Public Transportation

Pub­lic urban trans­porta­tion ser­vice in and around Stuttgart is offered by Verkehrs- und Tar­ifver­bund Stuttgart (VVS). This includes bus­es, the U‑Bahn and the S‑Bahn. U‑Bahn is short for Unter­grund­bahn, even though many lines are above ground. These lines have more dense cov­er­age, although fre­quen­cy varies by line. S‑Bahn is short for Stadtschnell­bahn. The stops are far­ther apart and the net­work extends to neigh­bor­ing towns. You can click to access the offi­cial web­site in English. 

You can pur­chase VVS tick­ets as well as rail tick­ets in the vend­ing machine(s) found at every tram stop and train sta­tion. You must pur­chase your tick­et before you enter the tram/train. If you buy a 4‑punch mul­ti-tick­et, be sure to val­i­date it by punch­ing it for each use. U‑Bahn val­i­da­tion is done inside the tram, while S‑Bahn val­i­da­tion is done on the plat­form. Bus tick­ets can be pur­chased from the bus dri­ver on the bus.

S‑Bahn vend­ing machines are ful­ly elec­tron­ic, so you can eas­i­ly change the lan­guage to Eng­lish. For the U‑Bahn vend­ing machines, it helps to know the mean­ing behind a few of the but­tons. For a sin­gle tick­et, press the man icon on the top left. To the right is the button for chil­dren or pets (yes, dogs need a tick­et!) Just under that is “Kurz,” a tick­et that allows you to go just three stops. To the right is for bicy­cles, but that’s not need­ed except dur­ing morn­ing rush hour.

The third row shows one per­son for a day, “Tag,” or a group for a day. The group tick­et allows up to five peo­ple to trav­el togeth­er all day – but the tick­et hold­er must be with them! The next row offers a week or a month, but in gen­er­al for month or year tick­ets it’s best to go to one of the offices (for exam­ple inside the sta­tions at Char­lot­ten­platz or Haupt­bahn­hof) and get a reg­is­tered poly­go card with a pho­to. That way you don’t have to wor­ry about it get­ting lost or stolen. You can pay at the machine with cash or cred­it card, but not EC cards.

Even sim­pler is to use the VVS Mobil app, avail­able from the Apple Store or Google Play Store. You can buy all kinds of tick­ets, find the best route to your des­ti­na­tion, check upcom­ing depar­tures and arrivals, and more. There’s noth­ing like check­ing exact­ly when your train arrives and only need­ing to arrive on the plat­form 1 minute beforehand!

There are few­er con­nec­tions avail­able at night, par­tic­u­lar­ly on week­nights. For­tu­nate­ly, the SSB Flex app, avail­able from the Apple Store or Google Play Store, can help you find the best way to your intend­ed des­ti­na­tion. It will cal­cu­late the route using trains, bus­es, and/or the shut­tle routes offered as the “Flex” exten­sion to the Stuttgart pub­lic trans­porta­tion net­work. The shared shut­tle rides do involve a charge, which is dis­count­ed for hold­ers of a valid VVS ticket.

Long-dis­tance trans­porta­tion ser­vice is pro­vid­ed by Deutsche Bahn AG. Click to be for­ward­ed to the offi­cial web­site in Eng­lish. The DB App is a fan­tas­tic tool that not only lets you book DB tick­ets but also local pub­lic trans­porta­tion wher­ev­er you go. Plus, you can store your tick­ets in-app, get push noti­fi­ca­tions about delays or route changes, and even map your route door to door.