Public Transportation, Munich

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Munich has one of the best and easiest-to-use public transport systems in Europe. While you can buy single tickets and "stripe tickets" (see the MVV website), the best deal for most tourists is to purchase a day card. When you're ready to first use your card, validate it ("entwerten") in one of the machines in the stations before you board a U or S-Bahn (Machines are onboard buses and trams). Then you're done! Just keep the ticket on you, and you're free to ride the public transport system for the rest of the day.

Prices as of 9 December 2012:

Single Tageskarte Innenraum: Good for 1 person, covers downtown and most of the parts of Munich you're interested in (the "white zone" on transit maps).
EUR 5.80

Partner Tageskarte Innenraum: Same as the single, only valid for 2-5 people.
EUR 10.60

Single Tageskarte Munich XXL: Covers the "white" and "green" zones. Covers some areas outside of Munich, such as Dachau.
EUR 7.80

Partner Tageskarte Munich XXL: Same as single... you get the idea.
EUR 13.60

Single Tageskarte Aussenraum: Covers everything EXCEPT the inner (white) zone.
EUR 5.80

Partner Tageskarte Aussenraum: EUR 10.60

Single Tageskarte Gesamtnetz: Covers the entire MVV transport system, including the airport. EUR 11.20

Partner Tageskarte Gesamtnetz: EUR 20.40

3-Day Ticket Inner District: Valid for 3 days within the white zone. If you want to travel outside the white zone, you can either purchase a ticket that covers the journey outside of the white zone, OR purchase an Aussenraum day ticket (innenraum + aussenraum = entire network). A single 3-day ticket costs EUR 14.30, while a partner 3-day ticket costs EUR 24.60.

Day tickets can be purchased at one of the many ticket machines, or in person at a ticket office. 3-day tickets may be purchased at some ticket machines or at a ticket office.

One final note: your ticket isn't always checked. But it isn't worth the risk: checks are frequent, and it's a EUR 40 fine for a first offense.

I spent a lot of days in Muenchen, and from that time I love its transportation system. It has two main types: U-Bahn (Unter=under) and S-Bahn (Strasse=street). The first is the Metro, and the second are "strasse" (street) trains, that run underground in downtown area.
Don't forget to buy the tickets. You won't see the train controllers, but they will be there....

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Used the U Bahn for the first time for a while at the weekend, and realised I haven’t done a tip about it! How sloppy.

We were going out to the Allianz Arena, so it was the U6 line to Fröttmaning from Marienplatz. So easy and comfortable. Trains are about every 9-10 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.

We didn’t have to buy a ticket, as we were on a DB Bayerncard.

Munich is great for public transport. Trains, buses, trams & the U Bahn all interlinked.

Richie & Doreen suggested that I buy the three day pass for my weekend stay in Munich and it was indeed the best solution. I was very much amazed how dirty cheap this pass is, given the huge areal it covers. It is valid for the “inner” four zones, approximately 25-30 km in diameter (or the part which is enclosed by the Autobahn/motorway around Munich). It covers all means of public transport: metro, bus and tram and usually there is a bus or tram station at almost every metro station, so connection is quite easy. Also the frequency seems to be much better in late evenings compared to what I am used to in my lousy Darmstadt. Even after 23:00 the major lines are covered by 20 minutes connections, which make nightlife or beery night life quite enjoyable.
The pass options are 3 Day Pass for 13,80 Euro or 1 Day pass for 5,60 Euro, prices as of Sept. 2012. But be careful not to buy the City Tour Cards if you don’t specifically want to visit museums or other attractions. The Day passes are for transport only while the City Tour Cards are including discounts at several museums.

Munich’s transport website MVV (see weblink below) is excellent, apart from that. It gives connections from anywhere to anywhere within the zones and each result comes with small pdf files for download which show an enlarged map of the surroundings and exact paths from addresses to the bus, tram or metro stops.
You can buy the ticket anywhere at manned booths or ticket machines.

© Ingrid D., September 2010, updates Sept. 2012 (just in case, RickS, Facebook or other website users come along and think they can steal texts or photos).

