Public Transport, Stuttgart

If you want to know when you must go out of the house to come to the right time to the VT meeting look at this site: http://www.efa-bw.de/nvbw/en_index.htm
and look for your online timetable. But be careful and have a little bit time if you must change between differnet public transportations. Sometimes the public transport comes later and you can't get the other bus or train because to change you haven't enough time.
Try the website.

If you drive with public transport you should know about different ways to stop and drop out of the transport systems. In the S-Bahn the train stops at every station and you can open the door only when the train is standing. In the U-Bahn (Stra?enbahn) the train also stops at every station but you can oush the button before the station, then the light at the button is on and when the train is standing at the station the door will be open. But with the bus you must be faster than the bus driver. Sometimes they drives look like Michael Schuhmacher. :-) In the bus you must push the stop button before your station. If you don't push it the bus don't stop and you only can look how nice your station is and drive away. ;-) If people standing there the bus will stop. In the trains are displays for the next stop in the buses onmly sometimes, but the most have the display.
Have a nice trip.
(The picture is not good, I try to make a better one. On the Display you can see in red big letters the next stop, small red letters the stations after the next stop. On the top in green letters the terminal stop and on the right in green letters options to change to other lines at the next stop. Do you see the red buttons? - They you must push if you want to drop out at the next station.)

This is the once cable railway in Stuttgart.
The cabel railway arrives every 20 minutes from 09:00 until 17:50.
You find it at station Südheimer Platz, can get it with the U1 and U14 and a walk with maybe 3 minutes.

a map to find the way from U-Bahn station to the cable railway

For hikers:
hikers way

This website is in English and other languages. IT's easy to use. http://efa.vrr.de/vrr/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

For example on what to type in. Name of the town first. If the town does not have a train station I use Rathaus as a starting off point since there is usually a bus stop near there. Then my destination is again a city/town so that goes in the first line in destination and then in the Stop/place I put Hbf for the main transportation hub. You can put in ZOB for main rail station also. Either one will get you in a central location.

Also an explanation of U Bahn and S Bahn and other transportation is explained on this link http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/stadt.htm for getting around stuttgart.

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Public transport in Stuttgart is about the finest I've seen in the world.

There is a dense network of trams, underground trains and buses to get you around the city quickly. It was also highly convenient for trips to outlying towns and the countryside.

Have in mind the final destination of your tram or train so you board from the correct platform. Some trams and trains run along the same track, but have their doors at different levels, so you need to board the tram from the low-level end of the platform.

Everything is operated on the trust system: you are entrusted to have bought a ticket in order to travel. So no queueing to board a bus and no getting stuck in turnstiles. Instead, plainsclothes inspectors board services to do spot checks. Just remember to endorse your ticket on board the train or bus by punching it in the yellow machine when you see one!

You can buy one ticket good for any mode of travel. At the time of our trip, a day ticket cost 4.90 euro for the central zones, 1 and 2. The dispensing machines offer instructions in different languages (press the 'flag' button to change languages) and accept some bank cards. Notes over 20 euro are not accepted.

Bored waiting for your train in the Hbf? Why not play with the train set?? See photo number 2!

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We found getting around Stuttgart easy, public transport is excellent. U, SBahn and plent of buses covered everything we wanted to see. Found the map a little difficult to follow though.
For tourists and conference attendees a 3 day ticket is available from hotels at just 9.50 euro, good value.

I think buses are very easy to use. They have time schedules at the bus stops. HBF is the main train station in the town they are referring to. The ZOB is the main bus terminal. If you don't know what to pay the bus driver just say the stop where you want to go. You can also say the ultimate destination such as Stuttgart and he can give you a ticket all the way there and you don't have to hassle with the machine at the train stations. Email me if you have questions. If you have the time and just want to see where the bus goes and party somewhere just pick the last destination and get off where you want. The bus ticket is good for 2 hours from when you purchase it.

Commuting in Germany and all of Europe for that matter is quite convenient. The trains, metros and buses are readely available. This allows you to go and enjoy the city without worry of having a cocktail or two. Or three... Or more...

The german Public Transportation system is quite easy to understand to the point where even the automated ticket counters have multiple language selection. Not to mention the route planner done in a very basic easy to understand fashion. From these route planners it is quite easy to figure out where you are and where you're going and what train, bus etc. to take. They are all well marked and as you can see in the picture posted, the BIg green "S" signifying S Bahn in German meaning "rail". So, just look for the %"S" or a sign for a big "U" sign for "underground" and you'll do fine! not to mention that anywhere you go, everybody speaks English.