Bus transport in Berlin

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)
The bus depot of Indira-Gandhi-Straße,
Alt-Hohenschönhausen
A bus in Berlin Tegel Airport
A double decker bus of line 100 nearby Alexanderplatz
Interior view of a modern bus
An articulated bus in Mitte
A vintage ABOAG bus used for touristic service

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.

After the opening of Berlin Wall, the transport companies were no longer able to cope up with the traffic, and so once again, solo buses by other transport companies and 100 hired coaches were used. The 3-digit numbering system was unified and implemented on June 2, 1991, just before the reunification of BVG in 1 January 1992.

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:

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).

On 18 February 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.

Fleet

BVG Bus Fleet

As of 2015, the BVG bus fleet consisted of 1300 buses.

Single Decker

Quantity Manufacturer Type Passengers Length Footnotes Photo
77 Mercedes-Benz EN02 Citaro 60-70 12 m
9 MAN EN03 Lion´s City A21 60-70 12 m
30 Mercedes-Benz EN05 Citaro 60-70 12 m
80 Mercedes-Benz EN06 Citaro 60-70 12 m
150 Mercedes-Benz EN09 Citaro LE 60-70 12 m
2 VDL EN12 Citea LLE-120 60-70 12 m
40 VDL EN15 Citea LLE-120 70 12 m
4 Solaris EN15 Urbino 12 electric 60-70 12 m Electric Bus
406

Long Bus (not classified as bendy buses)

Quantity Manufacturer Type Passengers Length Footnotes Photo
67 Mercedes-Benz LN02 Citaro L 15 m
67

Bendy Bus

Quantity Manufacturer Type Passengers Length Footnotes Photo
32 MAN GN03 Lion´s City G A23 less than 99 18 m
36 Mercedes-Benz GN03 Citaro G less than 99 18 m
130 Solaris GN05 Urbino 18 less than 99 18 m
Solaris GN07 Urbino 18 less than 99 18 m
46 Solaris GN08 Urbino 18 99 18 m
40 Solaris GN09 Urbino 18 99 18 m
70[7] Scania GN14 Citywide LFA 99 18 m
Scania GN15 Citywide LFA 99 18 m
416

Double Decker

Quantity Manufacturer Type Passengers Length Footnotes Photo
1 MAN DL04 Lion’s City DD 110 13,7 m
103 MAN DL05 Lion’s City DD 110 13,7 m
103 MAN DL07 Lion’s City DD 110 13,7 m
105 MAN DL08 Lion’s City DD 110 13,7 m
104 MAN DL09 Lion’s City DD 110 13,7 m
1[8] VDL DN15 Citea DLF 114 97 11,4 m Prototype
1[9] Scania DN15 Citywide LFDD 88 10,9 m Prototype
Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 12 m Prototype
418[10]

References

  1. ↑ (German) Bus (normal lines) page on BVG website
  2. ↑ (German) MetroBus page on BVG website
  3. ↑ (German) ExpressBus page on BVG website
  4. ↑ (German) Night buses page on BVG website
  5. ↑ Berlin ZOB location on Google Maps
  6. ↑ Named Witzleben until 2002
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  8. ↑ http://www.bvg.de/de/Aktuell/Newsmeldung?newsid=880
  9. ↑ https://www.bvg.de/de/Aktuell/Newsmeldung?newsid=460
  10. ↑ http://unternehmen.bvg.de/de/Unternehmen/Profil/Bus/Fahrzeuge

Literature

Media related to Bus transport in Berlin at Wikimedia Commons

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