Local public transport would already be almost competitive on the entire route from Rosenheim to Murnau. There is a train station at the start and finish, and the train journey via Munich usually takes around two hours. By car, the direct route via the B 472 is half an hour faster in the best case scenario. However, on some sections, for example from Miesbach to the railway-free Bad Heilbrunn, you are much more likely to reach your destination by car – at least as long as public transport does not take the direct route. That’s exactly what the Alpine bus, which has been planned for years, is supposed to do: create a public east-west connection along Bavaria’s mountains that doesn’t lead inconveniently in the direction of Munich and then out again. Although he has now accumulated some delays, the Alpine bus could now slowly pick up speed.
The express line on the edge of the Alps, urgently longed for by climate protectors, transport changers and also by tourism advertisers, had even made it into a government declaration by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). That was before the state elections in 2018, and it was not due to the Free State and its financing commitments that nothing has come of the bus plans for the Oberland to this day. The people of Allgäu had long since rejected the original idea of extending the bus route in the west to Kempten. Two years ago, the city of Rosenheim in the far east also jumped ship. Their comparatively small area would not have been crucial given the length of the line, but the connection to the Munich-Salzburg railway line and the city’s financial contribution would have been.
For the independent district of Rosenheim and the five remaining districts of Rosenheim, Miesbach, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, this bus route will also be an extra pay deal if viewed alone. They will usually have to pay a whopping six-figure amount for their better connection every hour, depending on the route share, although the Free State initially wants to cover two thirds and in the long term half of the foreseeable deficit. To this end, he declared the Alpine bus to be a “nationally important bus line”, as it has been around since 2021 between Coburg and Gersfeld and as a multi-part express bus ring around Munich. A corresponding railway line on the edge of the Alps would be entirely at the expense of the state anyway.
In the spring of this year, the majority of the city councilors in the Rosenheim transport committee were convinced by the Alpine bus. The city and the three eastern districts will soon be completely part of the Munich transport association area; Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen could follow in the coming years. Admittedly, joining the MVV initially costs money, which is why some decision-makers were thinking about saving the Alpine bus instead. On the other hand, a uniform tariff area makes it easier to set up such a cross-district line. The Germany ticket, which is also valid for the Alpine bus, could bring additional passengers.
Because of the necessary public tender, the Alpine bus will not actually run for two years at the earliest, with the usual timetable change in December 2025. To do this, however, the councils in the city of Rosenheim and in all five districts have to use the one developed in the Tölzer district office, which has now been slightly modified and is also slightly more expensive agree to the plans that have become. The environmental committee of the Tölz district council recently did this. This Monday, the district committee and on Friday the district council in Weilheim will be dealing with the Alpine bus and the district’s membership of the MVV. On Thursday, the environmental committee in Garmisch will have the Alpine bus on the agenda.