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January 24, 2011

With a daily ridership roughly the size of Ireland’s population, Berlin’s transportation network is worth taking a moment to appreciate. A comprehensive network of express, local and underground trains complimented by trams, ferries and buses, this organizational wonder ranks among the best in the world. Comprised of the BVG (Bee-Vow-Geh), Berlin’s metropolitan transportation authority, as well as the Berlin SBahn which is operated by the national rail carrier, Deutsche Bahn, the network is a perpetual work in progress and has been so since its inception over a century ago. To explain the network in very basic terms, the city center, Mitte, is encircled by a ring line that intersects with a cross laid over it. A web of subways and buses, along with trams, integrates with this circle and cross, allowing for a large urban area with varying density to be connected very efficiently, with general ease and speed. Largely taking its current form before World War II, the network was built for a very different city.

Berlin’s population in 1939 was nearly a fourth larger, and outwards development was expanding the boundaries of the city at a rapid rate. In 2010, Berlin is left with a transportation grid that can easily accommodate millions more and less central areas with rapid and effective connections to the city center. Aesthetically the system is an eclectic mix of pre-war eloquence, post-war modernism and 21st century glass and steel construction, all coming together to provide a rather clear metaphor for Berlin as a whole.

In the time since reunification, Berlin’s transportation system has made massive advances. In the early 1990’s, the city was faced with several overwhelming tasks, and has responded fantastically to each. First, the transportation grids of the two separate Berlins had to be reintegrated; dozens of rail lines had to be reconnected and damage dating back to the war was finally addressed. Filled in subway tunnels where cleared and “ghost” stations in the border areas were reopened. Berlin also constructed a new central station, Hauptbahnhof, which opened in 2006 and allows Germany’s largest city to integrate into the national (and European) rail network effectively in all directions.

Currently several major construction projects are underway, including new subway access through the city core and a new transit center at the Eastern Cross, Ostkreuz. Other extensions are planned and major improvements are being made to the systems rolling stock and logistics network, all to the benefit of the daily rider.

While having access to this world-class transportation system, Germans (and Berliners) also have a very high car ownership rate, allowing them even more choices in transportation. Complimenting the public transportation network is an equally effective and well-maintained autobahn system that allows for rapid movement between the urban center and suburbs, as well as within central Berlin. Berlin’s decentralized form and generally low density makes car ownership, even in the very center, possible and reasonable. Few cities of such size can boast such an expansive and diverse plan for moving people on a daily basis, qualities that undoubtedly make Berlin a competitive and attractive location to live, work and invest.