Note: Here's the Edited version of this entry

The transportation system of Munich consists of four parts: the U-Bahn (Untergrund-Bahn, or 'underground train'), the S-Bahn (Schnell-Bahn, 'fast train'), the Tramway (Straßenbahn, or 'tram' in short) and busses. You may add taxis here, but they will be referenced only once in this entry. The U-Bahn is almost completely running underground, and the S-Bahn only within the town's center. The system is being run by the Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund GmbH (MVV¹).

The U-Bahn

The U-Bahn network was built in preparation to the 1972 Olympic Games, in order to handle the millions of visitors. Its eight lines cover most of the city's area and outskirts. The constructors laid much emphasis on giving every station their individual appearance, in terms of colours and the shape of the glazed tiles which cover the walls².

U-Bahns have a fixed schedule of 10 minutes, with shorter intervals of 7 or 5 minutes in the morning and evening rush hours. But after around midnight, everything changes (see below).

Some important U-Bahn stations are

The S-Bahn

S-Bahns have a fixed schedule of 20 minutes, with longer intervals of 40 minutes at night and over the weekend. The S-Bahn is not a network in the strong sense, because its tracks are rather organized as a star: all S-Bahn lines share one common tunnel between Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof (eastern railway station), a part of the so-called Stammstrecke (ie, main trunk), which starts at Pasing. From the ends of the main trunk, the S-Bahn lines extend into all compass directions, and never meet again, apart from very few exceptions.

In particular, there is no such thing as the Circle line of London. This is a nuisance for commuters who, for example, live in the south and work only a few kilometres away to the side. They have to first go to Donnersberger Brücke or Ostbahnhof, switch trains and drive all the way back.

In summer, the airconditioning in S-Bahns is absolutely failsafe, owing to a total existence failure. In winter, the S-Bahn is frequently plagued by freezing door locks, causing great annoyance on the side of passengers who want to enter or leave at their specific stations. And year after year the MVV apologizes for the inconvenience. In the year 2000 the MVV bought the first trains of a new type, and it remains to be seen what's going to happen in the winter.

Some important S-Bahn stations are

The Tramway

Tram lines are confined to the inner parts of Munich, where they nearly outnumber U- and S-Bahns in terms of line count and stations served. The tram is a good recommendation for sightseeing. Trams and busses do not stop automatically at a station. There are lots of 'request-a-stop' push buttons in the passenger compartments, and drivers will stop if they see passengers waiting at a tram or bus stop.

There is one exception: If a tram doesn't stop as you are waiting at a station, don't worry and have a closer look at it. If it says 'Sonderfahrt' (extra tour) on the front sign then it is most likely that this tram has been rent by the members of some student's club ['recommended' entry], having big fun and lots of beer on their very special city tour, and won't let you in.

In general, front signs are absolutely accurate on all the MVV's trains, in contrast to the public transfer system of New York.

Busses

Well you know, they are just busses. You know there is one ahead if it smells like an indoor swimming pool around you because they use diesel with some peculiar chlorine additives.

Miscellaneous Items

Difference Between Day and Night

Sometime after midnight, the system undergoes some metamorphosis, and everything changes. The schedules become different, ie: stretched considerably, the U-Bahn and some other lines fall asleep completely, and others change the sequence of stations they call at. An outline of these remaining Nachtlinien (night lines) is available online (in the same german/english/universal language).

Connecting Munich Airport (MUC)

For the first few months after it was opened, the new Munich Airport had a reputation of being the first airport in the world which could only be reached by air. The situation improved, and today there are two S-Bahn-lines (S1 and S8) which service the airport. However, it takes some 40 minutes from there to Central Station (Hauptbahnhof).

Safety and Security

MVV transportation is very safe, and severe accidents are extremely rare. Full stop.

The platforms below the surface (U/S-Bahn) are being patrolled by the security service³ and are under video surveillance. You can easily check the latter by lighting a cigarette on such a platform, which will instantly yield an unintelligible response over the PA system. You wouldn't want to check the former.

