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What the hell is going on with the public transportation these day?
I wanted to ask if you also noticed that the public transportation is struggling these days. I experience constant delays, cancelled trips, overcrowded trains. Do you know why is this… Hey Berliners,
I wanted to ask if you also noticed that the public transportation is struggling these days. I experience constant delays, cancelled trips, overcrowded trains. Do you know why is this happening? I experienced some delays here and there before and I don't mind but I feel like these days it is almost a constant part of public transportation.
The whole network is feeling it, but the S-Bahn is honestly the worst offender right now. They're running a skeleton schedule on half the Ring lines because of the new digital signalling system, and every time a train breaks down, it takes an hour to get a replacement. I waited 40 minutes for the S8 on Saturday, then three showed up back to back, it's absurd.
If you can, check the VBB app before you leave, but don't trust the live departures too much, they're often a lie. The real trick is to take any regional train (RE/RB) that stops at your station, they run on different tracks and are way more reliable, even if they're a bit more expensive. Or just plan an extra 15 minutes into every trip and bring a book, because you will be waiting.
honestly the tram thing is solid advice, but the real chaos i see is on the u8. every other day it's "signalstörung" or a "polizeieinsatz" and then you're stuck at alexanderplatz with everyone staring at their phones like itll help. the bvg posted about hiring 2000 new drivers but that doesnt fix the trains from the 80s that keep dying mid-tunnel.
if you're not in a rush, the bus lines that run on dedicated lanes are actually decent. the m29 down the ku'damm is slow but it moves, unlike the 100 which just sits in traffic with the tourists. also, check if your station has a "barrierefrei" elevator out of order, that shuts down half the platform for some reason and adds ten minutes to everything.
one thing nobody mentions: the bvg app's "alternative route" feature is garbage, it always suggests a bus that's already cancelled. use google maps instead and compare the arrival times, they're usually more accurate for the real world. or just accept it, buy a coffee at the kiosk, and treat the wait as part of the berlin experience. it's been like this since the u5 extension opened, honestly.
fwiw the root cause is pretty boring: the city grew faster than the infrastructure fundin. bvg's been understaffed for years and the senate keeps kickin the can down the road on maintenance. i used to work near ostkreuz and the s-bahn there was a lottery before covid even hit.
my tip is to check the "betriebslage" page on the bvg website before u leave, it shows the actual disruptions in real time. the app is useless for that. also, if u can swing it, the new tram lines in the east are surprisingly
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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.