Fare dodging in Hannover

As of August 2007 – the fares quoted are those charged at the time.

I openly admit that I have quite a few prejudices about Germans, as well as Austrians. And here in Hannover, there are plenty of opportunities to put some of those prejudices to the test.

Rule number one: Be punctual and athletic

Every day, I have to travel for around half an hour to 45 minutes to get to the office by public transport. Plenty of time to study German habits. Rule number one: Be punctual and athletic. If a bus timetable says quarter to nine, the Germans mean it. The bus arrives at exactly 8.45. Or even at 8.44.

In Vienna, that would be unthinkable. If a timetable in Vienna says quarter to nine, it means: The bus is running today and may possibly arrive before nine.

Almost all the buses operated by üstra – the city’s public transport operator – are accessible to disabled passengers. But whoever came up with the idea of fitting seats sideways to the direction of travel was surely a genius who cannot be praised highly enough. So if you would like to pay for the privilege of feeling sick, just sit on one of these sideways-facing seats and take a short bus ride. Some vehicles even have more seats facing sideways or backwards than forwards. A single ticket for one zone costs 2 euros in Hannover. In Vienna, it costs 2.20 euros on the bus (Wiener Linien), or 1.70 euros if bought in advance.

Not every stop counts

Another peculiarity here in Hannover is that buses do not necessarily stop at every bus stop. Combined with experience of Vienna, this can really get the adrenaline pumping for an Austrian unfamiliar with the area. In Vienna, the bus does stop at (almost) every stop, but the announcements telling you which stop you are at are wrong. They are often two or three stops behind. So you have just been told that you should have got off three stops ago. The only reason a Viennese bus stops is to give passengers a chance to see the stop’s name outside and decide whether they have reached their destination.

So when a seasoned and mistrustful Viennese person travels around an unfamiliar city, it takes some time to regain their confidence. If you hear “Altwarmbüchen” over the loudspeaker, that is exactly where you are. (Please don’t ask what I’m doing in Altwarmbüchen.)

Because the bus does not stop at every stop, you need quick reactions. By the time you hear the name of the stop, you are usually only 30 metres away from it. Fortunately, you do not have to leap up as if stung by a wasp and dash for the door, as there is a stop button next to almost every seat that tells the driver to stop when pressed – provided it works.

Germany is a great sporting nation, so it is hardly surprising that its timetables were written by highly trained athletes. I have to change twice on my way to work. I catch the connecting underground trains if I move at a hurried jog. If I miss the first connection, I naturally miss the second one too, making me around 20 minutes late overall.

All in all, then, the Vienna and Hannover systems are equally good or bad. On average, I would probably reach work just as quickly.

The ticket inspectors

Over the past 14 years, I had my ticket checked on the Vienna underground a total of three times. Here in Hannover, it happened three times on my very first day. Luckily, I had already bought a monthly pass. Because the ticket inspectors – known as “Schwarzkappler” in Vienna – are a little unusual in Hannover, to put it mildly.

Just imagine a horde of grim-faced, bald-headed thugs in their thirties, carrying inspectors’ ID cards instead of baseball bats. They are highly trained in every form of martial art and spend each day hunting for a fare dodger.

I have deliberately used the singular here because, for a long time, I thought there were no fare dodgers at all in Hannover. But after around 100 ticket inspections, I finally saw one get caught. First they shouted at him, then they threw him to the ground, then they jumped up and down on him. At the next stop, they grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out. Then they locked him in the public kennel for fare dodgers, and finally he had to pay another 40 euros. Poor sod.