[PRCo] Re: quick reply...Proof of Payment in Germany

[Herb Brannon]

Good narrative. Thanks for the information. As I said in one of my posts, it will be very interesting to see this system in operation in Cleveland. 
robert simpson <bobs at pacbell.net> wrote:  This is probably way off-topic but is directly related to inter-urban and intra-urban transit systems.

When I lived in Frankfurt-Mein, Germany in the early 1980's, I remember the transit fare checkers boarding the trains. They were not in uniform and wore ordinary business attire. They would board the cars from all entrances/exits and, once the train was underway, they would proceed down the aisles and show a wallet with a badge on one side and an ID card on the other side to the riders. The badge looked similar to a policeman's shield. They would politely ask to see the ticket and it wasn't done in an intimidating manner. As I recall, most of them were multi-lingual and usually spoke English very well. I saw a few people given citations and were usually given the opportunity to pay the fine immediately or to have a citation sent by mail. I never observed any disorderly conduct or attempt made to flee the train. Very difficult to flee when the train is traveling at high speed. The fare inspectors usually departed the train at the next station and, I assume,
boarded the next train traveling the other way. There were only a very few who did not have tickets. I seem to remember that they did not necessarily go to every passenger but usually inquired of most of the riders. They only had a short time from one station to the next to perform this duty and these inspections were usually done on the longer runs. They would accompany those who did not have a ticket or pass off the train at the next station and would be seen writing a citation. I never witnessed an actual physical arrest being made. The actual ticket was printed on rather ordinary looking paper and showed where purchased, time and date, and the line for which the ticket was intended. It has a printed background with their logo. There were always discard bins at the end of the runs to prevent litter.

Frankfurt, like most Eurpoean cities, also had a monthly "Pass" system for which you went to one of the central stations in the downtown area and went to the service counter. It wasn't very expensive - I seem to recall about DM50 per month but this number might be in error because of the passage of years. The Pass gave you unlimited access to their transit system - but some of the longer routes (e.g. to the airport, soccer stadium, etc.) required purchasing additional fare from the fare machines. If you had a monthly pass, the fare inspectors would glance at the pass, look for the code marking for the current month, say "thank you" (they were always polite) and proceed to the next person. On exta-fare runs, they would look at both your pass and the extra fare ticket.

The trains were always on-time (to the second) and extremely clean inside and out. It was one of the best ways available to travel around Frankfurt. The longest interval between trains was twelve minutes - and that was at night after 9 P.M. Most, but not all, the trains stopped operating at around 1 A.M. Most riders picked-up a copy of the schedule either at the fare machine or on the train itself. By planning ahead, travelers would arrive at the station/stop practically when the train was pulling into the station or stop and board immediately.

Each station and stop had fare machines and would accept coins only. Interestingly, in the event the fare machine "broke down", the riders would queue-up and patiently wait for a repair person to perform the maintenance. The thought of boarding the train without a ticket was foreign to them.

Stops and stations were announced by a voice annunciator prior to arrival and was usually in German only. Exceptions were on the long lines from the Airport where the announcements were also in English and French. Announcements were also made advising that the train was being taken out of service and that a transfer to a different train had to be made. My knowledge of German was very poor but I learned to listen for a key word which sounded like "Ummsteigen" (I think it means something like "detour") which meant that something serious was going to happen and to follow the other riders.

The trains had a pantograph-like device to draw the electricity from the overhead wires. I was told that their system used Alternating Current and used silicon rectifiers (SCR's) to control the speed. Someone mentioned to me that the voltage was 660 volts. I would have guessed it was higher since the houses have 220 volts. The operator was in a separate compartment and was isolated from the passengers. I don't know if the door was locked or not. 

I use the word "train" rather indiscriminately because most Eurpoean cities join together several cars and the length varies depending upon anticipated passenger traffic. A "train" might be only one car in length during non-peak periods or several cars long during peak periods. The length of the train was limited to the length of the shortest platform on the route.

There were two main classifications of transit lines - the S-Bahn (Strassenbahn) and the U-Bahn (Undterstrassenbahn). The S-Bahn could be associated with streetcars and the U-Bahn as being underground (subways). The cars themselves appeared identical in appearance. The S-Bahns often didn't run directly on the street but were on their own right-of-way immediately beside the street.

In Frankfurt, and most of Europe, the train is the way to go! Taxi fare from the airport to downtown Frankfurt was close to 40DM depending on how long the trip took (they use taxi meters the same as they do here) and took almost one hour, but the transit fare was only 4DM - and took less than 15 minutes. Remember, these were the prices back in the early 1980's!

Oops, sorry! I hadn't planned to ramble on so long. Those who know me are aware of this "problem" I have.

Bob 
from California


Herb Brannon