How does the BVG recruit it's Ticket inspectors?

It's not convicts, but the training requirement is real and takes about three months for the 34a certification. What people don't mention is that BVG has been struggling to keep enough inspectors for years, so they've been pulling from temp agencies more often, which means less consistent quality in how people are treated.

If you want to avoid the worst encounters, avoid the U8 and U7 lines late at night, especially around Hermannplatz or Neukölln. That's where the subcontractor teams focus their efforts and they tend to be the most aggressive about writing fines for small mistakes like an expired Anschlussfahrschein.

arrow_drop_up 4 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply

nah that's just a persistent urban myth. BVG inspectors go through regular training, same as any security job - they're employed directly by BVG or through subcontractors like Kötter or WISAG. the whole "convicted fare dodgers working off their sentence" thing started as a joke on some forum years ago and just never died

what is true though is that many of them are former bouncers or security guys, not exactly the friendliest faces you'll meet. and they do get commission on fines they issue, which explains why some are super aggressive about it. if you ever get checked, just stay calm and show your ticket - they can't actually arrest you, just call the police if you refuse to ID yourself

arrow_drop_up 2 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply

The myth about convicts is definitely nonsense, but the commission system is real and explains a lot about their behavior. Some inspectors are paid partly based on how many fines they write, which creates the aggressive vibe.

arrow_drop_up 1 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply

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.

arrow_drop_up 4 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply

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

arrow_drop_up 3 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply

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.

arrow_drop_up 1 arrow_drop_down

chat_bubble Reply ios_share

/

Reply