Bonn Voyage

As I huffed & panted, I realized it was not some gruelling jogging routine I had just accomplished but a quick dash to the Haltestelle lest I miss my train which had already arrived on the platform. Trains & buses are always on time here!

And why do these buses have automated doors which remained closed & only open at the bus stops??? The ruthless driver won’t even open them at the traffic lights where he halts the bus. Had there been no doors, at least I could have jumped down there & saved on the 50 metres walk back to office!

Well jokes apart…

Travelling around Bonn (in fact all of Germany) is a cakewalk, if you put the language problem aside. Even a small city like Bonn has an extensive network of buses, trams & trains which connects its every nook & corner.  No wonder, commuting through public transport is the preferred mode of transport here, unlike USA where one would be handicapped without a car. It makes a lot of sense to get yourself a daily, weekly or monthly pass depending on the region of your commute & then you are a free bird with unlimited access to that region. You can explore the whole city, by getting off a train & hopping onto a tram & then another – all with the same pass.

What makes matters simpler is that every Haltestelle (bus/tram stop) displays the route of buses that ply through that stop along with their timings & duration. So even the most deserted of bus stops would tell you which bus you can catch at what minute of the day but again one has to be careful as buses timetables vary depending on the day of the week. It might not be as intuitive the first time, but once you get a hang of this system, commuting is almost hassle-free.

It is amazing to see the whole system work with clockwork precision, punctual to the actual minute, enabling one to plan their commute based on the link timings of buses, trams/trains. Of all the places that I have been around here, there is always a bus/train stop at walking distance. Indeed it is a well connected city from where I see it.

Such intricate is this whole web that some buses travel through some very narrow streets. The first time I was on such a ride, I almost was in disbelief at the bus entering this puny road, something I’d be scared manoeuvring even my car into! But the bus driver drove effortlessly through these lanes, halting at places to let the other vehicles, cyclists, even pedestrians pass. Germans deserve full marks for their traffic sense; in fact, except for India every other country in the world seems to respect the others and traffic rules on the road (another rant some other day).