If you travel by bus, tram or train in the Ruhr Region, you’re lucky because you only need one ticket for the region’s public transport.
Passengers can thank the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) for this service.
It provides inter-urban local transportation in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.
The gigantic transportation area covering more than 5,000 sq km encompasses 16 cities and five counties, stretching from Haltern am See in the North to Dortmund in the East, from Langenfeld in the south all the way to Mönchengladbach and to the Dutch border in the West.
The VRR transports around 4 million people every day, crisscrossing the region between these points and reliably transports its passengers into the last corner of the Ruhr.
And that’s not nearly all.
Through the merger with the neighboring Verkehrsgemeinschaft Niederrhein (VGN) and the harmonization of tariffs on January 1, 2012, the network is being expanded to include the counties of Wesel and Kleve, adding about 2,300 sq km.
The VRR is so sure that its passengers will reach their destinations efficiently that they are given a transportation guarantee as a part of the trip.
In case of a delay of more than 20 minutes at the departing station (except for strikes, acts of nature and bomb threats) and when there is no alternative transportation line, a passenger can take a taxi, for example, and is compensated for the expense with up to € 30.
See our current NEW IN THE CITY Ruhr Region 2011/12 for more on VRR fares and tariffs.