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There are tram connectors that coincide with the U-bahn (subway). They run on the main lines about every 10 minutes. The cars do get extremely full at the more popular connector stops, though. The main traffic is near Hauptbahnhof station area.

The subways connect with the trams and trains to maneuver around the city with ease. We used the subways for 7 days to get into the main center area from being south only 2 miles, but well worth the decision so as not to have a hassle of parking, or walking long distances.
Fees are a bit steep, with a single ticket being Euro 2,40. If you purchase. Buying a 10 ticket stripe pass costs Euro 12, and is more than if you take the tageskarten-the one day price of Euro 10,20 for all the rides you want and includes a family companion.
The understanding of prices is mandatory, and there are so many options it takes a bit of studying. If you connect to a tram of S Bahn(local train) within one hour, then no extra charge when using a single ticket. There are 5 zones and fees get steep the farther you go outside the Zone 1 centerl like Euro 20 for all zones coverage-WOW

The pass called the Isar card is excellent value for people spending some days or weeks in or around Munich. There is a weekly or monthly Isar card available and yet a cheaper version of these for travellers 60 years and over. To see detail google MVV, the Munich public transport website and select your language. Isarcards are under the heading in the left column "season passes". This pass is valid on S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains. It may well be valid on buses too but I don,t usually use a bus in Munich so can,t say for sure.
To sum it up, the weekly pass starts on a monday and finishes the following monday at midday, the monthly starts on the first of a calendar month. If a monthly pass is reqired you can save more money by selecting Isarcard 9uhr (9a.m.) which simply means you can,t use the pass between 6a.m. and 9a.m. Selecting this reduces the cost of the pass by 40%.The price of the pass depends on the number of "rings" or zones, you need to cover and this can be found on the MVV website, once you know how many rings you need you can see the price also on the left, e.g. 8 rings , approx 30 min s-bahn ride from the central city, will cost E26.60 for a week, and this is for an unlimited number of rides. To cover from and to the airport you need 13 rings, Euro34 for the weekly pass. As an example, if you buy the 13 ring card you can travel for 13 of the concentric rings out from the city in any direction.
As well as being a bargain for getting around Munich, this pass does away with the complicated system of Streifenkarten (stripe cards) normally used in Munich, which require the user to know how many stripes they need to validate.

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U-bahn is mainly underground, and S-bahn mainly overground, both are interchangable. The ticketing system seems to be on trust, has there are no barriers to exit and entry. I had a ticket provided by the hotel. If you have been on a day trip out of Munich and used a Bavarian train ticket , on your return you can used this ticket on trams , buses and S-bahn and U-bahn till 3 am.

If you plan to do a lot of getting around using public transport, consider the Munich Welcome Cards. They offer 1 day cards and also 3 day cards for either the inner area or the total area. The same cards are also in the partner day cards, which are valid for travel up to five adults...great deal if you are in a group!!!

Basically, these cards allow for travel within the city of Munich using their public transport. If you get the total area pass, this will include transportation from the airport. You can purchase the Welcome Card at the airport or at the railstation, whichever way is most convienent for you.

The cards also allow for discounts on admissions to many sights. Say for example, Deutches Museum is normally Euro 6, it would be Euro 5 with the card. There is also a discount included for Nymphenburg Palace. If you plan on going to see many sights, it basically will pay for itself!!!

COST:
1 - Day - €6.50
3 - Day - €16.00
3 - Day Total area - €28.00
Partner 1 - Day Card - €11.00
Partner 3 - Day Card - €23.50
Partner 3 - Day Total area - €43.00

I am normally very apprenhensive about taking the metro because I find reading a map, buying tickets, etc. inconveinent. I reccomend to take the S-bahn or U-bahn in and around Munich. The maps are not too difficult to read and it is fairly inexpensive.
If you are traveling through out Bavaria and are planning to visit Munich I reccomend buying the Bayern pass. It is good for up to 5 people on a weekend, and it entiles you to use the metro with no extra charge. For one person it costs about twenty euros.