Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

transport is the oldest

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...

service in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, the capital city of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, having been introduced in 1846. Since 1929, services have been operated by the Berlin Transport Company (German: '' Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe'', BVG), although during the Cold War-era division of the city they operated in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

only. BVG's fleet consists of 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 the Berlin Wall, the transport companies were no longer able to cope 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 2 June 1991, just before the reunification of BVG in 1 January 1992.

Routes

Normal buses

Normal bus routes (

) make up most of the network and consist of around 120 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 A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

in which the line runs: * 0 = across more than 1 or 2 boroughs * 1 = for the former boroughs of

Wilmersdorf Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. History The ...

and Zehlendorf * 2 = for the district of Reinickendorf * 3 = for the district of

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by la ...

* 4 = for the districts of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg * 5 = for the district of

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. ...

and the former one of

Hohenschönhausen Hohenschönhausen () was a borough of Berlin, that existed from 1985 until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. It comprised the localities of Alt-Hohenschönhausen (the core of the borough), Neu-Hohenschönhausen, Malchow, Wartenberg and F ...

* 6 = for the district of Treptow-Köpenick * 7 = for the districts of Tempelhof-Schöneberg and

Neukölln Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It fea ...

* 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 19 MetroBus (

) 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. The MetroBus routes are: * M11: Dahlem-Dorf – Schöneweide * M19: Grunewald – Mehringdamm * M21: Rosenthal – Jungfernheide * M27: Pankow – Jungfernheide * M29: Grunewald – Hermannplatz * M32: Rathaus Spandau – Dallgow-Döberitz, Havelpark *M36 (formerly 236 and X36): Am Omnibushof – U Haselhorst * M37: Spandau – Staaken * M41: Sonnenallee – Hauptbahnhof * M44: Buckow – Hermannstraße * M45: Spandau – Zoologischer Garten * M46: Zoologischer Garten – Britz-Süd * M48: Zehlendorf – Alexanderplatz * M49: Heerstraße/Nennhauser Damm – Zoologischer Garten * M76: Walter-Schreiber-Platz – Lichtenrade * M77: Marienfelde, Waldsassener Straße – Alt-Mariendorf * M82: Marienfelde, Waldsassener Straße – Rathaus Steglitz * M85: Lichterfelde Süd – Hauptbahnhof

Express bus

The express buses ( X-Bus VBB

) are 13 rapid lines, mainly used to reach the airports or linking the suburbs to the city centre, with far fewer stops. The most famous route is the former TXL bus line (Tegel Airport – Alexanderplatz), which ceased service after the closure of Tegel airport. * X7: Flughafen BER – Rudow * X10: Zoologischer Garten – Teltow, Rammrath-Brücke * X11: Krumme Lanke – Schöneweide * X21: Märkisches Viertel, Quickborner Straße – U Jakob-Kaiser-Platz * X33: Märkisches Viertel, Wilhelmsruher Damm – Rathaus Spandau * X34: Kladow – Zoologischer Garten * X49: Staaken – Messe Nord/ICC * X54: Pankow – Hellersdorf * X69: Marzahn – Köpenick, Müggelschlößchenweg * X71: U Alt-Mariendorf – Flughafen BER * X76: Walter-Schreiber-Platz – Lichtenrade * X83: Königin-Luise-Straße/Clayallee – Lichtenrade

Night buses

The night buses (''N''), consisting of 42 lines and other 8 lines to 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. *N1: Warschauer Straße ↔ Zoologischer Garten *N2: Pankow ↔ Ruhleben *N3: Wittenbergplatz ↔ Mexikoplatz *N5: Alexanderplatz ↔ Hönow *N6: Alt-Tegel ↔ Alt-Mariendorf *N7: Rathaus Spandau ↔ Flughafen BER *N8: Märkisches-Viertel ↔ Hermannstraße *N9: Osloer Straße ↔ Rathaus Steglitz

Other services

Apart from the service buses managed by BVG and other local companies, in the city there are hundreds of private tourist coaches. The main

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

of Berlin is the Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin ("Central Omnibus Station"), also known as ZOB. It is located in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and linked to the stations of Kaiserdamm ('' U-Bahn'') and Messe Nord/ICCNamed Witzleben until 2002 (''

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

'').

In popular culture

On 18 February 2011 MR Software released ''OMSI – The Bus Simulator'' (also known as ''OMSI – Der Omnibussimulator'') for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

. It is a bus simulator set in the late 1980s in

that features the MAN SD200 and MAN SD202

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

es 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 Staaken () is a locality at the western rim of Berlin within the borough of Spandau. Geography Staaken borders on the localities of Spandau proper, Falkenhagener Feld and Wilhelmstadt. In the west it shares border with the Brandenburg municipal ...

Wilhelmstadt Wilhelmstadt () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. History In the year 1945 the allied armed forces from the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom accomplished an exchange of territory, among the ...

, Altstadt, and

Falkenhagener Feld Falkenhagener Feld () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. History The project to build a residential complex in the rural area of west Spandau and close to the village of Falkenhagen, started in 19 ...

localities in the

. On 11 December 2013, MR Software released '' OMSI 2 – The Bus Simulator'' for Windows, the sequel to ''OMSI – The Bus Simulator''. It features the MAN NL202 and the

MAN NG272 The MAN NG272 was a low floor articulated single-decker bus built by MAN Nutzfahrzeuge from 1990 until 1992. It was an articulated development from the MAN NL202. Especially sold in Europe, in particular in Germany, it was replaced by the MAN N ...

in addition to the buses featured in OMSI (MAN SD200/SD202). The player can enjoy the bus lines 5 (now 130), 92 (now M37) and other add-ons which is community developed. It is sold on Aerosoft,

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizat ...

and Halycon.

Fleet

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

Single-decker

Lengthened bus

Bendy bus or articulated bus

Double-decker bus

The BVG operates some 416 double-decker buses.

References

Literature

* Dieter Gammrath, Hein Jung: "''Berliner Omnibusse''". Alba,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

1988, * Gammrath, Jung, Schmiedeke: "''Berliner Omnibusse''". Alba, Düsseldorf 1999,

External links

Route planner by WikiRoutes.info

BVG official website

Bus transport page on BVG website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bus Transport In Berlin Transport in Berlin