When I first arrived in Berlin I scrapped by, stretching one ticket to its full 2-hour limit. Then I learned the wonders of the 4 ticket (4-Fahrten-Karte) which offered slight discounts by buying 4 at a time. Finally, I caved and bought the 10-am ticket which offers a month of travel, providing you wait to ride til after 10:00.

The sheer options of tickets seemed incomprehensible, like another language I didn’t understand. In fact, back in 2007, the amount of info in English was staggeringly little. But today’s magnificent transport system, provided primarily by a cooperation between BVG and Deutsche Bahn, is easily navigated by newbies. I have moved via it, wrote articles about how to ride it like a pro, and appreciate its usefulness on a near daily basis.

Kottbusser Tor station. PHOTO: Ebe Porter

And now – many years later – my family is a proud Abo card holder, a yearly account with full access to Berlin’s comprehensive transport system. In short, I thought I had mastered the system. Until I was riding to work one day with my card safely in my wallet and the ticket checkers did a sweep and pulled me off the train.

“Do you have another ticket?”

“Uh, no. What’s the problem?”

“This card is expired.”

What!? I had never heard of the card expiring. We had signed up for it 5 years ago…apparently the card’s period of validity. Examining it as I waited for the attendant to draw up my ticket, I saw there was no expiration printed on the card. I pointed this out to the checker, who noted that with an uninterested shrug and confiscated the card. He directed me to an office near Jannowitzbrücke and I glumly made my way to my work – late – mentally preparing myself for the bureaucratic nightmare I was sure to find when sorting this mess out.

I was no longer a zen Berlin transport master.

First, I went to the office I was directed to at Holzmarktstraße 15. This is BVG’s main customer service center in Berlin and where tickets should be paid. It was listed with a vague map of how to get there on the ticket, and once I found the street it was well marked with yellow arrows and a large “BVG” sign. This reflects the recent effort and large ad campaign the company has been involved in to improve its image (just check out this catchy video, “Is’ mir egal” saying you can do whatever you want as long as you pay).

Unfortunately, this ease was erased when the arrows led me to a blocked off area. Hmmm….needs some updating. I wandered for a moment and finally found the entry, pulled my number, and impatiently waited to be called in the summer heat. Just as free wifi is now offered in the U-Bahn stations, you could also cruise the net here. But I spent my time idly watching other people confusedly follow the arrows and eventually end up inside through the large windows.

Finally it was my turn. Nervously, I launched into my shaky German speech, but it was unnecessary as the administrator quickly switched to decent English. Had I renewed the card yet? Uh, I couldn’t do that here? Apparently not.

So I was off on another errand, this time to the Deutsche Bahn S-Bahn customer service station. But even though that was where we bought the original membership, that wasn’t the right office either. Each time I talked to someone there was much discussion and muttering how this wasn’t right. I was also repeatedly assured the card should have been sent to me. Yeah, well, clearly – it wasn’t.

I finally tracked it down to the main customer DB customer service center at Ostbahnhof. Tucked away in a corner we had never seen upstairs, the previous office had called ahead so they were waiting for us and offered some actual customer service. My card had been waiting there for practically 5 months since the old one had expired. The original paper application (which they still had!) had been incorrectly filled out by a DB employee, listing me as a man and other non-vital errors. The real problem seems that when we moved, we had been slow to put a name on our mailbox. In the 7 days or so it was unmarked, the card had been sent, deemed undeliverable, and returned to the DB office.  And since this was technically our fault, the DB employee cheerfully explained, we were responsible for the fine.

That’s right; after that whole debacle of chasing down the card, I was sent back to the original BVG office to pay my fine.

How to Pay BVG Fine

This peculiar turn of events will – in all likelihood – never happen to you. At least I hope not. But you may very well need to pay a Berlin transport fine at some point. There were many other melancholy souls waiting with me both times I went to the office. Some had simply forgot their student/monthly/whatever pass and been checked and only needed the pay the 7 euro penalty like me. This only works for non transferable tickets.

Other people had been Schwarzfahren “riding black” without a ticket and had to pay the steep price of 60 euro. While I saw some people valiantly arguing, it seems nearly impossible to get off without paying a fine. And if you choose to ignore it, it can affect your schufa (credit score), and after three tickets your case can be brought before the courts. Visitors have reported that the fines have managed to follow them to their home countries. While the full 60 euros is expensive, I think it is worth the peace of mind to just pay it.

Also note that while ticket checkers may be plain clothes, they must provide an ID and may require payment on the spot (If they do ask for payment, never pay cash and get a receipt). There have been rampant scams in the past, although most of that has been dealt with. Today the allegations are often that the ticket checkers are too severe. You can try false address, old id, or another language, but they aren’t dissuaded easily. Saying you are a visitor seems to just fill them with glee. Welcome to Berlin.

Less well-known rules and tips of Berlin Transport:

• You can only ride in one-direction on a single ticket.
• You can take one passenger on monthly tickets after 20:00 and on weekends.
• Kids ride free til the age of 6.
• For bikes you must buy a bike ticket.
• You can now buy the ticket via the BVG ap, but you really must buy it before you get on. I have heard people still get fined if they clearly just bought the ticket.
• Once you have been fined, you can ride on that ticket for the rest of the day.

This is just one of those times where you think you have got a handle on life abroad, before it knocks you down again. It used to be a daily occurrence, but luckily this happens less now that we have been here for almost 8 year. But it still happens. No matter how accustomed you get to your new life, it is easy to conflate frustrations with bureaucracy into a system-wide failure, or a flaw in the country itself. In reality, it is just another thing to accept as part of the experience living abroad.