BVG

Die BVG, or Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, is the system of public transportation in Berlin, and includes the U-bahn (metro), the different kinds of buses, the Strassenbahn (or streetcars), and even a boat that crosses the Wannsee. [Although the S-bahn (a faster, more far-reaching train transit in Berlin), is also part of the public transportation, it is actually run by the Deutsche Bahn, which runs all the trains in Germany.]


[a map of the different nets of the BVG and S-bahn; click to make it bigger]

The BVG is how you get anywhere and everywhere in greater Berlin. I am convinced that you can be placed anywhere in the city and without walking very far at all, you can get exactly where you are going in a reasonable amount of time. Every kind of stop that you could get to (bus, Strassenbahn, S-bahn, U-bahn, etc) not only has the map above, it also has a detailed street map of the area that you are in. Plus, every stop has a time table, and the Germans are very serious about running on time.

If you have the internet when you need to find out where you are going, you simply check out bvg.de, available in English and German, and enter your starting and ending points, and they will tell you about how far you have to walk, what kind of transport you have to take, where you have to change, and exactly how long it will take you. You can even enter when you have to be there and it will tell you when you have to leave.

Another crazy element of the the public transportation is that no one checks your tickets on the way in, except sometimes bus drivers. You simply get on and off the trains as you want, and they assume that you have the proper ticket. Randomly, checkers will board the train and ask to see everyone's ID. If at that time, you don't have your ticket, you get a hefty fine of 60 Euros. Of course, for some Schwatzfahrer (illegal riders), it is worth it to take the risk, since getting checked is a seldom occasion in most areas.

This system amazes me. First of all, it can't even be compared to the public transportation in Washington, D.C., where you can barely get where you are going with public transportation, unless you are willing to take all day to get there.

Last semester I wrote about the "micros" that get you where you need to go in Chile. And although they were very effective, the differences between these systems show the differences between German and Chile culture very clearly. In Chile, there was no map or timetable that told you when your bus was going to come, but it came and got you where you wanted to go pretty quick. Here, there is a map and a timetable, and the bus (or other transport) will always follow the timetable and the exact route it is supposed to take. Perhaps because Valparaiso is built on hills, the only good method of transport is the buses, but there was also a metro (just one line) that ran, as well as Trolleybuses, but I never even needed to ride them. Berlin, on the other hand, tries to use as many different types of transport as necessary to get people where they need to go, including the boat that takes you across the Wannsee in south-west Berlin. Finally, all the public transportation in Berlin is free with your student ID. It doesn't have to be that you are a student and need to get another BVG ID that is free or something complicated. You simply show that you are a student (using your student 'Ausweis,' ID) if anyone checks, and you are good to go. In Chile, the micro drivers were ever-so-serious about paying exactly the amount you needed to (even if it was only 25 cents)and definitely wouldn't let you get away with paying less, although they sometimes wouldn't give you the proper change.