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Are S-bahn drivers allowed to wear headphones and listen to music?
When I got off 2 stops later to tell the driver what happened, he had AirPods on and could't hear me. He removed them when he saw me and I notified him about the doors closing on us with no warning. My assumption is that he wasn't paying attention.
Is this allowed? Seems like a big safety hazard for the train drivers not to hear what's going on around them. My daughter could have been severely injured.
look, even if the rules were gray, having airpods in while operating is just stupid. the drivers are supposed to be watching the platform mirrors and listening for the door beeps, that's literally their job. i've seen drivers at ostkreuz with one earbud in, but two at zoo? that's next level careless.
you should also report it to the police as a near-miss, not just BVG. they log these things and it puts pressure on the S-bahn to actually fix the door warning system, which is honestly the bigger issue here. the train number is on the side, but also inside the car above the doors, easier to spot when you're still on the train.
and fwiw, the doors at zoo are notorious for this, the sensors are old and the beep is barely audible over the platform noise. i'd still file the report, but don't expect much beyond a "we'll look into it" unless you make it formal. glad your kid is okay, that's terrifying.
yeah the airpods thing is against the rules, bvg has a clear no headphones policy for drivers, but honestly enforcement is a joke until something goes wrong. if u wanna push it, go straight to the bvg app feedback form, it's way faster than calling, and mention the exact train number, it's printed on the side near the doors. also fyi the door warning at zoo is known to be glitchy, but that doesn't excuse the driver missing u. file the report, they'll check the cctv, that's the only thing that gets drivers retrained. and for ur own peace of mind, the doors have sensors but they're not reliable with strollers or kids, so i always board last with my little one there. glad she's fine, that must've been scary af
honestly that warning chime is super inconsistent, sometimes it barely beeps before the doors slam. but yeah, drivers having airpods in is a known thing, i've seen it too. the BVG rules technically say no headphones while operating, but they're rarely enforced unless something happens. you should 100% file a report with BVG directly, they take door incidents seriously, especially with kids. include the time, the train number (it's on the side of the car), and mention the driver's airpods. they'll pull the footage from the cameras, that's the only way anything actually gets done. also, for what it's worth, the doors at Zoo are extra aggressive, i always hold my kid's hand there. glad your daughter is okay.
What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.
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