5

I have purchased a Bayern Ticket to use in Munich for a day of travel from Munich Hbf to Neuschwanstein castle and back.

I missed ticking the "local transport" option while booking and have obtained a ticket without the buses included in the itinerary obtained. The Bayern ticket reads:

Gilt 1 Tag ab 09:00 Uhr bis 03:00 Uhr des Folgetages. Sa und So, am 15. August sowie an den in ganz Bayern gültigen gesetzlichen Wochenfeiertagen bereits ab 0:00 Uhr Gilt für beliebig viele Fahrten im Geltungsbereich in Nahverkehrszügen der DB AG (IRE, RE, RB, S) und der teilnehmenden Nichtbundeseigenen Eisenbahnen sowie in teilnehmenden Verkehrsverbünden

which translated as

Applies one day from 09:00 clock until 03:00 clock the following day. Sat and Sun , on August 15, as well as the valid throughout Bavaria legal Week holidays already from 0:00 Clock Valid for unlimited travel within the scope in local trains of the DB AG ( IRE , RE , RB , S ) and the participating non-federally owned railways and in participating transport associations"

Can I still go ahead and use this ticket for any trains/buses between Munich Hbf and Hohenschwangau outside this itinerary printed on the ticket or I am bound to it?

The Bayern ticket as I read applies to all public transport within Bavaria for the indicated time, but having an itinerary printed is getting me confused.

2 Answers 2

2

Yes, you can use any local transportation option that is mentioned on the ticket, for Bavaria, the list is in a pdf document. So this is fine for you.

What is important is that an "itinerary" is different than a "ticket", and in Germany it matters because often you can choose between multiple itineraries to go from an origin to a destination. So, in Germany, a ticket entitles you to use specific trains/buses, in a specific class, for a specific day (for you, regional transportation systems in Bavaria, so no ICE for instance, and the class you pick, your specific day of travel).

There is however no rule on what itinerary you should take (so you can theoretically take a detour to reach your destination). The printed itinerary is more of some help to reach your destination.

3
  • This is not correct in this generality. First, this only holds for flexible ("standard") tickets. There are also tickets bound to specific long-distance trains. Second, you can NOT take a detour: The possible routes are listed on the ticket. (There can be more than one, e.g. Frankfurt-Munich ICE tickets are valid both via Nuernberg or Stuttgart, but those are indeed both listed on the ticket.)
    – npl
    Jul 9, 2018 at 16:09
  • @npl interesting you can post an answer if it is restricted to that. My answer might date a bit, I remember for example having an ICE ticket and my ICE was late enough that I had to change my itinerary and I was told it was fine to take a completely different route, which I did, in order to arrive with a shorter delay.
    – Vince
    Jul 9, 2018 at 19:57
  • Well, this wouldn't be an answer to the question which is about Bayernticket, but I felt some clarification to your answer (which claims sth. much more general) might be in place. --- If your train is late, and you get told so by someone from DB, taking a different route might be fine, but the impression you give is that this is generally fine, which is simply wrong. Otherwise, I could buy a ticket from Munich to Stuttgart and go via Frankfurt (and e.g. stop my trip in Frankfurt which would be been more expensive). This is not allowed, and the valid routings are listed on the ticket.
    – npl
    Jul 9, 2018 at 21:05
3

The exact validities of the BayernTicket are not well documented. The DB page (in German) says verbatim:

Mit dem Bayern-Ticket und dem Bayern-Ticket Nacht können Sie in allen Nahverkehrszügen aller Eisenbahnunternehmen und allen Verbundverkehrsmitteln (S-, U-, Straßenbahn, Bussen) mitfahren. Außerdem können Sie fast alle Linienbusse in Bayern nutzen. Zudem gilt Ihr Bayern-Ticket auch auf ausgewählten Strecken benachbarter Bundesländer und Österreichs – Details dazu finden Sie hier. [link removed]

This translates to:

You can travel with all regional trains of all railway companies and all transport associations (S-trains [suburban], undergrounds, trams, buses) with the Bayern-Ticket and the Bayern-Ticket Nacht. Furthermore, you can use almost all scheduled public buses in Bavaria. Moreover, your Bayern-Ticket is also valid on selected routes in neighbouring states and Austria — details can be found here. [link removed]

This seems to conflict with what it says on the ticket, don’t ask me why. A list of the buses you cannot use can be found here. The list is very short considering that you are allowed to use every other scheduled regional bus. It basically boils down to a few where an extra toll fee is required, that are operated by nominally private companies and a few other weirdities. Most importantly for a trip from Munich to Neuschwanstein: All buses that you will reasonably encounter on the way are covered.

The itinerary you got is just for your information. With a flatrate ticket like the BayernTicket, you can do anything. For example, rather than taking the route via Buchloe and Kaufbeuren to Füssen by train, you may choose to pass by Lake Starnberg to Weilheim by train and then do the rest of the trip to Neuschwanstein on a bus through the Pfaffenwinkel. You can also decide that the Allgäu is boring (no, don’t do that ;) ) and visit Salzburg, Nuremberg, Sonneberg in Thuringia or Aschaffenburg instead.

The most important things you need to be aware of: - Do not take long-distance trains (ICE, IC, EC, RJ) - Put all the travellers’ names on the ticket (otherwise it will be invalid).

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .