Stuttgart Getting there & around

Getting around

Public transport

From slowest to fastest, Stuttgart’s public transport network (www.ssb-ag.de and www.vvs.de, both in German) consists of a Zahnradbahn (rack railway), buses, the Strassenbahn (tramway), Stadtbahn lines (light rail lines whose names begin with U; underground in the city centre), S-Bahn lines (suburban rail lines named S1 through to S6) and Regionalbahn lines (regional trains whose names begin with R). On Friday and Saturday there are night buses (their names begin with N) with departures from Schlossplatz at 1.11am, 2.22am and 3.33am.

For travel within the city, single tickets are €1.80, and four-ride tickets (Mehrfahrtenkarte) cost €6.30. A day pass, good for two zones (including, for instance, the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museums), is better value at €5.10 for one person and €8.50 for a group two to five.

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Car & motorcycle

Underground parking in the city centre costs about €2 for the first hour and €1.50 for each subsequent hour. Park-and-ride (P+R) options, available in many Stuttgart suburbs, afford cheap parking plus free transport into the city centre for the driver and all passengers; convenient lots include Degerloch Alsbstrasse (on the B27; take the U5 or U6 into town), which is 4km south of the centre; and Österfeld (on the A81; take the S1, S2 or S3 into the centre).

Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, National and Sixt have offices at the airport (Terminal 2, Level 2). Europcar, Hertz and Avis have offices at the Hauptbahnhof (next to track 16).

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Local transport

Taxi

To order a taxi call 194 10 or 566 061.

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Bicycle

Rent a Bike (4207 0833; www.rentabike-stuttgart.de, in German; adult 6hr/full day €9.50/13, student €6/8) delivers and picks up bikes. Word has it that by 2007 a Hauptbahnhof-based rental service, Call-a-Bike, will begin operating.

You can take along your bike free of charge on Stadtbahn lines, except from 6am to 8.30am and 4pm to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Bikes are allowed on S-Bahn trains (S1 to S6) but you have to buy a Kinderfahrschein (child’s ticket) from 6am to 8.30am Monday to Friday. Bikes cannot be taken on buses or the Strassenbahn (tramway).

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