Travelling alone, and travelling late at night does not pose much of a risk, independent of age or gender. This again puts the MVV quite opposite to the public transfer system of New York. However, one thing in common is the severe lack of public toilets.

Announcements

After leaving a station, loudspeakers will announce the name of the next station. This is often not too useful for foreign tourists, because the acoustic quality is poor and the messages convey more information about the speaking person (bavarian or saxonian descent, shyness, diseases of the breathing apparatus) than about the train's destination. Only trams and busses have electronic displays for passenger information. The newer S-Bahn trains have displays as well, but these don't show the name of the next station to be arrived at. But wherever you are, within trains or on platforms, a map of the U- and S-Bahn system is somewhere within eyesight.

Punctuality

The only thing that is always precisely on schedule is the annual increase of transportation fees. Next in the line come U-Bahns, which are accurate to within one minute. Tramways and busses are subject to the traffic situation on the streets, and their punctuality depends. S-Bahns are, in short, unpredictable. This is mostly due to the bottleneck between Donnersberger Brücke and Ostbahnhof. If anything happens there, a chain reaction occurs and the S-Bahn system stalls completely.

Information Policy

Apart from bus stops, all stations have loudspeakers distributed along the platforms. But do not expect to be realibly notified about delayed or cancelled trains. For example, when the tramway or S-Bahn employees go on strike, they do it early in the morning, and no train will leave its depot before around 10am. More often than not, passengers waiting on the platform are then being informed by taxi drivers offering their service, and not by the MVV.

Bicycles

In summer it is very popular to go on longer bicycle tours outside the city limits, using the U/S-Bahn for the first stage and hopping from beergarden to Biergarten (in german) on the way home.

U/S-Bahns allow a total of six bicycles per carriage, which means two per door area (and none at all during rush-hours). This makes sense, as more bicycles would severely impede pedestrians in entering and leaving a train. You need an extra ticket for a bicycle, and they are not allowed at all in busses and trams.

Prams and Wheelchairs

There are two hurdles to be negotiated. First, to bridge the gap between the platform and a train, and second, to reach the platform or to leave the station, respectively.

In general, the U-Bahn stands out before all the other services. Platforms are on an even level with carriage floors, with only a neglectable threshold in between. But it is recommended to check in advance whether the destination has a lift between the platform and the surface, because there are some exceptions.

The S-Bahn has also a well matched pair of platform and carriage, but entering or leaving a station is a different story. You can easily become sacked because on some stations escalators only go downwards. Lifts are only found on the main trunk, where S-Bahns run underground. Apart from that, the best you can expect is a ramp with quite remarkable slope. Prams may be shoved up there with some effort, but wheelchairs are quite likely to topple over or, ...err, exceed their maximum rated speed on the way down.

Forget about inserting prams into trams. There is only limited space available, and you must enter at the very first door, within eyesight of the driver.

Tickets

The MVV offers a wide variety of tickets with different amounts of savings included. Among them are single ride tickets, group tickets, 24-hour and multiple-day tickets, with extra versions valid only for limited areas, and for disabled or retired people, children, draftees, and those under the age of 21. Besides, ticket fees for a group of five are also completely included in a weekend ticket⁴ of Die Bahn.

The so-called Streifenkarte contains ten stripes for single rides⁵ and is always cheaper than single ride tickets.

From the above you can guess that it is not easy to determine which ticket type is the cheapest for a given set of conditions. A rule of thumb for tourists: if your plans comprise three or more rides on a single day then the 24-hour ticket is cheaper than the Streifenkarte. If you are in company of others, check this against the group ticket (called Partner-Tageskarte and covers up to five adults) and perhaps the Bahn's weekend ticket.

Joyriding

Checks for possession and validity of passengers' tickets come in two flavours:

• Controller teams in civilian clothing which stroll through the trains, show some green ID card around and ask everybody for their tickets. Usually some people at the other end of the carriage suddenly acquire pale faces, with an urgent desire to leave at the next station before the team adresses them.

• Using a task force of some 20 people in the uniforms of the security service, plus some policemen, and converting a whole station into an ambush.