Bus transport in Berlin
MAN ND 202 double decker bus | |
Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Berlin, Germany |
Transit type | Public bus transport |
Number of lines | 329 (+39 night lines) |
Operation | |
Began operation | 1846 |
Operator(s) | BVG |
Number of vehicles | MAN Lion's City, MAN ND 202 |
Technical | |
System length | 1,662 km (1,033 mi) |
Berlin buses are operated by BVG, the public bus service network of Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest public transport service of the city. Its fleet consists of some 1,300 vehicles, which cover 300,000 kilometres per day.
History
30 October 1846 saw the first bus services from the Concessionierte Berliner Omnibus-Compagnie. In 1868, a new company was created, the ABOAG (Allgemeinen Berliner Omnibus Actien Gesellschaft) which on 1 January 1929 merged with other Berlin public transport companies to create the BVG.
Routes
Normal buses
Normal bus routes (Bus) [1] make up most of the network and consist of around 300 lines, numbered from 100 to 399. The most famous line is the 100, which serves the tourist route from Alexanderplatz to the Zoological Garden passing many of Berlin's sights. The suburban buses, operating outside Berlin and not managed by BVG, are included in the tariff area of Berlin public transport.
Each bus line has a 3-digit number. The second digit indicates the borough in which the line runs:
- 0 = across more than 1 or 2 boroughs
- 1 = for the former boroughs of Wilmersdorf and Zehlendorf
- 2 = for the district of Reinickendorf
- 3 = for the district of Spandau
- 4 = for the districts of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
- 5 = for the district of Pankow and the former one of Hohenschönhausen
- 6 = for the district of Treptow-Köpenick
- 7 = for the districts of Tempelhof-Schöneberg and Neukölln
- 8 = for the former district of Steglitz
- 9 = for the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf and the former one of Lichtenberg
MetroBus
As for the MetroTram lines, there are 17 MetroBus (M) [2] lines, each running every 10 minutes with a 24-hour service. Unlike the other bus lines, they are shown on many tramway maps and on some railway maps of the city.
ExpressBus
The express buses (X) [3] are 13 rapid lines, mainly used to reach the airports or linking the suburbs to the city centre, with far fewer stops.
Night buses
The night buses (N),[4] consisting of 45 lines, substitute (from N1 to N9) the U-Bahn (except at weekends). The other lines serve suburban neighbourhoods not served by any public service running in daytime.
Other services
Apart from the service buses managed by BVG and other local companies, in the city there are hundreds of private tourist coaches. For national and international routes an important company based in the city is the Berlin Linien Bus. The main bus station of Berlin is the Zentraler Omnibus-Bahnhof (central omnibus station), also known as ZOB.[5] It is located in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and linked to the stations of Kaiserdamm (U-Bahn) and Messe Nord/ICC [6] (S-Bahn).
In popular culture
On February 18, 2011, MR Software released "OMSI - The Bus Simulator" (also known as "OMSI - Der Omnibussimulator") for Windows. It is a bus simulator set in the late 1980s in West Berlin that features the MAN SD200 and MAN SD202 double-decker buses with a complex set of functions and made in various years. The player operates these buses along line 92 (now M37) that served the Staaken, Wilhelmstadt, Altstadt, and Falkenhagener Feld localities in the borough of Spandau.
References
- ↑ (German) Bus (normal lines) page on BVG website
- ↑ (German) MetroBus page on BVG website
- ↑ (German) ExpressBus page on BVG website
- ↑ (German) Night buses page on BVG website
- ↑ Berlin ZOB location on Google Maps
- ↑ Named Witzleben until 2002
Literature
- Dieter Gammrath, Hein Jung: "Berliner Omnibusse". Alba, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-87094-334-3
- Gammrath, Jung, Schmiedeke: "Berliner Omnibusse". Alba, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87094-359-9
External links
Media related to Bus transport in Berlin at Wikimedia Commons
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