought it for otherwise when you walk in and your ticket's not validated you'll also have to pay fine if you get caught you can do so in any one of these machines present in any station as well as inside trams and buses but make sure you do so before you get in a train otherwise you'll be traveling with an invalid ticket for mobile tickets make sure you purchase them at least two minutes before you enter a train this is because after you buy it there is an intentional couple of minutes of delay before your ticket is active this is essentially to prevent people from buying their mobile tickets as soon as they see a conductor on board if you take public transport in berlin in general you will need to know the name of the end station so you know what direction you're traveling to for example if you want to go from urban station to ubuntu station merchingdam then you'll need to know if you're going in the right direction by identifying the end station in google maps or similar navigational apps you can identify the end station when you type in where you want to go in actual stations you can find signs like these on each platform to confirm which direction the train is heading and which stations it takes you to the s-bahn has two special lines that run around the border of the a-zone these trains don't have specified end stations that other transport lines do the s41 runs in a clockwise direction and the s42 runs in a counter-clockwise direction around the ring but all you need to do is find signs like these around the station to determine which direction the train will be going before walking in trams trains and buses it is relatively customary to let the people out first you can do so by standing to the side the weekly ticket allows you to take an additional adult with you as well as three children after 8pm on weekdays and all day on weekends the same applies for the daily ticket but you can't take an additional adult with you only the little ones for buses most of the time you can walk in without showing your ticket but you're actually supposed to show your ticket you should walk via the front bus door when you're entering unless you have a wheelchair or a pram or something big no when you want to get off you do need to signal to the bus driver that you want to get off at the next station by pressing the nearest stop button inside the vehicle if you want to get off and no one presses the button and there's also no one outside the next station the bus will simply keep going which is fine because walking is good for you anyway unless you have something big you can then get out of the bus from any door besides the front for longer journeys specifically if you have the option of choosing either the s-bahn or the u-bahn i recommend choosing the s-bahn as the stops are generally further apart and the trains generally go faster the majority of tram lines in berlin run within the borders of former east berlin due to the differing traffic policies between east and west during a part of the last century if you do get a double decker bus try to go on the top i don't know if it's just me but a lot of locals seem like they can't be bothered walking seven or eight steps to go to the top but if you do i promise you'll be greeted with sometimes not many people but also the equivalent of a free hop-on hop-off bus tour only that you won't get sunburned because you'll have a roof over your head last but not least the most important thing for you when you come to berlin is to have fun there are so many things to do here and you'll probably meet some pretty unique characters when you come to this city it has such a multicultural atmosphere and when i talk to some of my friends berlin's not even close to being on their bucket list why do it do it do it so that's it fellas what do you think if you have any questions or you think i've left something out please use the comments area like you'd use your own bathroom i'll try my best to answer everything and feel free to check out these videos over here well that's what i would say if i had more than one video so likes are always appreciated for now thanks again everybody and safe travels

Channel: Expat Captures

Views: 109,273

Keywords: public transport in berlin, how to use public transport in berlin, citytourcard, berlin transportation, sbahn berlin, ubahn berlin, berlin public transport tickets, berlin transport, berlin welcome card, how to get around berlin, BER airport transport, germany public transport, how to get around berlin as a tourist, berlin transport system, berlin train system, getting around berlin, how to use berlin public transport, travelling berlin, transport in berlin

Id: 1JPTNeF30W8

Length: 11min 5sec (665 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 18 2020