Public Transportation & The German Honor System

Modern Art in Frankfurt

Part of the wonderful experience of living abroad is the ability to truly study a new culture and society. Traveling quickly from place to place and packing as much as possible into a vacation is always fun, but what I enjoy about this trip is the freedom I have to slow down, to examine the new settings around me, and to try to learn. Even though I am living in an atypical German home, I still have had the chance to learn much about the culture here. The European way of life is different than the American; not necessarily better or worse, just different. There are details of daily life, big and small, that are very different than what I am used to. In my blog posts I will try to point these out--from the trivial and absurd to the ones that we could all learn from.

I tried my hand at the German public transportation system for the first time on Tuesday. As Nina briefed me on the bus and train that I needed to take, she mentioned that I should buy a ticket but that it wasn't a necessity. It turns out that in German, public transportation is built on a system of trust. Travelers are expected to have a ticket and to hold themselves accountable whether it gets checked or not. There are regular ticket checks on the busses and trains, but it is more likely than not that you won't have to present a ticket. 

So, I boarded the #6 bus with full intention of purchasing my ticket, but when no one else went up to the bus driver to pay, I stopped--not wanting to cause a disruption or be targeted as an ignorant American. I found a window seat, worrying slightly about not having a ticket. I realized, however, that a nearly empty bus at 10 AM on a Tuesday was unlikely to draw the attention of a ticket-checker. Within a few minutes I was exiting at the train station like nothing had ever happened. 

Kaiserstrasse with Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (train station) in distance

Germany is probably one of the few places where this system works. I made sure to buy a tageskarte--a day pass--before boarding the train into Frankfurt. I felt slightly guilty not living up to the German honor code, and I realize now that it's not saving an extra Euro if I am not holding myself accountable. In America, or in Britain, Italy, and probably most places in the world, this system would never work. The Germans buy into this method of public transportation (perhaps because they think so highly of themselves) and everything runs smoothly. 

I am fortune to be in a place that values public transportation. It's easy for me to take a bus wherever I wish in Bad Homburg. The S-Bahn and the U-Bahn rail networks run regularly throughout the towns and small cities of the greater Frankfurt region. For eight Euros, I can take any train in and around Frankfurt--all day long if I wish. Another perk of the European train network is the rail passes. I have already purchased two, two-month passes that allow me to take a long-distance ICE train to anywhere in Germany and some of the surrounding countries. I'll try to get maximum usage out of my passes, and they will be especially great in October when all of the schools and sports programs shut down for two weeks or more. I like to think that I am here to play soccer and volunteer in a school, and that the travel is just a perk, but I know that I will make some of my greatest memories when I hop aboard a train and ride off to somewhere new.