District of Munich: Express buses should make commuting easier – District of Munich

It is shortly after noon and a low, cold December sun makes the Furth train station, which is covered in hoar frost, glitter. The S 3 runs every 20 minutes: first in the direction of Holzkirchen, then, three minutes later, on the other track in the direction of Mammendorf. In the meantime the platform is empty. But not all stops in the district – and not at all times – are so sleepy. For many commuters, the way to work means stress: multiple transfers, from one overcrowded train to the next. Quite a few even have to take the detour via Munich city center to get from one place in the district to another. This not only costs time, it also costs nerves – and because of technical problems and construction sites it works better, sometimes worse and sometimes not at all.

For this reason, the Munich transport association MVV launched a new ring bus line at the beginning of December: Seven express bus lines, four of which run in the district, are intended to create a time-saving and climate-friendly alternative to commuting by car or detours through the city. Fewer stops, shorter routes, new connections. Departure is every 20 minutes on weekdays and every hour on Sundays and public holidays. “This is exactly how local public transport has to work!”, Says a delighted Transport Minister Kerstin Schreyer (CSU), who has promised state co-financing. Sounds very promising. But how good are the express buses really?

Yannik Schuster is waiting at the Furth S-Bahn station near Oberhaching for the express bus X 203 to Haar.

(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)

Back at Furth train station: It is 1.58 p.m., but there is still nothing to be seen of the X 203 bus (departure 1.59 p.m.). According to the timetable, it takes a good hour and a half and two changes to get across the district from here to the Garching Research Center stop. That’s half an hour and one more change than for the S-Bahn and U-Bahn.

The bus finally pulls up a few minutes late. But nobody seems to be interested in the timetable anyway: 20 minutes have already passed by the time the X 203 starts moving again. Without any further passengers, it rolls off, on the A 995 and A 8 in the direction of Hohenbrunn and on via Putzbrunn to Haar. The bus takes 33 minutes for this. There is more going on on the road than on the rails: traffic lights, traffic, a civil patrol with blue lights and sirens. Those who want to get to know the district will get their money’s worth in the express bus.

Local transport: colleague Lukas Koperek waits at the Furth near Oberhaching stop for the S-Bahn in the direction of Munich.

Colleague Lukas Koperek waits at the Furth near Oberhaching stop for the S-Bahn in the direction of Munich.

(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)

If you take the train instead, the route looks like this: At 2:13 p.m., with a one-minute delay, the S 3 towards Mammendorf arrives at Furth station. Bus X 203, which should have been on the road for a quarter of an hour, is still at the stop at this point. According to the timetable, the S-Bahn takes 23 minutes to Marienplatz, but the one minute delay will be made up somewhere between the ten stops that will be served by then, and so there are exactly ten minutes at Marienplatz, around the U 6 direction To get hold of the Garching Research Center.

The display on the track destroys the hope of a punctual arrival in Garching: “Due to repair work in the Fröttmaning area, there is currently a line interruption on the U 6 line.” The announcement only seems to have been properly received when the train stops in Fröttmaning and the driver announces the irritated passengers to get off and take the replacement train on the opposite platform: “It should come in ten to fifteen minutes.”

The track is full, apparently still stranded from the train before. “Typical here again,” mocked a woman with two full shopping bags. “I can not say more about that.” Among those waiting is a young man with curly hair and a briefcase over his shoulder. His name is Hendrik, he says, and he studies physics at the Technical University. He sees the delay calmly: “The subway, you have to say, actually runs all the time.” Several times a week he takes the U 6 from Marienplatz to the research center. Although he has read about the new express buses, they do not offer any alternative for this route. “Occasionally, if there are any problems like today, you ask yourself: Hm, couldn’t they organize it better? But on the whole I don’t need to complain too loudly.” He shrugs his shoulders. “The world is a building site.”

Local traffic: From Oberhaching, take the X 203 line first to Haar, from there the X 202 line to Feldkirchen and via Aschheim and Ismaning to Garching-Hochbrück.

From Oberhaching, the X 203 line first goes to Haar, from there the X 202 line continues to Feldkirchen and via Aschheim and Ismaning to Garching-Hochbrück.

(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)

Back in the express bus: Get off at Haar train station, take the X 202 bus to Feldkirchen, Aschheim, Ismaning and, after a total of 42 minutes, Garching-Hochbrück. This time there are three passengers on the bus – at least. You are impressed by the new express bus routes. Tara Wiredu from Garching, for example, has recently started using the X 202 regularly to get to school in Haar. Fewer changes are the decisive factor. And yet the stops are orphaned, the rows of seats empty. One question arises: do people even know about the new offer? Yes, says MVV press spokeswoman Franziska Hartmann. The marketing concept for online advertisements and radio spots is having an impact.

The conversations with passengers feed doubts about the campaign. Christian Ludwig from Fischerhäuser, for example, notes that he only found out about the existence of the express buses immediately before boarding the X 202. Nevertheless, the first impression is positive: “The line shortens my travel time to Hochbrück by a quarter of an hour compared to the underground.” A passenger from Aschheim who does not want to reveal his name also did not know about the new buses. Actually, he was waiting for another line. He goes to Haar or Garching more often, he says, because the express bus is quite useful: “I think that’s great. It’s almost as fast as driving. The express bus is therefore a real alternative.”

The new express bus routes offer three recognizable advantages: firstly, time savings for shorter tangential routes within the district, secondly, relief of the S-Bahn and U-Bahn network in the urban area, thirdly, financial plus points for commuters in the district. If you don’t have to go to Munich, but have just been forced to change there, you can in future forego fare zone M when purchasing tickets and save one or two euros.

Kirchheim’s mayor Maximilian Böltl (CSU) expresses himself hopefully about the connection to his community: “Commuters from our community benefit from short distances and fast connections to the underground and S-Bahn, without having to take detours through Munich city center.” And MVV is also satisfied with the start. Nevertheless, press spokeswoman Hartmann admits: “Especially in the current situation with restrictions due to the pandemic, new lines need not just a few days, but rather months or years to settle in.”

The replacement train for the U 6 finally arrives on the platform in Fröttmaning. The woman with the shopping bags and the physics student Hendrik get in quickly. But there is no need to rush: the train has been standing on the platform for a while with the doors open. Only when it is just as cold inside as outside does he lurch, at minimum speed to Garching-Hochbrück – a stretch that takes him twice as long as planned. The train arrives at the Garching research center around 3:30 p.m., delayed by a good 20 minutes.

Local transport: Done: the express bus arrives at the Forschungszentrum in Garching bus stop 25 minutes late.

Done: the express bus arrives at the Forschungszentrum in Garching stop 25 minutes late.

(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)

The express bus was scheduled to arrive six minutes later, at 3:36 p.m. But even this goal was too ambitious. Only after a two-hour journey, with a 25-minute delay, does the bus journey from Furth train station to the research center come to an end – again without any further passengers. In the meantime it has become even colder and also darker. Dusk is slowly setting in.

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