October 15th, 2003 | The lowdown by Jara Gatti

Transportation in Germany

One of my favorite things about Germany so far is their public transportation system. (I live in LA where everyone has at least one car and they're not afraid to use it.) When you arrive in Germany, if you're not renting a car, you'll most likely take a train to whichever city you'll be staying in.

Deutsche Bahn, the long-distance train monopoly here, isn't exactly known for being efficient-delays are common-but they do try hard, by holding all trains if one is delayed, and if you do happen to miss a connection, you can always jump on the next train. Buy your ticket at the Reisebüro (travel center) at the airport and you're on your way. What they generally do is issue you a ticket from your starting point to your destinantion without a date or time, and then print you out a little itinerary for the specific days you ask for, with times and tracks (Gleis is track, ankunft is arrival, and abfahrt is departure). There are first and second class cars - although you'd be hard-pressed to point out a major difference between them on the new trains - and the cars are always clean, comfortable and crowded. If you want to have a seat instead of crouching amongst your belongings anywhere you can find space, I recommend reserving a seat. It costs a couple euros more but some people will find that worth it.

Leaving the airport, you'll most likely arrive at the Hauptbahnhof (main station) in your destination city, where you can jump on a local train/bus/ tram. Look for a Service Punkt, which is like an information desk (but sometimes can be an information intercom) to get a local schedule and find out where to buy a ticket (Fahrschein). The locals are much more reliable than their long- distance counterparts, so be at your stop pünktlich (puntually) with your ticket stamped with the date and time. There are usually stamp machines at the stops (they can look like anything from a cigarette dispenser to a parking meter) or on the cars themselves. This way, if you get checked, the guy won't think you bought your ticket 3 weeks ago and have been happily using it ever since (which he will, despite the fact that you are a clueless foreigner). The newer cars have light-up boards and voices that announce each stop, but beware-the name of the stop does not necessarily indicate the name of a street or corner less than a quarter of a mile away.

So welcome to Germany, and enjoy the far-reaching, omnipresent, somewhat expensive, and extremely convenient transport system, the likes of which I've never seen in California.