Every few months new prices for public transport tickets are introduced by the Berlin transport operator BVG. I’ll try to keep track of the current ticket prices – but it’s an ongoing project. So please don’t take the prices listed below for granted. Instead I’m basically basically just offering an overview over the most popular, most important tickets, what they are good for – and how much you will probably have to pay.
Update: The German government introduced the so called 9 Euro Ticket which is valid for a whole month – and basically you can use whatever regional means of transportation. This means the ticket is valid vor Berlin public transport service provider BVG but also for regional trains of Deutsche Bahn! For now the ticket will be availavle during June, July and August 2022.
The Zones:
The first thing you should probably know is, that the public transport net is devided into three zones: A, B and C. A ticket is usually valid for zwo of these zones: either Zone A and B, or B and C. There is of course also tickets valid for Zones A and B and C, but those you probably won’t really need in every day traveling.
Zone A: every station inside the S-Bahn ring, including the stations of the S-Bahn ring itself
Zone B: every station outside the S-Bahn ring, but within the Berlin city area
Zone C: every station outside Berlin, max. radius 15km, including Potsdam and Schönefeld
So traveling mostly around the city center of Berlin, an A-B-Ticket will most likely bring you there. A trip to Potsdam or to the Airport Schönefeld or to one of the many lakes around Berlin will require an A-B-C-ticket.
There are also Tickets available that are only valid in the B-C-Zones. I doubt that these tickets are of any use for the regular Berlin traveler – so I didn’t list them below. One word of advise: try not to by a B-C-Ticket by accident. Inside the A-Zone these tickets are not valid and you may get fined for traveling without a valid ticket.
Sort Trip vs. Long Trip
For a quick ride you might not need a regular ticket. A regular ticket is valid for two hours, as long as you travel an a definable direction (going forth and back between two stations is not permitted). So for a regular trip you want to have one of those regular tickets with you.
Tickets for Short Trips however are way cheaper. So if you only travel for a couple of stations, buying a ticket for a “Kurzstrecke” will save you about half of the fee. But changing rides / trains is not permitted on Short Trips. In Detail: a Short Trip Ticket is valid for
- up to three U-Bahn- or S-Bahn-stations, changing from U to U or from S to S is allowed.
- up to six Tram- or Bus-stations, changing is not allowed.
Tickets for Short Trips are marked “Kurzstrecke” and since 1st of August 2013 you can also buy a value pack of four.
Short Trip Ticket “Kurzstrecke”
regular fee “Kurzstrecke” (adults) -> €1,70
reduced / kids fee “Kurzstrecke Ermäßigungstarif”(age 6 – 14) -> €1,30
four pack regular fee (adults) -> €5,60 (you save 10 cents per ride)
four pack reduced / kids fee -> €4,40 (you save 10 cents per ride)
Regular Ticket “Einzelfahrschein”
“Einzelfahrschein” for the zones AB –> €2,80
“Einzelfahrschein” for all three zones ABC –> €3,40
“Einzelfahrschein” reduced / kids fee for the zones AB –> €1,70
“Einzelfahrschein” reduced / kids fee for all three zones ABC –> €2,50
four pack regular fee (adults) for the zones AB -> €9,00 (you save 55 cents per ride)
four pack reduced fee (kids) for the zones AB -> €5,60 (you save 30 cents per ride)
Day Pass “Tageskarte”
“Tageskarte” for the zones AB –> €7,00
“Tageskarte” for all three zones ABC –> €7,70
“Tageskarte” reduced / kids fee for the zones AB –> €4,70
“Tageskarte” reduced / kids fee for all three zones ABC –> €5,30
see also: Berlin Public Transport
Do you have and thoughts, suggestions, additional recommendations or comments? Please feel free to leave your comment below. Thank you!