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Transport strike: How to navigate Berlin without U-Bahn or buses

Public transport workers in Berlin are joining nationwide strikes, bringing U-Bahn trains, trams and most buses to standstill in the capital until 2pm on Friday. Here’s how you can get across to the city.

Published: 29 February 2024 11:29 CET
U-bahn station is closed
The entrances to the subway tracks at Alexanderplatz are barred due to an all-day warning strike on February 29th and March 1st until 2 pm. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jörg Carstensen

Since 3 am on Thursday morning, Verdi trade union has brought the second warning strike against BVG this week. Unlike Monday’s strike, which didn’t result in serious disruptions for most transportation lines, U-Bahns, trams and buses are mostly expected to be cancelled until Friday afternoon.

In a city with the lowest rate of car ownership in the country (fewer than 350 cars per 1,000 inhabitants according to Civitas), public transportation closures hit hard, and the majority of Berliners are directly affected.

READ ALSO: Where are German transport strikes taking place Thursday and Friday?

But there are other ways to get around, and until 2 pm on Friday you really don’t have a choice. Here are the best ways to get across Berlin, or around your Kiez, without U-bahn, tram, or buses.

Two feet

With a sunny 11C Thursday and a partly sunny 14C Friday, there’s no reason not to to just go by foot – at least for shorter trips around your neighbourhood.

People who walk to work or school generally gain improved physical and mental health, and also report lower stress levels, especially when the habit is maintained over time.

So if you live close enough that you’re able to do so, and just haven’t given it a try before, the strike could be an opportunity to start a new healthy habit.

Bikes and e-scooters

As opposed to the Netherlands, Germany’s not really known for being a bike-friendly country, but plenty of Berliners commute across the capital city on their bikes every day.

If you’ve put your bike into storage for the winter, Thursday may be the day to pump up those tires and bring it out.

If you don’t have a bike, you can try borrowing a shared bike or e-scooter with one of the local bike and scooter sharing apps.

Each of the various scooter and bike rental companies tend to have their own apps that you need to download and sign-up for before renting a two-wheeled vehicle.

But a couple of them work with other ride-sharing apps you may already have: Lime scooters can be rented through the Uber app, and Bolt also offers a scooter share service in Berlin. Alternatively, if you have the BVG’s ‘Jelbi’ app, a number of scooter and bike services can be accessed there.

bird on an e-scooter

A sparrow sits on the handlebars of an e-scooter at Ostbahnhof Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kira Hofmann

E-scooter companies have been preparing for Berlin’s transportation strike, reportedly putting more vehicles out at high-traffic locations leading up to the start of the strike.

READ ALSO: ‘Almost half’ of Germans in favour of ban on e-scooters

If you’re more comfortable on a bike, Nextbike is Berlin’s most popular and available bike sharing service. Increasingly Nextbikes can be found outside of Berlin’s S-Bahn ring, but it can be a bit tricky to park the bikes at the end of the journey as you head toward the Stadtrand, or outskirts of the city. Nextbikes need to be parked in designated parking zones, and beyond the S-bahn ring, these are typically only found a bike rental stations.

S-Bahn and regional trains

Say what you want about Deutsche Bahn, but when BVG shuts down, DB can get you there.

S-Bahns and regional DB trains are mostly still operational in Berlin, so passengers looking to travel across the city can likely find a route that works.

READ ALSO: Why a Deutsche Bahn job ad sparked laughs – and likely a few applicants

Naturally, if you have one of the nationwide €49 Deutschlandtickets (whether purchased through DB, a transport association like BVG or another transport), or one of Berlin’s regional €29 tickets, then you can ride the local trains freely in the city.

READ ALSO: What are the rules of Berlin’s new €29 travel pass?

Car sharing and taxi services

Car sharing has gained popularity in Berlin in recent years with a reported 8,000 share vehicles registered in the city. 

The largest car share services are Miles and ShareNow/Free2Move – each accessed with smartphone apps that require a valid credit card and driver’s licence to be activated. Miles charges rentals by distance and ShareNow charges rentals by time.

Both car share services expect increased demand during strikes, and car shares generally cannot be pre-booked. However cars can be booked for 24 hours, or even several days, so if you are planning to use one for a longer period.

Interestingly, according to Berlin Morgenpost, car sharing can actually be cheaper than Uber or taxis services for some trips – the local newspaper suggests that a single trip from City West to BER Airport costs about half as much as the same trip in an Uber. 

That said, if you don’t have a driver’s licence that is valid in Germany, you may have to settle for taxi services after all. Traditional taxis can be booked online, by phone or by app via Taxi Berlin. Alternatively, many passengers use rideshare apps like Bolt, Freenow, or Uber, which can be more convenient in some cases, and often cheaper.

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Reader question: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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